Just as Indiana proves to be a conservative state with the midterm election of Senator-elect Mike Braun (R-IN) over incumbent Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) slaps the Hoosier state with a lawsuit.
Most people driving do not understand what the different colored signs represent. Do you?
The suit calls into focus the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) for having the driver’s manual printed only in English. Conversely, according to the complainant, the written test is offered in 14 different languages: Arabic, Burmese, Chin, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
A South Bend non-profit organization that assists refugees and other immigrants, Neighbor-to-Neighbor, is behind the ACLU complaint, which states:
“Obtaining a driver’s license is of particular importance to the international refugees and
other recent immigrants assisted by Neighbor to Neighbor because the ability to drive is invaluable in their efforts to secure sustainable employment, to obtain and maintain housing and community relationships, and to accomplish numerous other tasks of contemporary life such as visiting the library or going grocery shopping.”
That does make a modicum of sense. And Americans do want immigrants to embrace their new home and become, in the president’s words, good nationalists. For those twitchy alt-left folk who may have come to Liberty Nation by accident, “nationalist” simply translates to “America first.”
Rural Roads Ain’t For Sissies
For those city slickers who wouldn’t know the difference between a four-on-the-floor or a three-on-the-tree, navigating roads in rural America requires a seasoned and common-sense operator behind the wheel of any vehicle. Between combine harvesters, semi-tractor trailers hauling wind turbine shafts, or the Amish trotting along in horse-drawn vehicles, a driver must know these roads are often one lane, dirt or gravel topped, and teeming with daily defensive driving tests.
Dave Drasal, from Benton County, weighed in:
“Since I drive a truck for a living. It is my understanding that all drivers have a basic understanding of the English language and be able to understand what the highway signs say, even if they are pictures.
Most people driving do not understand what the different colored signs represent. Do you?
I do think that test and other relevant materials should be translated, so that our highways are safer to drive on. However it should also be at an additional expense to the applicant, as it does cost taxpayers money be spent to translate and print these documents.”
Drasal’s sentiments were echoed by Crystal France, who works in the insurance industry. “I would rather someone pass the test fully understanding our traffic laws than by just getting by on their basic understanding of English.”
Bayfield, Colorado, is a small rural mountain community and home to Toby Purvis, a conservative family man, proponent of the Second Amendment, and a self-conservator of nature. He is a rural guy, and he also had an opinion:
“If I traveled or moved to another country I would not expect my language to be written on anything. I would have to learn theirs. Period.”
There was one throw-down from a less-than-hospitable Hoosier who refuses to accept anything but white, European, English-speaking, legal immigrants and expressed her opinion with a bit of all-caps prose, namely, Mikhaila Forman of Indianapolis:
“So now we have to make it easy for them?? How will they learn English if we are always doing things in their benefit?? So they will live in the United States and never learn a lick of English??? When virtually every thing is in ENGLISH!! If you really want it you’ll learn It!! Period point blank! Smh”
Just reading her comment caused a bout of exhaustion. But she wasn’t alone in insisting that foreign nationals should learn English if they want to live in Indiana or anywhere in the United States.
Even newly minted American Edgar Ibáñez, who made his American Dream a reality, went through the process in English but understands the difficulty in mastering the language in rapid fashion, “When I came to the US in 1999 I had to study and take the test in English. I think it's fair because signs and everything on the roads on real life are in English.”
In for a Penny
Chin is a language used by 446,264 people – give or take – in Southeast Asia, Burmese is the official language of Myanmar, and Punjabi is Indo-Aryan and the native tongue for 100 million people. Why not offer the manual in those same languages?
The neighboring state, Ohio, offers their manuals in English, Spanish, and Somali, while even Illinois adds Polish to their lineup of manual selections.
Hey, Indiana, if you are going to go all in with printed diversity, finish the job – there are only about 6,500 living languages in the world today. If a foreigner needs a license, they should have the best education of our road system and driving customs possible – for all our sakes.
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