thedailywhat: This Seems Kind Of Wrong of the Day: Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling issued by a lower court ordering the removal of a San Luis city council candidate’s name from the ballot because she wasn’t sufficiently fluent in English. Alejandrina Cabrera is an American citizen who was born in Yuma, but raised in Mexico for a number of years before returning to Arizona at 17. She admits that her Spanish is much stronger than her English, but says can speak as well as she needs to. But how much does she really need to? According to the most recent census data, 98.7% of San Luis residents are of Hispanic descent, and 87% speak a foreign language at home. San Luis’s mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla disagreed with Cabrera’s assessment that her English “is good enough to hold public office in San Luis.” It was he who filed a lawsuit with Yuma County Superior Court, alleging Cabrera’s poor grasp of the English language precluded her from running. The court sided with the mayor after she failed to pass a test administered by a sociolinguistics expert. “When [the judge] took my right to be on the ballot, he took away the right of the people who want to vote for me,” Cabrera said in reaction to the ruling. The executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Arturo Vargas, agrees. “I think it should be up to the voters to decide what kind of representative they want,” he told CNN. “I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to not be able, to not allow someone to present themselves to the voters as a candidate because of their language abilities.” English has been the official language of Arizona since 2006. [yumasun / cnn.] makes me think of Jean Chretien, when he first became head of the liberal party he could barely make it through a speech without stumbling over his English words. if a brash Quebecois can sit as Prime Minister of Canada, a nice Hispanic lady can have a seat in the Yuma county supreme court.
View Separately

thedailywhat:

This Seems Kind Of Wrong of the Day: Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling issued by a lower court ordering the removal of a San Luis city council candidate’s name from the ballot because she wasn’t sufficiently fluent in English.

Alejandrina Cabrera is an American citizen who was born in Yuma, but raised in Mexico for a number of years before returning to Arizona at 17. She admits that her Spanish is much stronger than her English, but says can speak as well as she needs to.

But how much does she really need to? According to the most recent census data, 98.7% of San Luis residents are of Hispanic descent, and 87% speak a foreign language at home.

San Luis’s mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla disagreed with Cabrera’s assessment that her English “is good enough to hold public office in San Luis.” It was he who filed a lawsuit with Yuma County Superior Court, alleging Cabrera’s poor grasp of the English language precluded her from running.

The court sided with the mayor after she failed to pass a test administered by a sociolinguistics expert.

“When [the judge] took my right to be on the ballot, he took away the right of the people who want to vote for me,” Cabrera said in reaction to the ruling. The executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Arturo Vargas, agrees.

“I think it should be up to the voters to decide what kind of representative they want,” he told CNN. “I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to not be able, to not allow someone to present themselves to the voters as a candidate because of their language abilities.”

English has been the official language of Arizona since 2006.

[yumasun / cnn.]

makes me think of Jean Chretien, when he first became head of the liberal party he could barely make it through a speech without stumbling over his English words. if a brash Quebecois can sit as Prime Minister of Canada, a nice Hispanic lady can have a seat in the Yuma county supreme court.

Source: thedailywhat

915 Notes/ Hide

  1. scazadora reblogged this from ladyatheist
  2. nikkeatsrocks reblogged this from hieronyma
  3. hieronyma reblogged this from guerreragrrrls
  4. guerreragrrrls reblogged this from anotherfeminist
  5. actyourrage reblogged this from stfuconservatives
  6. dreamcloud reblogged this from thesavagesalad
  7. persideraiuro reblogged this from thedailywhat
  8. cristina-kid reblogged this from peppermintgentleman
  9. thermonuclearshakespear reblogged this from stfuconservatives
  10. peppermintgentleman reblogged this from purplesheep and added:
    I’m from Yuma. Not being able to communicate with someone is a massive issue and two people trying to tell the other...
  11. purplesheep reblogged this from wecanslay-it
  12. vampirefinch reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  13. thefriendlydinosaur reblogged this from thedailywhat
  14. whatqsees reblogged this from lady-digby-chicken-caesar
  15. lady-digby-chicken-caesar reblogged this from sordidguiltypleasure
  16. ambergerchild reblogged this from stfuconservatives
  17. thetimenerdparadox reblogged this from thedailywhat
  18. picotlace reblogged this from telegantmess
  19. incorrect-assumptions reblogged this from genderbitch
  20. youvegotyourclawsinme reblogged this from wecanslay-it
  21. wecanslay-it reblogged this from genderbitch and added:
    Ugh what the fuck.
  22. genderbitch reblogged this from telegantmess
  23. telegantmess reblogged this from sanaa-tamir
  24. iateglitterforbreakfast reblogged this from molix
  25. outspokenviews reblogged this from thedailywhat
  26. jslattx3 reblogged this from chatterboxrose and added:
    What the shit Arizona.
  27. adventurerofplaces reblogged this from permutationofninjasarchive and added:
    This is what I was saying the other day but far better worded.
  28. permutationofninjasarchive reblogged this from gillionaire and added:
    This Seems Kind Of Wrong of the Day: Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling issued by a lower court ordering the...
  29. corrinie reblogged this from thedailywhat and added:
    You should be completely...an english speaking country. If you can’t speak
  30. iliveontheinterwebz reblogged this from holymotherofrowling
  31. sanaa-tamir reblogged this from velocicrafter
  32. socialworky reblogged this from thesavagesalad and added:
    This Seems Kind Of Wrong of the Day: Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld...ruling issued by a...
  33. jmindbeats reblogged this from laprima510 and added:
    Really Arizona?!
  34. pixiealamode reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  35. whalegoat reblogged this from hobbit-hero
  36. listlessmusings reblogged this from a-turtle-boy