There’s a time and place for principles – all the time and any place.

But when posturing takes on the visage of principles, it hurts everyone on our side of the political spectrum.

School officials in Houma, LA (That’s Louisiana folks, not Los Angeles) are considering requiring commencement speeches to be in English (here). Sounds like a decent principle, right?

What prompted this action? Some young hispanic student must have delivered their commencement speech in Spanish just to prove a political point, right? Wrong.

Cindy Vo, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, spoke one line of her portion of the commencement speech in Vietnamese for her parents who speak no English. She then translated the line into English for her fellow students.

A child of legal immigrants who rises to the top of her class and then honors her parents with a special line in her moment off glory is something we should all celebrate, not use for political fodder.  There were no students sitting in bewilderment as a 10 minute speech rambled on in some foreign language. If there were, there would be reason to understand an “English only” policy.

Rickie Pitre, David Bourg, I don’t know your politics, but I do know that making proposals or suggestions that this is something that needs to be “fixed” is damaging to anyone that makes a serious “English only” argument when and where it is for the good of the people, not the good of the politician’s interest.

Cindy and Hue Vo – and parents - ốt công việc (if that came out right, that’s “good job” for those of you reading along in English.)