Quelle horreur!
It's tres difficile to imagine how Michigan's House of Representatives could become a bigger bande d'imbeciles, but vraiment, it has happened.
Thursday, the House passed a meaningless garbage bill that, on its face, makes English the state's official language. Meaningless, because the bill's major thrust is to require that all official state documents are produced primarily in English, as they already are. The bill wouldn't prevent Michigan governments from translating state documents into English, affect law enforcement, or classroom instruction. Garbage, because good God, this bill is trash.
The bill now moves to the state Senate, where it is expected to pass. (To that I say, oy vey.)
Gov. Rick Snyder's spokesman says the governor is "one of the most pro-immigration governors in the nation," but that he'd need to review the bill "in its final form" before taking a position.
It's true that Snyder speaks frequently of the economic importance of attracting immigrant workers, but also true that he has been slow to denounce the anti-immigrant rhetoric employed by some national politicians _ and has shown too many times that he'll bend to the most noxious elements of his party, so comme ci, comme ca on that one.
State Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Potterville, says this bill is about creating commonality. Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Williams Twp., says it's about compassion.
Au contraire: This bill aims to define who does and doesn't belong in this state.
It's part and parcel of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that's become a staple of the new American right, the same ideology that drove a ban of travelers from some majority-Muslim countries, whipped up popular ire toward immigrants as job-stealing criminals, and lately made any immigration reform verboten without limiting legal immigration.
Who belongs here? Us. Who doesn't? Them?
That's the message, whether fortissimo or sotto voce.
I don't see this movement ebbing. Empowered by the hateful rhetoric, and subsequent victories, of the 2016 election, lawmakers seem eager to run roughshod over immigrants' rights.
Which is nuts, because save for Native Americans, none of our ancestors were born here.
In Michigan, that truth is never far away: Sto Lat at birthday parties, gyros de rigeur at diners, hummus on the shelf at the corner store. By declaring English as the state's official language, the House privileges some American voices over others, because of the language those voices speak.
My great-great grandfather came over in the early 1800s from a small island off the coast of Sicily, my great-great grandmother from Scotland. My son is a second-generation American; his nonna Licia hailed from Bologna, his Grandpa Enzo from Balestrate. They worked hard, and they hoped for better things.
And, yes, they learned English, and not because small-minded legislators marked them as different, as less-than _ because they understood the value of full participation in a society whose lingua franca was, and still is, English. Because they understood the value of creating America, "the land that never has been yet and yet must be" _ a country strong enough to encompass many cultures, many languages, and retain its proud identity.
The state House of Representatives? They should trust America.
