Tables Turned

In an article from Harvest (la Cosecha) entitled : Speak Spanish, Your in America!: El Huracan over Language and Culture. The story of a family court judge, Samuel Kiser and a u.s citizen of Mexican decent,brought a very unpleasant feeling to the Latin community after the judge's curt way of ordering her to speak English to her child instead of Spanish. The judge told the woman not to let he child be "ignorant" by only knowing Spanish. When i read this article i was astonished at the judge's not only racist statement but ignorant point of view. What if you lived in a Spanish speaking country and instead of teaching your American child Spanish you wanted to continue using your native language English and they tell you, "No, Inglés es estúpido, y es necesario enseñar a su hija español. Es ignorante para no saber español y sólo sabe Inglés". America believes that their culture that consist of basically the American flag, Apple pie, Besty Ross, a few wars, and English to be excepted by those who were born into a completely different type of culture and ethnic background. America truthfully has no culture because it has no true ownership of its successes. This country was already someone else's and later built by slaves and immigrants of other nationalities. There is no American culture per say its a vast span of many cultures put together adding great and new ideas to generations of traditions and customs. America didn't start as a English speaking country. People that came here spoke a zillion languages. Overtime English became the universal language to speak. Furthermore the American culture is all cultures. Now in 2010 America is no longer just an English speaking country. You are now required to learn in more universities and jobs how to speak another language in order to compete in the job market. I know Sam Kiser wishes he had bit his tongue when he made his statement about knowing Spanish. His job probably requires him to know some knowledge of Spanish in order for him to communicate with those who don't speak English or very little. The real issue is answering the question who really represents American culture? I believe it was the oppressed. The minorities, the enslaved, the natives, and the immigrants. The people who built america with their bare hands.

Unity Amougst All?

Blacks,Latinos,& Native Americans are all correlated in more ways then one. When you look back at the history behind the conquest of the Spanish and the enslavement & slaughter of Native people & their land, note the similarities in how we worked as communities to over come that oppression placed on them by foreigners.Now, when we look at communities of these cultures they all function in similar ways. The dialect between the individual groups represent their own way of communicating. The Latinos use different forms of Spanish to communicate within their respective neighborhoods and communities. for example the slang that Puerto-Ricans use vs. they way Dominicans talk or even Mexicans. Blacks, although are native language has been displaced still have found a way to communicate using Ebonics & slang relative to the areas in which we live in. The lingo used in New York varies much different then that of groups of Blacks in DC or Atlanta. Native Americans Speak the language of their tribes & use them to communicate with the spirits. Even the foods & the culture of Blacks,Latinos,& native Americans are very unified. Unfortunately, although we are all victims of oppression from others we don't see these similarities as a reasoning for attempting to all come together as one and share our cultures & languages. But because we have been so displaced and taught to hate those who are unlike us we keep out the ones that closely relate to us. If these three groups could come together with their skills and ability to survive hard times they could own and run the world. If only they would work together instead of placing racial & cultural barriers against each other we could fight for better schools, better jobs, & better communities.