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Tuesday, 09/12/06

Bill seeks English only for Metro
Proposal mean-spirited, says spokesman for Hispanic group

By LEE ANN O'NEAL
Staff Writer


English would be Metro government's "official language" and all city communications would have to be in English, and only in English, under a Metro Council bill filed Monday.

Metro Councilman Eric Crafton, the sponsor of the bill, said the city'scurrent bilingual efforts are a "crutch" and discourage people who don't speak English from learning the language.

"I just think we're doing people a disservice," Crafton, of west Davidson County, said of some city agencies' providing information in languages other than English. His proposal will be on its first of three required votes next Tuesday.

It is unclear how a variety of city agencies now offering bilingual services — police, schools and Health Department, among others — would be affected.

But a critic of the English-only proposal, attorney Gregg Ramos, called the bill "mean-spirited" and said language accommodations help newcomers as they are trying to learn English. Ramos is spokesman for a newly formed group, the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats.

"That's unfortunate," Ramos said of the bill. "It adds to the divisiveness of our community at a time when further division is not necessary. Metro government reaching out to Spanish-speaking individuals in their native tongue is simply an accommodation that we make as a matter of our humanity."

Crafton said his effort is not aimed against people who want to immigrate or become citizens.

"People need to be able to speak English, and it's not helping them to provide a crutch," he said. Crafton, who married a Japanese woman, pointed to his own family in drawing a distinction between a bilingual culture at home and bilingual services from the government.

"In my house, we speak Japanese and English, because I want my daughter to be able to understand both," Crafton said. "It's great to preserve both cultures when you're in a bicultural family. But when you go to do business at the government-provided institutions, then we have to be able to operate in the language that's the official language there."

Crafton's bill, if approved by the council on the three required votes, would add this line to Metro's laws: "All communications, publications, and telephone answering systems of metropolitan government boards, commissions, departments and agencies shall be in English only."

It is unclear whether the law would only encompass city agencies such as the Police and Social Services departments or would also extend to entities such as the Sheriff's Department, a local office required at the state level.

Metro Law Director Karl Dean said his department became aware of the proposal Monday and had only begun researching its legal requirements.

Crafton said he doesn't intend for his bill to compromise public safety and said he wouldn't want, for example, police officers to be barred from talking to witnesses or victims of a crime in their native language.

The city provides a variety of services in languages other than English, in some cases by federal mandate, which would presumably be banned under the English-language bill.

• The Health Department provides about 100 documents, including information on immunization and treatment for tuberculosis, in languages including English, Spanish, Kurdish and Somali, spokesman Brian Todd said, and the department also has on staff people who speak those languages.

• The 911 center and the Police Department use translators. The 911 center uses translation service "on a daily basis" and experiences the most need for translation of calls in Spanish and Kurdish, Metro Emergency Communications Center spokeswoman Jeanne Mallory said. The Police Department also uses volunteer interpreters and has officers who speak Spanish, Laotian, German and French, officials there said.

• The Davidson County public defender's office Web site includes a Spanish translation of its "Defendant and Family Handbook," which provides a broad outline of the criminal process, as well as information about services provided in the Metro Jail and in the community.

• The Metro school system sends out a newsletter that goes out with report cards and is offered in English and Spanish and is in the process of translating its Student-Parent Handbook and Code of Conduct into Spanish, schools' spokeswoman Olivia Brown said.

Metro Council reaction to the proposal was mixed.

Metro Councilman Jim Shulman, of Green Hills, said he would not vote in favor of the bill and said that while "English is the spoken language in America," Nashville's government should, in an effort to "be helpful," provide services in people's native tongues.

But Metro Councilman Michael Craddock of Madison said not speaking English puts people "at a distinct disadvantage" in conducting business, and he will support the bill. •