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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: | Tim Schultz |
| July 16, 1998 | ||
| 202/833-0100 | ||
| 800/787-8216 |
U.S.ENGLISH HAILS JUDGE'S DECISION UPHOLDING PROPOSITION 227
U.S.ENGLISH Chairman/CEO Mauro E. Mujica today praised federal judge Charles Legge's decision not to block implementation of California's Proposition 227, the "English for the Children" initiative. "We're thrilled that Judge Legge has upheld the right of a child to learn English as quickly as possible," Mujica said.
Judge Legge handed down his ruling Wednesday afternoon, rejecting the argument by opponents of the measure that teaching children primarily in English is "discriminatory." Legge said he could not discern "any intentional racial or national origin discrimination against any particular group" in the initiative, which passed overwhelmingly on June 2.
"If anything, the old system of segregating immigrant children and denying them the right to learn English was discriminatory," Mujica continued. "We have now won the first round. But we expect the extremists who filed this suit to be back stirring up trouble. They'll stop at nothing to stand in the way of the will of the voters, even if it means breaking the law." Over 1500 California teachers have signed a petition vowing to break the law and continue with current bilingual education practices.
U.S.ENGLISH is the nation's oldest and largest organization dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S.ENGLISH now has more than 1.3 million members nationwide, including more than 250,000 in California.
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