Thread: Anti-immigrant 'English-only' proposals reach metropolitan

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Anti-immigrant 'English-only' proposals reach metropolitan areas
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
By: Nathalie Hrizi

Pushing back the racist movement

"English-only" proposals—restricting the use of languages other than English in government paperwork and signs—have passed in small cities and towns across the United States. Recently, similar proposals and legislation have been more widely introduced in larger cities.

On Tues., Dec. 5, Cherokee county, a fast-growing suburb of Atlanta, passed an English-only measure. The same day,

Racist cities and businesses have moved to make English the only legal language.

Nashville’s Metro Council deferred voting on a similar measure.

In November 2006, Arizona voters reinstated an "Official English" constitutional amendment that had been overturned by the state supreme court in 1998. Twenty-seven states have passed laws declaring English as an official language and four others are considering such laws. This year, dozens of cities have approved or are debating English-only legislation. (Houston Tribune, Oct.15)

These proposals are all racist attacks on immigrants, who increasingly live and work in U.S. cities and towns. They have been pushed by right-wing, racist groups in recent months in response to the mass immigrant upsurge that gripped the United States last spring.

The majority of immigrants come to the United States from Mexico and Central America. Most are forced to come to this country because U.S. neoliberal economic foreign policies have devastated the economies of their countries of origin. Imperialist-backed and -funded military interventions and "dirty wars" also cause millions to come to the United States.

A key strategy to which the anti-immigration movement resorts is pushing English-only ordinances and policies as a way of dividing U.S.-born workers from immigrants—especially Spanish-speaking immigrants. This strategy is supported by groups that belong to what is known as the "English-only movement" or the "official English movement."

Racists behind the movement

The English-only movement is a well-funded xenophobic movement that attempts to impose strict English-only laws on education and government. While arguing that the legislation is intended to "assist" immigrants, the movement is led by reactionaries who often intertwine the language legislation with anti-immigrant laws.

The movement claims it is a benevolent force advocating English-language learning for immigrants. But the true racist nature of the movement becomes clear when examining the people and groups behind it. Farmers Branch, Texas, city councilman Tim O’Hare, an English-only advocate, said, "English-only is one of the ways you can keep illegals from coming into your city and let them know ‘You’re not welcome here.’"

Thirty municipalities are currently considering legislation with English-only aspects that also denies immigrants the right to housing, education and other social services.

The main organization responsible for the movement is U.S. English, founded in 1983. Dr. John Tanton, the founder, also founded and was the chairman of the anti-immigrant organization Federation for American Immigration Reform. U.S. English is funded by Tanton’s foundation, U.S. Inc., the Pioneer Fund, which funded racist eugenics research in the 1970s. Another benefactor is Mellon heiress Cordelia Scaife May. Her foundation also sponsored the publication of "The Camp of Saints," a racist, anti-immigrant fantasy novel.

The English-only movement, while it has garnered some support from backward portions of the working class, is not a grassroots movement. It is a racist propaganda machine that only benefits the U.S. ruling class by demonizing and attacking one of the most oppressed sectors of the working class.

The movement has clear ties to the U.S. ruling-class representatives. Since Tanton was forced to resign from U.S. English after a leaked memo detailed his openly racist positions, the late U.S. senator Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (R-Calif.) is now listed as U.S. English’s sole founder.

The English-only movement has faced significant obstacles, both legal and popular. As Stephanie Bohon, assistant professor of sociology at University of Tennessee, said, "English-only and English-first language proposals have a history of going down in flames. They don’t hold up well in court."

More importantly, popular resistance to the English-only movement has been great. The immigrant rights movement in California had significant mobilizations in both 1994 and 1998 in response to similar proposals. And Nashville was forced to defer voting on an English-only proposal on Dec. 5 because of significant resistance to the measure from immigrant rights and progressive organizations.

Regardless of their native tongue, U.S. workers are united by their common exploited position in society and their common enemy, the class of super-rich corporate owners and bankers. Recognizing the right of each community to speak in their language of choice, without fear of repression or discrimination, is an essential step to building class-wide solidarity among the multinational U.S. working class.

Already, the slogans of "el pueblo unido jamás será vencido" and "the people united will never be defeated" are becoming recognized as joint slogans of the new workers’ movement.

Sticks and Stones may break my bones! You can't touch me anymore with your name calling and your own racial slurs, see if you get this ok
I no longer care to be politically correct!
Yea, I am a racist, a redneck, and an Indian, I love my country much more then to care any longer to be labeled a racist for doing the right thing. Take your foreign languages home with you, from now on as far as I am concerned, everything will be done strictly in English, bring your own interpeters, my country will no longer enable you to refrain from learning and speaking English by putting everything in Spanish for you.
Tonight, I joined up with AL-Anon so I could really learn how not to enable people from doing the right thing and making it easier for them to remain apart from being a real American!
By all means speak whatever language you choose to speak at home, while out in public though, and doing business do not expect my country to make things easy for to retain your language.
I am being set free of the chains that political correctness has bound me with the past 20 yrs, from now on I will speak with frankness and honesty without being worried I might hurt some ones itty bitty feelings, get over it, deal with it, whatever, call me a racist and a bigot I will laugh right in your face!

HEY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, NOT HAPPY HOLLIDAYS, YOU CANNOT TAKE CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS, IF THAT IS YOUR WISH SIMPLY REFRAIN FROM TAKING ANY HOLLIDAY AT ALL AT HIS EXPENSE ESPECIALLY!

If I have hurt anyones feelings by saying merry christmas, I suggest you go and get some kind of therapy to help you deal with it!

Gosh, this feels so good!
Another thing, please don'r speak gibberish around me, this is my country America, and around here for all these long years it has been our custom to speak english, it that bothers you then just keep your mouth shut and don't speak at all!

nitty -

Wow, I'm not even going to attempt a response to such an openly "racist" article.

Yes, extremely racist!!!

Yes, this is a very racist article but people should see the mindset of some of the opposition.