In 1980, as some 125,000 Cubans were fleeing the Castro regime during the Mariel boatlift, a lot of Spanish was being spoken in the Miami area. Too much of it, according to some residents who organized a petition drive and convinced voters, by an overwhelming margin, to approve an ordinance that declared English the official county language.
The ballot initiative prohibited Dade County from spending money for the use of any language other than English or for the promotion of “any culture other than that of the United States,” the New York Times reported at the time. With some exceptions — such as 911 calls and other emergency services — county government couldn’t print documents in Spanish, Haitian Creole or other languages despite its multicultural community.
That was almost 46 years ago but, if history goes in cycles, America in 2026 is starting to feel a little bit like 1980. The theater production “English Only,” playing at Miami Beach’s Colony Theatre through Sunday, depicts the battle between the two sides that supported or opposed the referendum. The main characters may have changed, but the arguments sound strikingly the same…