The Language of Prosperity vs Language of the Ghetto
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“Although Newt Gingrich is losing ground in the Republican primaries, he is now trying to gain Latino votes in Arizona with new ads. However, let’s not forget the statement he had to defend in front of almost 4 million Hispanics in Florida –his 2007 remarks which still deserves some reflection, as other candidates continue to press on the topic of English immersion. Latinos represent a very important voting power for this discussion to just slip away.
“My clients and colleagues know well how passionate I am at promoting the idea of learning English if you come from a non-English speaking country to America. Learning the language, the customs, and the social and workplace skills is the key that opens doors, and brings new opportunities; a bridge that allows immigrants to interact freely within the hosting culture.
For centuries and until recent years, Americans have lived in a language and cultural balloon. Based on ethnocentrism and great economic power, the world was forced to use English as the language of business –or like Mr. Gingrich would say, “the language of prosperity,” – leaving other languages and cultures outside the negotiation table.
However, the world became global and balance of power started to change. Although English is still largely spoken in business settings, experts forecast that Chinese is the language to learn if companies want to stay in global business. Middle Eastern languages need to be known to win the war against terrorism.
Language comes hand in hand with power and domination. Learning it allows to win over or overturn the other side.
The idea of “a ghetto” also refers to dominance and power. Yes, ghettos were the areas in European cities where Jewish were confined. Venetian boroughs included a Jewish ghetto; most Spanish cities had a Juderia; an estimated over 1000 ghettos also existed in the Nazi Europe of 1939 to 1944.
Black ghettos existed in the United States pre-Civil Right era of 1955 to 1968, and the South African Apartheid until 1994, to name a few.
Dominance and power were also the aim of early settlers in the United States. According to author Juan Gonzalez, “A good deal of nineteenth century U.S. growth flowed directly from the Anglo conquest of Spanish-speaking America. That conquest … set the basis for the modern Latino presence in the United States…”
The United States penetrated the Spanish territories with different strategies during those years, from wars to purchase of territories to filibusters, and most U.S. presidents at the time backed the take of the land by supporting speculators, plantation owners, bankers and merchants, all very well articulated in the “Manifest Destiny.”
None of the populations –Native Americans, French Creoles, Mexicans, Spanish Floridians and Seminoles, Puerto Ricans and Cubans- under the United States domination or annexation ever excelled politically or economically. “These latter groups became American citizens by force. Congress declared them so without any vote or petition on their part; it did not care what language they spoke nor did it seek their public oath of allegiance,” says Juan Gonzalez.
Moreover, Latin America became the extended territory of the United States’ messy “backyard.”
In 1969, Henry Kissinger told the Chilean foreign minister Gabriel Valdés, “Nothing important can come from the South. The axis of history starts in Moscow, goes to Bonn, crosses over to Washington, and then goes on to Tokyo. What happens in the South is of no importance.”
Yet it was of great importance when the United States needed migrant workers in the early 1940s. It was also of importance when the NAFTA agreement was looking for cheap labor and new exporting markets. The United States bilateral relations with Latin America are plagued with historic examples.
Major economic inequalities between both regions continued to attract millions of immigrants to this country. In 2003, Latinos became the largest minority, surpassing African Americans as the fastest growing population, and in recent years, Latinos started defining presidential elections as a single voting power.
So what is the “promise” in this proposition?
In view of this historical perspective, Mr. Gingrich lies when implying this promise: by learning English, prosperity will be around the corner. Millions of African-Americans who were forbidden by slavery to keep their original languages, forced into learning English, and enslaved to produce prosperity for their slave owners can attest for it.
Lera Boroditsky, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, sustains, “One of the key advances in recent years has been the demonstration … that if you change how people talk, that changes how they think. If people learn another language, they inadvertently also learn a new way of looking at the world. When bilingual people switch from one language to another, they start thinking differently, too.”
Language is at the heart of Latino culture and the element that glues us all, the way the culture expresses itself and expresses its identity. Values and traditions are preserved and transmitted, such as “familia” (family), “respeto” (respect) and “lealtad” (loyalty) by means of language.
Language is also the strategy of resistance those who have been overpowered for long have found to stay strong. Changing the language means changing the culture and its values. Latinos are too proud of their culture, something a promise of prosperity cannot buy.
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