In a March 31 speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, former U.S. speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said, “The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”
Gingrich is famous for making bigoted, anti-worker statements targeting women, the LGBT community and people of
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This time, Gingrich was forced to retract his statement because of the massive backlash it caused. In his weak “apology,” Gingrich said that he chose his words poorly. He said this in Spanish on a video posted on YouTube. While apologizing for the attack on Spanish-speaking people, he repeated the tenor of his comments.
Although Gingrich is often portrayed in the media as an outspoken and off-the-wall political commentator, his views actually represent the racist views of the ruling capitalist class. Racism is a tool used by bosses to divide the working class against itself.
The facts
Gingrich’s racist statements on bilingual education have been pushed, and accepted to some degree, by many workers. This racist view contains a number of myths.
(1) Non-English speaking people, mainly immigrants, don’t learn English and they must.
(2) Bilingual education retards the development of English language learners.
(3) English must be learned to become a “true American.”
In fact, research has widely shown these views to be wholly false.
First, whether or not bilingual education exists in a particular school district or state, non-English-speaking immigrants do learn English.
A March 30 Newswire article cited recently published research, which found that Latinos generally “acquire English and lose Spanish rapidly beginning in the 2nd generation.” The 2000 U.S. Census showed that 50 percent of the children of Mexican-born immigrants either spoke only English or spoke English very well.
A primary struggle that immigrant families face is not how to learn English, but rather how to maintain their home culture and language in an English-dominated society.
Second, bilingual education enhances the development of English language learners.
The Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence released a study on this issue in 2003. According to the study, English-only immersion programs far less effective than programs that heavily utilize and recognize the value of the native language.
English language learners who attended English-only programs showed large decreases in reading and math achievement when compared to students who participated in bilingual language support programs.
Immigrants and English language learners, 77 percent of whom are U.S. born, learn English. Bilingual education ensures that they learn English at academically proficient levels.
‘English only’
Attacks on bilingual education are part of the “English-only” movement pushed by capitalists in order to maintain the super-exploitation and oppression of immigrant workers.
Currently, the U.S. federal government has not specified an official language—for education or any other official government function.
Twenty-five states—such as Alabama Florida, Massachusetts and Georgia—have designated English as the official
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The English-only movement is a threat to civil rights, educational opportunities and free speech. It also impedes the development of legislative, administrative and judicial reforms that protect language minorities in the United States.
The patriotic and chauvinist claim that immigrants can only be “true Americans” if they learn English must be rejected in full.
Ruling classes have long recognized the importance of stripping the oppressed of their cultural forms as part of their subjugation.
African slaves were given English names and forbidden from communicating in their native tongues.
In the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848, the United States conquered parts of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as the whole of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada and Utah. Right after the war, California recognized Spanish language rights. But 30 years later, the constitution was rewritten to state “all laws of the state” as well as “all official writings” and “judicial proceedings shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other than the English language.”
After the Spanish-American war in which the United States replaced Spain as the colonial power, English was declared as the “official language of the school room in Puerto Rico” and the official language in the Philippines.
There are numerous examples in U.S. history of the government using nativist language policies to garner support for its broader political agenda. During World War I, the United States initiated a widespread campaign against the use of the German language as part of the pro-war patriotic hysteria. The campaign called for the removal of German-language books from libraries.
Socialists and communists have always fought for language and education rights for national minorities. In the face of Tsarist Russia’s early 20th century policy of “Russification” to wipe out minority languages within its borders, the Bolshevik Party led by Lenin made the fight against a compulsory Russian language a central part of its platform against national oppression.
Regardless of their native tongue or the language in which they are educated, U.S. workers are united by their common exploited position in society and their common enemy, the class of super-rich corporate owners and bankers.
Recognizing the right of each community to speak in and be educated in their language of choice, without fear of repression or discrimination, is an essential step to building class-wide solidarity and unity among the multinational U.S. working class.
