"Speak English," Rick Santorum advised the people of Puerto Rico, "if you want Statehood!"
Completely aside from whether the people of Puerto Rico want Statehood, that is an arrogant, ignorant thing for Santorum to say.
I am a second- or third-generation American. My mother was born in Washington State. My father, and all of my other immediate ancestors that I am aware of, were born in Norway. My Norwegian-born grandfather, Jonas, once told me that once, long ago, a German had married into the family.
In Washington State, my great-grandparents, Hendrik and Anna, spoke almost only Norwegian, or at most, a few "Hello!, Thank you!" words in English. In 1966, I visited the place where my father had been born, and that he left when he was seventeen or eighteen (I think it was), to become an American. Several of those Norwegian relatives spoke English; some of them at least as well as my father ever did.
I do not know how many languages Rick Santorum speaks. I suspect that almost every Puerto Rican (that is not "Porto Rican") speaks more languages than Santorum does.
Almost everyone in the U. S. speaks English, some better than others, and some sooner rather than later, and some with more clumsiness than others--even those who know only English--but almost everyone knows English of a useable sort.
There are older people who come here, or even who are born here, who never learn what a gerund or a participle is in English, but they are Americans. They want to be here. They work hard, and want to vote, and love their kids and send them to college or to work hard, as they themselves did.
It is ignorant and disgusting to say what Rick Santorum says. I think often about Hispanic or Asian or African families who laugh and sing and tell stories to each other and to their children and grandchildren in the only languages they know well enough to sing songs in, and to tell jokes in, and to say how to love the land and each other.
What a much better land we would be if we spoke, not only English, but a dozen other languages; some here and now, some there and then.
Freedom is not English. Fairness is not English. Freedom of speech is not English. "One person, one vote" is not a function of English. Gender respect is not as function of English. Those are ideas and habits of the heart.
English is our accidental language. Nobody has to require us to speak English. It takes care of itself.
Rick Santorum is pandering to ignorance. It is only when we are mean-spirited, and have forgotten our grandparents, and are afraid, that we speak as Santorum is doing.
Accent, and nuance, are very good qualities in Presidential candidates.
Completely aside from whether the people of Puerto Rico want Statehood, that is an arrogant, ignorant thing for Santorum to say.
I am a second- or third-generation American. My mother was born in Washington State. My father, and all of my other immediate ancestors that I am aware of, were born in Norway. My Norwegian-born grandfather, Jonas, once told me that once, long ago, a German had married into the family.
In Washington State, my great-grandparents, Hendrik and Anna, spoke almost only Norwegian, or at most, a few "Hello!, Thank you!" words in English. In 1966, I visited the place where my father had been born, and that he left when he was seventeen or eighteen (I think it was), to become an American. Several of those Norwegian relatives spoke English; some of them at least as well as my father ever did.
I do not know how many languages Rick Santorum speaks. I suspect that almost every Puerto Rican (that is not "Porto Rican") speaks more languages than Santorum does.
Almost everyone in the U. S. speaks English, some better than others, and some sooner rather than later, and some with more clumsiness than others--even those who know only English--but almost everyone knows English of a useable sort.
There are older people who come here, or even who are born here, who never learn what a gerund or a participle is in English, but they are Americans. They want to be here. They work hard, and want to vote, and love their kids and send them to college or to work hard, as they themselves did.
It is ignorant and disgusting to say what Rick Santorum says. I think often about Hispanic or Asian or African families who laugh and sing and tell stories to each other and to their children and grandchildren in the only languages they know well enough to sing songs in, and to tell jokes in, and to say how to love the land and each other.
What a much better land we would be if we spoke, not only English, but a dozen other languages; some here and now, some there and then.
Freedom is not English. Fairness is not English. Freedom of speech is not English. "One person, one vote" is not a function of English. Gender respect is not as function of English. Those are ideas and habits of the heart.
English is our accidental language. Nobody has to require us to speak English. It takes care of itself.
Rick Santorum is pandering to ignorance. It is only when we are mean-spirited, and have forgotten our grandparents, and are afraid, that we speak as Santorum is doing.
Accent, and nuance, are very good qualities in Presidential candidates.
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