Me and my friend were having a convo about mexicans being hired than other races, whats your take?

i said: I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, I GUESS I WAS WRONG!!!

my friend said: Why what happened?

i said: all of these damn jobs want you too be fluent in spanish and or dumb down your educational background and that is not fair, if you arent bilingual then they dont want to hire you. everyone doesnt speak two languages, or is fluent in two languages. its not right!!

she said: Unfortunately thats business their priority is to make money if they cater to the spanish speaking community then thats what they hire....keep ur head up dont get discouraged ull b ok.

i said: its still not fair regardless, I dont care if you are hispanic this isnt mexico, now if I went to mexico than of course imma make sure I speak spanish but this is america, I want to sue this makes no damn sense, if you can sue for color, creed and race etc then you should be able to sue for language discrimination.

A business has the right to set qualifications for a job and only hire people who meet those qualifications. Discrimination is refusing to hire a person that meets all of the qualifications but the employer doesn't like the race, creed color etc. If speaking a specific language is a requirement for the job and you don't have that skill, you can't do the job. If I apply for a truck driver's job and I can't drive, I don't get the job and I can't sue for not being hired.

I agree with you that when you immigrate to another country, the onus is on you to learn their language. In Europe, there are 17 countries living side-by-side and almost all of them speak different languages yet they get along and benefit from it. The answer is using reason to deal with their differences, not lawsuits.

Ok, you asked for my take...

I agree with Rob.

And... I think your perspective is selfish, elitist/entitled, lacking in compassion... and frankly, in my opinion, racist.

And... This IS the United States of America.... Remember the melting pot!? The colonialists came from many different countries and spoke many different languages. Their settlements displaced many different tribes who spoke many different languages. A monolingual USA never existed! I totally don't understand where people get this from, and why they think they're so entitled to a monolingual country now. Could you please explain this?

And... 56% of Europeans speak a language other than their mother tongue, and 28% speak two foreign languages. Only 8% of Europeans consider language learning unimportant.

In comparison, only about 25% of Americans can speak a second language well enough to hold a conversation. In my opinion, it's embarrassing that we are that far behind. I would guess that most Americans think that learning any language other than English is irrelevant. Most of us think everyone who comes into this country should be immediately fluent in English or they're an invader who has no right to be here. A paltry 21% of Americans even HAVE passports, and even when we do travel we expect people in other countries to speak English so they can service us.

And... Depending on where in the US and when you're talking about, the blame for stealing "our" jobs was thrust upon Irish, Chinese, African Americans, the ubiquitous "Mexicans." The story is the same: "they" are taking something from "us."

And... Our country's K-12 public education system is sh!t. It's so underfunded; teachers are underpaid and undervalued. One of my sisters is a public school teacher and *I* buy most of the supplies for her class. It's very easy for your average high school student to graduate without gaining fluency in another language.

I think all of this (poor education, sense of entitlement) is making us (Americans) less competitive in the US and abroad... and increasingly less relevant.

And... Perhaps in your specific case you really are talking about people who actually immigrated from Mexico, but all too often, "Americans" call anyone with Guatemala, Columbia, etc. ancestry a "Mexican." That too is racist.

And... Why do you think those "Mexicans" deserve to eat and support themselves any less than you do? Why is what you need more important that anyone else? Why would you deserve a job you aren't qualified to fill?

And... What you're describing is NOT language discrimination. A language is a skill, not a race, or a gender, or a sexual orientation, or a disability. A language is something you can LEARN, not something you just "are." No amount of job training is going to make me a white male. I CAN learn a language.

I grew up -- in America -- speaking English, French, and Abron (a West African language). Later I studied Latin and Spanish. Now I'm learning Tibetan. I often find myself in the company of Buddhist lamas and Tibetan refugees with limited English skills. I *want* to be able to communicate with them, so I make the effort to learn how. I'm not sticking my nose in the air while demanding that a language that I speak is more important than a language that they speak and so they better learn how to communicate with me. Learning other languages and learning about other cultures is an enriching experience. I am better for it.

And... On a more practical note...

If you're looking for jobs that require Spanish-speaking skills and you don't have them, your search isn't going to be successful. Either learn Spanish, or look for something else. Throughout this recession, I've known several people who were either over qualified or under qualified for nearly every job that looked interesting to them or that they could stomach doing. It sucks HARD, no doubt!!! However, race baiting won't get you what you want.