English Only? .....Really?

As I read Stacy Teicher's article "Where "English only" Falls Short", I was really disturbed. This seems like a issue that totally contradicts the "Freedom of Speech". It also leads me to question how much more can America today can differ from the ideas and beliefs that it was built on. In my opinion "English Only" reminds me so much of another "____ Only" in our history. I do not understand how bilingual people can be restricted to English in the workplace. It seems to me that we are trampling on their rights. I understand the difficulties that may arise in a workplace if one group is speaking another language. It is easy to become paranoid and feel as if people are talking about you when they suddenly switch into another language. However, we are in America! They have the right to do so. Companies say that it can make the other employees feel uncomfortable when a person or a group of people are speaking another language which may be true; but are we sending the message that this group of employees' comfort level is more important than this groups rights? If we deny people the right to speak their native language we are denying their culture.

After living with my roommate for one year I realized how difficult it can be for someone who has English as a second language to express themselves. There would be times that she had to physically write down her thoughts, questions, or comments in order for me to understand what she was trying to convey. Imagine the frustration on her part. Now imagine how relieved she must have felt when she could speak her native language with people who understood her. People do not take into consideration the feelings of others. They automatically see something different and become afraid, and paranoid. As I mentioned, in my opinion, this "English only" can be compared to "Whites only" that we faced years ago. Both ideas are created out of a belief that one thing is better than another. How long did companies exclude Blacks because Whites were better? The new idea is that English is better than Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, etc. I believe we are fighting the same beliefs, just on different topics.