Carlos Ayala

SPA 311

7/10/2006

Discrimination Against Minority Cultures

The discrimination against minority cultures has been in existence for a longtime. Many

different ethnic groups have been targets to ridicule. How many Frenchmen does it take

to..? is an article written by Professor C. Stewart Doty on how and why Franco-

Americans of the Northeast were discriminated against. Franco Americans where looked

upon as passive, and ignorant. It got so bad that Franco-Americans committed a type of

cultural refusal, meaning that they rejected their own way of life in order to be accepted

into society. Franco-Americans can be compared to the Spanish speakers in the southwest

because they have both been forced to reject their culture. Doty explains the Franco-

American rejection by giving different scenarios.

Doty says that the Irish-Americans discriminated against the Franco-Americans

by two ways. One way was at the work place, and the second way was through the

Roman Catholic Church. This happens to the Spanish from the south west because they

were always stuck in dead end jobs that didnt go anywhere, and they were always trying

to get them to change their religious ways. The problem with this is that if the Franco-

Americans and the southwest Spanish speakers deviated from what the hierarchy wanted

they would be discriminated against. The Franco-Americans would be called frogs,

while on the other hand a term used to refer to Spanish speakers in the southwest is "wet-
back", in Spanish it means "mojado". This term is an allusion to the illegal crossing of

the Rio Grande by Mexicans.

Doty says the discriminatory banning and belittling of spoken new American

French in schools and colleges fostered low Franco-American self esteem. Meaning that

the Franco-Americans were not allowed to speak their native language in public because

they were an inferior race according to the Irish-American. This is similar to the Spanish

speakers in the southwest because the Anglo-Americans were the ones that were

inforcing the English language on them, hence they were forced to neglect their original

tounge and implement the English language. The authoritative powers enforcing these

rules on the Franco-American and the Southwest Spanish speakers made them feel so bad

about their own language that they made them rejected their own language and refused to

speak it because they believed that it was informal and unapropriate. The term that they

used to describe this was assimilate. It seems that they brainwashed them into

believing that speaking their language was not seen as the educated or proper way of

speaking that is why so many Franco-Americans and Spanish south west speakers were

afraid of speaking their language.

The term frog was brought back by American soldiers who were in France and

used as an ethnic slur to Franco-Americans. This can also be applied to the Spanish

speakers of the south west because they also received ethnic slurs from their Anglo-

American counterparts. Anglo-American would refer to Spanish speakers in the south

west as beaners because they were seen as large consumers of beans. Many stereotypes

have been applied, and ethnic jokes have also been made.
 Doty refers to a radio commentator named Frenchie which was making dumb

Frenchman jokes on the radio. This station was heard all throughout southern Maine and

New Hampshire. Frenchie made many Luede comments which were targeted at

Franco-Americans. Franco-Americans didnt want to say anything because they didnt

want to be singled out, so instead they sat back and laughed the comments of instead of

taking an initative and standing up for their beleiefs. The Spanish speakers from the west

had the same problem because the Anglo-American people would make jokes about them

as well, but they could not do or say anything because they didnt want any attention to

be brought towards them. Instead they acted nonchalant and took the punches as they

came. Frenchies excuse for saying all his unproper jokes towards Franco-Americans

was that they did not mind the jokes, and that they were so used to being made fun of

that it didnt bother them at all.

It wasnt until a Franco-American employee sued his employer for discrimination

that someone actually stood up for what they felt was unfair. In this case the Franco-

American that his co-workers made racial slurs that were uncalled for. They told him

things like to your health frog, and left him a ceramic frog with a crown, which

insinuated that he was French because he ate frog legs. The Franco-American lost his

case because the attorney that represented him gave a different story to the judge. His

attorney claimed that his client (the Franco-American) was a lousy worker, as well as

unpopular. His attorney also claimed that he was impolite because he would speak French

in their presence, and that he had a history of being a bad employee. As a result of his

attorneys false claims the Franco-American lost his case and was ridiculed because it

seemed like he had made the whole law suit up. This is relevant to Spanish speakers from
the southwest because they also have been discriminated against at work. They are made

fun of because they know that they can get away with it. Just like in the Franco-American

trial the Spanish speakers from the southwest would get the same result if they were to

take their claim to court because the majority will always do anything in its power to

keep them down, because they know if they allow one to win then that causes a chain

reaction to occur which well then lead to a rise in the minority which the majority does

not want to happen. The Majority in this case are the Irish-American and the Anglo-

American because they are oppressing the Franco-Americans and the Spanish speakers

from the southwest.

Eventually what will occur is that there will be one person who leads the way for

the rest in order for them to rise up and stand up for what they believe in. This is the only

way that the oppressed will become free because if you are always told what to do, what

to say, and what to believe in, you will never live a normal life. You would be so

concerned of what other people think of you that you will become nonexistent and

disappear from the face of the earth. This will happen because the whole point of the

oppressor is to keep the oppressed down, and if you give into that belief then you will let

them win. All you can hope for is for people to change and stop being ignorant, in order

for them to accept you for who you are, and not where you are from.