09/25/2011
Add âbilingualâ preference on the part of business to the increasing ways that Americans face unfair treatment in our own nation. More and more, citizens are expected to know the language of the invader while Spanish speakers do not need to speak English.
We already pay for translations of official documents into various languages for the convenience of immigrants, as the city of Oakland has been doing for a decade.
Last year the federal government made the standards more stringent for the already required services of translators for medical treatment. The dubious ârightâ to medical interpretation came about through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which has also brought us expensive multilingual ballots, despite the legal requirement that immigrants must speak English to be naturalized.
Of course, such ârightsâ add enormously to Americansâ tax burden and to the skyrocketing cost of healthcare.
Furthermore, polls show Americans still expect newbies to learn English and donât appreciate language diversity when immigrants disrespect the country by not learning English. Nobody asked them to come, and their attitude of entitlement and non-assimilation is an insult to all of us.
Todayâs example of diminishing American rights in our own country comes from a letter to the Odessa American, illustrating that jobless citizens in hispanic areas have yet another obstacle to employment â the requirement to be âbilingual,â more accurately described as âSpanish speaking.â
LETTER: âBilingual preferredâ means discrimination, Odessa American, September 25, 2011
Bilingual preferred, what does that really mean? As I look in the Odessa American for a job this is all I come across. Does this mean if Iâm not bilingual I donât qualify for the job?
Shouldnât they already have employees there who can speak English and Spanish?
If I canât speak Spanish, why does that disqualify me from a job? Can I help that I wasnât born to speak another language? Should I be penalized or discriminated against because of this? Why should I have to learn another language because there are so many people who donât know or want to learn English? Is this fair?
They offer free classes at Odessa College to learn English but they charge to learn Spanish or another language. I was born a U.S. citizen in the United States of America where English is our first language. Why should I have to learn another language just to âfit inâ when this is the first and only language I know.
I know I have a lot of questions and I need answers, the thing is I donât know who to ask. I feel âbilingual preferredâ is a form of discrimination for the people who canât speak or read Spanish. Does job performance even count anymore? I guess as long as your âbilingualâ you can get the job. What about the rest of the people who donât? How are we supposed to provide for our family, get a job just because we donât talk the right language. I thought I was.
â Cathy Kelly