people seem to have issues with my posting about non-english speaking people living in the country. i don't think they understand that i meant people who cannot speak english at ALL. accents, slurs, whatever, that's fine as long as you can speak and people can understand you. it is also acceptable when you have just immigrated and are trying to learn the language. what is not acceptable is if you have been living in this country for a long time, over 10 years, and you still cannot communicate at all to others outside your race. i'm sorry, but i think that is horrible. i see people all the time that own businesses and do not speak a single word of english (especially in chinatown). i can go to a restaurant, and it takes a very long time for the waiter to understand that i want a glass of water. i have even seen grocery store owners cuss at a russian lady for not knowing how to read chinese. "THIS LADY IS CRAZY! THIS LADY IS CRAZY!" she shouted to the entire store. the old lady left saying "I just wanted to know how much this orange costs..." i really believe that the united states needs to enforce it's citizens to learn english and make it the official language. call me communist, but i think it's essential to keep the country as a whole.
my freshman year in college, there was an initiative to make english the official language of california and it would require kids to learn. i used to think, "that's terrible! this is america! there is no official language, cuz it's the country of freedom!" but man, after experiencing so many horror stories all because i couldn't communicate with a fellow citizen, i would push for it.

my old history teacher from high school was right when he said that "the United States is not a melting pot, it's a salad bowl." you have so many cultures in the country, which really makes it great. but when you have all these cultures that do not mix, what do you get? you have division and separation. the asians only live and hang out with other asians, blacks with blacks, latinos with latinos, arabians... etc...this country is becoming more and more divided and i don't like the way it is headed. how can we called a united country when we can't even order a glass of water in a business? people need to learn a single language where we can all live as one. english, spanish, watever. i really believe it's language that can keep people together or separate them apart. i guess the best example of this would be the Tower of Babel.

this country is great in that we can all live peacefully with different cultures and races. but are we really unified with each other if we never interact and do not even have the means to? for now, maybe, but the problem can become much worse.