Rep. Steve King, the immigration hardliner from Iowa, is still at it.
On Monday, he announced that the House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing on Aug. 2 to debate the Official English Act, a bill the Republican congressman has pushed since he was sworn into office in 2003.
As the statement reads:
“The Official English Act, H.R. 997, declares English as our official language and requires representatives of the federal government to encourage individuals to learn English, establishes a uniform language requirement for naturalization, and requires functions of the United States to be conducted in English. Previously, King led the successful effort to enact legislation establishing English as Iowa’s official language as a member of Iowa’s Senate.
‘The Judiciary Committee hearing next week reflects the need to get a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives on this popular issue- 87% of Americans say that English should be the official language of the United States,’ said King. ‘A common language is the most powerful source of unifying force for any nation. Over the course of history, common languages have created cohesive cultures and have helped prevent division. I’ve introduced the Official English Act every session I’ve been in Congress because I know that an official language will keep this nation bound together and I look forward to next week’s hearing. Now we need to get Official English passed into law.’
King referred to a 2010 Rasmussen poll that indeed showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans favor a law establishing English as the nation’s official language.
Still, such a law is un-American, both in the legal sense and in the traditional sense.
Historically, whenever the U.S. government was provided with the opportunity to impose English as an official language, it failed to do so. After Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and determined to make its inhabitants citizens of the United States, the government could have required the largely French- and Spanish-speaking people to learn English as a requirement of American citizenship. Yet it imposed no such requirement.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, granted citizenship to the Mexicans living in what is now the American Southwest, and as the pro-English group U.S. English graciously cites, “The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo contains no mention of either Spanish or English.”
Following suit, inhabitants living in the subsequent territories of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico were all granted citizenship without any English requirement.
The legal point here: English is not what makes America America.
Besides the legal tradition, the Official English Act violates America’s cultural tradition. Unlike France or Germany or China, America is not a “Blood and Soil” nation. No one ethnic group can lay claim to her, or even supremacy.
That’s because America is an idea more than anything else. It is the idea that a government of the people can be set up to work for the people on the principles of liberty, equality and justice. And you don’t have to be black, white or brown, speak English, Spanish or Swahili, in order to be an American. You simply have to believe in the idea of America and be willing to advance and defend the idea.
The English language merely represents one form in which that radical idea is expressed.
About Being Latino Contributors
Millions have come to America – legally – and were proud to learn English and become American citiziens. Without a common language – you have a divided country. You have numerous “hyphenated” americans which further divides the country. In the USA – we speak English – have since the Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. If I were to move my family to Mexico – we would be required to learn Spanish or we wouldn’t be able to live a normal life – Mexico’s government IS NOT going to translate ANYTHING into English for me or my family. Be a dual language speaker – more power to you and I commend your efforts – the problem is too many come to the USA and want to mimic the country they came from……if you want to turn the USA into Mexico – stay in Mexico and work to improve your Homeland.
no it isn’t but it is the NATIONAL LANGUAGE!
This America speak English. If I go to France I have to speak french. If I go to Italy I have to speak Italian, whats the big deal?
What about Ebonics?
Ebonic is for retards.
If you’re going to be here it’s only right to speak the language. If you go to any other country you’d have to speak whatever language they speak. I mean not to be rude but it’s common sense.
I can order a cerveza as easily as I can a beer. It’s all good.
McDaniel!!! Push!!!!!!!!!
So why can’t Spanish be the official language….
To quote Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element: “I only speak two languages: English and bad English!”
If I go to Canada, I have to speak French or English. If I go to Belize, I have to speak English or Spanish. If I go to Spain, I have to speak Castellano, Catalan, or another Spanish language. People need to chill the hell out about making English the only national languange, because in the end, I’m still going to speak Spanish to my kids, and stress the importance of speaking Spanish to their kids.
Not America???? What is it the United States of Iran? WTH does that mean.
