Judge to mother: learn English or lose your child.

[fishface]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/22/learn_english_judge_tells_mothers/

Warnings in Tenn. stir rights debate
By Ellen Barry, Los Angeles Times | February 22, 2005

LEBANON, Tenn. -- A judge hearing child abuse and neglect cases in Tennessee has given an unusual instruction to some immigrant mothers who have come before him: Learn English, or else.

Most recently, it was an 18-year-old woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, who had been reported to the Department of Children's Services for not immunizing her toddler and for missing appointments. At a hearing last month to monitor the mother's custody of the child, Wilson County Judge Barry Tatum instructed the woman to learn English and use birth control, The Lebanon Democrat newspaper reported.

Last October, Tatum gave a similar order to a Mexican woman who had been cited for neglect of her 11-year-old daughter, said a lawyer who is representing the woman in her appeal. Setting a court date six months away, the judge told the woman she should be able to speak English at a fourth-grade level by that meeting. If she failed, he warned, he would begin the process to terminate her parental rights.

''The court specially informs the mother that if she does not make the effort to learn English, she is running the risk of losing any connection -- legally, morally, and physically -- with her daughter forever," reads a court order from the hearing, according to Jerry Gonzalez, the Nashville lawyer who represents the woman.

[FormerOstrich]

1. wtf

:wtf:

I am speachless........

[katmondoo]

5. My Grandmothers never learned English

My Fathers parents only spoke French, my grandmother on my mothers side only spoke Polish. My mothers father died young from the great flu of 1918, he only spoke Polish. What would have happened to them in todays world of idiots?

[Dogmudgeon]

2. So much for Freedom of Speech

The Constitution doesn't seem to hold much sway in the court systems of the "Red States" -- except that part about guns.

--p!

[leveymg]

3. "Judging Amy" Moving to Fox?

[Warpy]

4. The ethnocentric jingoism of the worst of the southern

judges never fails to astonish me.

Where are their family values? Certainly not with valuing families.

[elehhhhna]

8. Justice depends on the value of your family (i.e. assets, income)

"Family values" is secret code for "Family's valuation".

[Scooter24]

6. LA Times Article and must-read quote

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-english14feb14,1,5808851.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true


By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer


LEBANON, Tenn. — A judge hearing child abuse and neglect cases in Tennessee has given an unusual instruction to some immigrant mothers who have come before him: Learn English, or else.

...

Though the judge's order may have been a mistake, "the general sentiment is, if people are going to be in this country, we all have a moral obligation to learn to speak the language," said Bob Bright, 61, who runs an insurance agency in Lebanon.

"I know if I was in Mexico I would make an effort to learn Hispanic."

------------
LOL :D And that folks is a sample of who we are dealing with in Lebanon, Tenn.

[elehhhhna]

7. Stupid Constitution. Probably gonna mess up that Judge's plan.

[Bridget Burke]

9. I trust the judge is paying for English classes.

Many are offered in Houston, since we have a large immigrant population (from ALL OVER). They fill up fast.

I also trust he's seeing that her work schedule will allow her time to attend the classes & study.