Mandating a “mother tongue”: Historical and political foundations of the english first movement

Nativism, the intense opposition to an internal minority on the ground of its foreign connections, has asumed many forms in the United States. It is argued that the English First movement is a new manifestation of nativism. The analysis details that English First proponents have ironically cast their arguments in symbols and appeals drawn from the Civil Rights movement. In so doing, they attempt to preempt the use of similar symbols and appeals against their movement.