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Editorial: The world is watching, Nashville
Nashville, the world is literally watching us tomorrow. Consider your vote at the polls today carefully.
The city’s decision on the English Only referendum is at hand, and Nashville has caught the attention of the nation’s media. Media outlets from across the country and the globe are here to cover Nashville’s decision whether or not to become the largest city in this country to make our local government operate only in the English language.
As we have stated in this space many times, our newspaper opposes this referendum and encourages Nashville’s voters to reject it at the polls.
There are many justifications for this stand, and we have made them all before. It will be bad for business and economic development in the city according to the best minds we have on the subject. It sends Metro departments into a confused tailspin as there has been no planning or work put in to determining how this might work. Furthermore, it potentially makes the jobs of police and emergency services personnel that much harder when they try to pursue criminals or save lives.
Setting all of those very valid reasons aside, on election days we should focus on a few essential, more basic aspects to the prospective English Only measure.
Put plainly, this referendum is simply wrong. It is wrong to treat people in our community this way, using the law to ostracize them and make them feel less than welcome in Nashville.
Many of the people pushing this measure, if asked, would also likely tell you this is a nation founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. We submit this proposed English Only measure plainly does not agree with those beliefs. We are a city populated by churches and places of worship. As a community, we should know that intentionally making a group of people feel unwelcome and apart from our community is simply wrong.
Ask this familiar question: What would Jesus do? He would not vote in favor of English Only.
This referendum also rejects our heritage as Americans. People have traveled the world, left their homelands and journeyed to the shores of this great nation to be a part of what America offers; freedom and a chance to do anything ambition and talent will allow. We are a nation of immigrants, and never in our country’s history have we forced those wanting to be a part of the American Dream to leave their old cultures behind. Our country is richer for this diversity, not worse.
Vote no on English Only today. We are better than this.
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Citizens are losing their jobs to immigrants, legal or otherwise, or are suffering paycuts due to the downward pressure of people willing to work for much less money. No country in the world takes as many immigrants as the US does legally; no country in the world supports uncontrolled immigration. America does its part. Is it so wrong for local citizens not to wish to pay extra to help people come here and take their jobs? The idea is simply that it is the responsibility of immigrants to learn how to communicate with us, so they can blend into our society. Some here, though, would prefer they kept only their own language so they can remain a voting bloc and be controlled by a particular Party that is an assemblage of such blocs.
Whoever might be watching in the world is most likely wondering this: Will Nashvillians cave to the elitist PC crowd who do not want to be badly thought of while perpetuating the new slavery to which illegals are condemned by their ignorance of the English language? Or are Nashvillians common sense people who will affirm their heritage and culture and a standard of personal responsibility expected of immigrants: that they learn the language of the country that welcomes them?
TH: I haven't lost my job to anyone. I lost my job because nobody has any money because some bankers and CEOs got greedy. That had nothing to do with whether or not folks in Nashville speak English or gibberish.Get your facts straight.
TH- This bill does nothing to stop "uncontrolled immigration" as you put it.It is just a new slavery pertty package for an politican.---------------------------------------------The new slavery as to which I think you are talking about, is due to people that want cheaper prices in what they buy.Are you willing to take a cut in your pay to stop these illegals?
The world is watching, but they do understand WHO they're watching as well. Will the world be shocked when Nashville passess this? I doubt it, it's what you would expect from a city in the South who's identity is so closely related to Hee Haw.
Yes, let's hope America is watching: watching how citizens can demand a referendum. Regardless of how today's issues are voted, the people spoke. Anytime we can go over the head of any elected representative who so often leads against the will of his constituents, the better.
You think that this is about helping immigrants learn english? First of all, I would hesitate to call any language "ours" that is first and foremost borrowed from across an ocean.Second, This bill accomplishes nothing, simply because it seeks to eliminate metro services that frankly do not even exist. What city sponsored translation services do we offer? The extra phone line for the bus? Thats a real drain on the budget. I would like someone to posit some real benefits, rather than some horseshit ideas about immigrant integration, which is in fact something that proponents of this legislation are very little for. Oh, and this is absolutely a bipartison issue, as many many conservatives in Nashville are the most vocal about its stupidity.
