To the editor:

So now there is a movement in Kansas to make English the official state language, sort of like Budweiser is the official beer of NASCAR, I guess. I don’t know what the law will mean or will say about English as the official language of Kansas. I am somewhat worried, though.

As many of my family and friends know, I have a problem. I don’t know English. Really, I don’t. Never learned. Was an undiagnosed dyslexic most of my life. Never learned grammar or spelling. Like lots of folks, I got by, even at work, thanks to spell-check. And even today, people have a hard time accepting that I still couldn’t diagram a sentence or tell you the real difference between a conjunctive or future tense adverb. Or spell it for that matter.

So what is going to happen to me when this law gets passed in Kansas making English the official language? Am I going to get deported and sent back to grade school in Illinois? That is where I grew up. That is where they let me out of school not knowing English. It is their fault!

The point is that making any language the official language is simple-minded, narrow-minded and mostly mean-spirited, racist and ignorant. To even think that passing a law relating to a spoken language will have any effect on immigration problems is insane.

So if this law is not about stopping illegal immigration, then what it is about? It is about ignorance and fear. Period. Let’s hope that such a law is never, ever put on the books in Kansas.

Jim McCrary,

Lawrence