by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 20, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Unfortunately, it is the intrinsic self-inflating nature of American citizens, raised in English-speaking schools, to rail on about the need for English to be the official language of the United States. As a land previously inhabited by thousands of indigenous tribes, each with their own linguistic history, it is presumptuous to assume that only English-speaking peoples should be accommodated by government and society at large. Furthermore, it is a multitude of various discovering cultures (English, Dutch, Portugese, Spanish, French...and so on) that discovered, colonized, and spread throughout this land. Many states provide translated documents - with Hispanic and Asiatic populations on the rise, a long history of non-English use (including New York's policy of printing government documents in both English and Dutch, a legacy to the colony of New Amsterdam), and an increasing need to promote diversity and prevent assimilation among the citizenry - in an effort to reach out to more citizens and potential citizens.

But the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, in its insular madness, passed immigration reform bill S.2611 on 25 May 2006. In the lengthy bill, brought forward by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), there is language that would take the steps to make English the official language of the United States. As our Congressional leaders reflect the paranoia among many Americans, wherein non-English speakers are quickly branded as "terrorists", so the nation loses a little of its character. In Louisiana, French and the Creole mentality by which it flourishes are as essential to life - if not more so - than the English language. An effort simply to further drive down immigrants toward a less-than-human status, declaring English to be the official language of the United States will cheapen our collective history and deprive our nation of diversity and much creative thought. Let us all hope that the new, Democrat-led legislature will have the good sense to obliterate this language from S.2611 and keep America free of any one specific language. Along with freedom of speech, we must be given the freedom of language.

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