Se Habla Inglés

THE ballots in Miami, Florida will never the same again.

For the last time, every item on this fall's Dade County, Florida, ballot was written in Spanish and English.

Last week, voters in Arizona, Colorado and Florida overwhelmingly passed referenda making English their official state language. While the measures may save the states and businesses some money on translations and extra paperwork, the symbolic effect of those referenda--especially considering the large margins of victory they enjoyed--is detrimental to civil liberties and basic tolerance.

Considered in the abstract, at least, the idea of making English the official language of American states seems reasonable enough. As supporters of the referenda often argued, it doesn't seem like a great imposition to ask United States citizens to learn the nation's native language. After all, learning a new language hardly seems too much to ask in exchange for the benefits of living in a free society. And having pockets of foreign-speaking people might have a divisive effect on the unity of the nation, the referenda supporters claimed.

THE problem with the referenda lies less in their content than in their xenophobic underpinnings.

Many an "English Only" supporter in Florida has used the following argument:"They take our tax money, they receive our welfare, so why can't they speak our language?"

Considering the sentiments of the average citizen, a better translation might be: "The Cubans take American money, so they better be more American or else they ought to get the hell out of our state."

In states plagued by ethnic rivalries, like Florida, a move to make English the official language is very much framed by the "us/them" attitude. Frustrated in attempts to purge foreigners from their native soil--largely because the foreigners have made a great contribution to local prosperity--many citizens in Arizona, Colorado and Florida found making English the official state language the next best thing.

Now Anglos no longer have to accommodate Spanish speakers on their they can legally force them to deal in English. Banks, stores, post offices, buses, doctors' offices, and any other facet of daily life can easily exclude many who are equally deserving of their services. This is hardly an exaggeration, considering the leverage the state legislatures have in implementing the new policy and the tendency for these bodies to reflect the whims of the electorate.

With such a large mandate--80 percent of the Florida electorate voted for the measure--minority languages and cultures are threatened with official persecution.

It is frightening to think how far the state may go to "implement this article by appropriate legislation," as the Florida referendum pledges. Will the state empower a school teacher to punish an eight-year student for speaking Spanish in the classroom? Will it deny Hispanic criminal defendants from hearing their rights because they cannot understand arresting officers? Will it dissuade non-English speakers from using public transportation or applying for jobs?

These scenarios may not come to pass, but the only guarantee they won't lies with the fairmindedness of the same population that overwhelmingly passed the measures. The people have empowered themselves with more than the discretion to pick an official language: they have become arbiters over key civil rights. Millions of Spanish-speaking citizens must now hope that these "true blooded Americans" will sacrifice their own self-interests to protect the rights of others.