Refuting the English Language Argument Por: Frank Decapio

I will begin this writing by stating that I support statehood for Puerto Rico. I believe that statehood for Puerto Rico will benefit both Puerto Rico and the United States, as the people of Puerto Rico will have a greater say with regards to the affairs of the nation and will expose the people of the other states to more ideas. Once Puerto Rico is granted statehood, the people of Puerto Rico will gain a greater sense of unity and be more united with the other citizens of the United States. With that being said, I believe that the arguments against statehood for Puerto Rico must be refuted for Puerto Rican statehood to gain support and become a reality. One argument against Puerto Rican statehood I've heard is that doing so would ruin America's status as an English-speaking nation. The problem I have with that argument is that it does not improve the rate at which the American citizens of Puerto Rico learn to speak English and that it denies statehood. Statehood delayed is statehood denied. Wouldn't granting statehood encourage the people of Puerto Rico to learn English at a faster rate in order to be more involved in the affairs of the rest of the nation? Denying statehood due to the language barrier only ensures that people will remain divided and will only postpone the rate at which they unite. Why is the lack of English speakers enough of a reason to deny Puerto Rico statehood? Statehood should not be determined based on the language spoken by the people of the land. This does not help the Spanish speakers, and this denies statehood to the English speakers of Puerto Rico who meet this requirement. With the English argument, cant one argue that the only regions that can be classified as states are the regions where a majority of the people speak English? With that reasoning, shouldnt little pieces of Puerto Rico with

English speakers be granted statehood and the other pieces of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico get upgraded to the State of Puerto Rico once more people learn to speak English? What about the counties of states such as Texas, Arizona and California, where a majority of the people in the counties speak Spanish? Should those counties be downgraded to commonwealth status until the people in those regions learn to speak English? Are we to have the State of Texas for the English-speaking Texans and the Commonwealth of Texas for the Spanish speakers? it appropriate for all of Puerto Rico? The English language argument to deny Puerto Rico statehood fails due to the fact that it only uses a language barrier to maintain the division. Denying Puerto Rico statehood, like I have mentioned, does not hasten the rate at which the Puerto Ricans meet the demands of the people who oppose statehood due to the lack of an English-speaking majority. Puerto Rico maintains a commonwealth status for the Spanish-speaking majority, yet counties in American States such as Texas, Arizona and California that have Spanish-speaking majorities do not have to meet the same demands to remain in their respective states. If anything, wouldnt granting statehood to Puerto Rico incentivize learning the English language? national politics. In such a scenario, Puerto Ricans would have more reasons to learn English, such as to be involved in Those who oppose Puerto Rican statehood for language reasons view the Puerto Ricans as Spanish speakers when they should view them as their fellow Americans. Statehood will remain a dream rather than a reality until people stop thinking of reasons for statehood to be deemed undesirable and begin thinking of ways to make statehood plausible and ways to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico.
Jos Celso Barbosa Statehood Library http://library.statehoodpr.org/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/statehoodlibrary Email: barbosalibrary@statehoodpr.org Twitter: @BarbosaLibrary

Of course not.

If such reasoning is not

appropriate for the southern counties of Texas, Arizona and California, why is