What is going on?
By Elaine Williams
Posted On May 18, 2006
Have I missed something? Just what has gone on with this country in the past forty or so years? Demonstrations, sit-ins, protests, shouting matches, political correctness, our collective head in the sand--these are undermining not only a sense of what America is but it is also a corrosive force.
The recent demonstrations and work stoppage by recently-arrived immigrants, whether legal or illegal, speak volumes. First, to the millions of immigrants who are here legally and wish to become US citizens, welcome! Since just about all Americans had ancestors who made the incredibly courageous decision to leave their homeland, language and customs behind and to seek and ultimately achieve a better life here, it is understandable that so many others also wish to be part of this great country. Second, to those who have arrived illegally or whose visas have expired or those who have no intention whatsoever of becoming American citizens: shame on you and those who support you!
In order that the newly arrived understand why American citizens are becoming fed up and angered, they should know that our ancestors had to undergo a rather stringent process where they needed to prove a sponsor already in this country who would vouch for them and provide them with a place to live. Thos sponsors would also prove that those immigrants had a job waiting for them when they got off the boat. For those disembarking at Ellis Island, there was a checkpoint for infectious diseases and those not meeting our health standards were sent home. By contrast, many of today's "undocumenteds" are taking to the streets, waving their own countries' flags, demanding education, health care benefits and their "rights." Excuse me?--what rights? If you are not US citizens, you have no US rights.
Now that President Bush has at least addressed the language issue, it's worth asking why must we be subjected to signs in Home Depot and other stores in both English and Spanish? How about TV programs in ever increasing numbers in Spanish? Why must ballots, voting information and drivers' licenses applications and tests be in English and Spanish? Whose country is this, anyway? The notion of ESL (English as a Second Language) in the classrooms is another blast of idiocy, tantamount to saying perhaps that today's immigrants are just too stupid to learn English. Parenthetically, despite the concept of "no child left behind," my granddaughter's enrichment program was recently canceled. Her Long Island school district cited lack of funding but was somehow able to retain the ESL program. She is very bright, and clearly being left behind. Another educational absurdity is "LOTE" (Languages Other Than English). Rather than call non-English languages "foreign" (because that wouldn't be politically correct), students who are already bilingual sit in our classrooms ostensibly learning their own language, in New York State earning Regents credit and bolstering the Regents statistics. Fair?
Speaking a language other than English does not help with assimilation but rather impedes the process entirely. Not learning English is detrimental to becoming part of American society only separates and ostracizes. If Spanish is allowable, why not all the other world languages? (Imagine the road signs.) Does anyone recall the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel and the ensuing confusion? It is ludicrous to believe that permitting other languages will lead to anything but further lack of communication and cohesiveness, especially dangerous in today's world of terrorism. Previous immigrant groups have managed to learn English and to cope with and adapt to the American way of life.
Then again, do these new arrivals really wish to become part of the fabric of our society or merely wish to earn some tax free dollars, shop in thrift shops and at yard sales, purchase used cars, live in trailers on farmlands and never become citizens, and collectively send billions back to their homelands? Am I being naive? Or perhaps right on target?
In this post 9/11 era, when the policy of the United States should be much more vigilant with regard to our borders, some among us have become more concerned with profiling and offending than with taking care of what is ours.
Americans deserve to have their borders protected. As I recall, somewhere in the Constitution is the phrase "to provide for the common defense." I realize I am only one person but judging from recent TV and radio interviews, newspaper OpEd pieces and letters to the editor, it is evident that others believe as I do. Are you one of those?
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