By P.C. Staff
Following President Trump’s March 1 executive order making English the official language of the United States and revocation of E.O. 13166, which required institutions receiving federal funds to provide language assistance to non-English speakers, the Japanese American Citizens League issued a statement today berating the action as having “far-reaching consequences for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.”
Contained in the order, titled “Designating English as the Official Language of the United States,” was the following statement: “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.”
In its statement, JACL countered: “Contrary to the executive order, our nation has always been one with a plethora of languages spoken by our people.” Bolstering that perspective was an Associated Press article that reported: “Currently there are more than 350 languages spoken in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The most widely spoken languages other than English are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic.”
The AP report also noted that several native North American languages are spoken in the U.S, including Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, Apache, Keres and Cherokee, among others. Other news outlets reported concerns out of Puerto Rico over the consequences of the order in the Spanish-speaking American territory.
JACL also stated: “This executive order furthers the racist concept that non-native English speakers are less American or perhaps even un-American.”
The text of the White House’s executive order may be read here.
The text of the JACL’s statement may be read here.
