More on the crazy that is Nashville’s English-Only vote
A Miami bumper sticker two decades ago asked the last American leaving Miami to please bring the flag.Before we get started: Vote “No” and “No” on the English-Only Nashville charter amendment Jan. 22. Early voting is going on now.
Go vote at the Howard Office School Building.
Nashville Celebration of Cultures. Fall, 2006
Now…
There still are Americans in Miami, but many of them have last names like Rodriguez and Garcia.
Perhaps this “over-taking” is what the folks who are pushing the English-Only charter amendment in Nashville are so afraid of. As one woman put it, the “barrio-izing” of her hometown.
My aunt in Miami reminded me a few days ago that Miami passed an English-Only law in the 1980s and it didn’t work. So, I was happy to hear the local NPR station do that very story yesterday morning.
The Miami ordinance was overturned 13 years later. You know by whom? The Latino majority on the council. How’s that for fabulous? In the meantime, mucho mess.
“You know, we lost a lot of time I think and progress, probably a lot of public dollars in legal challenges and the wheels of government had to grind a bit slower because everything had to be checked whether it was legal to do or not in two languages.”
– Rhonda Victor, a journalist who worked for Miami-Dade when the referendum passed.
There’s also a Web extra on the NPR page, with information about how other cities and states have dealt with English-Only bills and votes. There have been lawsuits and suits are predicted here if this thing passes. I can’t vote, but I can write checks. And for that, I will if I have to.
A reader a couple of days ago alerted us to an interview by Metro Councilwoman Megan Barry. It is good. You can hear it here. Listen to what she says about how Councilman Eric Crafton, the force behind this xenophobic idea, learned Japanese. (Note to Councilwoman Barry: I felt the same exact way when I read the Nashville Scene profile of Crafton.)
There’s a lot of discussion on Facebook pages about this thing. Here is the supporter site. One woman says that those who are against English-Only are against it because they want to continue to import cheap labor. Another says America is fabulous because we are a melting pot, while the “current trend” is divisive. (I wonder, though, if she likes going to Little Italy for cannolis and Chinatown for knock-offs.)
Seriously, whose not melting in? Every refugee and immigrant I ever have met in this town — and I met a lot of new arrivals when I covered social issues and minority groups for the paper — spoke English or was actively learning English. OK, maybe one didn’t want to. He was a Cubanito who struggled with language. But, you can bet your bippie he speaks English now. He’s also got a wife and three kids and a full-time job.
No one has been able to say just what the daily headaches are. Like, are city employees under deluge from refugees and immigrants to answer questions in 27 languages? Karl Dean, the mayor of Metro Nashville, is against this thing, as is half the Metro Council. So, where is the problema?
No one has been able to say exactly how much translation services cost the city because it is so minimal. But, we know the election will cost about $350,000. And, that’s before the legal suits hit if it passes.
What I have gotten from electronic conversations with supporters is just anecdote. “They” want hand-outs. “They” need to learn English. “They” are not melting in.
I’m sorry, but I don’t buy into any argument that starts with “They” or “Those people.” No me sale.
***Also, it appears someone has parodied the English-Only folks by creating a blog answering the same questions posed on the site of the true believers. It is hilarious and even if you ain’t from ’round here, you’ll laugh.
Bravo to the witty genius behind the blog.
More soapbox in a day or two…
Hey there, longtime lurker delurking for this one.
Just thought I’d chime in, to lend a differing voice. As an ESL teacher and married to a non-English-speaker, I can see both sides. I’m not in Nashville, so I won’t be voting, and even if I had that pleasure, it would be difficult to decide. While a great deal of xenophobia is obvious in some of the comments you’ve heard and report, I don’t think it’s xenophobic for a city/state/country to have an official language, and for the government correspondence to be done in that language.
You ask “whose not melting in?”
Many. Perhaps Nashville is more of a “melting pot” than Atlanta, but the students I teach are by and large NOT. “Why should they have to?”, say the cultural relativists. Interesting that I would be expected to use the language of the country of residence anywhere else in the world. Even as non-native speakers graduate (or not) from American high schools, they speak other languages at home. They write other languages. Their English forces universities into remedial programs, the schools into lower proficiency score levels, and (yes) the government services into programs that are forced to deal with the results. My daughter’s potential public school has a 40% non-English-speaking rate. To whom are the teachers going to be teaching?
This country has so many divisions already that those ties which connect us ought to be reinforced, and language is one way that this has historically been done.
I DO disagree with the sentence in the proposal that suggests that those not speaking the language should be denied services. While it’s plausible to cut expenditures by using only one language, it’s ludicrous to deny services based on language. As you mention, translation services should be available- but, by and large, most nonspeakers have relatives or friends who function that way anyway.
No country has ever assimilated the numbers that the US is being forced to assimilate and remained a unified country. Yes, absolutely respect the different cultures, but I think it’s not too much to ask for respect in return.
Interesting proposal, anyway. Hope it goes as you plan!
Thank you very much. Yours is the minority voice — a reasoned and factual argument for this thing.
I completely see and understand the points you have made. They are pretty much missing here in the local discussion.
And because our city has not had an identifiable problem with translations and translators, those of us against this thing are left scratching our heads as to why this and why now? The fact folks would be denied services really speaks to where this is coming from — fear.
As a first-generation American (on my mom’s side), what I see is a quick loss of culture and language. I grew up speaking Spanish and yet I struggle to teach my child my birth language. I don’t hold to all the customs either. I have seen that with other Latinos of my generation, and let’s not talk of the ones younger than I am.
Nashville has its ethnic and racial neighborhoods, like any city in America. I wouldn’t say it is a melting pot, but it has been a pretty friendly pot and it has provided some fascinating looks at what newcomers can achieve – and I am talking everyone from the Latinos to the Vietnamese to the Kurds. This has been a booming city of opportunity for 15 years.
I really stand by the position that we meld, that we become America. Everyone else has before us.
Thank you for chiming in. I appreciate it.
I also understand what evenshine is talking about, but I don’t think that is what is behind this legislation.
I am not sure that an English-only law would be the solution to the school problem. As a side-note, when I went to college 15 years ago, most of the students in remedial programs were US-born. Maybe the situation has changed now, but my point is that we have a much wider problem in our schools.
If that were in fact the main problem, I think we should instead deal with it by making sure that the students do meet a basic level of English… as well as Math, science, etc.
Incidentally, it seems to me that many places in our country that are prosperous (take New York or California) have large minority populations. Obviously, it is not a direct cause-effect relationship, but I believe it has something to do with it too. It is true that newcomers (minorities) seek places where jobs are plentiful, but it is also true that they/we normally contribute to that as well.
I do think that the problem has more to do with fear of different people. It happened to Italians, Poles, Irish, Jews… now it’s Hispanics. Fear of the unknown is to some extent a natural, instinctive human reaction. The problem comes when we let it take over our heads and the political agenda.