Letters to the Editor

Hi, 

I wanted to support the Spanish versions of the Spartan Daily. 

I’m a 5th generation Mexican-American, and because of discriminatory practices in the US over the last century, where Spanish was excluded in public and a part of schools, I believe my family, or many in my family, lost the ability to speak Spanish fluently because of this. 

Now as a young adult, I’ve taken the responsibility to re-learn the language for myself. And that requires immersion. That may seem selfish to some people, but it’s actually historically accurate and honors the history of the land we live on. California and much of the southwest belonged to Mexico before it belonged to the US. The basis of the cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles started as Mexican towns, or outpost for new Spain before Mexico gained independence.

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US, and the US has no official language. To say that Spanish’s inclusivity is discriminatory is willfully ignorant, inept, and illusioned.

We need inclusionary practices of bilingual papers, and maybe even a little US history for those that think its inclusion is discrimination. Because of their lack of knowledge, they’ve become proud discriminators.

Best, 

Elysa Gaona