Xenophobic Bills Currently In the Ohio General Assembly | Rowsey Blog

Xenophobic Bills Currently In the Ohio General Assembly

April 29, 2008

It pains me to say that Ohio has been added to the list of those states who are attempting to scare our Hispanic population through legal forms of bullying.  Currently there are two bills in our legislative branch.

Briefly, SB 260 would empower state and local law enforcement officials to get involved with federal immigration law, detaining people suspected of “unlawful” or “illegal” presence, including civil offenses of federal immigration law.  House Bill 477 is an English Only bill, declaring that English is the official language of state government business.

I understand completely many of the arguments against illegal immigration.  While I typically do not agree with them, we will leave that for another day and another post.  What bothers me even more is the “English Only Bill” currently awaiting a vote in the House of Delegates.  What is it with many Americans and their fear of learning foreign languages?  Why must we all speak “American” as our first language?  If Hispanic  or Somali immigrants want to succeed in this country, it is in their best interest to learn English.  How many of you think that a person would choose to live their entire lives in a country and not be able to communicate with the majority of its citizens?  If you believe that, I have some property to sell you.

For more information about these bills, you can visit the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission at http://ochla.ohio.gov/.  It might be something for which you could write letters to our representatives opposing these bills.

A mis amigos latinos,

Les escribo este mensaje para que sepan que no todos somos tan xenófobos en este estado (Ohio).  No tengan duda de que haya muchas personas aquí que les apoyamos.

Sincermante,

Un amigo “gringo”

Posted by Jason Rowsey | Filed Under Ohio Government, Politics, columbus 

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