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Photo by Josh McConnell. Licensed under Creative Commons.

The official Facebook group of Nashville for All of Us

On December 11, 2008, we are announcing that "Nashville's Moment is Now" has become the official Facebook group of Nashville for All of Us.

http://www.nashvilleforallofus.org

There are other great Facebook groups opposing the English charter change, and the "official" status here doesn't take away from the wonderful things going on elsewhere. Some of those groups are very active and have grown even larger than Nashville's Moment Is Now, so check them out:

http://nashvillesmoment.com/2008/11/nashvillians-are-already-opposing.html

The idea of the growing Facebook community coalescing around the issue - no matter the group - is to inspire and activate Nashvillians to vote AGAINST the English charter change.

We all believe that Nashville's moment is now.

Nashville for All of Us launches official website

Lots of people have been asking about the Nashville for All of Us group. That group has just launched its web site:

www.nashvilleforallofus.org

The group can be contacted at contact@nashvilleforallofus.org - or, if you want to volunteer, the e-mail address is volunteer@nashvilleforallofus.org

They have a sign up, and contributions are being accepted for a campaign.

I have already signed up Nashville's Moment as a member of the Nashville for All of Us coalition. Please continue to advocate as you have been, but now there is a new, city-wide group for us to get plugged into as well.

Please also consider if your own group should join the growing number of supporters of the Nashville for All of Us coalition.

Nashvillians are already opposing English charter change, with or without campaign

Hundreds join new Facebook groups, write letters, speak up on blogs

Nashville residents are increasingly urging an "Against" vote on January 22, in opposition to the proposed English charter change (also described as English Only, English First, or a language ban).

With the ballot box now under two months away (and early voting starting January 2), the grassroots opposition has been simmering for months on blogs and in letters to the editors of local newspapers, and it has now spread to Facebook groups and a number of organizations around town.

There is still no public campaign being waged by the group called "Nashville for All of Us," which has filed with the Election Commission for the purpose of opposing the measure (story here). The lack of any public movement by the group has been lamented by the Nashville City Paper in this editorial.

But ordinary Nashvillians are speaking up, with or without a formal campaign.


Four new groups on Facebook, for example, are only days old but have drawn hundreds of members:

• Nashville's Moment Is Now, with 523 members at last count, including testimonials from
  • Gabi Castillo
    
  • Eddie Gray
    
  • Tanja August
    
  • Laura Creekmore
    
  • Susan McBride
    
  • Thuy Nguyen; and
    
  • Ben Vos
  (It's the Facebook group affiliated with this site, nashvillesmoment.com)
  
  
• Nashville for All of Us (207 members at last count, in support of but not officially representing the Election Commission-sanctioned group of the same name)
  
  
• Vote No on English Only (234 members at last count, also at noenglishonly.com)
  
  
• Vote No on the English Only Referendum on January 22, 2009 (376 members at last count)

Blogs

On local blogs, there are a number of comments advocating defeat of the measure, for various reasons excerpted below.

Aunt B.:

Pushing an anti-immigrant agenda–with your “English-only” nonsense and your 287(g) programs and your raids–makes employers, especially international employers leery of locating here. It’s not just a matter of whether they want to hire “illegal” immigrants. It’s that we look hostile to people who are different than us. If an employer in, say, Japan wants to set up a technology-based industry in the U.S. (perhaps to save on shipping), he’s going to want to send a core group of people over here to set up the business and run it, at least for a while. If you’re going to send your best and brightest, most trusted employees half-way around the world, you’re not going to keep those employees if you send them to a place that openly hates them.

...makes employers, especially international employers, leery of locating here.

Jay Voorhees:

The only want that we can overcome this movement is to make sure that the turnout to vote against his legislation is so overwhelming that they dare not bring it for consideration again.

So Nashvillians, it’s time to get the network moving. Contact all of your friends, your family members, anyone who thinks that this election is a waste of time and money and that that this legislation is inhospitable, and get them to vote against this proposal.

Contact all of your friends, your family members, anyone who thinks that this election is a waste of time and money and that that this legislation is inhospitable...

Rosanne Ferreri-Feski:

Nationwide negative press has also followed Nashville in the wake of its desire to spread "English only" throughout metro government offices. USA Today, among others, has written negative reviews about our city, a city which touted itself on being inclusive and diversity-forward in its marketing. The nation is watching Nashville and we are giving them plenty to discuss.

The nation is watching Nashville and we are giving them plenty to discuss.

