the melting pot

I just read an article which considerably disturbed me. There is a restaurant in Philadelphia which has posted signs which require patrons to order in English. The place is in a culturally diverse neighborhood, and, apparently, the owners family is Sicilian, which means that at some point they, themselves, were in the same position as many immigrants in America today. They did not, or maybe still do not, have a firm grasp of the English language. Most of the people that I have grown up with do not have a firm grasp of the language, and it is the only language they speak! I am also partial to the plight of immigrants because I have friends who are hispanic, asian, and african. Their families came here to escape extreme poverty, oppression, and to be with their families, motives I am sure the family of the owner of the above mentioned restaurant asserted when they made the decided to move to the United States. People make conscious decisions to uproot themselves, physically and culturally and, from my experiences, most of them know what this move entails. Yes, they know and understand that not only is there a cultural barrier, there is a language barrier. But the thing about the US is that the country is founded on principles of freedom and acceptance, no matter the cultural, religious, racial differences (and any other differences that I may have missed). If we all assimilated, we would, essentially, become a melting pot of people stuck to the bottom of some cast iron pot, no one being able to tell where he ends or begins. It seems that is what Congress wants in this instance. I wonder if the owner of that particular restaurant realizes how his own Sicilian cultural roots have influenced him. I wonder if he would accept becoming some faceless, unimportant person trapped within the confines of the US that he envisions. He seems simple minded to me. Yes, English is the national language, and it must be learned in order to co-exist successfully here but forcing people to learn it when ordering food is utterly ridiculous. I could understand if it were a place of employment... but a restaurant?! I am awed at the things people do in the name of the sanctity of the US. The people in his community are what keeps his restaurant afloat. They are the force behind his profit, to force them to assimilate is a slap in the face. For me, it is like he is saying that they are of little importance to him. He does not give a damn about them culturally or enthnically. He wants them to be a part of this melting pot, the mosaic has become too colorful, too cluttered. He does not want to take the time to look at each individual, to accept and respect them as they are culturally, ethnically. I guess the melting pot is what a lot of people want these days. Of course, I am also steamed about the whole immigration issue because it hits close to home. My biological grandfather (paternal) is Puerto Rican. I am also bilingual (which seems amazing to many people that I meet, but that is a topic for another day). I speak Spanish fluently and am in the process of taking Portuguese (I have to master a third language for my PhD candidacy, so I figured I would start early). When I went to Spain, most Spaniards I encountered thought Americans to be self-absorbed and superficial... given the recent issues on immigration... I am hard-pressed not to agree with them...