Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered state agencies Thursday to translate documents and provide interpreters in six languages for immigrants seeking public services. . . . The project will translate documents and websites from agencies including social services and motor vehicles into Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French and French Creole. .. . .So typical of NYS governing from a Downstate perspective. Here in Utica, Bosnian, Russian, Albanian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Farsi, Polish, and Spanish might be the choices . . . but maybe 20 more may be needed from time to time . . .
"It's government's responsibility to figure out how to communicate with the person," Cuomo said. . . .Government already does this to some extent, but what about the responsibility of the individuals?
"Most of us are immigrants that made this state the greatest state in the country, we're proud of it," Cuomo said, opening his news conference in Italian.This statement sent me into orbit!
I, too, am an American of Italian descent who is proud of his heritage. My grandparents would not have dreamed of government communicating with them in Italian. If government offered, I'm pretty sure they would have refused. They came here. They wanted to be American. Being American meant speaking English.
I bet it was the same in the Cuomo household.
Like my grandparents, the immigrants who "made this state the greatest state in the country" were self-reliant. They neither expected nor wanted a hand out or an accommodation. They were discriminated against, but they persevered. They might not have achieved English fluency for themselves, but their children succeeded. Whatever their backgrounds, it was their common desire to be Americans that resulted in the blending of cultures in the great American Melting Pot that produced the strong alloy of New York and America.
Mr. Cuomo's proposal caters to those who prefer to remain separate, who prefer not to assimilate. That weakens New York and America.
Mr. Cuomo's ancestors must be rolling in their graves.
1 comment:
I can remember my Mother tell me that her Mother said that we live in America now so we speak English. Your words are so true.
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