Mike Byrd has an entire series of posts on the topic, including this one:

[The] English Only charter referendum, coming for a vote in January, will live or die on the votes of the African American community, just like California's Proposition 8 resolution did last week. It will be ironic if Eric Crafton wins his fight against Nashville's immigrant community the same week we commemorate the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the American civil rights struggle.

...the same week we commemorate the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the American civil rights struggle.

Erica Well:

As it stands, the amendment removes instead of clarifies, and diminishes Metro instead of strengthens it. If enacted as is, it means Metro government will not allow itself to translate any of its government business paperwork into any other language. So (just for starters) DMV forms, car registration forms etc., -- all that ancillary government paperwork translated out of courtesy to new immigrants so they can conduct their proper business as they learn English -- will no longer be in other languages other than English.

So what's wrong with that, you say? They have to learn English, you say. It makes no sense, I say. English is not absorbed by osmosis, it is learned. (And on a larger scale, anyone remember being taught about the Rosetta stone back in High School?)

It then makes no sense that Metro should cut back on its authority over its new immigrant citizens by not providing translations for certain services. Why would we cut back on our authority? Metro has to make this basic paperwork available in other languages so people can do the right and legal thing when they get here.

It then makes no sense that Metro should cut back on its authority...

Nathan Moore:

No rationale for pushing for this charter amendment, either substantively (which I have discussed before) or procedurally, can be taken from a conservative political philosophy. It is too late to pull back now - the signatures are in. But we can take a lesson about this before January, and realize that just because this snipe is on the ballot, it doesn’t mean we have to pass the Metropolitan government equivalent of the Third Amendment.

No rationale for pushing for this charter amendment, either substantively ... or procedurally, can be taken from a conservative political philosophy.

Rob Robinson:

Surely there is a better way to serve the public than preying upon people who already have uphill climbs ahead of them.

...preying upon people who already have uphill climbs...

Nathan Day Wilson:

My family and I lived outside the United States for a short period of time. The country where we lived does not have English as a primary language.

For us, going to the grocery store or sending a letter back home or helping our children meet and play with other children at the park or finding our way to church the first time were all challenges. Many times our saviors were people patient with our very limited abilities in their language and people who were willing to try their little bit of English to help us understand. Their generosity allowed us to survive.

And now a part of my country -- a part of the country that I, in fact, used to enjoy -- is not going to return the favor. I'm ashamed of those in Nashville who pushed this effort, and I hope and pray it is soundly defeated in November.

Many times our saviors were people patient with our very limited abilities in their language...

Letters to the editor

The Tennessean and Nashville City Paper have also published letters to the editor against the English charter change, including these:

Johnny Ellis:

[P]our money into primary education services that will teach all children to read and write in English and to love Tennessee.

It will be cheaper, easier and does not slap the face of your neighbors and future citizens.

...neighbors and future citizens.

Bill Wright:

I agree if someone chooses to live in a country and is not fluent in the language, they should make every reasonable effort to learn the language but that doesn’t mean we should expect them to be proficient in it from day one, or not provide any assistance to help them along the way.

I have to believe the people pushing these agendas have never traveled outside our own country and would have a different attitude if they “walked a mile in their shoes.”

...they should make every reasonable effort to learn the language but that doesn’t mean we should expect them to be proficient in it from day one...

Todd M. Liebergen:

[T]ake the time and money that you’d like to use for the petition campaign and actually help those wanting to learn English. Encourage all those that mention it to you to also step forward with their time and/or money.

In many cases, it’s not the motivation to learn English that is lacking, it’s the resources of having classes available at the times the learners need (some people actually work), at the levels that the learners need (some know no English and others know some and others are mostly fluent), in the format the learners need (some need individual tutoring while others can use a lecture hall size class).

Take the time and money ... and actually help those wanting to learn English

Brent Andrews:

It is only good service and good manners to speak to people in their own language when possible.

...good service and good manners...

Photo by Josh Hunter. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Gabi Castillo

My parents brought me to the US when I was 2 years old. English became my first language very quickly and elementary school was a breeze. I remember my Dad asking me in Spanish to find the hammer while he was working on a project. I would go to the toolbox and stare at the tools wondering which one was a "martillo." My siblings and I were losing our Spanish language skills fast. My parents moved us back to Costa Rica for a couple of years to make sure we never forgot what a "martillo" was. Elementary school in Spanish was very difficult. I was 10; I didn't understand much that was said to me; I was not doing well in school and I could barely communicate with the teacher. Today I treasure those difficult days because they made me bilingual.

On February 6, 2007 the English Only bill passed third reading in the Metropolitan Council. I left the Courthouse in tears. I am so proud that I speak a second language and that I can serve Nashville residents in our native language. English Only was going to make that a violation. I have deep gratitude for everyone working to defeat this ordinance time and time again. The Nashville I know and love is so much better than this. Witnessing folks from all walks of life coming together to fight English Only reassures me that it is Nashville's moment!

