You may have heard by now that Nashville ruffled some feathers and fueled the national immigration debate by passing an English-Only ordinance, which the city’s mayor has recently vetoed. The Tennessean is carrying the mayor’s veto message, which shows one of the problems with such legislation:
The Legal Department is clear in its opinion today that advised me that this ordinance is unconstitutional. The ordinance states that “all communications . . . shall be in English.” The exceptions are so broad that there is no way to know what is and is not allowed.
What do we do when a Kurdish or other refugee wants to take an English class at the Cohn Adult Learning Center?
What do we do when a Japanese company wants to find out about economic development opportunities?
What do we do when a foreign tourist wants to find out how to get to the Parthenon?
What do we do when someone who only speaks Spanish wants to report suspicious activity in a neighborhood, or a codes violation, or a pothole?
I cam empathize with those who may feel that our “Americanness” is threatened by recent immigration trends. I agree that people who intend to live in the country permanently or for an extended period of time ought to be able to function in English.
However, it would be foolish to believe that all official communication can or should take place in English. The mayor’s comments highlight a few examples of that.
Civilization as we know it won’t be destroyed because folks whose mother-tongue is Spanish are moving to the country. We’ve been through this before, and presumably are better because of it:
![[No Irish Need Apply sign]](http://www.triskele.com/wp-content/images/blog/noirish.jpg)