I’m a bit surprised at Michelle Malkin. When you’ve been pushing fear of “The Other” for so long, it seems inevitable that something like this was eventually going to happen.
Fake nails and women’s shoes were flying as a bloody claw fight erupted at a Dorchester salon after one primping patron allegedly screamed at a woman bantering in Spanish, “Speak English! This is America!” Just minutes after the melee broke out at Kathy’s Nail Design at 261 Bowdoin St., it escalated to the point of a 911 call.
Update (James Joyner): This is closely related to the cultural identity topic discussed in the previous post. It’s one of those issues where visceral instincts override logic. While I’m generally pro-immigration and think that, on balance, even low skilled Hispanic immigrants are a net plus for our economy, I still react negatively to people who are clearly long-term residents (i.e., not tourists) and yet can not speak English. The reaction is somewhat understandable, for example, when confronted with sales clerks and phone operators who clearly have little comprehension of the language since that has a direct impact on me. Yet, like most people, I also get irritated when people speak Spanish to one another at the store, even though they’re not talking to me, it’s none of my business what they’re saying, and I wouldn’t even notice them if they were speaking English.
On the other hand, none of these reactions has ever led to fisticuffs or the hurling of footwear.
