My husband sent a text message to a wrong number today. Innocent mistake. This is the response he got.
"Welcome to the United States of America. If you live here, learn to speak f**ing English"
(censor added)
What solicited such a hostile response? A simple message asking about a ride to work. Oh, and part of it was in Spanish.
I've been mulling over in my head exactly how this text makes me feel. My husband is an immigrant from Lima, Peru. He has been in the United States for a little over a year. I was born and raised in Southern California, I moved to Utah with my family when I was 15, and I'm about as "white" as you can get. I descend from Swedes, English, French, Germans, and who knows what else. However, I am just as likely to write a similar text message (and mine would probably all be in Spanish) and accidentally send it to the wrong number.
So how would our overly enlightened American friend have responded if I had sent the message? Well, I imagine he would have responded in exactly the same way, since you can't really tell anything about a person through a text as simple as, "Hey man, do you know who I'm riding with today?" Unless, of course, it's in another language. More importantly if it's in Spanish. Then you know a whole lot about the person, right?
I've thought of a million responses I would LOVE to send to our anonymous pen pal, our hospitable representative of the American welcoming committee. My husband won't let me send any. Not even a small one like, "Ever heard of being bilingual?" or "I already speak English, you douche bag."
In writing this blog, I came across an article entitled, "The United States Doesn't Have an Official Language." Which is a fact that apparently many people don't know, or simply choose to ignore. I read one of the comments at the end of the article. I literally laughed out loud.
"I think people should have the right to speak their language in their home, however, in public places the language should be english and the signs should be in english.
We are losing the significance of the United States of AMERICA!"
I laughed because of the emphasis on the word AMERICA. First off, let's think about where the word America even comes from. Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer, stated that the West Indies and Brazil were actually a brand new separate land mass, rather than the outskirts of Asia, as thought initially by Columbus. The American continent, and subsequently the independent country of The United States of America, received their names from him. So if we are going to get back to the significance of AMERICA, let's all learn Italian.
Secondly, America describes three different regions: North America, South America, and Central America (oh, and let's not forget American Samoa! Where there is an official language, and it is not English). So, again, epic fail on calling on Saint America to back you up on your, "English is the only language that should be spoken publicly in the United States" crusade.
To be concise, I've thought a lot about what I want to get from writing this blog. I'm sick of just ranting and venting about injustice and ignorance purely for the sake of ranting and venting. The only way to rid ourselves of ignorance is by combating it with knowledge. So, do me a favor? Let everyone know The United States of America was named after an Italian, primarily inhabited my Native Americans (if that is still the politically correct term), and then overrun by IMMIGRANTS from all over the world. So let's get over ourselves and go learn another language! Or at least tolerate those who speak one.
[POST SCRIPT]
I truly DO understand the frustration met by those who are trying to communicate with others and cannot do so because of language barriers. My husband and I were checking out at Sears the other day, and the lady in front of us was trying to speak Spanish to the cashier, who obviously did not know a baño from a burrito. Of course this is frustrating; it was probably equally as frustrating to both women. The point I am trying to make is not that we radically change everything about our country for the sake of purposely confusing all of those who are not fortunate enough to be bilingual, but rather that we have a little more patience and understanding when those kind of circumstances do arise.
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