City Removes Spanish-Language Census Sign After ‘Angry’ Citizens And Lawmakers Raise A Fuss

[ProSense]

City Removes Spanish-Language Census Sign After ‘Angry’ Citizens And Lawmakers Raise A Fuss

Until recently, downtown Prescott, AZ had two large banners encouraging people to participate in the 2010 Census — one in English and the other in Spanish. However, the Spanish-language banner has been taken down “after at least four dozen citizens and two city council members questioned its appropriateness“:

City of Prescott Executive Assistant Patty Crouse said she also fielded five or 10 calls from people angry about seeing a banner in Spanish near the entrance to the city.

(Council member John) Hanna said he personally didn’t like the sign, either.

“If you’re here in the U.S. and can’t speak English, you need to go home,” Hanna said, especially people who are here illegally. “If you’re counting them…you’re saying you’ll do whatever you can to cater to their needs.” <...>

When The Daily Courier asked about why he was concerned about visitors seeing a sign in Spanish, (Council member Steve) Blair explained, “It would seem like we’re a Spanish community rather than an English community,” and most visitors are not Hispanic.

Blair also tried to insist that he wasn’t being racist. “I have nothing against Spanish people,” said Blair, adding that “many of his wife’s family members are Hispanic.”

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Meet Arizona's bigots and racists.

[EFerrari]

1. The treaty ceding that territory to the US says Spanish and English

are co-equal languages. But, pffft, that was just a treaty.

[RDANGELO]

2. Tribalism

What are they afraid of?

[EFerrari]

3. These are people who latched on to Raygun's every red herring and who suffer

from the sacking he initiated.

They're losing their homes, their unions are going belly up, their kids' schools are being dismantled, their banks rip them off at every opportunity and they can't afford to see a doctor.

What else do they have now besides the certainty that the Spanish language is a danger to their lifestyle? :(

[damntexdem]

6. And the Constitution mandates a census of all people in the U.S.

It doesn't say that only those who speak English are to be enumerated.

[Divine Discontent]

13. exactly! we know we're (us whities) about to be outnumbered, but the sheer panic of these types of

people over that undying FACT is comical! good grief, they need to wake up.

[EFerrari]

17. The right wing has been beating this drum ever since I can remember

here in California and yet, I still see the Stars and Stripes everywhere. :)

[LuckyLib]

4. There is no such thing as "Spanish people" you nimrod. Folks from Spain

are called Spaniards. Folks who speak Spanish call themselves by a number of ethnic, cultural, or national identities, and can be considered to be Spanish-speakers.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. And those would include AMERICANS. nt

[LuckyLib]

8. That goes without saying. The largest number of folks who speak Spanish in this country

are American citizens. Many count themselves as 4th or 5th generation Americans, whose ancestors settled the southwest when it was Mexico. A point lost on the righter-wing of Americans.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

5. These morons probably think "Los Angeles" is in English.

[Cha]

10. And, "Arizona".

Just bc the name of the town is Prescott and not Casa Grande or Sedona.

[Honeycombe8]

9. To be a contrarian, I'd like to say that I see their point. To have a sign for

the general public to read (utility bills, street signs, etc.) - it makes sense for those to be in all the major languages of the locals.

But a sign for the Census is for American citizens only, isn't it? There aren't many adults born and raised in America who don't speak or read English. (They were required to be schooled and were taught English, even if they were raised in a Spanish speaking family.) And if they became citizens later, they had to speak English (at least I think that's the case).

I think the locals were afraid that some were encouraging illegals or those here on Visas, who might very well not speak or read English, to participate in the Census and skew the results. That is one of the fears of the far righters, among many others (like the government will know where you are, if you fill out the Census form, and then will come and take your gun!).

[starroute]

15. The census is absolutely not just for American citizens

My great-grandparents who were born in Europe appear on the census from the moment they got here, even before they were naturalized.

One great-grandmother is listed on the 1910 census as not speaking English -- and that was after she'd been here for 25 years.

