English As the National Language

I think it's a good idea that our hard-working representatives have declared English the national language. Cause you know, I was confused. The President speaks English, but not very well, and there are many graduates of our own public school system who speak a version of English that sounds equally as foreign to me, but I can usually get the gist of what they're saying by asking questions. Southerners speak a flavor of English, as do people from Boston, Southerners are easier to understand because they speak more slowly than people from Boston, and they don't chew gum. When I go back to my old neighborhood, I speak South Side, when I'm in DC, I speak East Coast. Language is fluid, and evolves over time, it is essential that we communicate with each other, and to deliberately try to stop essential communication between different nationalities is not only arrogant, but it is dangerous.

Consider the army that invaded Iraq without translators. Look at the results of such a grave mistake.

There are people I have heard go on about the immigration debate, and jump up and down screaming that they're not racist. But consider portions of the proposed immigration bill, and tell me that these folks are not just downright mean and nasty.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has proposed an amendment to immigration reform legislation that would repeal Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), a provision that has helped to eliminate language barriers to attaining quality health care services. The Senate should reject this amendment. The executive order requires federal agencies to ensure that people with limited English skills can access their services and programs, and also requires federal agencies to develop language access guidelines for other federally funded programs that are not directly managed by the federal government. This order is consistent with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects individuals against discrimination based on national origin.

In Oklahoma, they may not need translators. There are 50 people who live there, and they all speak English. In New York, or LA., consider what sort of public health disaster might result from allowing hospitals to forgo translation requirements. Let's say Senora Lopez who lives in East LA, has some severe respiratory ailments, and she goes to the emergency room. She is unable to describe her symptoms in a way that the intern can understand, and so he sends her home with some anti-biotics and some cough medicine. Senora Lopez then takes the bus home, and coughs all over 30 people. In two days, Senora Lopez is back at the emergency room, and this time she is dying, the doctors aren't sure that they can help her because they don't have enough Spanish speaking workers, and she dies. That would be a tragedy for Senora Lopez, but what if she died of some sort of rapidly spreading airborne virus or even the bird flu?

That would be a tragedy for all Americans.

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