¡Me respondieron!: Lessons from the Knights Party

Clase: Les pongo primero el correo electrónico que mandé, y después la respuesta. Les escribí mucho y me contestaron con más, entonces este post es muy largo. Tengo bastantes comentarios y preguntas para ustedes pero quiero que lean la respuesta del KKK primero. Me encantaría saber sus interpretaciones y sentimientos. Que disfruten la lectura...

To Whom it May Concern:
My name is Kate O’Donnell and I am a nontraditional undergraduate student in my third year in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. I am pursuing a degree in both languages and am currently taking a class in Spanish of the Southwest which is proving to be very interesting.
In the class, one of the things we have been looking at is the social condition that surrounds Spanish in this region and in the country as a whole, and the relation this has with English, especially the English Only movement. I am not coming to this with any particular agenda – I’m genuinely curious about the opinions of the proponents of English Only, and would therefore like to ask you the following questions:

• What is the ultimate goal of the English Only movement or of your take
on the movement? Could you please explain it in detail?
• If the desire is for all those living in the Unites States to speak English,
should we, as a nation, provide classes for immigrants?
o If not, how should they learn the language?
o If so, is there a particular type that they should learn? (Academic,
street variety, formal, informal, New York, Midwestern, Southern,
New Mexican, etc.)
• If a law does not get passed which gives official status to English in the
U.S., what is the worst case scenario?
• Is “Spanglish” (code-switching between English and Spanish) a problem?
o If so, how?
o If not, what should be its domain? (where should it be allowed to
be spoken)
• Should English be the official language of the field of Health Care as well?
o If so, how would a healthcare provider bridge the linguistic and
cultural gap to ensure that the patient receives excellent care?
• Though I have spent several hours perusing your website, I would like to
know exactly what your goal is in regards to immigration in conjunction
with the subsequent arrival of languages from other countries.
o Is there a difference between an immigrant from Mexico, Kenya, or
India and an immigrant from Germany, France, or Spain?
o Leaving aside the issue of Legal/Illegal status - should immigrants
and their languages be dealt with differently depending on the
region from which they come?

I have so many other questions as I am just beginning to learn about this debate, but these few are the most important ones for the purposes of my class and our discussion of the English Only movement.

I humbly thank you for your time and the consideration of my questions. Again, I am coming to this with an open mind and a heart willing to learn what really is important. There is so much information flying around that I want to know which side is telling the truth in this debate. I greatly look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Kate O’Donnell


De: nationaloffice@theknightsparty.com
Assunto: Re: Lost - I need answers!
Data: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 13:46:22 -0700
Para: "Catherine Mae O'Donnell"



I hope you don't mind my short reply.

1. Hispanic is a language group not a racial group. This I'm sure you are
aware of.

2. Spanish people are Caucasian and are the same race as historic English
speaking people.

3. White people (the Spanish) conquered and settled the Southwest and
Central and South America.

4. White People (the English) conquered and settled the majority of North
America and served as the foundation for the U.S. government.

5. The English came as families, the Spanish came as single men.

6. English families flourished. The Spanish mixed with native Indians and
black slaves. But we have to remember, that after a few years Spanish
families and females came as well. However, the initial interracial mixing
by Spanish solders and native women resulted in a large population of
mixed people consisting of three different racial types.

7. Both North and South America stayed predominately white for hundreds of
years with both Spanish and English being spoken.

8.The racial barriers broke down in Spanish language territory first and
the white population quickly declined.

9. The racial barriers broke down only recently in English speaking
territory and the white population is quickly declining - add to this
enormous non-white legal immigration from the Indian, China, Africa,
Middle East, etc.

10 The Mexicans of the southwestern states were majority ethnic Spaniards
and white. They caused no concern to English speaking whites moving west
during the westward expansion.

11. To this day, a small minority of Mexican nationals are racially pure
white Spaniards. The same can be said for populations in countries such
as Argentina (a greater percentage), Bolivia, Brazil (Portuguese - but the
same story as the Spanish racially concerned) Ecuador, and Chile. Each of
these countries have small but growing white nationalist groups and we
receive mail and interest from these nations. Their Spanish speaking is
of no concern to us and should they immigrate to the U.S. and request
association with us as some have, they are accepted.

12. We also have white Hispanic associates here in the U.S. who are from
Spain or whose family originated from Cuba during Castro's uprise when
they fled Communism. Many of these make up the Rep. base in Fl.

13. We do believe that English should be the official language for
economic reasons. It is simply more financially viable. Obviously this
would change if the nation became majority Hispanic speaking and then from
a cost perspective it would make a wiser choice to have Spanish as the
official language. However, many understand that in fact Mandarin Chinese
may be the next universal language. I'm not saying this is what we want,
just what we think will happen or what some say should happen who have no
racial basis to their motive other than the cost factor.

14. As policy we do not support English Only laws because we feel that it
would make assimilation easier. We do not want non-White Hispanics (or
other non-whites) to assimilate into traditional white America. We feel
this will lead to increased interracial marriages / children / and the
genocide of the white race on this continent. This is also occurring in
Europe, but not from non-white Hispanics, but rather other racial groups.

15. Finally, our issue is not one of language but of race. However,
should this nation become a majority white nation again of English
speaking people, then yes, we would say that immigrants from Europe who do
not speak English should learn it at their own expense or through the
kindness of neighbors, churches, or community organizations.

Hope this sums it up for you. I will add, that for the most part I do not
think the "English Only" people have race as their motive, but only money.
If America ceased to be white and was instead a mixture of brown, but
spoke English, I think most of them would be fine with that. Those who
wouldn't and still support the English only laws simply haven't thought it
out to its natural consequences. Speaking different languages serves as a
powerful deterrent to social mixing and marriage.

Sincerely,
Rachel Pendergraft
National Organizer