| Show Prerequisites for freedom 1 Dear Editor Very soon Congress will have proposed a bill requiring all applicants for United States citizenship to pass an English language aptitude test Such a bill not only reflects the inability of lawmakers to understand the long term im implications of their acts but represents a fundamental divergence from a democratic ideal that could spell doom for a country which finds its greatest strength in its cultural diversity A basic and spontaneous riposte to such a proposal must be since when has the ability to speak a certain language been a prerequisite to freedom Well it never has been in this country and rightly so As a tangible addition to such a bill we should change the inscription on one of our most representative representative representative monuments to read Give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to be free but before you do make sure they can speak English Ridiculous A quick look at the past shows us that such a motion will have drastic implications far beyond those which lawmakers have considered An interesting point has been made by Joseph Campbell author of The Power of Myth Doubleday 1988 and renowned social philosopher According According According Accord Accord- ing to Campbell the decay of a society is often precipitated by an disintegrative amalgamation of its constituent cultures All cultures have as their strongest bonding element language It follows then that when we legislate such a language requirement requirement requirement re re- re- re we are legislating at least a corruption at most a destruction of the distinctive languages and cultures carried to America every day by immigrants With this one act requiring requiring requiring ing immigrants to speak a specific tongue we are necessarily driving them away from their own cultural base in to an amalgamated one This idea was not new to Joseph Campbell The Greek historian historian historian his his- torian understood the cultural effects of the corruption corruption corruption cor cor- of language as early as the fifth century BC In his history of the the P Peloponnesian War he w writes rites a l lengthy ng hy poignant poignant poignant nant passage pleading for the prevention of such corruption The fall of Athens at the close of this war was a peripheral and indirect result of these types of integrations We do not need however to reach to ancient Greece for our examples For more immediate and forceful ones we need only ask native Americans about the effects of suppression of language on cuI culture ture Some of the most pressing problems of our age are ones that had no actual malice behind them to begin with Each beg- beg as a small justifiable act and each incremental addition seemed perfectly legitimate It is only when we see the cumulative cumulative cumulative tive results of these individually small steps that we see the monster This proposed bill is one of those incremental steps that will take us into a future that we wont won't like very much As citizens of a republic it is our responsibility to send a clear message to our government It has never before been necessary to speak a certain language to be an American nor should it be now Signed Mark S. S Hewitt |
