Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2009
Alarmed that a professional golf organization proposed excluding competitors who don’t speak English, the state Senate acted Thursday to prohibit businesses in California from discriminating against customers, including refusal of service, based on the language they use.
The proposed law has sparked heated debate throughout the state as well as some anti-immigrant calls to the office of its author, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who has had his own experience with discrimination.
Yee proposed the law after the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. last year proposed, and then backed down from, a policy that would have suspended golfers who do not speak adequate English. The policy was based on the premise that language fluency in speeches and media interviews was critical to the sport’s promotion.
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SB 242, which now goes to the Assembly, was approved by a 21-15 vote, with Republican lawmakers opposed based on concern it would open businesses up to a rash of civil rights lawsuits if customers felt they did not get good service.
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The legislation includes an exemption that says firms can require English to be spoken if it is justified by a “business necessity,” such as the need for clear communication for safety.
Yee recalled as a young boy going to a San Francisco hardware store with an uncle who was mistreated because of his lack of proficiency in English.
Original article
(Posted on April 17, 2009)
Comments
The funny thing is these immigrants are all about speaking their own language. The signs all say ‘Spanish spoken here’ as an example. Of course these same immigrant activists are much, much more likely to actually have a sign up telling you what language to speak. And of course, they are proud of it.
It is long past due that whites get the Hell out of Kalifornia and all federal funds be cut off. Let the blacks and the rest of the majority-minority people fight it out. At this point, it would probably be the best bet to do so. We can no longer support Kalifornia. It is a welfare state and offers nothing but liberals and illegals to show for our monetary investment. Democrats and Republicans alike share in the blame for this travesty. The rest of the country will share Kalifornia’s fate if we don’t to something really soon. Time and options are running out very quickly. I need not go into the details, everybody knows them all too well.
“Yee recalled going to a hardware store as a young boy with an uncle who was mistreated because of his lack of proficiency in English.”,,,,,
WOW! Big deal! Is that all he can come up with? EXACTLY WHAT WAS the alleged “mistreatment”? He does not say. How did his uncle expect to be treated or served if the store employees could not understand him? If he felt that strongly about the alleged poor service, simply vote with your wallet and do not go back there. I would use this story to REMIND my fellow AmReners that Orientals are far from being the wonderful, ideal immigrants many think they are. They are ethnocentric, have their own agenda and often harbor animosity over any perceived “slight”.
These are private businesses not public offices. That golf association was a private and not public entity. Shouldn’t private businesses and organizations have the right to decide for themselves without government interference from some Oriental with a chip on his shoulder what language they want to conduct their affairs in?
This is reminiscent of the lawsuit from the city of Philadelphia against Gino’s Cheeseteaks he had to endure when he put up a sign that said when ordering, speak English. Naturally it was the Human Rights Commission that gave him the hassle. They never hassle anybody but white people. Now some liberal nut case wants to make it a law in California. Let’s see, if some foreeigner comes in there and you can’t speak to him in his language, and can’t figure out what he is trying to say, and you can’t communicate in sign language………I can see the lawsuits already because the business owner did not have any staff speaking the foreign language in question. God help us all when that day comes. Why should a business owner have to put up with wasting time and not being able to serve other customers because some immigrant too lazy to learn English is creating a problem?
A White friend of mine who reads and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese tells me that it’s common for the prices on menus in Chinese restaurants to be for non-Chinese only. Racial discrimination is simply a given, they can’t imagine why anyone would expect them to charge the same price to all people. And I can’t imagine that “Senator” Yee doesn’t know that.
that it’s common for the prices on menus in Chinese restaurants to be for non-Chinese only. Racial discrimination is simply a given,
Of course it is in China and that is why the Chinese are being so successful in Africa, they don’t care about being PC, and I agree with them. In America we have prices for the U.S. citizen taxpaying slave (around 9 trillion now I think) and then we have bargain basement floor prices for others, you know, blacks, muslims, illegals and such.
“It is long past due that whites get the Hell out of Kalifornia “
What next? It’s long past due that all whites need to get the hell out of america? Where will you go? Canada? What happens when all the mexicans and blacks and muslims follow you, will you continue running?
Tell me again WHY Asians are considered the model minority? They’re just as petulant and demanding as blacks, only they’re perceived to be “nicer” because they don’t commit as many crimes.
Then again, most Americans probably scream in terror nowadays if someone says “Asian immigrant” and “Virginia Tech” in the same sentence. A few more instances of “vibrant diversity” at our universities might change the public’s opinion of the so-called model minority.
So much for Asians being our allies. Where are all the Asiaphiles who are always posting here now?
SKIP, my friend tells me that it’s common practice in AMERICA for Chinese restaurants to charge lower prices to their racial brethren. Illegal as can be. I’d like to see some jurisdictions shut the places down, charge the owners with civil rights violations, and watch them flee back home.
The police HATE prosecuting Chinese in the US because the woman turn absolutely hysterical, and they just play dumb and play the language barrier card every step of the way. I’ve seen it up close when my affluent Chinese neighbors were arrested for selling huge amounts of psedophed (used to make drugs) in their store, even though they had been repeatedly warned by the DEA it was illegal. Finally, they were arrested, and the wife ended up shrieking and rolling around in her driveway. The DEA were afraid to cuff her because they could just see the civil rights lawsuit. Finally, she convinced to get into the police car. The criminal suit was eventually settled, probably with a fine and probation, and they are unfortunately still my neighbors.
SKIP, my friend tells me that it’s common practice in AMERICA for Chinese restaurants to charge lower prices to their racial brethren. Illegal as can be.
Perhaps illegal but we Whites should sort of respect the fact that the Chinese look out for one another, would that Whites would do the same. This togetherness on a racial scale is something the blacks have lots of (when against Whites) and we Whites totally lack except on a very limited scale.
