A lawsuit by a Salvadoran woman to stop the "EnglishFirst" referendum set for Jan. 22 in Metro Nashville represents more unnecessary maneuvering to avoid the will of the people at the ballot box.
Rosa Quinteros has asked a local judge to block the vote because she does not speak enough English. And the court should consider whether the referendum would overstep constitutional and governmental bounds.
Even if Quinteros wins and delays the vote, she has set the image of immigrants back for generations. Then, my grandparents came to this country without knowing English. So they learned by trial and error. Yet they never lost a son or daughter, who each quickly picked up English for Papa and Mama. Nine of their children fought for the United States of America in WWII. And now their descendants are college educated and professionals.
I don't support the referendum. I believe society should advance and treat people better now than it did before. So let government provide help in multi languages. And a city that has more languages signals the presence of a wonderful diversity to welcome visitors and businesses.
Besides, the largest English-speaking nation next decade will be China. So we must be about becoming bilingual in this nation just to keep up.
And that's the case to make at the ballot box, not in the courts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment