Arizona Candidate Struck From Ballot Due to 'Poor English Skills' - NYTimes.com
This country makes me sick. So racist, so discriminatory, so Medieval. Such a ruling not only strikes a blow against the basic ability of any citizen in the U.S. to engage in the civic right to run for public office, it also sets a disgusting precedent.
What if someone who is disabled and has a speech impediment, or is even mute, wanted to run for office? This person may be utterly competent, yet because their oral skills may be lacking, their very rights as a citizen would be called into question?!
Of course, this doesn’t even get into the real fact of the matter which is that this is not really about oral competency, but rather about blatant racism against people of Mexican or Latino origin.
When we finally have a second revolution in the U.S., it will be a pleasure to see Spanish finally added as an official language of this country, if for no other reason than because of the extent to which it will drive all these racist bigots mad.
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Lawyers for Alejandrina Cabrera, a candidate for the City Council in the border community of San Luis, Ariz., said Thursday that they might appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court a lower-court ruling that Ms. Cabrera be removed from the ballot because she did not speak English proficiently.
Judge John Nelson of the Yuma County Superior Court ruled late Wednesday night that Ms. Cabrera be struck from the ballot because she did not know enough English to do the job. In removing Ms. Cabrera, Judge Nelson agreed with the recommendation of a linguist who had conducted tests of Ms. Cabrera and found her English skills lacking.
The linguist, William G. Eggington, a professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, testified before the court on Wednesday. He said that based on interviews and tests he conducted with Mrs. Cabrera, she had “basic survival level” English that fell well below that needed to participate in city business.
post-racial society my culo… fuck both those motherfuckers
(via sinidentidades)
