Director Francie Hunt
“From my personal experience, immigrants are more than willing to learn more languages and are eager for assimilation. It’s a process and no law can speed that up.”
The Nashville chapter of Stand for Children has voted to oppose English Only, and Director Francie Hunt issued this statement to the Tennessean. Here are excerpts:
Our chapter felt strongly that it was harmful to children and to our community to pass a law that restricts communication. In a world rife with conflict, limiting our means to connect, collaborate and protect each other is a terrible example for our young people and with dangerous consequences.
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At family gatherings, I long to understand my mother’s tongue just as my mother once longed for me to assimilate into American culture when she first arrived. Passing punitive legislation will not make Nashville more “comfortable” with non-English speakers and it won’t inspire immigrants to learn English any more than the motivation it took to get here in the first place. From my personal experience, immigrants are more than willing to learn more languages and are eager for assimilation. It’s a process and no law can speed that up.
Nashville for All of Us Official Blog 