"Ask this familiar question: What would Jesus do? He would not vote in favor of English Only"Now it's a religious issue ?!?Jesus called you up and told you this personally ?You can read Gods mind ?Jam it up a hot rock Manipulator.You want to keep the cheap labor here for theconstruction, hotel and restaurant industries....and you're willing to throw smut on Jesus to get what you want ?Vote yes on English Only and no to "Ignorance Only".
Are you serious Panda? After reading several of your posts today, I'm thinking you need some medication.Ignorance is voting "yes"
"53301
And you think that Nashville want be seen a strange. lol
I have a solution! I will not vote for the "English Only" referendum, but I might be willing to vote for the "English First" referndum. That way I can please both sides. But, seriously, however flawed this referendum might be, it flows from a genuine outpouring of frustration over the criminal willingness of so many people (government officials, political exploiters, business leaders and the usual crowd of PC puppets) to ignore the law when it comes to immigration.
Nashvillians wanted a voice so much that a paltry 12% of registered voters are expected to turn out to vote on this. A percentage of those folks are only voting to stop this madness so that leaves an even small minority saying Yes to this no matter the outcome. That is why we are a Republic and do not vote on every single issue. Nobody really wants to be heard on this only zealots.
Glad to see they are not against the SECOND CHARTER AMENDMENT on the ballot since they did not articulate any intelligent arguments against it. I guess they must be for it!!! Great. Now if we can get the rest of the liberals to admit that the 2nd has nothing to do with the 1st...
Put plainly, this referendum is simply wrong. It is wrong to treat people in our community this way, using the law to ostracize them and make them feel less than welcome in Nashville.**************************************If thery are illegal they are not welcome and Dean should be enforceing the law rather then protecting them.Darren Hall for Mayor
I've heard it said that this is a waste of tax payers money, which it may be, but would it even be an issue if they tackled illegal immigration the way they should?Was this an issue when the US had a massive influx of Italians, Germans or Polish?As a legal immigrant myself, I find it upsetting that politicians are handing your country over to illegal immigrants little by little. If I'd known about all the benefits, free health care, no car insurance, the ability to change the policy of a country I have no legal residence in, I'd have done it myself. It makes a mockery of the system and what I and countless others have had to do and go through to be here.By all means welcome the peoples of the world, and help them to speak the common language of the land.
The stumbling block for me when it comes to the referendum is one of the seven bullet points...the one that says, "All official government communications and publications are required to be made only in English." It should have said "The government cannot be compelled to issue communications and publications in other than English." If I can help Lolita and her children find the restroom in the Courthouse by using the little bit of Spanish I know, then I should feel free to do so. But I should not be compelled. This law attempts to keep Metro from being compelled. Unfortunately, it oversteps un poco. I hate to vote with those like the Chamber honcho, the head of the Davidson Coutny Dem Party, the governor, mayor and others who have so little regard for national sovereignty, but I can't quite vote for this wording, either. I'll sit this one out.
I just hope that this is a sampling of how the vote will be.It proves nothing and does nothing to stop the hireing of illegal workers.
Voting "yes" for this is a huge black eye for our city. gd, if you hate Nashville so much, move!
TITAN1, if you hate the rule of (immigration) law so much, then why don't you move to where laws don't matter. Mexico comes to mind. And no, I'm not a racist. I love Mexicans. But I also love the rule of law and, let's face it, what illegals and political opportunitist want is for us to be more like Mexico. There the only rule is that you do what the people in charge say to do.
For English press 1For Spanish press 2For Japanese press 3For Chinese press 4For Iranian press 5For Somali press 6Who else wants a number? It's only fair, isn't it?
For Alabaman press 0
This is not about illegal immigration,it will not change that at all. It is about a grandstanding politician wanting the spot light. If this passes then it should be taken a step further, like speaking English perfectly. Then Crapton would be kicked out of office because you can't hardly understand a word he says, his mouth barely moves. This amendment is a joke and will make the great city of Nashville the laughing stock of the world.
Frodo, you'll have to pick another number "0" is reserved for future use, when you'll be able to press 0 and be connected to an linguistic android much the same as C3PO.
