March 14, 2005

Memo From The Midwest, By Dave Gorak

Spanish—The New Conquistadors Reach For the Midwest

In a Feb. 13 Chicago Tribune story, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said of President Bush's proposed overhaul of the Social Security system, "You can't jam change down the American people's throat."

Don't bother telling that to our mainstream media and a growing number of major corporations like Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest home improvement company, and the floundering Sears, Roebuck & Co., of Schaumburg, IL (which used to be the world's largest retailer).  They've all jumped aboard the "Let's  ALL learn Spanish" bandwagon - and they're trying to force the rest of us to join them.

This is another infuriating aspect of our greed-driven immigration policy, which doesn't get enough attention: having to tolerate someone else's language being forced on us every day.

Major corporations like Sears and Home Depot have decided that bilingual business is good business and, accordingly, added English/Spanish signage in their stores. 

Sales announcements are often repeated in Spanish as well. (A call to the headquarters of both companies to complain about the force-feeding of Spanish to ALL customers will get you a very polite, "We appreciate your comments.")

Naturally, the nation's Pavlovian media, which can never write about illegal aliens without portraying them as victims suffering from the plight of having to avoid local law enforcement personnel, also has decided that any attempt to welcome Spanish-speaking immigrants will fail unless we all learn to hablar a few words of their language.

With increasing frequency (and to varying degrees), the print media has taken to peppering their stories and headlines with Spanish words in an attempt (they say) "to encourage Hispanics to learn English." 

Just how does that work…learn English by using Spanish?

In the Jan. 5 edition of the Washington Post, "Where the Accion Is" informs readers about how Ironworkers Local 5 recruit Latinos with small cards written in Spanish:

"Viva Mejor," the postcard message began. "Ironworkers como usted mercen algo mejor - - "Live Better.  Ironworkers like you deserve better."

A week later (Jan. 13), an Arizona Republic editorial under the headline Viva, ASU! lauded the appointment of Raul Yzaguirre, the former president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (The Race), to the Arizona State University faculty. 

Yzaquirre's arrival, said the editorial, eased "the fears of young Latinos" who were worried that ASU "might close doors of opportunity" following its announcement of a restructuring program.

"In its abrazo  (embrace) of Yzaguirre, ASU moves toward a brighter tomorrow for Arizona's Latinos."

But a more blatant example of pandering to Hispanics showed up during the Christmas holidays in the Evansville (IN) Courier & Press.

In a six-part series called "Becoming Una Communidad" that gushed over the glory and predicted the inevitability of mass immigration and diversity, the Dec. 26-31 editions of the Courier & Press ran 13 stories under these headlines:

[Vdare.Com note: See here for one man's reply.]

Here's how Linda Negro (e-mail her), the Courier & Press' features editor, explained her paper's decision:

"Our decision to include Spanish in the headlines was not at all to give any new immigrant permission or to suggest they didn't need to learn the English language . . .

It was merely our way of extending our hand and saying, yes, we notice you, yes, we realize how difficult a transition you have. The series was about the impact --and a large one they are having on our economy and the flavor of our community . . .we believe it was actually an inducement to them to learn our language.

We thought it also served our English-speaking readers who might want to learn some few words in another language (you'll note the translation was included on each) and might want to communicate with those still struggling."

Negro went on to say that using Spanish also helped "tie the series together and made it stand out" from the rest of the newspaper’s contents. 

ProEnglish Executive Director K.C. McAlpin sees things differently:

"The inclination to pander to Hispanic immigrants by sprinkling headlines and news stories with Spanish words needs to be seen for what it is:  A deeply patronizing attitude whose real purpose is to make its authors feel tolerant, and therefore morally superior to others.  It is insulting to immigrants, who overwhelmingly want to learn English and become fully capable of managing on their own."

And it also is highly insulting, McAlpin adds, to previous generations of immigrants who

"Eagerly paid the price (learning English) for the privilege of immigrating to the greatest country in the world."

But there is a much more important reason for Americans to resent a drift to bi-lingualism. As Peter Brimelow points out, bi-lingualism favors those who are bi-lingual. That excludes most native born Americans, who are heading for second class status in their own country.

Dave Gorak [email him] is the executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration in LaValle, WI. Read his VDARE.COM archive here.