Joey Vento's "Speak English" Battle Continues

Joey Vento is an icon in Philly. As owner of Geno's Steaks (my personal fave), he has been at the forefront of any important cause including most publicly the support of Maureen Faulkner.

Joey placed the sign at right in the window of his shop and it raised an uproar starting a year or so ago. The lawsuits are ongoing and last night, a contentious meeting took place:

A multimillionaire who began in 1966 with just $6, Vento scoffed at the idea that the intent of the signs is to make certain people feel unwelcome.

"You think I'm stupid? You think I built a successful business by refusing service?" he testified. Witnesses for the prosecution contended that the atmosphere created by the signs intimidates non-English speakers and those who don't speak the language well.

OK, how do those who don't speak English know what the sign says?

"It's a political statement with a prejudice against me," testified Ricardo Diaz, a social worker of Hispanic heritage.

How far does Mr. Diaz believe he would've gotten in America by not learning the language? Besides, I don't see anywhere on that sign that it says "This is America--Speak English Ricardo Diaz", do you? So how can it be prejudice against him?

"It was embarrassing to me as a Philadelphian, and humiliating to me as a Latino," said Roberto Santiago, the executive director of the Council on Spanish-Speaking Organizations. "It's a slap in the face."

I'll not even get into the fact that there's actually an organization named the Council on Spanish-Speaking Organizations and get to the simple fact that it's not quite the embarrassment to Philly as Mr. Santiago thinks. The majority of the public has made clear time and again that English is the national language and most want to keep it that way.

Both sides stipulated that no patrons had been denied service on the basis of their inability to speak English. The legal question is whether the sign creates an atmosphere in which "any specific group" is made to feel discriminated against.

That's it in a nutshell sports fans, a sign that non-English speakers can't even read creates an atmosphere in which someone may feel discriminated against. I'm sure that many young white men feel discriminated against when they find that they lose out on college entry when a minority who may have lower grades or is not as qualified gets in because of quotas.

But wait, it gets better (or worse). The sign is now akin to the old "Jim Crow" laws:

Rev. James Allen, the chairperson of Commission on Human Relations, was the first witness to testify late this afternoon, followed by University of Pennsylvania professor Camille Charles.

Charles, a professor of sociology, said the number of foreign-born residents living in the South Philadelphia neighborhood near Geno's grew more than 200 percent between 1980 and 2000.

When shown historical signs from the Jim Crow era in the South that read "Whites Only," Charles said Vento's "Speak English" sign had the same impact on patrons.

I know, you're shocked an Ivy League professor would equate a sign asking people to speak English with brutally racist laws in the past. Hyperbole people, hyperbole.