by Phil Kent, SLF President
As appeared in The Gainesville Times, June 27, 2002
Common sense is again giving way to a new, absurd form of multicultural Political Correctness when it comes to using our nation's common tongue in the field of health care.
Hall County, Georgia has been hit during the past decade by a wave of legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants lured by cheap labor and, to no one's surprise, it has led to the emergence of balkanized enclaves who speak little or no English. It is, of course, a trend duplicated in all too many parts of the United States.
Melody Stancil, who serves in Hall County as the director for an entire 13-county health district, recently issued a common-sense rule that bilingual employees speak only English in their official capacities or be fired. She cited a concern about the dangers of communicating in other languages. "In any business, but particularly in a medical setting, it is extremely important for communication to be clear and correct. Failure to ensure this may jeopardize patient care," she wrote.
She's absolutely right about clear communication but, as can be expected these days, a radical Hispanic immigrant lobby and its ally, the American Civil Liberties Union, cried foul. (Incidentally, Hall County is 20 percent Hispanic; the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that less than 10 percent are here legally.)
After Stancil was criticized by 20 immigrant employees and the usual liberals - including an editorial in a major Atlanta newspaper labeling her rule as "offensive" - the weak-kneed Georgia Department of Human Resources forced her to end the English-only policy.
That was even more offensive. Hall and the other Georgia counties that will be affected - indeed, the state's taxpayers - will end up footing the bill for Political Correctness if it is allowed to stand.
Those who support English as our official language need only point to the case of Garcia v. Spun Steak (1993), which involved Spanish-speaking employees insulting black voters in Spanish. What happened created what is known in case law as a "hostile working environment" once the other workers figured out they were being mocked.
The Sun Steak company decided to require that its employees speak only English during the day shift - and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed the firm had acted correctly. So, in this vein, Stancil was only trying to protect everyone's rights.
Of course, there is also the issue of a potential lawsuit involving any non-English conversation occurring on health department premises. The Georgia Department of Human Resources, by forcing Stancil to rescind her order, didn't comprehend or care that a doctor or nurse could suffer malpractice consequences for even being present while a conversation is occurring in a language he or she doesn't understand. Think of the mistakes that could be made, and the tragic consequences that could occur, because of misunderstandings.
So-called corporate "diversity" experts are now big on getting translators to come into workplaces so " no one's feelings are hurt." But even if Hall County took the expensive route of hiring medical personnel fluent in English or Spanish, there are foreign-speaking employees being hired, let alone patients showing up, who speak many other languages.
It's past time for the average American to push back against this multicultural nonsense. Even the simple act of writing a letter of complaint to "educate" the agency involved, or writing or speaking out to your elected state senators or representatives, can mushroom into political counter-pressure that can lead to ending dumb anti-English policies. Hopefully, pressure on the Georgia Department of Human Resources to restore the English-only rule in health care (Georgia by law is supposed to be an "official English" state) will ultimately be successful.
