It's just plain mean

We've said before that the English only effort being promoted by a shadowy group of people whose strings are being pulled by interests outside of Tennessee is just plain mean.

And they seem to have no problems demonstrating that. On the day that petitions were filed in an attempt to put this antagonistic issue on the ballot, supporters called for legislation that would require non-English speakers to pay for their own interpretors if needed to deal with city and county agencies.

The proposal goes beyond being one more effort to be mean to people have done nothing worse than choose to speak a language other than English -- it acknowledges that those people will need to interact with government and that the English-speaking people of Nashville will do nothing to help.

The message is clear: "If you don't speak English, get the hell out of Nashville. We don't want you here." In what universe can it right for a public official to want to send that message to the rest of the world?

These knuckle-draggers who claim they are defenders of Judeo-Christian values clearly don't understand the concept. Those values are based on concepts of liberty and equality, two rights they believe should only be extended to those who speak English.

Whether they like it or not, Nashville is a cosmopolitan city and it will continue to become more diverse, as will the United States. The only thing holding us back is the anonymous English-only crowd that wants to create a false reality that is destined to fail.

    -- Jim Grinstead

Comments

[Ajb]

What do we need to do to make sure this asinine law never gets passed, and that the lawmakers who support it are voted out of office next election? I have lived in Nashville for twenty years, and it makes me sick to my stomach to know that there are still bigots in power. I am proud to be a Nashvillean, but we already have an unfavorable reputation throughout the country and the world. We don't need to justify it with this white trash legislation.