By Jocelyn Perez

Language has always been an issue in the United States. In an ordinary immigrant’s life there is always someone who says to speak English because “we are in America.” This has become an issue for every immigrant and something they have to deal with on a daily basis. It’s understood that everyone is free to say what they want and be free in this country, but we are also known as a melting pot. By telling someone that we are in America and have to speak English, we are just showing that we really aren’t a melting pot and we just don’t care about our American immigrants.

My question is why call America a melting pot if people are debating on changing the official language to English? Every immigrant in this country makes up a lot of the population and does things that help America. Many people come to live the “American Dream” that everyone says is awesome. The American dream is for the people who don’t have opportunities in their home country, why ruin it for them by telling them they don’t belong because they don’t speak the language?

Many people see someone who “looks” like an immigrant and start talking about them in English thinking they don’t know the “official language”. What about the people who were born here? What about the people who know both English and a foreign language?

Many immigrants come here without knowing the language and have to force themselves to learn it for many reasons. I don’t think one of those reasons should be that English is the official language. People who have to learn English usually learn it for school or work because its mandatory, but if you don’t have to learn the language for any of those then it should be an issue. If people who speak a different language bother people then all they have to do it ignore it and walk away, no big deal. No one should be forced to learn English just to please others. Learning English should be optional.