Preview

Lalo Alcarez: English-Only Foundations

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
160 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lalo Alcarez: English-Only Foundations
NOT SURE, a comic by Lalo Alcarez, discusses English-only Foundations and the microaggressions minorities face. English-only Foundations are organizations that promote English as the official language in order to allow everyone to “to get ahead economically, academically and socially” (U.S. English Foundation, Inc). The strip is part of a series called ‘La Cucaracha’, which was the first nationally syndicated politically themed strip by a Latino. This comic depicts a Caucasian man calling out to two colored men in Spanish, and then asking them if they’d like to sign a petition to support the English-Only Foundation. The Caucasian man is promoting making English the official language, but he uses Spanish words or short phrases to appeal to the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Cuban Migration
    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cuban Migration

    Cited: Gutiérrez, David. The Columbia History of Latinos in the United States since 1960. New York: Columbia UP, 2004. Print.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis Of Carlene Carmichael's Teach Them Spanish Early, Too
    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page

    Analysis Of Carlene Carmichael's Teach Them Spanish Early, Too

    Carlene Carmichael, in “Teach Them Spanish Early, Too”, argues that Americans in California should be taught Spanish at a young age. California’s education system provide programs that teach English as a second language, yet Spanish is not taught to young English-speaking Americans. Unemployed Americans looking for jobs that require people to speak Spanish are at a disadvantage because they do not meet the requirements needed to apply for the specific jobs.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Aria: Billingual CHildhood
    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Aria: Billingual CHildhood

    As a son of Mexican American immigrants, Richard Rodriguez recounts the story of his childhood and his struggle to assimilate into American culture. In Aria: A memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Rodriguez always felt like an outcast whenever he set foot outside of his house. As a young child, he exclusively spoke Spanish to members of his household and tried his best to learn and speak English in the real world. He “regarded Spanish as a private language. It was a ghetto language that deepened and strengthened [his] feeling of public separateness” (Rodriguez 505) because it identified him as a member of his family and it served as a link to his own Mexican heritage. By speaking Spanish, he communicates a certain level of intimacy with all of his relatives. However, as his narrative progresses, he finds himself slowly breaking away from that intimacy as he begins to speak more English, both by force and social pressure. Teachers scolded him if he spoke anything but English and his peers Americanized his name into Richard (rather than calling him Ricardo.) He began to feel like a traitor by mastering this “public language” when his relatives began treating him differently. His bilingual childhood was an enormous adversity that Rodriguez had to overcome.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Response to Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol
    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Response to Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol

    But Kozol reports, with great surprise, that he found many white adults making overtly racist arguments about the potential of Black and Latino kids to justify the better funding of the schools in the white neighborhoods. Kozol recalls how these people would have been vilified during the social movements of the 60s, but when he was writing this book, in the early 1990s, these attitudes seemed commonplace. Even the youth…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    American values are frequently forced upon students or workers. There are few times, where people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa wrote, “So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (Anzaldúa 445). Linguistic identity can be difficult for a bilingual person, being somewhere in-between two different culture is confusing and sometimes uncomfortable. A person can’t simply identify with one or the other because each culture has impacted an individual’s life. Being a bilingual also creates boundaries and limitations because the feeling of being disconnected from the language and culture a person is…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Social Ethics with a Womanist Approach
    • 3359 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Social Ethics with a Womanist Approach

    Pinn, Anthony and Benjamin Valentin, eds. The Ties that Bind: African American and Hispanic American/Latino/a Theologies in Dialogue. New York: Continuum, 2001.…

    • 3359 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Latino Assimilation to American Culture
    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Latino Assimilation to American Culture

    In today’s America Latinos face challenges and inequities because of their ethnicity, which has been made even more evident by the current anti-immigration political climate. It is obvious that Latinos in America, even those born on United States soil, have fewer opportunities for success than their white counterparts. Unfortunately, these injustices are minor compared to the overwhelming discrimination their forefathers were subjected to. As with many cases where a society is oppressed, an underground literature serving to vent raw emotions thrived. This literature documents the day to day struggle of Latinos in America, and can give us a picture of what it must have been like to be a Latin American years ago. It is…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Se Habla Español Analysis
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Se Habla Español Analysis

    An anonymous author wrote “Our culture, our traditions, our language are the foundations upon which we build our identity.” This brings out what Tanya Maria Barrientos argues throughout her essay, “Se Habla Español.” She struggled to identify herself as Latino and embracing her Spanish heritage. So at a young age, she decided to step away from America’s stereotypical view of Latin’s and embrace what she thought was the correct way to live. One main thing she didn’t want was to be able to speak Spanish, because she thought people would automatically judge her. Like Barrientos, I how was raised had a lot to do with my identity and how I perceived myself and the world.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Diversity in the Hispanic Culture
    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Diversity in the Hispanic Culture

