Another Case Of This Is Not America

Show of hands please of anyone who is a Native Born American and not the offspring or descendant of immigrants?

Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

So, most of us, unless we're Native Americans, can trace our roots back to being immigrants to America. That's kind of cool; all of our ancestors coming here, hoping for a new life, and a better life, and making America what it is today. Home to all kinds of people of differing ethnicity's and cultures and religions and sizes and shapes and colors.

Why then, is discrimination against immigrants so high?

Case in point: Up in Charlotte, North Carolina, a former school secretary is suing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, because she was fired from Devonshire Elementary under a new rule imposed by a new principal that banned her from speaking Spanish to parents who can't speak English.

Ana Ligia Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for the school in 2006, but in 2008, when Suzanne Gimenez [not Hispanic but married to an Hispanic man] took over as principal, she announced that she would no longer allow Spanish to be spoken to parents by any of the faculty or staff.

This, in a school where 42 percent of the 500 students are Hispanic. This, in a district that has a large international population; this, in a district where almost 16 percent of students are Latino. This, in a school, whose own website says the school theme is "Academy of Cultural and Academic Diversity."

Hmmmm, not so much.

Ana Ligia Mateo has filed a lawsuit. She says the "no speaking Spanish" order came early in the 2008 school year, and that Gimenez and other staff reminded her to speak English only on several occasions.

In September 2008, a Spanish-speaking parent came to the school crying and stating in Spanish that someone at the school had placed a stick in her seven-year-old son's buttocks. Mateo asked Ms. Gimenez if she could translate for the parent, but Gimenez refused, telling the parent that her seven-year-old son--the victim of the alleged abuse--could translate. The parent continued to cry and eventually left without having her issue resolved because she could not understand Gimenez's responses.

Now, there is no denying that Mateo broke the rules by continuing to use Spanish with parents who couldn't understand English; there is no denying that she was warned to stop the practice. And, in September 2008 she was forced out of her job. Mateo complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which ruled last June that there is "reasonable cause" to believe her civil rights were violated.

Neither Charlotte-Mecklenberg School [CMS] officials nor Gimenez will comment on the pending lawsuit, spokeswoman LaTarzja Henry said; and she wouldn't say whether any other schools ban employees from speaking Spanish or translating for parents.

What is this country coming to? I lived in Miami for years and felt like I was the outsider because I wasn't proficient in Spanish, so I know it'd be easier if everyone spoke English. But what do we do with those people that come here legally, or illegally, who can't understand the language? Do we make rules that we cannot speak to them in their native tongue? Do we punish people for trying to help.

Think of where we'd be, as a country, today, if our ancestors had chosen to treat anyone who didn't speak a certain language as "less than." What kind of country would this be, and how many of us, of Hispanic, or Middle Eastern, or German, or French, or Native American, descent, would go unheard.

Show of hands, please, of anyone who'd like to live in a country where differences aren't celebrated but punished?