Join us at the Kabob House in Hamtramck on Nov 6 – ALL DAY
Presidential Election Day this year arrives with a special significance for the Bangladeshi Americans. Hamtramck—a city in one of the oldest democratic countries in the world, will now have its ballot in Bangla as well—a historic first, outside of Bangladesh and West Bengal.
The city of Hamtramck is the only Asian Indian language minority jurisdiction to have its language specifically designated as Bangla. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 demographic profile data, 6.2 percent of the Hamtramck population is recorded as Asian Indian, most of whom are Bangladeshi Americans. Accordingly, the city of Hamtramck will be the first city in the nation to include Bangla instructions in its electoral process.
The language minority provisions apply to any jurisdiction where the U.S. Census Bureau determines that the number of citizens of voting age in a single language group exceeds 10,000; is more than five percent of all voting age citizens; or in an Indian reservation, exceeds five percent of all reservation residents; and the illiteracy rate of the group is higher than the national illiteracy rate. In October 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau made its determinations of the “covered jurisdictions,” identifying 248 jurisdictions in 25 states that have a legal obligation to provide minority language assistance in the electoral process.
The Language Minority Provisions of the Voting Rights Act
Because of the legal protections enacted to protect the voting rights of historically disenfranchised groups, Bangladeshi Americans are able to exercise their voting rights immediately after becoming U.S. citizens. It matters not how long the immigrant may have spent in their native country; the status of U.S. citizenship grants full and immediate constitutional rights.
The rise of protections for groups susceptible to exclusion from the electoral process arises from the historical injustices which long deprived groups of U.S. citizens from exercising their voting rights. Most notably, it was not until the Fifteenth Amendment, which aimed to correct such injustices by affording voting rights to all U.S. citizens regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” in 1870, that African Americans and other minorities could exercise their voting rights. It took another fifty years through the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 to extend voting rights to women. And even then, it took the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to ensure the end of segregation and assure a fuller participation in the American dream.
The Congress declares that, in order to enforce the guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, it is necessary to eliminate such discrimination by prohibiting these practices, and by prescribing other remedial devices. According to the Constitution, disenfranchisement of language minorities has been due in part to unequal educational opportunities and this has been partly responsible for high illiteracy rates and low political currency among language minorities. These difficulties have been compounded by language barriers in the electoral process, where the inability to vote in one’s native language has effectively resulted in the denial of the right to vote. [42 U.S.C. § 1973aa-1a(a).]
To remedy this democratic hurdle, Congress enacted the language minority provisions in Section 203 and Section 4(f) 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The provisions require that when a “covered state of political subdivision” provides registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials of information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, it must provide them in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language. These provisions aim to afford language minorities an effective opportunity to register to vote, have an informed understanding of the elections, and cast a free and effective ballot. Language minorities covered under the law are limited to those groups that Congress has found to have faced barriers in the political process: American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Spanish -heritage citizens.
The Significance of Bangla in the Ballot
The ballot in and of itself—no matter in what language it is written in—is not a guarantee of citizenship rights and privileges. They are validated only when Bangladeshi Americans exercise their right to participate in the electoral process. A Bangla font is symbolic in so far as it inspires and encourages the community to participate in this invaluable political process. In doing so, it simultaneously recognizes the importance of the community’s ethnic identity in the national and international mosaic; after all, Bangla is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world (after Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi/Urdu, and Arabic).
However, a Bangla ballot does not absolve the Bangladeshi American of the responsibility to learn English. As with any country, recognizing the dominant national language is what will ultimately enable the community to fully participate in the democratic political process of its new homeland, the United States. Learning English empowers and enriches the community, without compromising its extended ethnic heritage and pride.
Democracy reaps the most rewards for those who choose to exercise its benefits. When we choose not to vote for the candidate of our choice, we inadvertently promote a candidate who may not be willing to consider the best interests or real concerns of the community. Incompetent officials are often elected when discerning citizens do not vote. Most importantly, it is difficult to voice grievances of being ignored if we voluntarily relinquish the opportunity to elect candidates who will champion our causes and priorities.
Let us exercise our right to choose, voice our will, and be counted.
(Dr. Mahmud Rahman is a Professor of Finance at the Eastern Michigan University. He holds a Ph.D. in International Banking, and teaches financial policy and financial engineering courses. He is a member of long standing in the University Faculty Senate, and the University Budget Council. Email: [email protected]
BAPAC, a bipartisan organization, is committed to improving the US-Bangladesh relationship on political, economic, commercial planes and working to engage Bangladeshis into the mainstream politics by creating a voice in the U.S. Political Process.
