Nashville Immigrants Ask What To Expect From Mayor Dean’s Office of New Americans

Mayor Karl Dean led off a panel discussion today that allowed Nashvillians to ask what the new Office of New Americans would do for the city’s immigrants. Credit: Emily R. West/WPLN

Nashvillians from Kenya, Kurdistan, Nigeria, and other parts of the world packed a meeting today to discuss the Mayor’s Office of New Americans, asking what the new office could do for their communities.

Mayor Karl Deans wants the city to be more attractive to immigrants and to make their transition into Nashville’s culture easier. The Mayor says it’s important because immigrants have been 60 percent of the city’s overall population growth since 2000. He says Nashville is one of 16 cities nationwide and the first in the South to open an Office of New Americans.

Native Nashvillian Francis Guess says it’s a welcomed change. He’s been a Civil Rights activist for more than 30 years and says he’s glad the city is finally taking a pro-active approach.

“I know the role this city is going to have to play,” Guess says. “I’m here to represent the old Americans, but I know what’s it’ like to be denied public accommodations and access to education, housing, employment and health care. I know how this city has been slow and incremental with change. But this is now a community who has come to embrace new people, and we have invited them for the past 20 years.”

Immigrants asked if there will be more English classes, sports teams for kids or more bilingual street signs. While there were no specific answers, Karasa Abdulla says she’s pleased the conversation is even happening. Abdulla moved to Nashville in 1996 from Kurdistan.

“The city is now recognizing the demographical change and we welcome the demographic change,” she says. “So if there is a one stop within the mayor’s office that new Americans could go to say, ‘I wanna be a US citizen what do I do? I want to vote how do I register to vote?’ It’s really important.”

City officials say currently more than 18,000 Nashvillians who are refugees or immigrants with a visa are able eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.