Cross-Language Relations in Composition

5. “English Only,” African American Contributions to Standardized Communication Structures, and the Potential for Social Transformation

97 5. “English Only,” African American Contributions to Standardized Communication Structures, and the Potential for Social Transformation Elaine Richardson In examining “English Only” as it relates to the many language varieties in America, the model that surfaces is a center-periphery model. In this view, all official business of the U.S. government and courts, including proceedings and interactions (involving spoken and written language), will employ only English. The ideological force of English Only encourages public and private identities, wherein it does not matter if English is one’s first, second, or third language; a certain hegemonic conception of what it means to be a thinking and acceptable American emerges. The standardized language ideologies underlying English Only run counter to the spirit of cultural, linguistic, and human diversity and reveal a preference for a certain type of “naturalization ” of immigrants and an ideal type of assimilated African American and other “minority” American groups. It is in these ways that the ideologies of English Only relate to African American Language and African Americans. An important question that I would ask is: Can we afford not to abolish in its entirety the center-periphery model that has dominated education and the public sphere? The English Only, center-periphery model’s subordination and fracturing of the cultural identities of African Americans and other non-preferred groups and so-called language minorities and the model’s push for the subordination or eradication of such people’s language reveal the connection of the ideologies of English Only to the ideologies of colonialism (Macedo). Donaldo Macedo’s quotation of Geralso Novas Davilla’s definition of cultural colonialism is instructive: Culturally, colonialism has adopted a negation to the [native culture’s] symbolic systems [including the native language], forgetting or undervaluing them even when they manifest themselves in action. This way, the eradication of [the] past and idealization and desire to relive the cultural heritage of colonial societies constitute a situation and a +RUQHU&KLQGG $0 Struggling with “English Only” in Composition 98 system of ideas along with other elements [that] situate the colonial society as a class. (16) It is a fact that African Americans have had to fight to define ourselves against social identities that colonizers foisted onto us as subhuman jibberishspeaking slaves in need of domestication and civilization. In contemporary times, such blatantly racist views are shunned by most Americans; however, the colonial legacy is yet present, where we are constantly exposed to watereddown or “de-politicized” versions of Black history and Black educational and cultural aspirations. Towering intellects and educators such as Carter G. Woodson argued in the 1920s and 1930s that Black people were being trained to fit into the status quo and to comply in their own oppression. He called this miseducation—a form of training or socialization designed for the uplift of the dominant society, which inadvertently works to the demise of the oppressed people in the society. We can see the vehement opposition of the dominant society to the idea of African American Language or Ebonics as a method to enhance Black people’s literacy education as one example of the subordination of Black people’s language. Most any type of education or social exchange (barring commodified pop culture) that centers Black people in their own history and experience is regarded as un-American, separatist, or backward. The ideas of naturalization and unity that underlie the English Language Unity Act of 2005 (also known as HR 997) seem to oppose the very diversity that is natural to humanity. The act reads as follows: A Bill to declare English as the official language of the United States, to establish a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United States, pursuant to Congress’s powers to provide for the general welfare of the United States and to establish a uniform rule of naturalization under article I, section 8, of the Constitution. (U.S. Congress) One of the concerns taken into consideration with the proposal to change English from de facto to de jure status was practical application. Thus, the Congress declared that Official English applies to “all laws, public proceedings , regulations, publications, orders, actions, programs, and policies” but does not apply to 1. teaching of languages; 2. requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; 3. actions, documents, or policies necessary for national security, international relations, trade, tourism, or commerce; 4. actions or documents that protect the public health...