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September
19, 2002 9:00 a.m.
English
Gains
More
defeats coming for bilingual ed.
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on Unz has
whipped the bilingual-education establishment in two states: California
in 1998 and Arizona in 2000. He hopes to double his winnings on November
5 when Colorado and Massachusetts voters consider their own ballot initiatives
on language instruction. (Visit Unz's website here.)
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Odds are they'll
give bilingual ed the old heave-ho: Initiatives promoting English tend
to win easily, whether they're the "Official English" proclamations
of the late 1980s and early 1990s or the more meaningful efforts Unz has
sponsored. Just about everybody believes immigrants should learn English,
from those who want to preserve American culture to those who see English
education as a means of economic empowerment. One of the reasons there
are so many pro-English groups in the country — the biggest is U.S.
English, the best is English
First — is that right-wingers aren't the only people who respond
to their direct-mail pleas. Moderates and liberals do, too, and that's
why the referenda scored so big at the polls in California and Arizona.
Wins in Colorado
and Massachusetts will be welcome developments, but they also may represent
the conclusion of a strategy: Once they adopt Unz-inspired ideas, there
aren't many states left that have both a large immigrant population needing
English instruction and a ballot-initiative process. There's always Florida,
though qualifying for the ballot is a major legal headache. Nevada might
be worthwhile, in the view that it's a southwestern state experiencing
rapid population growth, especially among Hispanics. Oregon and Washington
are also options. But there really isn't much point in running an initiative
in Oklahoma, which may not even have a genuine native-language-maintenance
program anywhere within its borders.
So after November,
the political fight over bilingual education will have to shift. One of
the most interesting battles, in fact, is already taking place in Santa
Ana, a city in Orange County, Calif., said by the Census Bureau to have
the highest concentration of Spanish speakers in the country — nearly
three-quarters of the locals speak it. (In El Paso, the figure is almost
70 percent and in Miami it's 66 percent.) Santa Ana is also solidly Democratic.
Yet it may soon host first officeholder election in which the dominant
issue is bilingual education.
Last week, organizers
submitted 15,000 signatures in an effort to recall school-board member
Nativo Lopez, who has been a flamboyant defender of bilingual education
— and a fierce enemy of Unz's Proposition 227. The registrar has
a month to verify the signatures, but since the anti-Lopez coalition delivered
nearly twice as many as needed, this step appears to be a formality. Lopez
could face a recall election as early as January, and all signs point
to a close race: Two years ago, he won reelection by just 500 votes after
spending $100,000. Most school-board candidates in Santa Ana, including
the successful ones, have budgets of about $10,000.
Turnout is everything
in special elections, and the Lopez forces are clearly mobilized. In recent
weeks, when teams of recall supporters assembled outside stores to collect
signatures for their petitions, Lopez allies would arrive on the scene
in short order. Shouting matches would erupt and the police had to be
summoned on several occasions. One man — a Lopez opponent, as it
turns out — was even arrested for spitting on one of his foes.
Many immigrants revere
Lopez — he heads a services and lobbying organization called Hermandad
Mexicana Nacional, and he's a fixture in the community. But he also rubs
many people the wrong way, including Hispanics who want their children
to learn English. There are, additionally, questions about Lopez's ethics:
the state department of education is currently suing him over millions
of dollars in grants that appear to have vanished. And there does seem
to be a genuine grassroots sentiment among working-class Hispanics in
Santa Ana that their kids should be taught English in the public schools.
They see Lopez as an obstacle to realizing this goal.
Recalling Lopez may
not have quite the same impact as Colorado and Massachusetts voters rewriting
the rules of English-language instruction in their states — he could
always run for election again, and win — but it would also be laden
with a symbolism that neither Democrats nor Republicans have yet grasped:
Hispanic parents are increasingly disappointed by the false promise of
bilingual education and want alternatives. Those who stand in their way
may come to regret it.
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