Posted on 05/20/2016 4:58:03 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
When a Spanish-speaking customer spoke Spanish to a Spanish-speaking employee, he was told Leon's doesn't do business in Spanish. He posted his experience to social media and soon the community was rallying around what critics called a racist — and illegal — employee policy.
On Tuesday, Joey Sanchez stepped up to the counter of Leon’s Frozen Custard, a 70-year-old Milwaukee staple, and listened to the customer in front of him place his order in Spanish.
The shop is located on the city’s south side, in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population. Sanchez thought nothing of it.
Then he heard the server’s response.
“She whispered to him in Spanish, ‘I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to you,’ ” Sanchez told TV station Fox 6 Now.
Sanchez was shocked.
So when it came his turn to order, he, too, used his native tongue.
“I’m not allowed to speak Spanish to you,” Sanchez said the server repeated.
He posted his experience to social media, WISN 12 News reported, and soon the community was rallying around what critics called a racist — and illegal — employee policy. Customers on Twitter used the hashtag #BoycottLeons. And the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has even called on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to launch a federal investigation into the “English only” rule.
But Leon’s owner Ron Schneider has remained steadfast amid the uproar, staunchly defending the “English only” rule that he told Fox 6 Now has been in place for nearly a decade, noting that his wife and children are Hispanic.
“Hey, c’mon! It is America,” Schneider told the TV station. “We’ve spoken English for a long, long time.”
“We can’t be the United Nations,” Schneider told WISN 12 News. “They got translators. We don’t.”
Leon’s has been family-owned and operated in Milwaukee since 1942. The shop’s custards are made fresh daily. It has been featured in travel guides and magazines and in several TV specials.
Do YOU not understand that people are entitled to legal services at my office if 1) the services provided are legal (as opposed to illegal) and 2) the client can pay, and 3) the services are within my area of expertise? Get off your frickin’ high horse! I spent 30 years defending this nation and the rights provided by God and protected by our Constitution, and I’m not doing anything but making a service that’s legal easier for a few people.
Colonel, USAFR (Ret.)
Hey Colonel, you’re justifying a practice that is doing nothing but helping to keep this country divided.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with your company’s base services, or whether your clientele is legally entitled to receive them.
No one’s arguing about that, and throwing it into the conversation is nothing more than a deflection on your part. That’s not what this is about, and neither is your prior military service.
It’s now established that you agree with the multiculture agenda of the left, which is destructive to the goal of One Nation - One People. That’s really too bad, and I hope that you can find a way to see that for yourself.
So let’s define our parameters here. You’re saying that regardless of whether I speak fluent Spanish and a client speaks fluent Spanish, I should under no circumstances speak Spanish with that client in my law office? What if we’re just exchanging pleasantries? What if we both also speak fluent English? Does that make the speaking of Spanish better or worse, under your set of rules? I’m asking because I really want to understand what your concern is.
I have no disagreement whatsoever, with you speaking to anyone in their native tongue, be it Spanish, or any other language.
What I reject, is the view that it’s perfectly acceptable for immigrants to REFUSE to assimilate into our culture, and that WE should not just acquiesce to that refusal - we should actually celebrate their intent to remain foreign and separate from the rest of us.
If I permanently relocated to a different country with a different language, culture, and history, I would not expect those who graciously allowed me to be there, to accomodate me, as so many foreign born immigrants in this country do.
No. I would make every effort to learn their language, culture, and history, and would work hard to become one with them. I feel it would be my sacred duty as a new citizen of that land.
That is precisely what immigrants to America used to do in the last century. They valued American citizenship, and were determined to become one with us. Most did, and their progeny (and America) benefited greatly.
The current push to encourage immigrants to maintain their cultural differences, is destructive to the goal of a united populace. It’s a nefarious ‘divide and conquer’ strategy of the deep left, who hate everything this country stands for.
I guess the idea that we somehow encourage people not to assimilate merely by the coincidence that we happen to be bilingual is where we have a disconnect. We don’t encourage non-English-speakers to come to our firm, we merely accommodate them if they choose to use us. Our mission statement is:
“to glorify the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the practice of law by providing wise and compassionate counsel, zealous and honest representation, respect and concern for all and scripturally based ethical and moral standards.”
I don’t think that encourages anyone not to assimilate.
If you don’t like the policy, quit. There is nothing racist for a business to require its employees to speak english on the job....
Good. In America you speak English.
It is only those deluded leftists that think by cuddling a foreign speaker that they are helping them. They are actually causing them harm, forever enslaving them to a life with little opportunities and closed doors.
I am Hispanic and I approve this message.
Y Ustedes, mis compatriotas Latinos, no sean brutos y aprendan el ingles!
“I guess the idea that we somehow encourage people not to assimilate merely by the coincidence that we happen to be bilingual is where we have a disconnect.”
Clever, but you know that’s not what I said, or implied. In fact, I went out of my way to say to you that I have no issue whatsoever with speaking to immigrants in their native tongue, where it’s a kindness.
The point I’ve repeatedly tried to make, and which you seem determined to ignore, is that it’s ultimately a disservice to foreign speaking immigrants AND native born Americans, to bend over backwards to accommodate those who have disdain for our culture and language, and who REFUSE to assimilate.
There is truly a difference between the two.
I’m all for helping recent LEGAL immigrants who want to assimilate. For those who only want to import their culture and language into my country, and displace Americans from their homes and communities, I have nothing but the greatest contempt.
What about speaking a language we both understand constitutes bending over backward? You’re determined to make a point that has nothing to do with what I said initially. I agree that people who move here should assimilate, and never said anything different than that.
“What about speaking a language we both understand constitutes bending over backward?”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
They’re in America. They should speak English, as Americans do.
Perhaps your clients are bilingual, and you’re simply making them comfortable by speaking their foreign tongue. Good for you.
For most Americans, the experience with foreign speakers is very different. Too many of them flat REFUSE to learn or speak the language of THIS country, and expect all Americans to accommodate their inability to understand any but their own foreign tongue.
Tell you what, friend. The vast majority of us are damn sick and tired of it.
I’m not in their country - they’re in MINE. They ought to accommodate US, by learning our language, not the other way around.
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