Douglas Alexander: “at the end of March, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Salvation Army for allegedly…”

“at the end of March, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Salvation Army for allegedly discriminating against two of the Salvation Army's employees in a Boston-area thrift store by requiring them to speak English on the job. This lawsuit means that every business in America, from the shoe shop to Wal-Mart, will need to hire lawyers to prove it has a legitimate business purpose if that business wants to require employees to speak our national language while at work. I asked the chair of the EEOC in what language she holds staff meetings. She said, in English. We conduct Senate debates in English. Since 1906, no immigrant has been able to become an American citizen without first learning English. At Hillsboro High School in Nashville, where my daughter graduated, students speak 28 native languages, but classes are conducted in English. Federal law requires that all children in public schools be tested in English, and that if they do not know English, they must learn it as soon as possible. Over the last 40 years, I have voted for or supported, I believe, almost every civil rights or anti-discrimination law that has been offered. But in America, requiring English in the workplace is not discrimination; it is common sense. More important, it is our common language. Our common language helps unite the diversity in this Nation of immigrants.”