Geno's Steaks owner Joey Vento never thought eight words would cause such a fuss.
But the ruckus, raised over a sign at his ordering window that reads, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English," has finally ended.
Thirty-one months after Vento first put the sign up, and nearly two years after the City of Philadelphia filed a "complaint of bias" against him because of it, Philadelphia's Commission for Human Relations ruled that the sign is not discriminatory.
The three-member panel rejected the notion that the sign suggested that non-English speaking customers would not be served, despite testimony from members of several minority groups who said they felt it was discriminatory or intolerant.
But "nobody's ever been refused service," Vento said.
Vento's issue is not with foreigners or legal immigrants, he says, but with the need for non-native speakers to learn English.
"We're a melting pot. The thing that makes it work is English," he said, emphasizing the challenges his grandparents faced learning English shortly after their arrival to the United States.
Besides its political message, Vento said he also displayed the sign to enhance efficiency. He added that it is "tough love" for immigrants who won't assimilate, but want Americans "to learn their language and culture" instead.
The decision marked the end of a legal battle that lasted almost two years.
The win "is a time for celebration not only for Joey Vento, but also for the hundreds of thousands of people that win when an individual stands up for themselves [against the government] and wins," said Shannon Goessling, Southeastern Legal Foundation executive director and part of Vento's legal team.
Al Weiss, Vento's local lawyer, said the win was particularly important given the nature of the law brought against Vento, which Weiss called "subjective" and which he said must be changed.
He said the problem with the law is that "any person who looks at the sign can interpret it as offensive, and theoretically, the commission can prosecute."
In Vento's case, "The city wasted time and money and persecuted a local business owner," Weiss added.
While College senior Richard Lee, a self-described cheesesteak aficionado, said he thinks the sign is intolerant, it shouldn't be a major cause for uproar.
"All you need to say is 'please order in English,'" Lee said, adding that Geno's current sign is "mean-spirited."
"I'd prefer it if it wasn't there, but I don't think me going [to Geno's] endorses racism or anything," he said.
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