'Speak English' signs found not DISCRIMINATORY!!!! About time.

[shellpry]

'Speak English' signs allowed at Philly shop.
The owner of a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23715954/from/ET/

Comments

[actaea]

http://www.tshirthell.com/store/product.php?productid=893

[fireivy83]

My great grandfather and great grandmother couldn't speak English when they arrived, and prefered to speak Portuguese at home. (My grandfather worked for the city (of Boston) and once sat on a gurney in a hospital, in a hallway for several hours after being in A CAVE IN! because there werent interpreters to help the doctors talk to him.) They never spoke fluent English, and according to my grandmother, they had accents till the day they died. Does that make them less American? Were they stupid? Incapable of learning? Does that in some way make some comment about their desire to be here or the fact that they uprooted themselves and never saw their family again in an effort to live in America, rather than their country of birth

[shellpry]

I have never implied to thinking or believing that someone who doesn't know English is ANYTHING other than someone who doesn't know English. Please don't put words in my mouth

[princess706]

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

Until I learn to speak Lakota, Sioux and/or Algonquian, I'm pretty sure I'd feel terrible forcing someone to speak ANY language. Kinda the crow calling the raven black, if you ask me.

The United States does not currently have a national language. The only reason that English is the most commonly spoken language is just that... it's the most common. Until a law is passed regarding language, signs like that aren't discriminatory... but they certainly are narrow-minded.

Having said that, I respect any business owner for running their business the way they choose. As long as it's his roof, I firmly believe that he should be able to determine what happens under it.

Let me ask you this: Bryan and I frequently shop for groceries at La Fiesta (the Mexican grocery on 52). Would you be upset if you walked in there and saw a sign that read, "Habla Español Solamente, Por Favor." (Speak Spanish Only, Please) I'm not being a smart ass...

[actaea]

Princess, your analogy is like saying people in England are hypocritical for not speaking the language of the ancient Romans. The Native American races occupied this continent first, but they did not establish its government, its laws, or its global status as a nation. English colonists did. All branches of our government legislate/govern in English

[wakeofthefire]

Very, VERY well written. I can't even think of anything else to ad.
I doubt the man who posted the sign was trying to be discriminatory, but simply trying to run his business in a timely and professional fashion.

[shellpry]

I couldn't have said it better if I tried really, really hard. Thank you!