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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.
9.11.01
Just a reminder about the State of the Village address, tonite, 7:00pm at Village Hall. I believe this to be an important speech for residents to hear about what else — besides illegal immigration — has been going on in the Village in the past few years.
Otherwise, not much posting planned today … look for a wrap-up and analysis of tonite’s address tomorrow, and hopefully folks will be willing to share their impressions, etc in the comments.
If you’ve got the time, take this lull as an opportunity to catch up on some of the past posts and comments.
Taking a break … check back Monday for new posts. In the meantime, take a look at the many previous posts that are here.
~Chrys
The email-box at Carpentersville Action Network is getting busier these days, as other citizens begin to copy us on correspondence or forward emails they’ve received. I’d like to share with you a portion of one such email that was received recently, specifically about Carpentersville Action Network …
Is his/her name really “Carpentersville Action Network?
Or should it be called the “Bash Paul, Judy and anyone else that trying to make a difference.
Now, I have to say that I thought this was a rather humorous statement. The reason why I found it humorous is because I haven’t seen that “Paul” and “Judy” have done anything that has benefited the Village (ok, I’ll give Trustee Humpfer credit for his work on the Audit and Finance Commission, to help the Village achieve a clean audit). However, let’s take a look at the track record recently …
- Talked about an Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Ordinance, yet never officially brought it before the Board. This is issue #1 on which they have not specifically identified a significant problem of in the Village.
- Got the Board to declare a “fluff” resolution about “English-only” when they realized they did not have the support for an ordinance, because it would have made the jobs of those working for the Village more difficult, and only have saved the Village a few hundred dollars in an approximately $30 million budget. This is issue #2 that was a non-problem for the Village.
- Passed another ordinance addressing something else that has not been any bit of a problem — requiring those working in Village commissions or committees to be U.S. citizens who are registered to vote. This is issue #3 that was a non-problem in the Village.
So, basically what they’ve done is give the appearance of having done something, when they have, in fact, done nothing at all. Not sure how that is called “making a difference”.
But, the question is … am I just “bashing Paul and Judy”? Perhaps, although I am taking on their ideas and arguments, not them personally. Yet, based on everything I’ve said, do you think it’s not without good reason? I mean, seriously, how has any of this brought development to the Village, fixed streets and sidewalks, lowered the tax burden on residents, or kept stores on the Village’s East side? The fact of the matter is that it hasn’t. Yet it is those improvements that Carpentersville needs the most.
President Sarto needs to be doing more to put a stop to these antics, and get on with the real business of the Village. Sarto needed to go at these trustees … hard … over the public comments issue that came up at last Tuesday’s meeting.
Illegal immigration is one of those issues that all the politicians are talking about, but none seem willing to do anything about. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so hard on those such as Trustees Sigwalt, Humpfer and Hinz who ran on an anti-illegal immigration platform, but about which they have yet to do anything significant about. After all, they are just falling in-line with the others who merely give lip service to issues. If they actually solved the problem, they wouldn’t have anything to run for re-election on, now would they?
As our city lays dying …
No, you haven’t been secretly whisked away to some other site. (Ok, you sort of have.)
You have arrived at the new home of Carpentersville Action Network.
Options on this blog host are better and more manageable. So, welcome to the new home of Carpentersville Action Network. I’ll have more options available soon for subscribing to this site’s feeds. Also, be sure to update any bookmarks/favorites you have saved, to point to https://cvillecan.wordpress.com
I welcome any comments, questions or ideas you have about the new site.
At the suggestion of Grant Crowell on a previous thread, I have reconsidered the moderation process for comments. Comments are now open, without prior approval required (the exception being someone providing more than a single link to something). However, let me say that if comments get out of hand with language or personal attacks or other such behavior, I will not hesitate to return to requiring moderation for all comments. And, I still retain the ability to delete comments that are inappropriate according to the guidelines that I set forth in the Introduction. To date, only 2 comments have been removed/rejected, which were because they bordered on a personal attack or would have invited a flame war on a personal level. I would love to leave comments unmoderated.
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