Racists In CA Will Really Be Like “This Is America Speak English”

About

Racists in CA Will Really Be Like “This Is America Speak English” is a phrasal template used to mock the perceived hypocrisy of some United States citizens who believe English to be the official language of the country, despite living in towns and cities that have non-English-language names. The meme’s structure features a U.S. state as well as several municipalities in that state with non-English-language names.

Origin

On June 19th, 2020, Twitter user @karladelucas_ tweeted, “racists in CA will really be like ‘tHiS iS aMeRicA sPeAk eNgLisH’ but live in a place called Los Angeles or Palos Verdes or La Habra or San Diego or La Mirada or Escondido or Sacramento or Rancho Cucamonga or Santa Ana or Costa Mesa or San Clemente or San Jose or Santa Monica or.” The tweet received more than 847,000 likes and 193,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

Spread

Following the post, people began updating the template, replacing areas of California with other states. On June 20th, Twitter user @baaiilll tweeted a variation about New Jersey. They said, “Racists in NJ will really be like ‘sPeAk EnGliSh’ but live in a place called Succasunna or Mahwah or Hopatcong or Passaic or Hackensack or Ho Ho Kus or Matawan or Netcong or Manalapan or Metuchen or Pequannock or Raritan or Wanaque or Weehawken or Manasquan or Secaucus or.” The tweet received more than 17,000 likes and 6,400 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

Throughout the week, others shared variations that use different states, including New York and Washington (examples below, center and right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References