NASHVILLE, XENOPHOBIA AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
After reading the article on Nashville Metropolitan Council Member Eric Crafton’s drive to purge languages other than English from Nashville, it makes me ponder what kind of people feel that it is appropriate to squeeze non-English verbalization out of the public and private lives of our fellow citizens. Now, some of the citizens in Nashville seem to believe that spending money on translations each year is a waste. No one in Nashville seems to be looking at one pile of wasted money: the Nashville Metropolitan Council. According to their web site, the Council has 40 Council members and a Vice Mayor/President to operate a city of 600,000. By comparison: LA has 15 Council/3.7million. NY has 50/7.5million. Fresno CA has 7 Council/450K.
So, what’s up with Nashville? I am challenging Mr. Crafton and those who are think in this fashion to prove to me and to any other reasonable thinker out there how making English the official and only legally used communication from the government will benefit the people that the government is chartered to serve. Please show us some type of decade long study prepared by a group of Nobel Peace Prize winning smarty-pants that proves xenophobic isolation through language suppression is good for business, good for society and good for human kind. The true irony of these English Only crusaders is their complete lack of vision for the future and their utter lack of understanding of the past.
This country was built on the backs and with the blood, sweat and tears of millions of immigrants that did not speak English when they arrived, and in some cases may have lived out their remaining lives never having learned it either. But, that didn’t prevent them from contributing to the greatest accumulation of knowledge and wealth ever compiled under the government of a single country in the history of the human race. Yes, it wasn’t just English speaking people that made America great, it was that proverbial melting pot of cultures, races, languages and beliefs that brought the spark of freedom given to us by the Nation’s Founders and allowed it to turn into a beautiful beacon that beckons to people from around the world even now.
It is this diversity that has given us Barack Obama as the symbol of just what America is supposed to be: diverse and glad for it. Mr. Crafton’s stated goal is to bring this kind of Dark Ages thinking to as many places as possible around the country. I can only hope that the voters of Nashville are smarter than their leaders and that they see this initiative for what is really is: our leaders using an issue to create anxiety about something that is trivial for the sole purpose of making themselves feel smarter, more powerful and more dedicated to their agenda of ignorance and intolerance.
I find myself asking this question with alarming frequency lately: “Where have the true leaders of America gone to? Where are those men and women that would stand at the front of the line to speak out against this kind of intolerance and rally those who believe in the American Dream? Is the legacy of America going to become lost to those who will follow us today?”
I have my bet on you my fellow American’s, even if it takes you a little longer to stand up to rally each other than it did in years gone by, only you can make the changes and face the challenges that lie ahead. We collectively come from families with the pioneering spirit, and the will to see it through. Let’s put an end to intolerance once and for all. Let’s stop the hate and instead celebrate our common thread: we are all human no matter where we are from or what language we speak. We are all in America to make it a better place for each other, not just for ourselves.
So, what’s up with Nashville? I am challenging Mr. Crafton and those who are think in this fashion to prove to me and to any other reasonable thinker out there how making English the official and only legally used communication from the government will benefit the people that the government is chartered to serve. Please show us some type of decade long study prepared by a group of Nobel Peace Prize winning smarty-pants that proves xenophobic isolation through language suppression is good for business, good for society and good for human kind. The true irony of these English Only crusaders is their complete lack of vision for the future and their utter lack of understanding of the past.
This country was built on the backs and with the blood, sweat and tears of millions of immigrants that did not speak English when they arrived, and in some cases may have lived out their remaining lives never having learned it either. But, that didn’t prevent them from contributing to the greatest accumulation of knowledge and wealth ever compiled under the government of a single country in the history of the human race. Yes, it wasn’t just English speaking people that made America great, it was that proverbial melting pot of cultures, races, languages and beliefs that brought the spark of freedom given to us by the Nation’s Founders and allowed it to turn into a beautiful beacon that beckons to people from around the world even now.
It is this diversity that has given us Barack Obama as the symbol of just what America is supposed to be: diverse and glad for it. Mr. Crafton’s stated goal is to bring this kind of Dark Ages thinking to as many places as possible around the country. I can only hope that the voters of Nashville are smarter than their leaders and that they see this initiative for what is really is: our leaders using an issue to create anxiety about something that is trivial for the sole purpose of making themselves feel smarter, more powerful and more dedicated to their agenda of ignorance and intolerance.
I find myself asking this question with alarming frequency lately: “Where have the true leaders of America gone to? Where are those men and women that would stand at the front of the line to speak out against this kind of intolerance and rally those who believe in the American Dream? Is the legacy of America going to become lost to those who will follow us today?”
I have my bet on you my fellow American’s, even if it takes you a little longer to stand up to rally each other than it did in years gone by, only you can make the changes and face the challenges that lie ahead. We collectively come from families with the pioneering spirit, and the will to see it through. Let’s put an end to intolerance once and for all. Let’s stop the hate and instead celebrate our common thread: we are all human no matter where we are from or what language we speak. We are all in America to make it a better place for each other, not just for ourselves.
Thank you very much, article was informative and useful!!
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That’s great, I never thought about AMERICAN DREAM like that before.
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