The "English Only" Movement
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The "English Only" movement, negative mass attitudes against immigration, bilingual programs in the public schools, welfare reform excluding immigrants, and, most recently, Propositions 187 and 209 in California are all indications that the public is ready for reforms which return greater power into the hands of the white and powered majority. In Texas and California, where the wars are primarily being fought, immigrants are being blamed for social malaise and a general lowering of standards. In those states, the public schools have been a special focus of attention. The following paper will examine civil rights in general, and the "English Only" movement in particular; in addition, Calfornia'a Propositions 187 (the initiative to deny basic social services to undocumented immigrants) and 209 (amends California's state Constitution to forbid racial and gender preferences in state and local government employment, contracting, and education) will be discussed. Proposition 209 is also called "C.C.R.I.," or, the "California Civil Rights Initiative." English is the language of most Americans, and for the last two centuries it has been the key to an immigrant's economic success, yet today we are on a path toward becoming an officially bilingual nation, or so goes the argument from the right that we should act now to preserve English before it is too late--"English Only" should be the motto of the 1990s. An article in the conservative National Review cites Florida, Texas,
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all, how many different languages should government documents be written in? In addition, the measures do not prevent immigrants from preserving their own cultures and languages in their personal lives. Legislators are merely recommending that funds formerly spent providing government services in multiple languages go to support programs that teach English to non-English speakers.
Those on the left who speak out against "English-Only" measures say that such measures are divisive, unnecessary, and impractical. Harry Pachon, who oversees an Hispanic studies project at Claremont College, says the lure of jobs and income in America are sufficient to insure that immigrants will learn English. As Woods (1995) reports, "English-Only" legislaion runs into problems it cannot legislate around [i.e., rescue 911 numbers, and communication at social service agencies and child abuse clinics] and ... Everywhere they have passed, these ["English-Only"] laws run into problems" (p. 4).
By 1995, 22 states had enacted legislation adopting English as their official language for public documents and proceedings. But, in some, like California, whose voting public passed Proposition 64 in 1986, legislatures have not followed through with enfor
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Approximate Word count = 2492
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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