I am so proud that I speak a second language and that I can serve Nashville residents in our native language.

Eddie Gray

Mostly, I'd like to talk about the unintended consequences that may result. How is American Sign Language interpretation covered in the proposed amendment language?

I am wondering why the media hasn't grasped onto this point as well. I personally don't believe that the drafters of this legislation even had this in mind. While I am a bit frustrated by some of the language issues (why only focus on Spanish and not any of the other languages spoken by newcomers to the area?), this xenophobia should not be allowed to persist in our lives. Some folks want their piece of the American dream while making sure that no one else can realize it. That is more un-American than anything I have observed.

Some folks want their piece of the American dream while making sure that no one else can realize it.

Tanja August

I moved here from Germany in 2001. I speak perfect English but still had a hard time figuring out how to deal with different bureaucracies, social security systems etc. I can't imagine how someone copes who speaks little to no English AND receives no help.

I can't imagine how someone copes who speaks little to no English AND receives no help.

Laura Creekmore

I'm concerned about the English-only proposal for many reasons. Here are two big ones:
* I don't see how this will bring any positive change. I fear that instead, it will cost Nashville far more than the $500,000 necessary to hold a special election -- in lawsuits to be defended, in lost tourism, in lost business. It seems quite short-sighted to me.
* More personally, my son is Guatemalan. I am greatly concerned with the racial tensions engendered by this proposal and other anti-immigrant measures now popular in our country. Many of them seem to me to be motivated by thinly veiled racism. I don't presume to identify the motivations of all those behind this measure, but I am concerned by many of the public comments I've heard and read in the media. I want to bring my son up in an inclusive, welcoming society -- not one that turns people away due to their ethnic heritage or their language.

I want to bring my son up in an inclusive, welcoming society

Susan McBride

When someone's culture or language is second place, or no place at all, we all lose. The gifts we each have get lost when there is a pecking order that flies in the face of all of us being precious and equal in the sight of a creator who never tagged anyone as less than another. We all need one another in order to make our world as great a place as it can be. I need your art, your music, your personality, your reasoning. How else could it be? If I woke up tomorrow with a different ethnicity my worth would be no less. When I was a kid there were white and colored drinking fountains. Today that is not allowed due to the courageous acts of people who said, "NO" to the practice of treating someone as less than for reasons we know to be wrong. Demanding someone speak the language I know so not to inconvenience me is just as wrong.

When I was a kid there were white and colored drinking fountains. Today that is not allowed...

Thuy Nguyen

When my family came to the United States as refugees from the Vietnam war, it was a new beginning. We had to start everything from scratch--learning a new language and a new culture while at the same time we had to worry about our basic needs, shelter, food, and clothing. My parents' main reason for coming to America is for us, their children, to be educated in a world of freedom. For me, it was difficult to learn English even though I learned it at a young age. My parents speak and understand enough English to be independent; however, when it comes to idioms, medical and legal jargon, they need an interpreter. It takes a long time to learn a language. My parents are very grateful to the language assistance they received when they were refugees. My family's story is similar to many immigrant/refugee stories. We already have so many barriers as citizen's of this earth: sex, race, religion, class, etc. Why do we have to add another barrier--a language barrier?

My parents are very grateful to the language assistance they received when they were refugees.

Todd Liebergen

I can talk about inclusivity, which English First isn't.
I can talk about multilingualism benefiting all residents, even if much of USA society doesn't recognize it.
I can talk about pouring these resources into areas that will do more good than this amendment drive and the ensuing legalities if it passes.
Mostly, I'd like to talk about the unintended consequences that may result. How is American Sign Language interpretation covered in the proposed amendment language?

I'd like to talk about the unintended consequences that may result.

Ben Vos

I stand up for a welcoming and affirming attitude toward those who are different! As a Christian, I am called to defend the cause of the widow, the orphan, and the alien. I refuse to be silent and I refuse to allow xenophobia and laziness to win.

I stand up for a welcoming and affirming attitude toward those who are different!

John Lamb

In 1998 when I found out that my wife could take Tennessee's written drivers license exam in Spanish, when she was still new to this country and her language skills were shaky, I thought, "How nice of my state to make her feel welcome like that and ease the transition!"

Throughout Nashville government, we have that same kind of welcome for newcomers in various forms, and we will continue to have that welcome if enough of us stand against this charter change.

We will continue to have that welcome if enough of us stand against this charter change.