The legacy of Sheldon Jackson

After nearly a decade of legal wrangling, the Alaska Supreme Court finally gave its opinion on the the state's 1998 ill-conceived "English-only" law. In a 4-1 decision the court basically upheld the spirit of the 1998 law, ruling in favor of all but the most egregious of its provisions.

One of the law's original sponsors, Ken Jacobus, is quoted by the Anchorage Daily News as saying that "the whole idea was to get people to speak English because it benefits them, not to prevent them from speaking their own language." Yet, the idea that there might be people in Alaska who do not have sufficient exposure and access to English is ludicrous. English has long been the dominant language of communication in Alaska. The only question is whether or not other languages will be tolerated alongside English. The Court did find unconstitutional a provision which would have required English to be used in all public agencies and government functions, but the Court basically accepted the idea that one language should be officially raised above all others.

Because the Court's ruling is narrowing constrained, it is difficult to predict what practical effect the ruling will have. However, the overall message is clear. Sheldon Jackson's message of monolingualism is confirmed. Sheldon Jackson, you ask? Wasn't he some hero of Alaskan history? Hardly. As the first Commissioner of Education in Alaska, Jackson proselytized about the evils of Alaska Native languages and did more than anyone to cement the idea of English-only and monolingualism in Alaska. In 1888 he smugly noted that Alaskan students were "required to speak and write English exclusively; and the results are tenfold more satisfactory than when they were permitted to converse in unknown tongues." (quoted in Krauss 1980). Though Jackson always claimed to have Alaskan's best interests in mind, the record clearly shows that his campaign against Native language was motivated more by fear than by empathy. Nearly 120 years later, yesterday's Supreme Court ruling merely continues Jackson's legacy of fear of multilingualism.