Today, African-American leaders, community organizers, and public officials including Rep. Brenda Gilmore, Councillady Erica Gilmore, and Councilman at large Jerry Maynard, held a press conference in front of the Howard School to encourage votes of “Against/Against.” The coalition standing with them included representatives from the Nashville branch of the NAACP; the Urban EpiCenter; the Urban League of Middle Tennessee; the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship (IMF); the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC); the Nashville Movement; the Tennessee Alliance for Progress (TAP); Jobs with Justice (JwJ); and the National Organization for Women (NOW).

The remarks focused on the social, economic, spiritual and moral impact of the referendum as well as the myth that most African-Americans were for the referendum. Although no statistics were cited, Councilman Maynard did explain that a lingering resentment over a lack of coalition building in response to school rezoning, the operation of Metro General Hospital, and juvenile crime statistics could be responsible for fueling pro-English Only sentiment in the African-American community. Maynard’s answer to such resentment is to cite the potential negative impact of the English Only referendum on the city and offer the tried and true adage of “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

The Mayor, the Governor, respected community leaders of all kinds. The coalition against the referendum is impressive. The list on the NashvilleForAllofUs.org website even includes the strange bedfellows of the Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU.

And who’s for the referendum? Well, there’s no list of Nashville-based groups or community leaders on the English Only website so one would have to assume that their coalition consists of Councilman Crafton, Svengali Jon Crisp, ProEnglish (the Virginia-based group helping to fund Crafton’s referendum that was designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of it’s affiliation with John Tanton’s U.S. Inc.), and one not-so-friendly neighborhood truth-stretching talk radio host who, despite knowing that not all non-citizens who come to this country are sources of cheap labor (they are students, executives of international corporations, scientists, etc.) nor are they all seeking citizenship, wrote in the Tennessean last week:

It’s an undisputed fact that people who don’t have a working knowledge of English are either non-citizens or are illegal immigrants. How do I know? Because you are required by law to speak, write and understand English to become a U.S. citizen. Opposition to this measure, disguised as a pro-diversity coalition, is all about one thing: keeping a steady flow of cheap, illegal labor streaming into Nashville.

Oh, Teddy Roosevelt is with them too. Happy New Year 1919!

*No, she doesn’t.

Listen: Interview with Councilwoman Erica Gilmore (27.37MB 17:05)