Valedictorian's Bilingual Graduation Speech Booed

CNN.com ^ | 6/25/2002

[JediGirl]

NEVILLE: Welcome back to TALKBACK LIVE, everybody. I'm Arthel Neville.

Angela Salazar got a mixed bag of boos and cheers when she gave her valedictorian speech last night in New Brunswick, New Jersey. But it had absolutely nothing to do with what Angela said. Instead, the reaction was to the fact that she gave her speech in both English and Spanish.

[jammer]

And I want everybody to know what my message was going to be.

That's what I would love at a graduation--a 17 year old twit without any experience in life giving me messages. I would say the same thing if the twit were my son. I can give her a message back, in much shorter than 7 minutes. In fact, with only one finger.

[Inspectorette]

Arthel + Angela = Twit x 2

[DoughtyOne]

[gjpino]

4.0 today are grades in the following courses:

A in Capitalism is Evil

A in Sustainable Development

A in Diversity is Our Strength

A in Tolerance

B in Eurocentrism

How does this equate to a 4.0? Well, New Math, of course.

[gueroloco]

Reading this transcript reinforces my beliefs that the public school system is a waste of taxpayer money and that the majority of modern-day immigrants are "here for the beer". If it's true that this young lady spoke NO English when she arrived four years ago, and achieved valedictorian status at at American high school- this speaks ill of that school. I suspect it's a thug-ridden, attendance optional, inner city cesspool. I further suspect that a typical private/parochial school SOPHOMORE could have equalled or bettered her grades vis-a-vis the requirements at that school. Someone should remind "Angela" that she's in the United States now and not Ecuador. Presumably, her parents took her OUT of Ecuador in favor of our great nation to give her a better education and life. She's under the mistaken impression (who can blame her, though, with all the P.C. bravo sierra out there) that her culture is just as important, or even moreso, than that of her adopted country. It's not, and never will be. Her parents knew better, and that's why she is here! Assimilation is the answer, not her petty "Look at me" polarization.

[FITZ]

She sounds like an arrogant twit who thinks free speech works one way only. Who wants to sit through 14 minutes of a speech they won't remember the next day in either language?

[gueroloco]

Bump!

[dougherty]

LOL, I'm glad she was booed. This is not Ecuador, this is America, speak English.

[dougherty]

I suspect it's a thug-ridden, attendance optional, inner city cesspool.

Ditto.

[Jhoffa_]

But it had absolutely nothing to do with what Angela said. Instead, the reaction was to the fact that she gave her speech in both English and Spanish.

1) That's because our language is English. We are sick of the ebonics and spanish garbage already.. (although, at least you can claim that spanish IS a real language. as opposed to a mere mangling of our own..)

2) We are sick of the Metric system also.. (just in case you were wondering)

3) What in the world does a High School graduate have to "speak" about for seven minutes in a public forum? Honestly? What could she possibly have to say that could be that riveting? Thirty Seconds should have been more then enough, imo.

[yooper]

Oh, give me a break. It's common practice for the valedictorian to give a short speech and message to the gathered audience. This is done to recognize the accomplishment of being valedictorian, no mean feat for an immigrant who spoke no English when she came here. She had every right to do as she did, and yes, I'm a neanderthal conservative. And for those who haven't grasped the subtle message she delivered, she gave the finger to those in the educational establishment who tried to tell her what to do. My own sister, valedictorian of her class, did the same thing when she was told by her high school that she could not recite the Lord's prayer from the podium. She immediately acquiesced to their PC garbage, and then recited the prayer at the end of her speech anyway, and you know what? Not one of those cowards did a thing to stop her. We live in a small blue collar midwest town, and news of her being told she was not allowed to recite the prayer went around prior to the commencement ceremony. When she finished the prayer, she got a standing ovation from the crowd....

[The Cuban]

Spanish Garbage? The oldest modern language in Europe is garbage?

[Jhoffa_]

Spanish Garbage? The oldest modern language in Europe is garbage?

A friend of mine from the Dominican Republic was being snide about the US because she is jealous. She was telling me how old her town was and showing me the sites around Santo Domingo. Said it was like 1500 years old or something..

After a few more off color remarks about the US (specifically about our foreign policy and how we were oppressing the world) and I commented that they must be slow learners.

Outraged she asked me what I meant by that.. I just said that we only had a couple hundred years to work with, and we were already oppressing the whole world. Imagine what we could have done with a century and a half?

Old ain't necessarily superior.

(and if you want to know the truth two people speaking spanish sounds allot like two cats fighting in a trash can.. )

[CatoRenasci]

That's why Spain is the most modern, most prosperous, most civilized country in Europe. </ sarcasm>

[jammer]

If your sister wants to say the Lord's Prayer, fine. My objection and comments were directed to her saying that she wanted us to hear her "message." A political message, which is a long way from saying the Lord's Prayer. Sure, she had a perfect right to make her statement. But booing was in no more poor taste than her subjecting a captive audience to inanities. I have been a valedictorian also and wouldn't dream of something like that, no matter that my political beliefs were and are just as deeply held (rabid?) as hers. Who gives a damn about what her political beliefs are, my political beliefs are, your daughter's political beliefs are at age 17 or 18? I see no reasoning in your letter that refutes that view.