    Although Spanish is the language of the Hispanic heritage, those residing in the United States do not all choose to speak the language. As of 2002, only 51% of Mexican Americans were Spanish dominant, 26% were bilingual, and 23% were English dominant. The percentages vary between the different Hispanic groups. The Puerto Ricans represent the highest percentage of English dominant Hispanics. Statistics show only 21% of Puerto Ricans are Spanish dominant, 40% are bilingual, and 39% are English dominant (Schaefer, 2006). The numbers of English-speaking Cubans and South/Central America are even smaller. Less than 31% of Cubans speak a language other than Spanish in their homes. In South American it is possible for the native language to be Portuguese, French, or Dutch. Recapping the percentages show the concern of political figures rallying for English as the “Official Language.”…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Latinos in Social Media
    • 1655 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Latinos in Social Media

    “The Latino Media Gap.” Rep. Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race’s Media and Idea Lab at Columbia University, the Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers., n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    English as a Common Ground
    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages

    English as a Common Ground

    English as a common ground is so that Americans can understand what is being spoken to each other. Americans should be able to communicate and read any material out in this country without wondering what is being said. Foreigners or non-English speaking citizens are increasingly becoming more segregated, creating poverty- stricken areas. The creation of these areas is due to the language barrier (US-English, 2012). Americans who speak English can find it insulting when other begins to speak to them in another language. Majority of the states have English as their official language. So when a foreigner begins to speak another language or attempt to communicate in English, it could be found offensive because if the same person were to go to their country, it would offensive if you did not speak their language. When living or visiting the United States, it would be safe to assume that everyone spoke English if it were the official language. No one would be insulted, nor would an individual find it hard to communicate with another. Making English the official language of the United States means that the government will be conducting everything solely in English. This includes all public documents, records, legislation and regulations, as well as hearings, official ceremonies and public meetings (US-English, 2012). “This means that everything will be conducted in the English language and that no one will have the right to demand government services in any other language” (ProEnglish, 1994). The government cost of multilingualism is in the hundreds of million dollars. Companies have to spend about 15 to 20 percent of production cost to use in translation services (CalRecycle, 1995). For example, Hospitals have to pay for translators to those who do not speak English. Translators in California are paid $45 to $50 an hour! While…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Importance Of Bilingual Education In Texas
    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Importance Of Bilingual Education In Texas

    Bilingual education and economic inequality are just two of the many issues Texans deal with in today’s society. In “What is Bilingual Education,” Stephen Krashen defines bilingual education as “any use of two languages in school – by teachers or students or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical (educational) purposes” (1). Bilingual education confrontations in Texas are due to the overwhelming amount and diversity of immigrants in the past fifteen years. While good for population growth, bilingual issues are putting stress on our education system. It seems society will always be adjusting to incoming students with language barriers, yet instead of helping them in the best possible way, we continue to debate on how people feel. (Krashen 2)…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Latino Stereotypes
    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Latino Stereotypes

    In the show Rob “Rob Schneider” marries a Mexican girl and must now deal with her seemingly conservative and traditional Mexican family. Some stereotypes that were portrayed in this new show is Rob tries to speak Spanish by adding a “o” to an English word, large family jokes, and also that Latinos have to do hard labor. These jokes and exploitations may just be funny humor to us but to others this is an unfair representation of who they are.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Aria: Memoir of a Bilangual Childhoold
    • 1207 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Aria: Memoir of a Bilangual Childhoold

    Born in a Mexican immigrant family and moving to a city in California, Sacramento, Rodriguez had already known from the start that he’s “different” from the rest of the children in the area. He was hispanic. He felt the difference expressively at school and it was not just because of his physical appearance. The difference of is what isolated him the most. They differed socially. He felt a disconnect between Spanish, the language he used at home which offered comfort, versus English, the language used in the public world which to him was foreign. Rodriguez felt the separation from his English-speaking classmates, as he struggled to master this “public” language and hopefully gain acceptance. Since its founding days, U.S. had always been a melting pot of diverse ethnicities. Welcoming newcomers while insisting they learn and embrace its civic culture. It was suggested that those who come here in America should become Americans. Upon entering grade school, it was a massive culture shock for Rodriguez. He was put in an ESL class expected to learn English, to speak English, and communicate in English, but of course in a “English as a Secondary language” setting. It was a challenging transition, however, with practice, Rodriguez began to slowly adopt the English language giving him and his…

    • 1207 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Se Habla Espanola
    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Se Habla Espanola

    Tanya Barrientos acceptance of society racism hinder her from having relations with Latinos, she puts in print an article entitled “Se Habla Española”. Barrientos was born in Guatemala and moved to El Paso Texas with her parents at the age of 3, who expect for both of their children to read, write, and speak only in English. Her parents felt that if she could speak without the accent of Spanish, American society would see that children with different cultural backgrounds could fit into English humanity smoothly. “In 1963” (83), “People who called themselves Mexican-Americans or Afro-Americans were considered dangerous radicals, while law bidding citizens were expected to drop their cultural baggage at the border and erase any lingering ethnic traits. (84). As a result of the racial discrimination American citizens had towards law-abiding citizens, Barrientos had instantly stop speaking Spanish when she was moved to El Paso Texas.…

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics