Katie Porter: “Mr. Chairman, we are a diverse nation. We should celebrate and be proud of our diversity. But to be a nation we must…”

“Mr. Chairman, we are a diverse nation. We should celebrate and be proud of our diversity. But to be a nation we must have one common language with which we can communicate with one another. That common language is American English. Immigrants have come to our shores for over 200 years, and each group has learned the central language, and has integrated themselves into our society. As our Nation has grown by their numbers, it has been enriched by each of them. In order to have economic and social mobility in this country, we know that we must speak and write the central language. To the extent that we encourage people who enter our society not to learn American English, we consign them basically to a life without that opportunity. Mr. Chairman, in 1975 through misguided sensibilities, we mandated in certain circumstances ballots that would have to be printed in a language other than American English. A nation must conduct its public discourse in a central language, and through history our central language happens to be American English. It could have been American Spanish or American French. The most basic public function that we have in this country is the conduct of our elections. To be eligible to vote in our elections, one must be a citizen. In order to be a citizen one must be able to speak and write American English, our central language.”