Look out.... political commentary!
This is an interesting case.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/cheesesteak-shop-owner-defends-policy/20071215115009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
I agree with the business owner. It's not discrimination to ask patrons to order in English.
Someone commenting on this article posted the following quotation from Theodore Roosevelt:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."Theodore Roosevelt 1907
I verified this quote on snopes.com, where they also provide additional quotes along these lines from T. Roosevelt. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/troosevelt.asp.
Diversity is a beautiful thing - it is something that makes this country extra special, but for different peoples to live and work together, they must have something in common, too. Historically, we have shared similar values (i.e. the Bill of Rights) and a common language. Many immigrant families have held on to their heritage and language, and rightly so, but they also learned the ways and language of the land they chose to inhabit. They embraced certain things that unified them with their new countrymen. Our society cannot endure if there is no common thread binding its many cultures together. Human nature just doesn't work that way.
Why is it considered discrimination to ask restaurant patrons to order in English? The menu is written in English... he's providing the words. His ethnic patrons are there to eat American-style food. If they are willing to embrace that aspect of American culture for an hour or so, why not 2 minutes of speaking the local language to order the food? Presumably the restaurant owner would not have created the sign if this had not already been an issue his servers were facing.
I value cultural diversity, and I don't believe in discrimination, but I also don't think asking people to learn a little English to facilitate basic communication in public venues is discriminatory. Tourists do it; why not immigrants?
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/cheesesteak-shop-owner-defends-policy/20071215115009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
I agree with the business owner. It's not discrimination to ask patrons to order in English.
Someone commenting on this article posted the following quotation from Theodore Roosevelt:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."Theodore Roosevelt 1907
I verified this quote on snopes.com, where they also provide additional quotes along these lines from T. Roosevelt. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/troosevelt.asp.
Diversity is a beautiful thing - it is something that makes this country extra special, but for different peoples to live and work together, they must have something in common, too. Historically, we have shared similar values (i.e. the Bill of Rights) and a common language. Many immigrant families have held on to their heritage and language, and rightly so, but they also learned the ways and language of the land they chose to inhabit. They embraced certain things that unified them with their new countrymen. Our society cannot endure if there is no common thread binding its many cultures together. Human nature just doesn't work that way.
Why is it considered discrimination to ask restaurant patrons to order in English? The menu is written in English... he's providing the words. His ethnic patrons are there to eat American-style food. If they are willing to embrace that aspect of American culture for an hour or so, why not 2 minutes of speaking the local language to order the food? Presumably the restaurant owner would not have created the sign if this had not already been an issue his servers were facing.
I value cultural diversity, and I don't believe in discrimination, but I also don't think asking people to learn a little English to facilitate basic communication in public venues is discriminatory. Tourists do it; why not immigrants?
Labels: philosophy
posted by DenverSop @ 3:13 PM
2 Comments:
At 12/16/2007 9:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
Living an hour away from Geno's and having heard about them previously, I've been there. Geno's makes a very good cheesesteak. The sticker in question is right there on the order window, and their loudspeakers for their outdoor seating (the only option) play American patriotic music. In addition to the English-compelling sticker, another sign clearly states that management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone.
All the English one has to know to place an order there is below; in the course of a visit to Geno's, it comes to a dozen words at most:
1) Steak, cheesesteak, chicken steak, or chicken cheesesteak.
2) Wit' or wit'out (south Philly accent); the item in question is "onions," but one doesn't even have to say that word.
3) Provolone, cheddar, or Cheez Wiz. All other condiments are located at a self service stand.
4) Fries or rings if desired, and the name and size of the desired drink.
5) The cashier will of course say the amount owed, but one can see the number on the cash register and thereby doesn't need to know how to count to 100 in English.
6) Thank you / you're welcome.
7) Mmmmm!; Yum!
