I pity places Knoxville, TN. There are a lot of places like it around the Southeast. You live a long time in an area like that dealing with the domestic permanent underclass – coloreds – and that’s tough enough. Then you blink your eyes and there’s a “tienda” offering Western Union and musica latina at every strip mall and Hispanics at WalMart using W.I.C. to get free milk, bread, and peanut butter. Your rent goes up because large groups of Hispanics will rent apartments and will pay more.

The word immigrant, by the way, has an implied meaning that the newcomer will assimilate and learn and use the language of his new home. That’s English. If they don’t want to use English then they’re not immigrants. They’re invaders.

Does this mean that Mr. Brown intends to make the laws intelligible to ordinary English speakers, rather than requiring a law degree plus the time to read the tens of thousands of pages of laws touching on one particular question, then the thousands of court decisions re-defining the words in the laws?

This would likely mean that a number of “Real ‘mericans” would fail the exam. Which would result in Mr. Brown back peddling so fast his petit derrière would be smoking. If you can’t fire them/vote them out, keep them busy chasing their own shadows.

Only some petty bureaucrat would care that “If you can’t understand English, then you can’t understand the law”

Has this gentlemen ever traveled outside the great USA? He sounds like the ugly American tourist who demands that wherever he goes, the locals all speak English so they can understand him.

(Also, on a side note, I was really excited to see a commenter referring to Düsseldorfer Bierbrauer until I realized it was my wife… Not that I don’t appreciate it, but it would’ve have been far more surprising coming from any other Agitator reader.)

•rolling eyes
Another little tin god.

Nice catch there, Cornellian. I’m not in a very civil mood, so I’m not going to e-mail Mr. Brown. I will just say that I’m getting really tired of old porcine white men who get all uptight when they see or hear a language other than English. Grow the fuck up. Yes, it would be to any immigrants advantage to learn English if they are going to live in the U.S.. But, people like Brown need to remember that there is no official language in the U.S. I’ll close with this thought:

“Some of those who hold office
Are the same who burn crosses”
–Zack de Larocha (Rage Against the Machine)

That makes no sense. You’re not required to speak English to be a citizen. Why should immigrant status make a difference?

Why should government deny basic services to people based on language alone? That’s just pointlessly discriminatory. People forget that the government is supposed to be servicing the community, regardless of what languages they speak.

I bring this up, because I’ve noticed that the concern over non-English speakers has a small semi-legitimate contingent of people concerned over practical problems of mixed language government, and then a whole bunch of other people that use it as politically correct way of hating on immigration entirely. I can’t count the number of people I’ve encountered that can barely speak understandable English and that can barely read and write suddenly get into a high minded tizzy over how important it is for Mexicans to learn English before even being allowed into the states.

Seems like Brown can’t understand the law either, despite being able to speak English.

One can argue that no immigrant should receive a green card unless they can speak and understand at least basic English. Without a green card, you cannot run a business.

Whether you agree with the requirement or not, this is the correct discussion to have.