Tuesday, April 8, 2008

rant

There seems to be a lot of heated debate over this controversy. Many people argue in support for a law to be passed that makes English the official language of the US. But I feel that this legislation would be unnecessary and above all, biased to the many thousands of legal Americans who are not originally from America. Language has done nothing so far to threaten our unity and will continue to do nothing to do such a thing, because we clearly have far bigger current issues to deal with (noting the fact that our country is in a secession right now)
Making English our authorized language means one of many things. To name a few, several services to the public would have to be stopped. For example, telephone assistance such as 911 operators could only be available in English, making it impossible for many citizens to comprehend what they are saying(obviously). This causes an extremely hazardous situation in any type of emergency. Additionally, legislating this law would mean that voting ballots would strictly have to be in English. My grandmother, for instance, is originally from Cuba but is a legal citizen to the United States and therefore has every right to vote for whoever will be her future president. However, she does not speak a word of English. Would it be just to restrict her from voting, a privilege that one has as a US citizen, just because she cannot speak English? This type of law would be unjust, because many instances as this one will be recurring again and again, and it simply isn't fair.
Accessing a translator in hospitals for if there is an emergency to take care of will be out of the question for many minorities if English is to be used for all governmental or business-related purposes. Again, it is unjust and it may promote hazardous situations.

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