"If you want to be American speak American"

The Importance of Language

    We often forget the importance of language. The importance of expressing ourselves freely. How having our language stripped from us or diminished can make us lose our sense of self and lower our self-esteem. We also don't realize how many variations of one language there are. We judge the ones we don't relate with and try to write them off as illegitimate.

    The importance of language is one that goes beyond the 'proper' one we are taught in school. As we grow older and meet new people our way of speaking becomes like a journal. It serves as a book that tells of our experiences and our encounters with different people. We adapt and adjust to different settings and sometimes we take words or phrases from people that never leave our vocabulary.

    When I came to this country from Cuba, I went to a bilingual school full of kids from all over. I made a lot of Dominican friends and the Cuban accent slowly shifted into a mix of both. My dad was outraged. He would get legitimately angry at my accent, but I couldn't help it it was just something that happened naturally. I didn't feel like it made me any less Cuban, but not everyone agreed. We have this idea that once you come the United States and learn English you're a gringa now and somehow your whole identity shifts. This idea is wrong.

    We should be celebrating every language in every form of them. It's adaptation and it's a valuable skill. It's team work and it is damn good. 

   Our language is also stripped from us by white Americans who claim to live in the United States one has to speak English. "If you want to be American speak American". Please tell me what "American" is? The fact that the only word in English to describe estadounidences is 'American' is problematic in itself because the United States does not make up for all of America. America is a rather large continent with a rather diverse population.

 Anyway. Please show me where in the constitution does it say this?? On the contrary. The constitution has no specific language because this is a country of immigrants. From the very beginning. I do not need to speak English to live here. They do this at a way of erasing our culture and roots. like Anzaldua said, "El Anglo con cara de inocente nos arranco la lengua. Wild tongues can't be tamed, they can only be cut out.". Trying to strip immigrants of their language is another form of oppression.