Urge Congress to defend English Your Congressmen Current Legislation State Profiles Petition
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ProEnglish calls
study showing immigrants rapidly transition toEnglish
"His decision to introduce S. 3828, however, will be misinterpreted and attacked by extremists who want to divide Americans by language and exploit those differences for their own political purposes," McAlpin warns. "American citizens should tell the Senate leadership to reject those voices, and respond to the large majority of Americans that polls show support making English our official language." S. 3828 is a companion bill to House Resolution 4408, "The National Language Act of 2006," introduced by U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. In addition to declaring English the official language of government, the bill would eliminate bilingual ballots. "A Zogby poll this spring found that an overwhelming 84 percent of American voters favor making English our official language and 63 percent want to end the practice of printing ballots in foreign languages," McAlpin said. "Congressional passage of these bills, among other things, would end the so-called "temporary" use of multilingual voting ballots and materials in the country." The requirement for certain election jurisdictions to have multilingual ballots and materials was added 10 years after the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed. "Printing ballots and election materials in foreign languages is expensive and redundant," McAlpin notes, "because federal law already guarantees every voter the right to bring an interpreter into the voting booth if he cannot understand a ballot written in English." "This country needs to defend its linguistic unity more than ever, especially in its government operations. Passage of the Inhofe and King legislation simply reinforces what President George Bush and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to advocate- to be a U.S. citizen you must learn English." McAlpin concluded. |
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