Remarks as Prepared
Good afternoon, Commissioners, and thank you for inviting me to your inaugural meeting. It seems fitting that as you begin to conclude your two days of convenings, you are focusing on language access. Language access is a top priority for so many in the AANHPI community, and it is also a top priority for us at the Civil Rights Division. Dismantling language barriers and communicating accurately with the public has a direct impact on the success of your, and our, work to combat anti-Asian bias and hate and promote equity.
When public entities, including the federal government, communicate only in the English language, we miss the opportunity to receive complaints and tips, or otherwise engage with the nearly 25.6 million limited English proficient, or “LEP,” individuals living in the United States.
For LEP people, language access means access to the ballot and to education, state courts, health care, public transportation and many other basic, critically important activities. And without access tools like oral interpretation, written translation and direct, competent in-language communication, LEP individuals and communities may not know about federal efforts to do things like combat bias and hate, promote environmental justice or advance equity. Nor will they be able to participate in these efforts as stakeholders, partners and advocates.
At the Civil Rights Division, we remain committed to ensuring that language barriers do not prevent LEP individuals and communities from fully participating in public life. I want to highlight several of the ways we do this for you today.
Over two decades ago, on August 11, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13166, the goal of which is, quote, “to improve access to federally conducted and federally assisted programs and activities for persons who, as a result of national origin, are limited in their English proficiency.” President Clinton gave the Department of Justice a central role in meeting this goal. Specifically, he assigned us the responsibility of issuing guidance about the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. A failure to provide language access to LEP communities can be a form of national origin discrimination.
All of this means that the Justice Department is responsible for coordinating with federal agencies to ensure that the federal government is equipped to do business in critical languages, and for advising recipients of federal funds about Title VI.
Since Executive Order 13166 was signed, many federal agencies have developed language access programs, including plans, policies and procedures to ensure that LEP individuals have meaningful access to federal programs and activities. Through Hurricane Katrina, wildfires, the September 11 terrorist attacks and the pandemic, we have worked alongside our sister federal agencies and state and local partners to review, prepare, and issue language access plans and policies to make sure essential, life-changing information is available to all members of the public, regardless of the language they read or speak. In fact, just last month, a federal interagency committee chaired by Civil Rights Division staff issued a guide on improving access to websites and digital services for LEP individuals.
To assist federal agencies, as well as state and local agencies and entities, the Civil Rights Division creates tools that help the federal government communicate and maintain a multilingual online presence. For example, we maintain an online federal language access clearinghouse where users can view federal agency language access plans and Title VI LEP Guidance, download a copy of “I Speak” language identification cards, and get tip sheets on working with telephone interpreters. You can find all of this and more at www.LEP.gov.
The website also includes our Language Map App, which allows anyone – a mayor, a governor, a school superintendent, a hospital administrator or a librarian – to determine, within seconds, if there are LEP individuals in their county or state and, most importantly, the languages they speak. Some examples of AAPI languages found in the Map App include, but are not limited to, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mon-Khmer, Tagalog, Thai and Urdu. This type of AAPI language data affords federal, state and local governments, and other entities a critically important tool they need to identify and dismantle existing language barriers.
I also want to be clear that this work doesn’t just apply to other agencies. The Civil Rights Division and the entire Justice Department have also made it a top priority to ensure that LEP people have access to us and the services we provide. In fact, in May 2021, Attorney General Garland committed the department to establishing a full-time, permanent Language Access Coordinator to increase our ability to serve LEP communities.
I know you heard from Deputy Associate Attorney General Rachel Rossi yesterday about the Justice Department’s work to combat hate crimes. Providing resources and services in-language is a critical step towards building community partnerships and trust, increasing the reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents and ensuring resources are community-centered. The department has worked to increase translation of our resources, and we have translated our hate crimes website to make it easier for LEP people to get help or report a hate crime in a language other than English. You can now report hate crimes in 14 languages, including eight Asian languages, and we are in the process of obtaining more translations right now.