No English, No service

One of South Philadelphia's biggest names in cheesesteaks is in a bit of a legal pickle for a lunch-line political statement against immigrants who don't speak English. The city's Commission on Human Relations yesterday filed a discrimination complaint against Geno's Steaks over signs that read: "This is AMERICA ... WHEN ORDERING SPEAK ENGLISH."

Discrimination? How can you make that stick? Hasn’t ‘racism’ and ‘discrimination’ become the Salem witch hunt of our time? What happened to free speech? Or how about freedom in business?

If a restaurant can say "No shirt, No shoes, No service", then why can’t he say the same about speaking English. Doesn’t a business owner reserve the right to refuse service if he deems it appropriate?

The way I see it, if there is no law requiring businesses to hire bilingual or multi-lingual staff, then a business owner has a right to demand that his customers speak English. There is no discrimination.

This is the definition of discrimination from the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia:

"To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit. Examples include racial, religious, sexual, disability, ethnic, height-related and age-related discrimination. Distinctions between people which are based just on individual merit (such as personal achievement, skill or ability) are not discriminatory."

Key words are "individual merit", "skill", "ability".

So, Geno’s will serve anyone of any race, religion, sexual preference, age, height, color, national origin, or handicap just as long as that person has the SKILL and ABILITY to speak English.

There is no discrimination. I tip my hat to Geno’s.