Why should I have to speak Spanish?
I used to believe in the so-called American dream. Not anymore. I, like many others, took on student loan debt to become a nursing professional only to have many companies turn me away because I don’t speak Spanish.
I find it hard to believe that in the United States of America, an English-speaking nation, that I can’t work in offices such as Clinica Sierra Vista, among others, because I can’t speak Spanish. I meet all of the other job qualifications. Is this not the same discrimination tactic that the Civil Rights Movement fought against?
Why is it that U.S. citizens are required to speak the language of foreigners to be employed in their own country? Shouldn’t it be the other way around, shouldn’t they learn to speak English?
Bridget Wright, Fresno
This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 8:22 AM with the headline "Why should I have to speak Spanish?."