Who is an American? What is Americanness?

These questions raised in an interesting essay written by historian Eric Foner in 1995 resonate over a decade later. We find ourselves in the midst of yet another hurricane of ideas and slogans and plans concerning the complex issue of immigration during an election year. It seems that 2006 is ripe with peculiar solutions to the question of immigration.

In the Fresno Bee this morning, Mona Charen wrote that we should get rid of the "birthright citizenship" enshrined in the 14th Amendment. This encourages too many "poor pregnant women south of the border" to come here, and have an "anchor baby." The child would be born a citizen and become the golden ticket at the age of 21 when the whole family would be able to legally become Americans. Yet she doesn't offer alternatives to birthright citizenship. Maybe a No Child Left Behind solution. All Americans would have to take a high-stakes test on English language, U.S. history and civics. If they don't pass, they must leave this country.

My favorite so far, is elevating English to the official, true language of the U.S. This raises some fascinating questions. For example, what about strong dialects of English — from Cajun to Caribbean to Southern to Surfer to Mallspeak to Bostonian to Ebonics to Spanglish? Are these dialects also to be considered English? Or should we stick to a strict adherence to white, middle class English? I'll be honest, sometimes I even have trouble figuring out what my President is talking about, even though he seems to be speaking some variation of English.

The great thing about "English only," is the possibility it opens up for Fresno. The name of our city has been the source of ridicule for years. The city that ends with "no." Maybe this term, with it's negative final syllable, is part of our well-known self-loathing. The term Fresno is a Spanish word. Now that we live in an English-only nation, we can change the name of our city to something more uplifting to make us proud citizens.

I will throw down the gauntlet and challenge the creative minds that inhabit this fabulous web site offer suggestions for a new English name for our city. After all, what is the point of complaining about immigration unless we come up with some positive solutions? Remember, the city name must be firmly rooted in Anglo-Saxon linguistic roots and be positive enough to uplift our populace toward a brighter future.

Then we can begin to rename all the foreign language-based streets, buildings, schools, restaurants, shopping malls, electronic products, types of coffee drinks and gated communities. From there, we can begin to contemplate a new English name for our state. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see what possible English names for our city you wonderful people can come up with.