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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: | Tim Schultz |
| Monday, March 3, 1997 | ||
| 202/833-0100 | ||
| 800/787-8216 |
PRO-STATEHOOD PRESIDENT OF PUERTO RICO SENATE MISLEADING
AMERICAN PUBLIC ON LANGUAGE ISSUE
As Congress debates whether to allow Puerto Rico to vote on whether to become a state, voters in the United States remain uninformed about conditions on the island. On Tuesday the president of the Puerto Rican Senate, Charles A. Rodriguez, released a poll purporting to show that Americans support Puerto Rico statehood if " English and Spanish would share equal status as official languages for Puerto Rican state government business ." That portrayal of the language situation is such a distortion of the truth that the results of the poll cannot possibly be reliable.
Although English is named as one of the Commonwealth of Puerto Ricos official languages, it does not "share equal status" with Spanish. As the president of the Puerto Rican Senate, Charles Rodriguez is well aware of this, because he was involved in a revealing episode earlier this year: When a resolution to commend the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia was presented to the Senate, it provoked tremendous debate because the resolution was written in English instead of Spanish. (El nuevo día, April 23, 1997.)
There are many other indications that English and Spanish are not considered equal in Puerto Rico. For example:
- A poll published in the May 16, 1997, San Juan Star found that "more than 90 percent [of Puerto Ricans] insisted on using Spanish exclusively in private and official dealings with the Puerto Rico and U.S. governments." The poll also found that "more than 75 percent of Puerto Ricans have a negative attitude toward the English language ."
- The 1990 U.S. Census found ninety-eight percent of Puerto Ricos population speak Spanish. More than seventy-five percent speak little or no English.
- Recent proposals to increase the teaching on English in Puerto Ricos public schools have met with unanimous opposition from the local teachers unions. (El nuevo día, May 1, 1997.)
"Americans believe that before becoming a state, Puerto Ricans must show their sincere desire to adopt our nations common language," said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board/CEO of U.S.ENGLISH. "An empty declaration of English as one of Puerto Ricos official languages is an insult to the American people."
"Even if a Puerto Rican state did give English truly equal official status with Spanish, it would still set a dangerous precedent," Mr. Mujica continued. "Canadas problems with Quebec are a warning to the United States about the problems a country can face with just two official languages. With 329 languages spoken in the United States, how long would it be before each of those language groups would demand equal official status?"
An April 10-13, 1997, poll found that seventy-four percent of Americans believe that, prior to statehood, English should be made the sole official language of Puerto Rico. (Poll of 800 adults nationwide conducted by Public Opinion Strategies.) The same poll found that seventy-one percent favor requiring that English be made the language of instruction in Puerto Ricos public schools, and sixty-one percent favor requiring a super-majority vote for statehood by at least seventy-five percent of Puerto Ricans before statehood could be granted. A June 9-11, 1997, poll of Puerto Ricans found that fifty-seven percent of them also favor the super-majority requirement. (Poll of 600 adults in Puerto Rico conducted by American Viewpoint, Inc.) Further information about these polls is available from U.S.ENGLISH.
U.S.ENGLISH is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting English as the common language of the United States. The group was founded in 1983 by the late Senator S.I. Hayakawa of California, and now has over 1.3 million members nationwide.
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