Racism in Philadelphia Eatery ... Well No
Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia is upsetting the local Hispanic population. One of the co-owners posted a sign that reads "This is America -- when ordering speak English."
Considering that English is the language of the United States, I do not think that is a tremendous request. If you take half a second to consider what language is for a country, you realize language unites people. If people aren't united, then we have "sub-communities" of Mexicans, Chinese, Italians, whatever... We don't have Americans, which is bad.
Racism! It's the nasty charge that can be volleyed against someone without any proof. I do not understand what is racist about the sign. But, here is what Roberto Santiago, executive director of Philadelphia's Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, thought about the policy.
"I think what's coming out of his mouth is racist," said Santiago. "He is saying, 'I don't like these brown faces in my community and I will do everything I can to get them out of there.'"
Where did the sign say "I don't like brown faces?" The one I read said "This is America -- when ordering speak English." With racism, you don't need proof, just a silly emotion.
One of the owners stated that no one would "be refused service if they ordered one of the sliced beef-and-cheese sandwiches, a famed bit of cuisine in the Quaker-founded "City of Brotherly Love," in a language other than English."
So if people will still be served, how can they say it is racist? If it were truly racist, then the sign would read - "Brown skinned people will not be served." That sign is unequivocally racist.
Considering that English is the language of the United States, I do not think that is a tremendous request. If you take half a second to consider what language is for a country, you realize language unites people. If people aren't united, then we have "sub-communities" of Mexicans, Chinese, Italians, whatever... We don't have Americans, which is bad.
Racism! It's the nasty charge that can be volleyed against someone without any proof. I do not understand what is racist about the sign. But, here is what Roberto Santiago, executive director of Philadelphia's Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, thought about the policy.
"I think what's coming out of his mouth is racist," said Santiago. "He is saying, 'I don't like these brown faces in my community and I will do everything I can to get them out of there.'"
Where did the sign say "I don't like brown faces?" The one I read said "This is America -- when ordering speak English." With racism, you don't need proof, just a silly emotion.
One of the owners stated that no one would "be refused service if they ordered one of the sliced beef-and-cheese sandwiches, a famed bit of cuisine in the Quaker-founded "City of Brotherly Love," in a language other than English."
So if people will still be served, how can they say it is racist? If it were truly racist, then the sign would read - "Brown skinned people will not be served." That sign is unequivocally racist.
posted by pythoncoder at 12:58 PM
8 Comments:
Hi, girl from ne. I don't think Germany, France or Italy have to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants that we do. That is, I can't be certain that they have to deal with two separate languages or more, like we do.
Diversity is great, yes. But the difference between the `founders' of the U.S. and todays immigrants, is that the founders wanted a new country. The immigrants want to have a Mexico-Part-Two in America. If language is part of what defines a country, and someone refuses to speak that language, don't they refuse to be part of the country?
Really, what kind of nut would eat at a store that preferred blondes? Everybody knows brunettes are the way to go :) (just kidding - I hope you're not a blonde).
Telling someone to speak English, the language of the U.S. is not the same as a white taxi driver calling a black man racial names.
No, I understand what you are saying, but the comparisons are not the same. It's an apple and oranges thing.
My mom is an immigrant, from Spain. She did no go around demanding that shop-keepers speak Spanish. Instead she learned english, which is the right thing to do. Granted, she loves going to Mexican restaurants, because she gets to speak Spanish. But when she goes to Wendy's she always orders in English.
What if the sign said 'Only cool people' - Then JU, where would you go?
;)
I do believe this sign is somewhat rascist - well, not so much rascist as discrimination against the coloUred folk. If the sign had said 'No Jews', they would have been an uproar, and quite rightly. how this this different?
One must realise, that just like religion, no language is 'wrong', so if a person wishes to speak it, so be it. They just wouldnt be able to understand the other people, vice versa.
So meh, what you going to do :|
(What if they said 'No Nubs; No Computer Programmers, etc' :S )
Anyways, i need to go sit exams, take care.
tata
This is not the same as a `no jew' sign. Your analogy is not the same.
First of all, people are born jewish and have no way of changing that. Can't blame genetics can we?
Secondly, people *can and should* learn to speak english if they live here in he U.S. It is the language we use to communicate -- learn it. We have a common currency, because standards are good. It'd be awful if we accepted 3 different currencies. And then someone would call me a `currency-racist' if I used the standard U.S. dollar.
If some restaurant refused to serve me because I'm a computer programmer, that is there right. Not much I can do about it, except eat somewhere else. But, really, I'd just lie if I wanted to eat there badly enough.
Be seeing ya Kiwi.
The thing you can't seem to grasp is that it is their RIGHT to speak in their own language - and unless America has laws about only speaking in Yank tongue, which me thinks they don't, then what is wrong with it?
You talk about cultural drift and gaps, but jeez, look at your country at them moment - 61 percent don't support the war Cf. to 35 percent who do. This is, if my maths serves me right....over HALF your country who DON'T support the war, now that is what you call a 'cultural gap'...well, not really cultural...but a 'gap', none the less... (didn't you once say - if you don't support us, you are against us? Indeed...)
Oh, and what do Americans care about *rights* anyways, who was I kidding....
Yes, this was a jab at the war, but hey, glad I'm not the one paying 1.27 trillion US dollars for it....would suck to be a tax payer, wouldn't it?
Don't bother to reply to this JU, your responce will be at best, predictable, and go something like 'the war is good, I like doing my part in keeping terrorists out of America, America cares about rights, and so forth. I guess I'm just saying, support for your leader and the war is falling...do you still support it?
Answer - Yes.
Question - Why?
I'm just very bitter about this, as you may tell :|
I certainly can grasp that they can speak in whatever language they like. However, they can not and should not expect service from a business if they can not speak the language of the U.S. - English. It's that simple.
I'm not sure how you're associating war with culture. Supporting or not supporting the war is only a very small facet of culture.
You're statistics are misleading. The most recent statistics I found -
6/25/06 - Summary Table*
Situation in Iraq = 37% approve / 62% disapprove
The US campaign against terrorism = 51% approve / 47% disapprove
By the statistic above, 51% approve of the war. Go figure.
And really, who cares about public support? It's the right thing to do, and history will prove it. When the colonies wanted to break free from England, `polls' would have told you that 33% - yes, 33% - no, 33% - undecided. Luckily 1/3 of the population were correct.
Yes, it does stink to be a taxpayer. But, we either finance the war now, or have another terrorist disaster cause that much damage to our stock market.
During the week the stock market was closed, U.S. stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week. In one week, our economy `lost' what the war has cost so far.
And Kiwi, hun, you're responses are the ones that are predictable. They always veer torwards war. Me, I could care less. We're winning the war on terror, albeit slowly. That makes me happy.
Winning....haha, you make me laugh!
Yes winning. I only say that, because the terrorists admit as much - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=At38FuPFn3rtHo_p.abnzyMQr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
Enjoy.
V -
Victory
Viscious
Vanquished
Previous link broken - sorry.
Try this one.
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