Students going to school in Juniata County received a shocker one morning when the Pennsylvania bus driver put up a sign banning anyone from speaking Spanish. Signed “Owner/Management,” the notice read, “Out of respect for English only students there will be NO speaking Spanish on this bus!” Needless to say, such a sign must have confused the students riding the bus, with plenty likely informing their family and friends about the situation.
Despite the sign claiming that the owner or management of the bus wrote the note, the company working with the school, Rorher Bus, says it did not authorize such a message to be put up. Speaking with PennLive, the transportation management partner with Juniata County School District said that it “did not author or endorse this ‘racially insensitive’ statement in any way.” While the company didn’t apologize for what happened, it did “suspend the transportation provider” as a “precautionary measure.”
The Juniata County District of Pennsylvania also made a statement on the “NO speaking Spanish” sign, saying that it” took immediate action in response” while leaving out the details of what action was even taken. Whatever the case, the school district promises that it and its transportation partner will “remain committed to providing a safe environment for all students.” Like Rorher’s statement, no responsibility was taken for the bus driver’s action, nor was any apology issued.
“Welcome to Trump’s America,” states an X commenter on the situation, referring to how ICE is actively arresting thousands across the US under the President’s orders. “Pathetic,” chimes in a Redditor, “I hate how emboldened bigots feel these days. It’s also contemptible for an adult to flex over children like this; imagine being such a small person that you have to bully kids to feel like a big shot.”
Another Redditor on r/Pennsylvania exclaims the shocking revelation of this matter. Racism has always been a problem in the US, but now that supposedly “racists are running the show, they feel more empowered” than ever, with this Pennsylvania bus driver being a prime example:
“Who the hell do these people think they are? People can speak whatever language they want; this is a free country. Subjecting children to nonsense like this is absolutely egregious. The owner of that bus needs to be held accountable.”
“It’s called the ‘Trump Effect’,” claims another user. Of course, they are clearly implying that ever since Trump promised to build a wall in the past and now take action to deport all the illegal immigrants, discrimination has been at an all-time high. “I’d learn Spanish just to piss them off,” jokingly remarks another, with dozens of others upvoting and replying in agreement.
Thankfully, very few followers of this Pennsylvania news story consider that “the Spanish speakers should learn [and speak] English.” The grand majority readily acknowledges the absurdity of the sign poster’s actions and is in overwhelming agreement that discrimination of any type has no place in the US. There might be hope for the country yet.
