While walking home from work, I happened to see the front page of the Chicago Tribune, which boldly declares that the Senate has voted to make English the official language of the US. My first thought was outrage, followed by confusion that no other news source was making a big deal of this.
Partially, this is because the Trib lies: it’s not the “official” language, it’s the “national” language, which is a distinction that leaves the new resolution effectivele meaningless. Basically, it will encourage the conduct of government business in English. Okay…that’s different how?
Of course, the resolution matters not because the resolution is anyone’s end goal, but because it primes the pump:
“The Senate’s action on Thursday raises the prospect that when Senate and House members meet to iron out differences in their immigration bills, the final product will include an ‘official English’ provision.”
The bill’s sponsors (among them James Inhofe, one of the most objectionable men in the Senate) deny that this is an anti-Hispanic law, but that’s pretty hard to believe, especially given the recent immigration controversies. This is rather unambiguous xenophobia, and the passage of the bill 63-34 is a scary notion because of it – can that many Senators really fear the unwhite hordes that badly? My great fear right now is that ten years down the road, this will be rememered as the first step in the walling off of America and the active persuction of all brown people.