Reforma, the national association to promote library and information services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, released a new language-rights position statement October 7 opposing any and all legislation designed to establish English as an official language in the U.S.
Latinos are the largest minority population in the 2000 census, said Reforma President Ben Ocón, and English-only initiatives are increasing. Legislation is currently being considered in Massachusetts and Colorado, he said, and these initiatives “undermine the linguistic diversity and pluralism that in fact strengthen American society. The ultimate and very real danger of such initiatives is that they will invariably lead to a condescending treatment, racial profiling, and victimization of not only the Spanish-speaking population but all non-English-speaking peoples in the U.S.”
The new statement updates and expands Reforma’s original stance against official-English laws, adopted in 1985, and allies the group with other organizations that support “linguistic pluralism,” including the American Library Association (with which it is affiliated), the National Association of Bilingual Education, and the Linguistic Society of America.
Posted October 14, 2002.