Signs point towards a cultural shift in America today.

A huge news story today, whether it be on the world wide web, in the local newspaper or on television, centers around immigration reform.  Immigration is a subject that many people feel passionately about because a major percentage of America's population is now Hispanic.  Some debate that people, regardless of their citizenship, should be given elementary individual rights such as the freedom to have a home and emergency health care; others, meanwhile, believe that illegal immigration is out of check and that legal citizens are exploited when their taxes pay to fund programs that serve illegal aliens.  Also, since Latino Americans mainly speak Spanish and America does not have an appointed language, many folks believe that soon more Americans will speak Spanish than English, the traditional language of the US.  This is problematic because it creates a divide amongst citizens.

The controversy in Arizona.

Though immigration reform has been discussed in Congress for years, the first solid effort towards regulation has just recently occurred in Arizona, where the Governor of the state signed a bill that allows police officers to demand official certification of citizenship from any person whom the officers deem shady.  Some have lauded the efforts of the Arizona government to crack down on illegal immigration, while others believe that this new bill gives law enforcement too much power and violates civil rights.  Regardless of your opinion on immigration, America is without a doubt undergoing a major cultural shift.  

Road signs lead the way.

I have been reading the newspaper and following major news stories ever since I was little, so I've known about the immigration reform argument for a long time.  I was only eight years old when I saw first hand that the American Hispanic population was growing.  I was raised in a little city on the East Coast with a 3 hour drive between myself and the closest major city.  Needless to say, I was not on the front lines of the changing face of America.  In fact, I was not even in my hometown when I made the realization that there was a huge population of Spanish speaking people in the United States.  I was on vacation in Florida and I recall seeing a metal sign on the side of the road.  The metal sign said "Rest Stop Ahead" in English on the first line, and it said the same phrase in Spanish on the second line.  I am a very observant person so this encounter caught my eye and forced me to pay attention to other metal signage while on my trip to Florida. 

Custom metal signs raise the eyebrows.

Soon I started seeing metal business signs scripted in Spanish, too!  I don't just mean the metal business sign for McDonald's or some other major corporation trying to maintain a politically correct image.  I saw CUSTOM business signs written in Spanish!  These custom metal signs always included an English translation of whatever was being advertised, commonly some kind of promotion for a small business.  For some reason, the fact that small businesses were advertising in Spanish on metal signs truly made me recognize for the first time that America is a melting pot of different cultures.

Custom metal signs are a cultural barometer.

Language is a reflection of culture.  Since we reside in a free country where we can speak however we want to, most of the time, without penalty, companies must be able to reach their target audience in the language of that audience.  As I learned on my vacation, a large majority of the Florida population is Spanish speaking.  Therefore, the companies marketed in Spanish using personalised metal signage.  Custom metal signs signal cultural changes and will continue to do so forever.           

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