Joey Vento Is Right, This Is America, Speak English

In a case that made national news in June of 2006, a shop owner, Joey Vento refused to remove a sign from his front window that said, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English." Today the Commission on Human Relations ruled in his favor.

June 9, 2006, Joey Vento hit the mainstream news by refusing a request from the a City Council member, Jim Kenney, to remove a sign he had in his storefront window that read, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English."

Vento, whose grandparents struggled to learn English after immigrating from Sicily in the 1920s, said his staff is glad to help non-native speakers order in English and no one has been turned away because of a language barrier. ​

Today we see, almost two years later, the Commission on Human Relations has ruled that Vento did not violate the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance, (19 page PDF file- Hat tip Hot Air.) because he had never turned a customer away for not speaking English, he simply requested that patrons at his South Philadelphia cheesesteak shop order in English.

It was a split decision from the three member panel and Vento had already stated that if the commission ruled against him he would take it to court for infringing on his freedom of speech.

Since the case has been ongoing for 21 months, and consumed hundreds of hours of legal time and was the subject of a seven-hour hearing in December, Shannon L. Goessling, executive director of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, who championed Vento's case says that he will still consider suing the commission for the cost of his defense.

Goessling said, "If that's what it takes to send a message to government, then that's what it takes."

Vento's attorney, Albert G. Weiss, said he did not expect the commission to rule in their favor and was pleasantly surprised.

In a statement that Vento gave in an interview he stated, "They made me famous throughout the world. I'm way ahead of the game. I became a hero. I've got to thank them for that."

He concludes by saying, "I woke up America, so to speak."

The commission's executive director, W. Nick Taliaferro, says the commission will not file an appeal.

More on Joey Vento can be found at Wikipedia.

This can be considered a major win for a business owners rights vs a world where political correctness tries to strip those rights.

Good for Vento!

. Posted by Susan Duclos at 12:03 PM

 

Good for Mr. Vento.

He's lucky he wasn't arrested for not being politically correct. The thought police are out in hordes, many being the dumbed-down public.

 

Nothing wrong with the sign, but I dont see why shouldnt mr Vento or other store owners try to learn another language besides their native to deal with customers from other countries and tourists..

 

this is america please speak lakota soioux blackfoot cherokee dineh seneca iriqious algonquin deleware ...and so on...
english is the language of the brittish we fought to gain independence from, not the language of the people of america
the sign should read this is america please do not speak english
especialy since according to the english we dont even speak it right


this is the internet, should we all speak binary?

 

10101110001100 1110001010101010 10101010101010 10101010101010 10101001101!!!

 

That is just so stupidly ignorant. Speak whatever language you want. Hell, bring back Gaelic for all you want or one of Tolkein's Elven languages for all I care. Honestly, I could care less about protecting and promoting the overbearing all powerful over-hyped English language at this point.

As long as you do your taxes and fill out those welfare cheques in English in the USA, who cares? World business is already done in English - why should people be forced to speak a language they don't care to do outside of business?

Harrumph.

 

I agree mostly but when in rome....

 

When in Rome, pray?

Thing is, most people who are offended by other languages are people who can only speak English. It never fails to upset these people and the ways of doing business and communicating is all of a sudden turned into a national identity crisis!

"Oh crap! That person isn't speaking English! That's unAmerican! We must smite anyone who threatens the shining Anglo-Saxon-Protestant-American identity stereotype because it's the ultimate identity and everything else should be stamped out of them filthy foreigners."

You know, most people who migrate to the USA just want to keep their primary language foremost as their primary, and don't mind adapting to everything else. It doesn't take much more than an ounce of understanding to accommodate this sentiment.

 

and getting back to the true languages of true americans , white anglo settlers not only tried wiping out the people but also through intimidation and insistance on the use of english (anguage of oppression and conquest) shave nearly destroyed the rich languages of the tribes so hardly any are completely complete these days, and every1 who speaks the entire language is either under 8 or over 80

how many other languages should we let english destroy?

i only speak english myself except a few words here or there of a few others but wish i spoke just about anything else
speak english or die mentality is as bad as the speak only in bible verse or rot in hell mentalities that have wiped out currupted and suppressed so much culture in its never ending race towards domminance

joey ventro is wrong..hes givin up his own language andd culture ..just to be able to sell steaks to ppl who just think of him as a sterotypical south phuilluyy italian with mob connections
and hes asking every vietnamesse japanese african french german and every other italian around him to fade to grey like he has, become less of who they were culturaluyy and speak a language of a occupying force

 

This isn't even about what you guys are bickering about. It's about his right to free speech.

 

Well, it is. This guy thinks it's cool to take his rights and racist attitudes to the Supreme Court! to the Human Rights Commission! To infinity and beyond! to get attention and become an American hero.

*yawns*

He might as well wear a Davey Crockett hat.

Or join the KKK and spew that his rights to freedom of expression are being oppressed somehow. Sorry, but he's just a jerk with a sign.

