Miami’s English Only ordinance was enacted in 1980 and repealed in 1993. So, after 13 years, what does Miami think about legislated language restrictions? Not a good idea, they say, and so they’re asking Nashville to look at their example and vote against Councilman Eric Crafton’s English Only referendum tomorrow:
Obviously, the good folks in Nashville didn’t ask for our opinion. We’d be remiss, however, not to say that we’ve been there and done that — and we didn’t like it. Dade County, as it was then known, enacted an English-only ordinance in 1980. It quickly became a source of endless legal headaches, heated community debate, political embarrassment and bureaucratic wrangling. Finally, it was repealed in 1993, to near-universal relief.
What can we expect if English Only passes? The same inertia that Miami experienced due to lawsuits and unending minutiae:
There were lawsuits and legal challenges from the federal government over issues such as bilingual ballots. Civil libertarians argued that linguistic restrictions violated the equal-protection clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Mass-transit schedules were printed only in English. Doctors at the public hospital were forbidden to give Haitian mothers a brochure in Creole about caring for their infants. Bilingual signs at the zoo were permitted to remain, but when a new section opened up, the signs had to be English-only (until private funding was found).
Welcome newcomers, Miami urges us, because in their experience, “arrivals strengthen us, not make us weaker.”
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