What makes us American when we do not share the same language? In this April 2024 essay, a cross-country trip, military service, and the loss of construction workers in the Baltimore bridge collapse lead me to consider language, individual liberty, and respect for people who serve their communities.
I revisit the old German-language petition to Congress and examine Meyer v. Nebraska, Lau v. Nichols, and Plyler v. Doe as part of that discussion. Personal experiences with multilingual teammates show the difference between speaking alike and understanding one another. The central question is how we honor dignity, educational opportunity, and shared responsibility across language barriers, without making fluency the measure of a person’s contribution.
Read the essay and sources: https://joelkdouglas.com/2024/04/02/the-official-american-language/
