Delaware playground sign in Spanish differs from English sign

[Baltimatt]

Milford, Delaware

Well, you can read what it says in English. In Spanish it says (paraphrasing) "You have to have a permit to play here or you will be arrested." The english version contains no information about needing a permit or else you will be subject to police action. It is an obvious intimidation tactic and a not so subtle "Whites Only" sign.

So if you are a white English speaking "American," you can play here at your own risk so long as you have a parent or guardian watching. If you are brown, if you dare play here without a permit we will arrest your immigrant ***. That is the [expletive deleted] height of racism, and I will see to it that who ever is responsible for this sign will have their public careers ended immediately.

I couldn't find a mainstream news story on this, but I'm wondering if some of our Delaware posters might have heard the story.

This is so wrong!

[Baltimatt]

This blog post has some more detail.

A friend of mine just toured all the schools in the City of Milford. There are three parks/playgrounds at or near the Lulu Ross Elementary School and the new Misspillion school (which are adjacent to each other), and there are multiple offending signs there. This section on the South side of town is home to many Latino families. Indeed, it can be called the Latino section of the town. At other schools and parks in Milford, in the more predominantly white part of town, there are no signs. So this just gets worse and worse, and there is no mistaking the intent. This is not a mistake in translation. This is not a photoshop. This is real.

The last picture show signs in white instead of yellow, and the English language sign has the same warning as the Spanish language signs. So, there is at least one instance of a warning to English speakers about requiring a permit to play at a particular facility. Could it be that someone who didn't know Spanish goofed? Although why didn't whoever was responsible make sure the yellow signs had the same meaning in both languages?

[demopublican]

Update 4: In the last picture above you see a different sign. Both the English and Spanish version are white signs, and they both say the same thing. "You need a permit to play on this field. Violators will be subject to police action." The question remains why the yellow signs do not have the same warning in English. A mistake made by downstaters who don't speak spanish? Or something more intentional? Either way, the yellow signs have to be taken down.

I disagree. They just need some additional warnings in English.

[Baltimatt]

demo--

Well, they need to make the signs say the same thing. It seems the white signs were at a soccer field, and that may indeed by the policy for that locale but not the others.

[Gopher]

Simple solution. Bring it to the attention of the bureaucrats responsible for the signs. They can either fix it or offer an explanation for the differences. We can probably resolve this without starting a race war.

[TheResearcher]

Take down the Spanish signs. If you are a citizen, naturalized or born, if you are working your way toward being a citizen, you should have enough of a command of the English language to not need signs in any other languages.

[Gopher]

Take down the Spanish signs. If you are a citizen, naturalized or born, if you are working your way toward being a citizen, you should have enough of a command of the English language to not need signs in any other languages.

Another simple solution.

[Baltimatt]

Spanish signs taken down Sunday

Milford Superintendent Phyllis Kohel on Sunday personally removed a handful of Spanish-language signs at two elementary school playgrounds that sparked accusations of racism and discrimination over the weekend.

“Regardless of what the signs do or do not say, if there is even a perception that we are discriminating against any group, I felt they needed to come down immediately,” Kohel said after she and her husband finished taking down the four signs at Lulu Ross and Mispillion elementary schools. “We have a wide variety of ethnic groups in our schools and discrimination against any group goes against everything the Milford School District stands for.”

...

“Signs with the same message in English and Spanish are posted at the sports fields at the high school complex and the middle school, because you do have to have permission to use those fields,” she said. “The playgrounds at Mispillion and Ross are both relatively new and I think someone put the Spanish signs meant for the athletic fields at those locations by mistake.”

[RavnFreek]

From the Article: "It is an obvious intimidation tactic and a not so subtle "Whites Only" sign."

I had no idea white people were the only ones who knew how to speak english???? wow!!

[Baltimatt]

RevnFreek--

Consider the source. The story has now been picked up by mainstreams news sources and the superintendent went out there herself to down town the offending Spanish-language signs.

[flyboy56]

It's nothing more than a language translation snafu. I see it happen here all of the time. Nothing to get hung up about though. Let it go.

[ms maggie]

From the Article: "It is an obvious intimidation tactic and a not so subtle "Whites Only" sign."

I had no idea white people were the only ones who knew how to speak english???? wow!!

Alluding to the old Jim Crow signs, obviously!

[flyboy56]

Stupid employees and poor supervision. What's new about that?

[veritas]

This blog post has some more detail.



The last picture show signs in white instead of yellow, and the English language sign has the same warning as the Spanish language signs. So, there is at least one instance of a warning to English speakers about requiring a permit to play at a particular facility. Could it be that someone who didn't know Spanish goofed? Although why didn't whoever was responsible make sure the yellow signs had the same meaning in both languages?

Or better yet, just post it in English and have people learn the native language.

[Calamari]

You'd expect this sort of thing in an armpit state like Arizona, I was surprised to see it in Delaware.

[RavnFreek]

You'd expect this sort of thing in an armpit state like Arizona, I was surprised to see it in Delaware.

No stereotyping from you on that one huh? Odd how you see no irony in your comment.

[RavnFreek]

Carrol county wont have this problem if they pass an official language.

[ivanbalt]

You'd expect this sort of thing in an armpit state like Arizona, I was surprised to see it in Delaware.

Delaware is just a different type of armpit.

[Baltimatt]

Carrol county wont have this problem if they pass an official language.

The county may run afoul of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act if it gets federal funding and doesn't consider the needs of people with "Limited English Proficiency."

[Marshan Man]

RevnFreek--

What congregation is Freek the minister of?

Sorry Matt... couldn't resist.