Enacted throughout the South following Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in schools, parks, cemeteries, theaters and restaurants. UF law Professor Juan Perea says official-English laws draw similar discriminatory lines. Now the issue isn't the color of a person's skin, but the language he or she speaks. Well, official English does the same thing, but with language. A classification based on ethnicity should violate the Constitution.
Supporters say official-English laws unify a diverse people.
Perea, who testified before the Senate last month, says it's discriminatory and undemocratic. The problem is that language hasn't been recognized as an aspect of one's ethnic identity like race or religion, said Perea, who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Impulse in the United States . An appeals court struck down the amendment. Such laws, Perea said, arise from fear among white, English-only speaking Americans, who perceive changes happening in the country.