Donald Trump just signed an executive order making English the official language of the United States. We’ve never had an official language before, at least not formally. Yes, English has always been the de facto official language, but it’s never been the official official language before now. According to NPR, this erases a Bill Clinton executive order which required all federal agencies to provide assistance to non-English speakers.
Trump claims that, “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.” Aside from being blatantly discriminatory and xenophobic, this executive order is absurd. Trump’s whole thing is divisiveness. He doesn’t want a unified and cohesive society any more than he wants to give up his power. He can’t control a unified populace. He needs to other marginalized groups. It’s in the standard dictator’s handbook. In this case it’s immigrants, but they won’t be the last group to be othered.
We don’t know yet what kind of enforcement Trump plans for this executive order. That makes it hard to say just how bad it will be policy-wise. It will be bad, though. There is another reason why I’m upset about it. Simply put, I believe diversity is good. Biological diversity protects us from disease and climate change. Genetic diversity gives a species a better chance to survive. Cultural diversity makes us more peaceful. And linguistic diversity preserves our history and culture. Diversity is one of the main reasons I’m against the dominance of the metric system. Diversity is one of the main reasons I’m pro-immigration. Diversity is good.
This executive order will make diversity harder. I know that’s the point of it. It will make it harder for immigrants to come here and it will make it harder for them to feel at home when they’re here. It will hurt our society, our culture. To answer the titular question of this piece, no. English should not be the official language of the United States. Making it so is the opposite of making America great.
