Recap: Carpentersville on CNN

CNN’s “Out in the Open” on Monday night featured the topic of immigration, assimilation and language. The information presented seemed to be fair and of good quality. I also found a discussion between between a Republican candidate for President, Congressman Tom Tancredo, and a syndicated columnist, Miguel Perez, to be one of the better exchanges on the program.

Carpentersville was also in one of the featured segment. But, once again, it was presented as an example of the nation’s extreme. The English only resolution passed earlier was offered as a contrast to a Texas border town on the banks of the Rio Grande that has Spanish as its official language (although it is really bi-lingual). That town was shown to have progressed since 1999, while Carpentersville is in a state of decline and having many homes in Hispanic neighborhoods up for sale. The Texas town was one of peace and calm. Carpentersville was one of combativeness and division; as a city being “torn apart”.

The piece ended with “In this cultural battle, language is a mighty sword.”

This is not simply my interpretation of what they intended to show. This is what they actually did show.

Folks, putting aside the arguments for or against the validity of the interpretation presented, this is another perfect example of how the Village of Carpentersville is viewed in this country and in this area. This is not an isolated report, but is another indictment of the atmosphere that exists in the town.

It is not something we can argue against.

It is not something we can defend against.

This is something we must work to change the impression of.

That does not come from attempts at catch-phrases and slogans. It is not something you can legislate out of the way.

Rather it must be an effort to reach out to the whole community — not simply 40% or 60%, but the whole community — to listen to their concerns and find ways to address and solve them.

I’ll also just mention that Trustee Sigwalt and resident Adam Ruiz represented the opposing sides in the piece. Comments from Sigwalt were mostly benign, while Ruiz expressed his disappointment at what was happening in the town.

It highlighted concerns of which we all need to be aware and which the Village government, particularly the Board, needs to be sensitive to.

Residents Jay Radke, Frank “don’t call me a racist or a Nazi” Stoneham and a woman whom I could not identify also made up part of the “low light reel”.

The program ended by speaking about assimilation and learning the English language by Mexican immigrants. The study can be found here [PDF] … but it basically pointed out that while 100% of new immigrants speak fluent Spanish, only 35% of their children do, and 3rd and 4th generation (grandchildren/great grandchildren) only 17% and 5% respectively. This was offered as evidence that the English language is not in any type of danger, and that these people who come to America do understand that it is necessary to learn English to get ahead in this country and in this world.

The reports synopsis states:

Although the life expectancy of Spanish is found to be greater among Mexicans in Southern California compared to other groups, its ultimate demise nonetheless seems assured by the third generation. English has never been seriously threatened as the dominant language of the United States, and it is not threatened today—not even in Southern California. What is endangered instead is the survivability of the non-English languages that immigrants bring with them to the United States.