@Miguelito, thats cool to teach your kids spanish nothing wrong with that but the main priority should be english. Because when they grow up, most of the conversations in a professional setting will be in English.
I have known some Latin people who cannot speak a lick of Spanish but have the worst Spanish to English accents you can imagine.
When will Ebonics become an official language?
Okay, that’s what the 15 years in an English school setting is for. I grew up bilingual, and speak almost perfect Spanish and English. It can be done. Spanish in the house. English outside the house.
@ Roberto Salazar…BOTH languages are essential. I got paid MORE for being fully bilingual. English is not the ALL language.
English is the glue that will, and should keep, and hold, the United States together. While the geniuses at BL might say that “English is not what makes America America”, they need to understand that “English” is what makes America the United States. It is the number one tool that legal immigrants can have to empower themselves to success here. It’s sad that many Latinos in the United States can’t even speak proper Spanish or English for that matter. Listen to any two barrio dwellers ( often times women) on the subway and cringe at how they use a combination of Ebonics and Spanglish to linguistically murder two great languages. It’s great to speak many languages – please do, no one is stopping you, there are no bans or censorship on learning and speaking a different tongue no matter how much the socialists want you to believe like they tried with the phony book ban in Arizona. Spanish was my first language and we still speak it at home, but editorials like this from BL are just thinly veiled attempts at furthering agendas designed to fracture the long standing traditions, culture, and ways of this nation. It’s a very well orchestrated effort on many fronts and they will call you racist if you don’t agree with them. When my parents came to this great nation they were thankful and they did not demand that the nation coddle and change for them, they learned the language and assimilated.
I don’t understand why we haven’t become bilingual yet. So many bitch about how bilinguals are taking their jobs. Well, the job market recognizes that knowing more than one language is very beneficial for companies. Stop bitching and pick up another language.
I don’t believe English should be THE official language as this country is made of immigrants (and I don’t entirely mean Mexican) and everybody knows that. Si I can definitely see how making the English language the “official” language, is somewhat kind of un-american. It has seemed to work out fine so far without it being. But hey, that’s just my opinion! Everyone has their own!
Sometime in the 21st century, Latinos will become the largest ethnic group in the United States. That is to say, the United States will technically become part of Latin America. Spanish may predominate, and then again, it may not. In the end, it doesn’t matter what language dominates America, just as it doesn’t matter what religious tradition dominates America. And since it would be un-American to make Protestantism the official religion of the United States just because the country may be increasingly Catholic, it’s equally un-American to impose English as its official language just because the country may be increasingly Spanish-speaking.
For over 200 years, America has thrived without an official language. Clearly, it doesn’t need one.
I immediately take back the “Latin America” bit. America can never be considered part of Latin America, because it was created by former subjects of the British Empire.
I’m just annoyed of going to a store, or just walking down a street and getting stopped, and asked if i speak Spanish..to help someone translate..(for free)..if we can just speak English, since we’re going to live together..wouldn’t that make living together a bit easier..Can you imagine not having to depend on a total stranger to help you out at the checkout line, or to catch the right bus, or help you fill out important and personal paper work. It would be great if parents didn’t have to depend also on their children for their translation help, when the use that as an excuse to make them miss a day of school because Mom and Dad do not speak a lick of English…the Country where they obviously seem to love, because they’ve decided to live, work, and raise a family here. I don’t mean to sound rude or disrespect anyone, but I was constantly affected by this when I worked for a public school. I did more translating than what I was hired to do…so I quit after 7 years…because it was just ridiculous…seem like every year was worse than the last…Listen if my Dad, who works…til this day…in the same metal factory he did when he came from Mexico can find the time to go take some classes after a long hard day of work..anyone can…Especially now a days they’re places that hold free classes…Come on now people!!! Stop relying on others…and start depending and bettering yourselves…after all is that not the reason you’ve all came to live her. “Se Habla English”…cause I no longer ” Habla Espanol”
Will the Being Latino Contributors please show us where in the Official English Act does it say that people who don’t speak english must leave the U.S.?!?! You can’t… why?… becuase it’s not there. You guys sure like to mislead and distort the facts. Do you guys ever write articles where you don’t leave things out or make things up? Making english the official language is not un-American. It’s about finding common ground. We all need to be able to communicate with each other and what better way to do it than to find a common language. I’ve been all over the world and english is spoken in every country I’ve visited. When people find out that I’m an American, they all want to try out their english on me. I have family in Mexico and they’ve all attended American schools in Mexico and they speak the language perfectly. Wouldn’t it be nice if this were Utopia and we all were proficient in the hundreds of languages spoken in the U.S. But no… this is not Utopia. It’s much easier for us to learn one common language in order to communicate with each other… not to say you shouldn’t learn other languages. I personally speak, english, spanish, italian, a little japanese and german.
