Sunday, April 08, 2007

ProEnglish says No english, No statehood, Gingrich agrees.



English-only advocates have stated their opposition to House Bill H.R.900 proposed by Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner and sponsored by New York Representative Jose Serrano. Without a guarantee that Puerto Rico's govenment and courts will conduct business in english, there can be no statehood for the island the group proclaims.

ProEnglish opposes this bill for two reasons:

First there is no provision in the bill that requires Puerto Rico to adopt English as the language of its government, which ProEnglish believes must be a pre-requisite for any territory or commonwealth to be admitted as a state.

Second, the two stage plebiscite is a carefully contrived effort to get a majority of Puerto Ricans to vote in favor of statehood, something Puerto Ricans have repeated refused to do despite several attempts in the past. It is therefore undemocratic, manipulative, and an insult to the citizens of Puerto Rico.


The attempt by the Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner, Luis Fortuño, who is himself a pro-statehood advocate, to bring about a vote for statehood in the island will ultimately prove to be futile as racialist organizations like Pro-English who see every foreigner as a threat will stop at nothing to defeat the measure in the halls of Congress. And we should remember that Newt Gingrich, who in this press conference pictured above called Spanish the language of the ghetto, was probably practicing self-retraint with his true opinions.

As a Puerto Rican, I support independence for Puerto Rico. And I believe it is important that Puerto Ricans hear how unwanted Puerto Ricans are in the United States, and I wonder how Luis Fortuño will like his name without the "ñ"

1 comment:

teg0 said...

As an American living in Puerto Rico it really just seems like everyone here is still undecided. They know they would gain rights as a state, but as an independent nation they are instantly 3rd world. There are positives to each, but nationalism is blinding people form making clear, well though out choices. You have no choice as to where you are born. In the end Puerto Ricans are just humans on this blue sphere like everyone else.