Un niño llamó a la estación de radio una vez, cuando estaba en el aire uno de esos psicologos parlanchines, y dijo: 'ahorita, cuando esté solo, me voy a ir con papa Dios para que no me maltraten más.' El psicologo buscaba en su mente el mejor método descubierto y científicamente probado para resolver tal problema cuando sonó el disparo. El niño sujetaba el revolver, y a sus pies, yacía el cuerpo de su padre.El revolver, caliente, perfumado de pólvora, cayó al suelo, y por un instante el tenue brillo de una sonrisa se asomó al rostro del asesino, para luego dar paso a los sollozos y el ahogo del llanto de un niño pequeño. Papa Dios, que estaba tomando una siesta, despertó al oir el estruendo. Cuando vio al asesino, lo llamó por su nombre y lo tomó de los brazos. Luego lo sentó en su falda, secó con un beso las lágrimas en sus mejillas y lo arrulló por un rato. El pequeño, se quedó dormido.
Por: José Luis Ramírez 97


English na' más

Washington (Reuter)- The fight to make the official language of the United States is not just a war of words these days as legislation makes its way through Congress and gains the support of the Republican leadership. “This is an issue whose time has come," said Jim Boulet, executive director of English First. His organization is lobbying for a bill to require that all federal publications, including election ballots, be printed in English and to abolish the office of Bilingual Education. "Immigrants never asked for these services -- they want to learn English and their children want to learn English -- but immigrants get blamed for the cost of these services," Boulet said. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, both Republicans, have endorsed the idea of making English the official US language. But Democratic President Clinton has sided with advocates of multiculturalism. "The issue is not whether English is our language," he said. "It is. The issue is whether or not we're going to value the culture (and) the tradition of everybody." Hearings on official language legislation are scheduled in the house of Representatives for Oct.18, while the largest organization in favor of English as the official language, US English, says it is attracting 5,000 new members a month. Political analysts attribute the warming ;English-only debate to election year meltdown. "It all boils down to the extent to which this is viewed as an attempt to appeal to white voters," said Christopher Deering, a political scientist at George Washington University. If the assault on bilingual education is perceived as 'racial code'," he said, "Asian-Americans and the congressional Black Caucus might join in opposing an official language bill. But other analysts say there is more than presidential politics at stake. "What we're seeing reflects a rather widespread concern that somehow this country is losing its identity," said Jack Sweeney of the conservative Heritage Foundation, who believes Americans feel overwhelmed by the global information revolution that now pipes everything from Kuwaiti cable news to Spanish soap operas into their homes. As a result, some immigrants find all the information they need to survive in their native tongue and the "overriding environmental pressure" that hurried immigrants down the path to assimilation a generation ago "has become too diffuse," Sweeney said. Critics of the legislation say the growing attendance at programs that teach English and other requirements for US citizenship is the most meaningful gauge of new immigrants' resolve to join the mainstream. They also say requiring that government forms be in English would spell havoc for many agencies. "Our goal is to increase compliance." said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Steve Pyrek, "and if we can reach people using other languages we're willing to look at that." All US tax forms except a few peculiar to Puerto Rico are published in English, but local advertising campaigns are often conducted in Spanish through television and radio spots. Karin Cordell, a curriculum expert for Washington, DC public schools, said immigrants are shifting into English more quickly than ever before. Traditionally, she said, immigrants worked in relatively isolated manufacturing and agricultural jobs, but now that they are being absorbed into service industries their language skills are subject to public review. Even without the simmering official language debate, Cordell said, "most immigrant students coming from poor countries already get the message that you are not American if you don't speak English."

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