Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The Nation opts for unpatriotic nonassimilation
From "Strangers in the Land" (April 10, 2006 issue). This is not a parody:
[W]hy should linguistic competence be a factor--or acceptable as an item of democratic debate--in determining citizenship? As my comrade for a day in Los Angeles would attest, a non-English speaker in the United States not only can get and hold down a job; she can also turn out the vote. Why should a non-English speaker be allowed to mobilize for American democracy but not to join it as a citizen?
Conversely, why should we require "a certain proof of civic literacy" for immigrants seeking to become citizens? I know a great many native-born Americans who could not pass such a test. Why should immigrants have to prove that which the native-born need not--and, in some cases, could not--prove?
|posted by Jim on 5:00 PM|
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