The neighborhood that is home to Geno's and rival Pat's, on the opposing corner, would probably be a blighted neighborhood today if it weren't for these two establishments. It is clearly a transitional neighborhood between much richer rowhouse residences just to the north and poorer rowhouse residences just to the south. This neighborhood is just out of range for those who would wish to take a long walk or an easy bike ride to "center city," and it has always been a blue-collar neighborhood. It also has always had a relatively high percentage of immigrant residents; the closest area of work is the port and shipyards less than a mile to the east. Such jobs require much skill and muscle but not a ton of English, making them perfect first jobs for young, eager immigrants. Now, the neighborhood is an ethnic hodgepodge with a large latino and moderate Asian presence. Spanish is not the only foreign language present in that neighborhood, but it surely is spoken at least as much as English.
As I see it, the issue at hand is one of respect for one's surroundings. Previous generations of immigrants and their children had to learn the local language and assimilate, and this problem holds true for the owner in his and his family's own experience. These people and, might I add, many latinos who have assimilated similarly find it arrogant that the latest group of immigrants, many of whom are additionally reprehensible as line-cutters by coming illegally, refuse to respect the ways of their new neighbors by learning the language and at least trying some of their (our) customs. Instead, they expect our society to bend to them. Geno's owner finds this attitude to be highly offensive, and who can blame him? That's the motivating issue behind his actions. He finds it every bit as offensive as we would if we were told, "I'd like to learn to sing / play the flute, but I insist that I learn it with my system of reading music, not yours."
Hardly another food could possibly say "Philadelphia!" like a big, gooey cheesesteak. Hardly any other city similarly oozes American history quite like Philadelphia, too. It seems contrary to the creation of the cheesesteak by assimilated immigrants not to order it in English, and one surely could find plenty of places in Philly to order Mexican or Guatemalan food in Spanish, Italian food in Italian, middle eastern food in Arabic, etc, if he wished or needed.
The people questioning Geno's compare their "discrimination" to that of Rosa Parks on the bus, Susan B. Anthony and women's suffrage, etc. Surely no reasonable person today disputes the actions of those brave women. In their cases, though, not only individuals but also the government was active in the denial of a fundamental human right. In our case, the only such government "mistreatment" comes in the form of the rare deportation, and functional understanding of English isn't even (yet) a requirement for permanent residency or even citizenship. I find it hard to believe that people can consider ordering their food in a language that the person behind the counter can't be expected to know (especially from Philly's schools!) to be a fundamental human right. Rather, it's always been a fundamental right of the host to expect his guests either to abide by the host's rules or get lost. We'd surely tell such a music student to get lost, wouldn't we?
It's about time somebody pushed back against such an attitude, and I'm glad that Geno's has. Philadelphia has had plenty of racial and other classification-related tensions (note the movie of the same name), but it is actually one of the most liberal and most accepting cities anywhere in the country. I would even say that, if there's any widespread discrimination there by most legal residents, it's against the fourteen or so residents of the city who have voted for George W. Bush at some point (the city went for Kerry something like 92 to 8 in 2004). Republicans there are treated as though they have some kind of deadly contagious disease. Otherwise, you'll never find a more accepting place; aside from that and the occasional misdeed and subsequent middle-digit greeting by drivers in the chaotic traffic, they mean it when they call it the city of brotherly love. The fact that this controversy is playing out in hyper-liberal Philadelphia and not someplace more conservative like Indianapolis, Columbus, or Denver really says something about the arrogance of some of the newest immigrants, doesn't it?
At 12/19/2007 11:17 AM,
Anonymous said…
I was going to say something here but the previous comment did a much better job than I could ever have. Instead I'll just say that when my great-grandparents came over from Germany, they learned English. If I walk into a restaurant in Germany, I'll have to know how to say "Jaegerschnitzel mit Pommefritz" or something equally yummy.
It isn't like Geno is asking them to change their skin tone or country of origin. He is asking them to learn how to say a few words in English. Is that so wrong?
~BPP
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