Speaking American
Speaking American
Richard Rodriguez (1944-)
June 9, 1998
From a transcript from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Here in California the largest immigrant state in the union, the largest Hispanic state, we have been arguing lately about English. A few days ago Californians went to the polls and voted for Proposition 227, a ballot initiative that intends to end bilingual education. We argue about language when the unspoken issue, the question no one wants to raise is what does it mean to be an American, what does it mean to be an American now that so many people from so many parts of the world speak so many languages?
Here in San Francisco you can vote in one of three languages. Everywhere there is linguistic chaos in neon, on billboards, writing on the wall the native cannot decipher. In the 1980's, in various cities and states across the country, many Americans voted to declare English the official language of the United States. On the other side Hispanic activists and many in the education establishment inclined toward the view that forcing an immigrant child too early toward English amounted to "sink or swim" pedagogy.
The argument for both sides centered around "English." In truth, we Americans do not speak English. The British have been telling us that for centuries. After our rebellion from Britain, our accent began to change. It was as though those first Americans, like their cousin Australians, needed to assert independence by mispronunciation and heightened vowels. A century later there was no mistaking the voice of Huck Finn from Oliver Twist.
African slaves also changed the language. They shouted it back to white America. They prayed the language, sang it, resounding it with inflections more African than European. And then the immigrants came. And the language grew as the country absorbed the newcomers. German words on the American tongue--19th century frankfurters, just as today there is sushi--and Scandinavian saunas--and French savoir-faire. Grandmother words: babushka. Grandfather slang: mensch.
Until now there is no one in America who does not speak Yiddish by virtue of the American tongue, no one of us whose cadence has not been influenced by African slaves. There is no way to declare English the official language of the United States, because there are too many German words in our mouths. Alternately, the attempt to protect Hispanic children from the American tongue ignores the fact that there is so much Spanish in the American tongue already--hundreds of words.
Here in the West, despite a long history of cultural antagonism between Mexico and America, between so-called Anglos and Hispanics, the Westerner in the 19th century spoke of arroyos and mesas and siestas. Our language proves it--America exists. America is not Mexico, nor is it England. But the millions of lives who came to this country left traces of their voices behind, shaped our accent, the rhythm of our laughter, and sorrow, the diction that grew every time a boat arrived at Ellis Island.
Bilingual education--si or no? For me, it is more important to take my place proudly in a line with Lithuanian grandmothers and Vietnamese grandfathers to say with Walt Whitman, "I speak American."