“We have to put politics aside and seek common ground.”…Bill Clinton
By the way… America is not an idea. We’re real Baby! We’re 236 years old and going strong. being an American citizen is not based on whether you believe in the American ideas… it’s based on a person being born or natualized in the U.S.A. (14th amendment).
I don’t understand why this is even an issue. Above all else its just common sense to learn the language of the country you are moving to simply for safety reasons, for example being able to call 911 and say whats wrong/where you are/situation etc. Plus, learning English is not the same as learning String theory, climbing Mt. Everest, or donating a kidney.
But in a few years this entire conversation will be moot. As immigration from Asia continues its exploding trend I predict that all the people on this site saying English shouldn’t be required will change their tune when they realize they are incapable of understanding Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, etc. Yaaaaayy for inevitable future double standards!
^ I bet that none of you have stepped outside of the country. There are many foreigners in my town, for instance, and the people in my town speak English, Italian, French to accommodate them. Some of you sound so callous towards your own, I am baffled as to why it is now socially acceptable to be so publicly vocal to spew such venom.
I agree with what you’re saying, Maria: things are better for an American when they can speak English.
But things would also be easier for everyone if we were all part of the same religion, the same political party, or some other association — which are also forms of expression, aren’t they?
Yes, I definitely agree that things would be easier for Americans if we shared more things in common. The world would be easier too. But that’s not what humanity is; it’s certainly not what America’s about.
And though we should encourage Americans to develop commonalities — such as language, principles and a sense of civic duty — we shouldn’t make such commonalities a legal requirement of citizenship.
Voting is more important to America than the English language — and is something that would make the country 10 times better and more connected if everyone participated in — yet voting is not a legal requirement of citizenship.
And, yes, in France they speak French, in Germany they speak German, and in Italy they speak Italian. But this isn’t France, Germany or Italy; this is America. We are not a “Blood and Soil” nation. We are not a nation founded for a specific ethnic group speaking a specific language. We are a nation founded on an idea, for an idea.
America is a thought, and the thought is the same no matter what language it’s in.
No one is saying anything bad about speaking another language or many languages – in fact, being bilingual or more is the best thing. But why do government documents have to be also in Spanish as well as other languages? As a person who speaks Spanish at home with family in a private setting I could never understand why someone would continue to speak their native tongue and demand that they be coddled with that said language when the lingua franca of the USA is English. English is the language of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution, presidents are sworn in speaking English, and…if we continue to lessen the great importance of English and accommodate other tongues as equal then we have an even greater chance of not having that glue that holds us together and the further balkanization of America continues because some special interest group wants to shove their idea of “diversity” down everyone’s throats.
I used to be ambivalent toward this topic until I visited my mom’s home country. The people living in the northern section spoke an entirely different language from those in the southern section. Belgium is a tiny country, yet they couldn’t understand each other. My daughter, a student of the German language, recently returned from a three-week stay with a family there. She couldn’t understand them because they didn’t speak German! They spoke Bayersh, a language that didn’t resemble German. What makes the U.S, unique are our individual states united by our Federal Constitution and our common language that everyone can speak regardless of where he travels in our country.