I want to take the time to publish a public letter to address what Charlie Kirk said on his show, The Charlie Kirk Show, on Real America’s Voice channel. He said that having American Sign Language interpreters on television is a distraction, which has caused many Republicans and Trump supporters to be negative about it. Before I start, I will share a video and a screenshot of an example of what Charlie Kirk caused a ramification.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions; however, sometimes there are right and wrong opinions. Unfortunately, Charlie Kirk’s opinion is very wrong, while at the same time giving the Republicans, Trump supporters, and others the ammo to be offensive about it, which is oppressive. I have shown an example in the screenshot that I posted above of someone like Christopher F. Rufo, Miranda Devine, Tony Martin, and others speaking negatively about a real language (read about American Sign Language is a real language) that the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community use as their primary/native language, which is American Sign Language. In Charlie Kirk’s Show, he said that having sign language interpreters on the television is a distraction. That closed caption is good enough. Not many Deaf people have the opportunity to learn English like Charlie Kirk speaks in his show, a language that does not even belong to America in the first place (irony, huh, Charlie?!). Now, he has his supporters saying our native language, American Sign Language (in America, FYI, every country has their sign language as one of their languages, but here in America, it is called American Sign Language), is “Woke.” If they think that it is woke, then so is every language, including English, because, again, as I said, American Sign Language here in America is a legitimate language. The “woke” or “not woken” or whatever similar about ANY language is nonsense! It does not make any sense at all because it’s the same as saying English is woke, which does not even make sense. If Charlie Kirk and these people think that the sign language interpreters on television are a distraction, then so is the audio because that is no difference! If having sign language interpreters appear on the television who interpret whatever is being said in the audio is a distraction, then be quiet and remove any audio in the television because then the sign language interpreters cannot say anything as there is no audio to interpret. That makes me think that Charlie Kirk and these people failed to realize that.
If there is audio on the television, a sign language interpreter should interpret what is being said. If that is a distraction, remove the audio, to be fair, and then we can all just watch some television without understanding what is happening on the television. How’s that, Charlie Kirk and the supporters of Charlie Kirk?!
It’s simple: if there is audio, then there are sign language interpreters, and if there is no audio, then there is no need for sign language interpreters. As for saying, why should there be sign language interpreters when we have closed captions? Again, sign language is different from English or any spoken language. Some of us Deaf people only learned our native language, sign language, and not any other language, including English, which is a different language. Just like the sign language in another country, like Japan (which is called JSL, like here in America, it’s ASL for short American Sign Language), cannot interpret what is being said in English but in their Japanese language. It is why some Deaf people heavily advocate for Bilingual-Bicultural education programs in public schools so that we Deaf people can learn not only our native language but also a second language, which can be English or a different country’s sign language. We have over 360 million Deaf populations; we must have access to important information. To do so, we need someone to interpret whatever language is spoken in sign language – like English or American Sign Language. Let me put this simply for you, Charlie Kirk, and your supporters (including Trump supporters). Can you understand what we said in our native language in the United States, American Sign Language? Oh, you cannot? Now let’s turn that table around; what makes you think some of us Deaf people can understand what you said in English? No, unless you have taken an American Sign Language class in the United States, as some universities and colleges have American Sign Language classes. Each country has its sign language; for us here in America, it’s American Sign Language. Until every school, university, and college starts offering Bilingual-Bicultural education programs with spoken English and American Sign Language, not everyone who is Deaf can understand English here in the United States because their native/first language is American Sign Language, which, as I said again, it is different from the spoken language English. The interpreters are there to interpret what is being said in English and translate the English into a different language, which, in this case, American Sign Language.
An America’s Real Voice? That is so un-American for you, Charlie because American Sign Language is also a language here in the beautiful country of America. We, the Deaf people, take pride in our sign language that belongs to America; hence, it’s called American Sign Language (ASL), not Mexico Sign Language (LSM), Japanese Sign Language (JSL), French Sign Language (LSF), and others, which are also real languages in their countries.
Charlie Kirk, shame on you for being unAmerican by telling us Deaf people that our native sign language is a distraction. Be America for once by supporting our sign language, American (keyword American) Sign Language, just like we support English, which belongs to Britain and is used as our spoken language here in the United States of America. We Deaf people WANT to hear what you and others have to say but in our native language, which is, of course, American Sign Language. We would like to be engaged with you by listening to the interpreters on what you say in audio. Just like to be engaged with the Deaf community, you would need American Sign Language interpreters to translate for us. In other words, each of us needs them so that we (Deaf people and the people who can hear) understand each other so we can converse about whatever you say in audio or whatever we say in our sign language. Christopher F. Rufo, if you think we need to stop having sign language interpreters, then have no audio! If there is, then we Deaf people need them to interpret AND, not only that, also to translate what they say in English. Tony Martin, what are you talking about?! American Sign Language is “woke”!? It is a language; American Sign Language is called “woke” and English “woke” because it is what American Sign Language goes by! American Sign Language interpreters rely on the spoken language, such as English, and then interpret that while translating. Feeling embarrassed now, aren’t you?! Quit discriminating against the sign language that translates your language, English. If you call our American Sign Language “woke,” then call your spoken language “woke,” too, as they work together. As for Miranda Devine, you have absolutely no point!
So, next time, you should be careful with what you say. Think twice and hard because it was dumb of you to call sign language a “distraction” and “woke” without realizing that you also call your spoken language, English, the same thing since they go together hand-to-hand. No sign language? No speaking or audio! Got it? Do you want to speak on a microphone on TV? Then we want sign language interpreters on our TV because they are our Deaf people’s speakers that come from your microphone speaking in your language such as English. If we speak, the interpreters will be our microphone, which will go to your audio speakers. It works both ways. Do you realize that?
Thank you for reading this. I hope you take the time to think about this thoroughly and carefully, not only you, Charlie Kirk, but also Christopher F. Rufo, Tony Martin, and Miranda Devine.
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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