Citizenship has to be indicated on the census, but it is meant to count everybody living in this country as of the census date. And that has been true forever.

[Honeycombe8]

20. I see. Then shouldn't there also be signs in German, the largest immigration group

in the U.S.? And Arabic? And Italian? And French?

[OhioBlue]

29. I'm sure there are signs in other languages.

It just depends on where you are.

[northzax]

30. In places where there are large populations that speak those languages, sure

I bet there aren't many Hmong in Prescott, but in Seattle or Minneapolis? I can tell you that in DC I have seen census materials in Mandarin, Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Cambodian as well as Spanish and English. Know thine audience.

[jberryhill]

18. First, the census is not a count of "citizens"

Second, the US does not have an official language, and Spanish has been spoken in the US longer than English.

The fact that English speaking immigrants to the Western US were too damned lazy to learn the Spanish language is no excuse.

[Honeycombe8]

19. Actually, no...Spanish has not been spoken in the USA longer than English.

Native Americans spoke here first, then English when the British came.

I am not counting South and Central America (Mexico).

[jberryhill]

22. Yeah... You are also not counting Florida, among other places

I'll type it slow and loud so you can understand... Spanish has been spoken in Arizona, California, and many other places in the US longer than English has.

Now, let's try some easy questions for you -

What is the oldest city in the United States?

Who settled it?

What language did they speak?

I'm going to guess you are one of those idiots who thinks Puerto Rico is in some other country.

Jesus, even in New York, the first European language was Dutch, NOT English.

[mitchtv]

26. ha! St Augustine

way before Jamestown

[jberryhill]

33. And San Juan

It's amazing how these "patriots" are usually the most ignorant of the history of this great country and the people who make it great. We had German speaking schools until the wars made them suspect.

[treestar]

25. That's the height of silly, many illegals can read English!

Especially basic stuff like that.

[northzax]

31. In fact I have a good friend who is an 'illegal' alien

Who speaks perfect English, albiet with a bit of a cockney accent.

[treestar]

34. Yes, they are not all from Spanish speaking countries

Reminds me of Jon Stewart show's skit on the plight of British illegal aliens.

[Blue_Tires]

11. what a bunch of assclowns...

i hope they are also prepared to pull all local geographic references that have Spanish names, including business names...

[jenmito]

12. K&R to show the racism and xenophobia of these people. n/t

[unblock]

14. "please undercount us! we have too much representation in congress and too many federal dollars!"

even slaveowners wanted to count slaves, and cater to them in order to do so.

it was the abolitionists who wanted to avoid counting them, and the result was the 3/5th compromise.


it's one thing to be bigots and racists, it's another thing to be stupid and working against your own self-interest in the process.

[HughMoran]

16. Thanks for displaying your racism for all to see, Prescott AZ

I will be sure to avoid bigotville if I'm ever in the area :eyes:

[firedupdem]

21. 5 or 10 calls? Wow... bet that was a lot to handle.

:eyes:

Idiots!

[old mark]

23. Right-Hardly any Spanish speaking people in Arizona...The West has

been rasist since it was first invaded by europeans, and that proud tradition continues today.

mark

[treestar]

24. These people need seriously to get a life

As long as there is still a sign in English, they're just whining.

[GrantDem]

27. These people are really going to shit in a few years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021101294.html

Reality is going smack these ignorant bigots right in the face.

[Zoeisright]

28. What a bunch of whiny little fucks.

These assholes need much bigger problems in their life to take up their abundant free time.

Christ.

[ShadowLiberal]

32. So racists want less federal funding? Ok, less power in washington to you then

If those stupid bigots were smart they'd encourage all illegal immigrants to fill out the census (like the constitution says they should) so that they get more representation and federal funding. I mean wouldn't that federal funding be nice to bigots if they could spend it on say... catching the illegal immigrants they hate so much?

[cadmium]

35. The Spanish - speaking folks should have cause for big lawsuit

if what EFerrari says in post #1 about the treaty to equally recognize English and Spanish.