[Vision2020] Words Bring Pause

[Sue Hovey]

Edgar Malepeai is a very special person and a remarkable teacher.  One of 
the impacts of legislation such as this is the harm in inflicts on people 
who speak English (in Edgar's case it's beautifully spoken and articulate as 
well) as a second language (or third or fourth) because there is the implied 
message that some languages are superior to others.

Some of you may not appreciate the message "numero dos, para Espanol" but 
there are those of us who sometimes push button two just to make our minds 
remember what we used to know pretty well.

Closing with a non sequitur:  When Governor George Bush told Texans he was 
learning Spanish, Jim Hightower responded, "Now he can be bi-ignorant."

Sue Hovey
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "keely emerinemix" <kjajmix1 at msn.com>
To: <thansen at moscow.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Words Bring Pause


> Thanks to Sen. Malepeai for his clearheaded and rational comments against 
> a
> divisive and unnecessary bill.
>
> keely
>
>
> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Words Bring Pause
> Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:42:03 -0700
>
> >From today's (March 11, 2007) Spokesman Review with a very special thanks
> to
> State Senator Edgar Malepeai -
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Words Bring Pause
>
> The Idaho Senate voted 20-15 in favor of Senate Bill 1172, declaring 
> English
> to be the official language of Idaho, in a debate that took a personal 
> turn.
>
> "It's not for shutting people out, but bringing people in," Sen. Mel
> Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, lead sponsor of the bill, told the Senate.
>
> Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello, said quietly, "Looking around the 
> chamber,
> I think I'm probably the only one that has English as a second language."
> Malepeai recalled that his late father and uncles served proudly in the 
> U.S.
> military. "They spoke very, very broken English, but they were proud
> American Samoans," Malepeai said. Democracy and freedom "is what unifies
> people in this country," he said, "not the English language." A hush fell 
> in
> the Senate after Malepeai's comments, and no one else debated the bill.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "I love my country but fear my government."
>
> - Author Unknown
>
>
>
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