The Language of the Ghetto

Once again, America is forced to pay attention to a Newt.

Over the weekend Newt "Contract With America" Gingrich came out against bi-lingual education. "We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," he said. This, predictably, has led to a few accusations of racism directed towards someone who is, arguably, the whitest man in America.

It wasn't so bad, really; unartfully phrased but God knows easier to climb out from under than last night's correction on Hannity and Colmes. "...frankly, "ghetto", historically had referred as a Jewish reference originally. I did not mention Hispanics, and I certainly do not want anybody who speaks Spanish to think I’m in any way less than respectful of Spanish or any other language spoken by people who come to the United States."

So what Newt is saying, if I'm reading this right, is that you want to learn English so you don't wind up like those unprosperous Jews.

I live in Southern California, and I can tell you that I'm fed up with those people. The way the gardners lapse into Yiddish whenever they want to talk about you behind your back; the drive-thru guy telling me to try a large because "you should live a little - would that be so wrong?" I hate seeing all those unlicensed accountants hanging out in front of H&R Block, hoping someone will hire them despite their illegal status. And you know what? If we don't keep them out, on their side of the fence, you KNOW they're going to overrun the entertainment industry.