By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZThe Paz Files
AUSTIN, Texas - There it was a few weeks ago in a story coming out of Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley along the Mexican border: One Hispanic candidate for a justice of the peace office asking about another's ability to speak and understand English. In Brownsville, Texas? Hijole, Dude!
Well, the story has moved west, to the tiny bordertown of San Luis, Arizona, where a candidate for the city council has been knocked off the ballot because of her English skills, or, really, the lack of them.
As Angelina Cabrera, shown on the witness stand in photo above, sees it, who really knows about English anymore? The university professors? The journalists? The Rednecks? Who speaks the best English in America? She wonders.
"When he took my right to be on the ballot he took away the right of the people who want to vote for me," Cabrera said in a recent interview, one she conducted in Spanish, about a judge's ruling that her English is not good enough for anyone wishing to hold public office.
As with the fray in Brownsville, she was fingered by another Hispanic, Juan Carlos Escamilla, the mayor of San Luis. He told reporters he was concerned that Cabrera might not have the proper grasp of the language for the job. Escamilla responded by filing a lawsuit in December that asked a court to determine whether her English skills qualified her under state law to run for the council seat.
And, also like in Brownsville, those who support her say she is speaking the English of the community, however lousy it may be. Many of her constituents, she noted, have the same grasp of English as she does; that is, a woeful one. Questions about her handling of the language led to a court hearing to determine whether Cabrera spoke English well enough to be able to run for office. The ruling was that she did not.
At issue is this: Exactly how much English do you have to understand to run for a political office? And who defines proficient? The hearing's judge in her case determined you need to know more English than Cabrera was able to demonstrate. Still, she insisted she's fluent enough to serve her community.
"I think my English is good enough to hold public office in San Luis, Arizona," she told the press. "I am not going to help (at the White House). I will be helping here."
When she says that her English is good enough for San Luis, Ms. Cabrera raises a point that is central to the debate about her language skills. In San Luis, 87% of residents speak a language other than English in their home and 98.7% are of Hispanic origin, according to 2010 U.S. Census data. Most of the resident, by all accounts, speak in English and in Spanish. When in the comfort of friends and family, they'll speak whatever language they want to speak.
So, what's next?
Has the Hispanic population in the U.S. reached such heights that it will mock its own community? And should little bordertowns like San Luis, Arizona and Brownsville, Texas bend to the national curve? They don't do it in most other aspects of life, so why do it on this issue?
Language is communication. Do we really need Shakespeare's English along the Mexican border? You don't hear that learned English along the Texas coast, an area home to Redneck Texans whose command of English is, well, not commanding at all. The Arizona mess will settle itself out. At a time during this national election cycle when some would wish to make English the official language of the nation, well, it's somewhat funny that the people of Brownsville and San Luis settle under the cultural umbrella and say "Eh!" to the rest of the population.
English, as with all other languages, will fit in somewhere for those living along the Mexican border. That's the way it's been for years and years, and that's the way it'll be forever...
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8 comments:
Mr. Editor: If she is fluent in Spanglish she will do, that is what they speak in border towns.
I am an Anglo and have lived in the Valley for 50 years. I moved here as a teenager and one of the first things I did was try to learn some Spanish. I am not fluent, but I get by. I do not believe it is that important for English to be spoken well by otherwise qualified office seekers. Good Grief, all along the Southern border there are many municipal officials and employees that do not speak Spanish, this in a region where more people speak Spanish only than English only. I see non Spanish speaking police officers and others asking for assistance and when the situation arises. I am sure when the opposite is true so could this lady. In a community where 98+% of the population speak Spanish I would think it would be the other way around - if one does not speak Spanish they need not apply.
There are a lot of small towns near the border in Texas that conduct almost all of their business in Spanish, including commission meetings. It may not be the Spanish of Mexico City, and it may be sprinkled with English idioms but it is still Spanish. These guys in Arizona need to get over themselves.
ANON & Mr. Harrison:...It is a peculiarly American thing, this English Only push. France is experiencing a variation of it with its language and its immigrants. But, by and large, the overwhelming majority of the world's nations could care less. Sign language and smiles still work in places where the tourist has no idea about a destination's language. I say "communication" is anything that either gets the word/thought across or allows for its receipt. Spanglish is musical, although not to the grammarian. The border, I know, will do its will... - Editor
January 30, 2012 7:49 PM
Language defines MAN. If he can master it, he masters others. But few in the Valley see it that way. they just like to spout off, use the lingo of the streets. You can't converse with them on world affairs. ask any of them to point to Turkey on a map and they won't even know where to start!
Her lack of English is inversely proportional to her critic's weight. LOL
Mr.Editor, Leopardo was at the Cisne this afternoon looking for Chilantra, Jr. Bonner, hi-tail yourself to the 1-2-3 in Brownsville and hide, bro.
Mr. Editor, Leopardo does not speak English, I heard him say: "Donde esta ese pinche viejo, para partirle el alma, diganme, donde esta el viejo que me quita a mi mujer, vine a matarlo."
The bar went silent, and everyone kepted drinking cold Micholbs..
This is one of those situations where both sides have merit and choosing either will cause some injustice to the other. What I wonder about is if a city government that isolates itself from the state and national government by not using the prevailing language of the nation, will be aware of the law as they create their own ordinances. This still happens today in various places such as Native American Reservations and Amish colonies where it isn't so much language as cultural differences but the result is still the same, isolation, which is not always a bad thing. One of the best things about the US is our many differences but at what point do the differences divide to the point where we cannot be a cohesive, functional nation.
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