Unafraid of a cutting edge, Mayor Bloomberg
ordered New York City's 100 agencies to provide services in
SIX different languages (even French Creole!). By contrast, the cosmopolitan metropolis Nashville--with expanding Kurdish and Hispanic populations--is on the verge of forcing all of its city employees to speak only English even if responding in another language might be easy or it might prevent an emergency situation.
Thanks to Eric "English Only" Crafton and his minions, we'll never have to worry about being labeled "Little Gotham" or being confused with a "welcoming city."
HT: bporemski
Point taken.
ReplyDeleteIt's silly really. I fully understand the need for immigrants to speak English. It protects them from exploitation and helps them understand their rights (what's left of them).
But how does one learn English if no one can translate? I lived in the Middle East and therefor learned to speak Arabic. It was much easier to learn since most Arabs spoke a little English already.
Also, being multi-lingual is quite a personal accomplishment. We should always encourage it.
I know I'm repeating the obvious here, but the most grossly stupid fact behind Crafton's proposal is that legal citizens of Nashville who don't speak English well or at all won't have access to services. Obviously this is why Metro will have to spend millions defending a stupid law that Crafton (not to mention his undisclosed backers) is using to appeal to the lowest instincts of voters, but don't think that the 8000+ Kurds of Nashville won't see the parallels between this and the historical repression of the Kurdish language in Turkey and elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see the Chamber of Commerce use its money a bit more wisely than manipulating the school board, and run advertising against this nasty bit of work.
Excellent point about The Chamber of Commerce: it would be refreshing to see them do something that they know how to do, maybe, which is to make Nashville a more welcoming and progressive city for all our citizens.
ReplyDelete