About 12 percent of Nashvillians are foreign-born, and the number is climbing. By 2020, the majority of the city will be non-white.
Mayor Karl Dean told an audience at an immigration forum Friday afternoon that the impact of immigrants will significantly shape the city’s future.
Mayor Karl Dean spoke at the Americas Society/ Council of the Americas conference at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel on Friday afternoon. Credit: Martin B. Cherry / AS/COA
He said when Nashville voters rejected a proposal to make English the official language in 2009, it helped usher in a new wave of migrants. The measure would have barred government workers from communicating in any language other than English.
“By beating this thing, by saying no to being intolerant, it was a very affirming thing for the city. We made a decision to move in a positive direction, in an open direction, and I think it’s given us a lot of energy.”
Around 57 percent of voters turned down the English-only proposal. Advocates say the thousands of migrant voters who cast ballots that day helped defeat the measure. Dean has said standing up against the measure is among his proudest moments as mayor. At Friday’s event, he said he hopes the city never faces the English-only question again.
The event was sponsored by Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Joining Dean were U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, Conexion Americas’ Renata Soto and Nisha Agarwal from New York City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
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