Remember the Mark Steyn of cheeseteakery?
It was the small sign that stirred up a legal tornado. Last week, Joey Vento, owner of a popular Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant, finally won the right to keep his sign: “This is America: When Ordering, Please Speak English.” It took him two years, much abuse and hundreds of hours of work by paid and volunteer lawyers, but a local regulatory body finally ruled his sign wasn’t discriminatory or offensive.
Mr. Vento, owner of Geno’s Steaks, says he never refused service to anyone who didn’t speak English and put up the sign only as a political statement because so many people were lapsing into their native tongues when they could have used basic English. “I wanted to keep the line moving,” he says. He also puckishly noted that someone who didn’t know English couldn’t read the sign anyway.
But that’s not how Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations saw it. Last year, after an extensive investigation, it found probable cause that Mr. Vento had engaged in discriminatory behavior because his sign discouraged customers from certain backgrounds from eating there. A final ruling against Mr. Vento could have resulted in fines and a move to revoke his business license.
By the way, shouldn’t only alien species have an office of “human relations”?