Pro-English measures being revived across U.S.

In perfect, if Southern-inflected, Japanese, Eric Crafton urged his colleagues on the Nashville, Tenn., City Council to let voters decide whether English should be the city’s official language.

Crafton, who learned Japanese during his service in the Navy, offered this translation: “This situation must change.”

The council’s decision to put the measure on the city ballot set off a bitter and expensive campaign, with Crafton and supporters from the nation’s “official English” movement pitted against the mayor, the governor of Tennessee and the leaders of numerous religious and community groups.

Nashville voters rejected the measure in January, but it won the support of 43 percent of them. Had they prevailed, Nashville would have become the largest city in the country to require that its official government business be conducted solely in English.

“English is under attack,” Crafton said in campaigning for the measure. “The fact that making English our government’s official language is even controversial should give us all pause.”

But City Council member Jerry Maynard called the proposal “mean-spirited,” adding, “It smells of racism.”

Numerous campaigns across country
The movement to make English the official language of U.S. government seems to run in cycles, and for now it’s back. Since the beginning of the year, four bills to that effect have been introduced in Congress, with versions of the idea included as part of at least three other bills. Meanwhile, similar measures have been introduced in at least 10 of the 22 states that don’t already have such provisions.

“A nation of immigrants needs one national language,” Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said last month in introducing legislation that would make English the “national language” and declare that “there is no entitlement to receive federal documents and services in languages other than English.”

At the same time, however, programs across the country that help immigrants learn English are facing budget cuts because of the recession, which could pose a conundrum if some of the measures succeed.

“We hear so often: ‘They need to learn English. They need to learn English.’ Well, somebody has to teach them, you know,” said Mauricio Calvo, director of Latino Memphis, which serves an estimated 100,000 Hispanic residents in Memphis, Tenn., where the school board voted late last year to cut staff for its English as a second language program to reduce costs.

Backers reject charges of racism
Like Crafton, Inhofe has been called a bigot for his advocacy of pro-English legislation, most notably by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., now the majority leader. In a floor speech three years ago, Reid branded Inhofe’s effort to attach a nearly identical measure as an amendment to an immigration bill as “racist.”

An msnbc.com-NBC News special report Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. The following NBC stations contributed to this report: WAFF of Huntsville, Ala.; WMC of Memphis, Tenn.; WSAV of Savannah, Ga.; WSMV of Nashville, Tenn.; and WXIA of Atlanta.

It’s a charge often leveled by opponents, many of whom say the movement is motivated by anti-immigrant sentiment.

When the Georgia Legislature considered a measure that would offer driver’s license tests only in English in April, Mariela Orellana, who runs a company that helps Hispanics navigate social services programs in Savannah, called the idea not just “simple racism” but also self-defeating.

Recent efforts The United States has no official language, but 28 states have declared English their “common” or “official” language. Since January, numerous new initiatives have been introduced at the state, local and federal levels to either declare English the “official language” or to strengthen existing declarations: • Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., introduced two bills in May that would make English “the official language of the United States” and require that “official functions of the United States be conducted in English.” • Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced separate bills in February that would declare English the official language of the United States. • Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., introduced legislation in March that would withhold federal education money from local school agencies that administer the Pledge of Allegiance in any language other than English. • The Albertville, Ala., City Council unanimously passed an ordinance in June declaring English the city’s official language. • The Oklahoma Legislature in May approved holding a referendum next year in which voters will decide whether to declare English the state’s official language. Similar measures have been introduced this year in the legislatures of the following states: Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin. Some of those states already declare English the official language, but lawmakers are seeking to strengthen the statements. Sources: msnbc.com research; usenglish.org; Associated Press

“The ones that are going to be affected are international businesses, international partnerships, the same kind of businesses that Governor (Sonny) Perdue and everybody in Atlanta has been trying to woo and to convince to come to Georgia and establish businesses,” Orellana said.

Both houses of the Legislature passed similar versions of the measure, but the initiative died when the Senate, in a 22-22 vote, failed to accept the House-passed final version. The measure is considered likely to resurface in the 2010 session.

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce opposed Crafton’s measure on similar grounds, saying it would send the message that the city “is not inclusive,” Vice President Debby Dale Mason said.

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