Nasville voters will decide today if English is to be the official language. The feelings on both sides of the issue have been understandibly strong and both sides have their backers. If it passes Nashville could become the largest U.S. city to make English the mandatory language for all government business. What that exactly means is unclear.
Personally I'm torn on the issue because although I'm opposed to using language to discriminate, I really don't trust the people who oppose the measure.
The proponents claim the measure will make the city operate more efficiently and cheaply because the government won't have to spend time and money translating documents. The fact is the city only spends about $500,000 right now on translating so savings is negligable so that argument to me is moot. If his goal is to make government run more efficiently, I'm sure there are better ways than this. If anything this is going to cause more headaches because no one really knows what will be translated. What is considered a health and wellness document?
What about the loss of federal dollars when/if this passes?
According to the opponents English First policy may not survive a court challenge because Title VI of the Civil Rights Act requires agencies that receive federal dollars to provide free translation services. That loss of federal dollars will total in the millions, possibly $25 million for the health department alone. Although I despise the federal government's method of compliance; "Do it or we won't give you money," it's the world we live in.
One bit of inforamtion that has gone unnoticed in all this is who is contributing.
Some of the largest contributors to Nasvilleforallofus.org represent several industries/companies that employ large numbers of immigrant workers, legal and illegal. The list includes; Steve Turner, a Gulch developer with Market Street Management, $50,000; HCA Inc., $50,000; Caterpillar Financial, $25,000; Ben Rechter, president of Rogers Group Investments, $25,000; Gaylord Entertainment, $10,000; Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, $5,000; Vanderbilt University also gave $10,000. Each of these companies including Vanderbilt have had their issues with hiring illegal immigrants.
I guess that I can't vote for something that I feel will discriminate even if I believe that many who oppose it are doing it to ensure they can protect their bottom line.
No comments:
Post a Comment