 

its both..its both about the right to free speach..and the right for an diduiot to say something thats entirely wrong

the thread title implies what he dsaid with the sign was right to say..it wasnt

if it was a naxi insisting you cfant buy his liverwurst without wearring a swastica would u alsoi deffend him?

whats the difference?
hes insisting that only english should be acceptable

or, only wearring a swastica..only following his views..

if his own grandmother came over from italy, was 98 years old and not about to start learning english, would the sign remain?


im defending his right to be biggotted idiot, but still gonna say hes a biggotted idiot..and...hes WRONG

 

It's called FREE SPEECH. Free speech means free speech for everyone, regardless if you agree with it or not or if it offends you. He was requested by the city to take the sign down, and he refused, deciding instead to exercise his First Amendment rights by taking his case to the Supreme Court.

Anyone who understands what is happening in the country with the destruction of the Constitution should be in support of this guy, whether they agree with him or not. It's not the government's say to tell him what he can and cannot have in his own restaurant.

 

Børk! Børk! Børk!

Can you understand Swedish?

 

Right... so if there are signs in his restaurant that read "Jews unwelcome" or "Blacks sit in the back" or "Speak English or leave you unAmerican" we should all agree and support this guy, whether we agree with him or not, according to you. Because the government has no say what he can do with his restaurant.

Again, he's just a jerk with a sign who feels entitled to insult and provoke people. Long live idiots and their bleeding hearts when it comes to their freedoms of speech. Heck, God bless 'em.

 

No, you should NOT support HIM. However, you should support his (OUR) FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT to free speech.

You see, the government is using cases like this to say "Oh, look what this guy is saying," which is designed to create a reaction in the public that is very much incapable of exercising any critical thought. They know people are mostly REACTIONARY, as the responders to this thread have exemplified. They don't think, they react according to their own indoctrination. This creates the public outrage desired and people will say "How dare him... make him take the sign down." They will let their emotions get in the way of their reasoning, and this is exactly what they want because it creates the justification for the government to pass more and more laws restricting free speech (based on what THE STATE deems is acceptable and not acceptable).

They are already passing so-called "hate crime" laws in the US (and even more so in Canada) that make it punishable by jail time (look at Ernst Zundel) to even say anything deemed "politically incorrect" by the state. It has nothing to do with protecting gays, minorities, women, whatever. It has everything to do with LIMITING your right to free speech, and they always use cases like this that stir people's emotions. They wouldn't be able to do this any other way. They can't just come in and say "OK, we're going to take away your free speech now," because they know the people would flip out and there would be much opposition. So instead, they use cases aimed at people's emotions, to get them to react instead of think. When people are reactionary, they are prone to letting the government do things they otherwise would not be able to get away with.

 

put up billboards sayoin pressed rat is ghay pressed rat should die..pressed rat fucks children
would pressed rat deffend those signs right to exist? would he thank the ppl who put em up for spoeaking theyre minds?

ofcourse he wins in free speach..but still..he should take the sign down..
not to limmit free speach but to limmit racism stupidity and hastred

its ignorant

 

The only one here showing ignorance is YOU, pal.

You don't even know the difference between slander and libel versus free speech. You completely went off tangent in a feeble attempt to make a point and you failed miserably.

 

Why should I? I don't even support a whole whackload of clauses in the American Constitution. How can I support his First Amendment right when I think he's just a jerk with a sign who wants to use the Constitution to put up offensive signs to gain popularity and piss off people living in his community on purpose?

Ummm... Yeah... sure... my emotions have not been indoctrinated here. I would be pretty fucking offended if I had to go into his shop and would be refused service if I ordered in French or if I tried to speak English when I couldn't very well and thus be doubly embaressed and denied service because of my culture or my accent.

For the sake of the argument of reason, what is the reason for the sign being there in the first place?

Sure. That's total BS, right there. Hate crimes should not go without punishment and in Canada there is no standard case that is tearing down and destroying the rights to free speech. For some reason, the American culture is centered around these cases and people are fixated with the idea that freedom of speech is somehow a battle in which jerks with signs deserve to win. You are justifying a jerk with a sign, and that's pretty cowardly to call it a free speech war and harp on the very people that come in to help pay and support his business in a respectable and decent manner who happen to speak a different language or have a difference of opinion.

This isn't an emotional case. It's a disgrace and disrespectful way of getting the media attention to focus in on a jerk with a sign's plight because he enjoys being offensive and wants to continue being offensive at the expense of creating divisions within his cultural community and we are led to believe this is all for the guise of what you call "freedom of speech".

Harrumph to you, sir.

 

You can't sit there and tell me that he put up the sign originally because he was exercising his rights to freedom of speech.

He wanted to cause a stir and provoke hate through the medium of free speech. That sign is what it is because there was an intention to put it up there for people to see and for him to feel satisfied with his own venting of personal frustrations and he took it out on a particular group of people that he has targeted. That's just another jerk with a sign - nothing more.