Legislating language in the name of national unity
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1358229113480431 |
| Author | Donathan Brown |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Legislating language
in the name of national
unity: An Oklahoma
story
Donathan Brown
Abstract
Concerns over demographic shifts continue to result in legislative disputes at all levels of
government. These conflicts, whether challenging the creation of congressional districts
that attempt to ‘‘dilute minority votes’’ or legislative attempts at defining and imple-
menting ‘‘official language’’ laws, continue to arise in areas experiencing Latino popula-
tion growth. Since the 2004 release of statistics by the United States Census Bureau,
which indicated that Latinos are overtaking African Americans to become the largest and
fastest growing ‘‘minority group’’ in the United States, much legislative attention has
focused upon the socio-economic and political absorption of Latinos. Although propo-
nents of the Oklahoma State Ballot Question 751, the English is the Official Language of
Oklahoma Act, argued that the supposed policy necessity of an official language law was
measured without attention to race, this essay argues otherwise. In what follows, I argue
the existence of a forged rhetorical correlation between shifting racial demographics and
the insisted demand for more official language policies. To illustrate this claim, the
arguments sought in support of the United States most recent English-only measure,
Oklahoma State Ballot Question 751, will be analyzed.
Keywords
English-only, Latino politics, Racism
Ithaca College, New York, NY, USA
Corresponding author:
Donathan Brown, Department of Communication Studies, Ithaca College, 953 Danby Road, 419
Muller Faculty Center, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
Email: dlbrown@ithaca.edu
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
13(1) 4–17
ªThe Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1358229113480431
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