Above: Sample ballot used in Iraqi National Election held in Nashville (which has one of the largest Kurdish populations in the US) in January 2005. Clearly not printed in English for foreigners who should learn our language if they are going to live here, it must have been generated and distributed by politically-correct, liberal elites at English-tongued taxpayer expense. Or perhaps Kurds are simply not as threatening to monolinguistic proponents as are Mexicans.
HT: R. Neal
This is an Iraqi national election, so what is the relationship between this and conducting official city business in English?
ReplyDeleteServing Nashville's Kurdish population by sponsoring their election and hosting their polling place WAS official city business in 2005. It is no different than serving a Hispanic immigrant in 2007 by allowing city employees the option of explaining something in Spanish rather than restricting them to English. Neither one is a politically-correct liberal plot as many English Only/First supporters rant. There is nothing broken in Nashville language-wise that the Metro Council needed to butt in and fix. The Council needs to butt out and to get back to the real business of Metro.
ReplyDeleteNo one that I know personally who is a supporter of the bill would want to preclude anyone from helping another person in their native language when possible. What they dont want however is the city to be obligated to conduct official city business in a language other than English.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing that obligates the city to conduct business in any language other than English. For you to suggest that there might be exposes this bill for what it is: an attempt by 23 Council Members' to micro-manage the many employees of Metro Departments. If the Council wants the job of dictating department management down to the jot and tittle, then they should apply when management positions come open. Otherwise, they need to stick to Council business.
ReplyDeleteHell, most of the time they don't make time to study the Council resolutions and analyses that cross their desks: the car wash exemption bill, which resulted from them not even being aware that car washes were put into a previous bill, is clear evidence of that. They probably don't even read half the paperwork that comes across their desks. And yet, they want to dictate to employees how they should communicate daily with the public? Council has enough of its plate; they can keep their noses stuck on the placesetting right in front of them.
And the Metro Council English First bill does preclude Metro Officials from helping non-English speakers. The sponsor said it himself: helping people who are not yet fluent is a crutch. When 22 other members voted for the bill on 3rd reading they were also affirming that logic, and they are going to have to live with that. I am particularly disappointed in the moderates who voted to puppeteer English Only into the professional practices of Metro employees.