Frodo, excellent observation and is TRUELY the sticking point. It should not forbid publishing in other languages.State law already says that English is the only legal language. All binding documents must be in English. If an individual or group wants to pay for a translated copy, then they should be free to do so. The state government should not be compelled to do so using taxpayer money.
Vote yes for english only and take back our government from giving special treament to illegals. First, they shouldn't be here illegally in the first place, then they don't learn our language? If they want to live here they need to learn to communicate with us, not the other way around. Why should metro have to pay for translators in courts? THey shouldn't, these illegals should be sent back to the crap hole they came from and stop ruining our city. There are huge areas of nashville now that are either not safe to go to or just plain trashy b/c of the immigrant population there. They have forced out people that lived there for decades b/c of their lack of caring about their community. They trash everything an could care less.
Do we really want someone who can't read, write or speak English driving around on Nashville's streets? What happens when they can't read the school zone signs and wipe out a whole crowd of school children? How about when they go to the grocery store? Are we going to provide interpretors there too?
Vandy how is English Only going to stop illegals from coming? How about prosecuting- to the full extent of the law- the folks that hire them to clean their homes, raise their kids and mow their lawns??
By: rbyrd68 on 1/22/09Do we really want someone who can't read, write or speak English driving around on Nashville's streets? What happens when they can't read the school zone signs and wipe out a whole crowd of school children? How about when they go to the grocery store? Are we going to provide interpretors there too?"That's got to be the weirdest post of all time.
So, you that are voting yes, do you really think the illegal immigrants are going to leave if this passes?
Here is an example of how misinformed the "yes" voters are. A restaurant owner called in to the Jerry House radio show this morning and said he was voting yes because he has Hispanics working for him and they talk in Spanish and he thinks they are cussing him behind his back. He thought this amendment would force them to speak English. Vote No, it is the right thing to do.
TITAN1:That is the funnies thing I have heard all day.Did any tell the restaurant owner that even if they could speak English they would cuss him anyway. Now that is relly being paranoia. lol
That's the best you can do? Proposing that English-only be rejected because we are "better than this" is hardly a viable excuse when considering that the world's common business language is English. English-only merely sets a standard, which alleviates unforeseeable costs and added complexity while establishing a standard of communication to avoid the slippery slope of "when is enough enough?" After how many languages, translations and translators do we call it quits? English-only in no way impresses upon any resident a cultural standard. People can be whoever they are and still speak English, thus allowing their adoptive municipality the freedom of being fiscally frugal and avoiding unnecessary expense. I'm bothered that people make this about ideology or acceptance. It's simply about linguistic assimilation into the "melting pot" being a smarter financial decision than the isolation brought about by tolerance of "salad bar" (picking and choosing) linguistic preference. It really doesn't seem like much to ask that people who are coming to our country to live learn the language in which our Federal Constitution was written.
Captain Nemo, yes, Jerry told him they would still cuss him and the guy laughed and said they probably would but then he could understand them. The guy still didn't get it.
I guess there is a lot of people that don't get it. Look above. lol
i take it back. Wee's had to be the weirdest post at least of today. boy are we in trouble.
Everyone is talking about how this is somehow connected to illegal immigration...which has NOTHING to do with what Crafton says this whole damn thing is about. So, we are cutting off spanish to hispanics in an attempt to somehow disadvantage illegal immigrants, who do not deal with the local government anyway due to their criminal status. This logic does not add up in the slightest. There is no other metro government in the nation who has done anything like this. Glad to see that Nashville will be recognized as the first to cross the waters into this sort of stupidity.
My, my, Everyone has an opinion, just like another part of the body. People, no matter where they originated, who come to the UNITED STATES of AMERICA need to have more classes available to them to be able to LEARN English. If I moved to France, I sure would like to be able to find French classes-! Trust me, Parisians are not easy on you, when your knowledge of their language is tiny... Look at it this way: There is HELP, and there is HINDER. Let's HELP.
ENGLISH ONLY = EPIC FAILOr should we say... ERIC FAILS
CRAPTON FAILS, AGAIN!
CRAPTON FAILS, AGAIN!
Who in Bellevue is willing to recall Mr. Crafton. I'll help.
I feel MUCH better!