Re: Sandra Sanders’ Nov. 29 letter, “Bilingual guarantee�:
This letter expressed sadness at the "state of our educational system" due to The Star's readers who are so "ignorant" as to complain about bilingual ballots. The reasoning was that the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo “guaranteed that the ceded territories north of the border would be bilingual."
Since I oppose bilingual ballots and was ignorant of this treaty, I located the treaty and read it. Nothing I could find in this treaty even hinted at such a guarantee. It did provide that Mexicans living in the territory at the time of the treaty would be offered the opportunity to receive U.S. citizenship for one year and would be treated fairly.
Shame on the writer for preying on people's ignorance and distorting the facts in order to sway opinions. Perhaps it was the writer who was subject to a substandard education? I stand by my position that to vote legally, you must be a U.S. citizen; to become a U.S. citizen, you must demonstrate "an ability to read, write, and speak English" — this comes straight from the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In other words, bilingual ballots are a waste of our money and an incentive for people to vote illegally.
— Alan D. Fletcher, Ojai
I too just read the treaty and agree with Mr. Fletcher. But I did further research and found a website that wildly misrepresents the Treaty. It talks about being a conquered people - they weren't they were free to leave and if they stayed would be considered to have the same rights to liberty and property and religion as U.S. citizens. Language was never addressed in the Treaty. In fact Article IX starts out with the following: "The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic...."
Evidently not all website sources are equally honest.