We sort of knew it would only be a matter of time before overzealous local cops enforced President Trump's June executive order that requires all truck drivers to speak English (something, mind you, that was already a law). Now, two truckers traveling through DeKalb County, Alabama, have been issued tickets for not speaking English. I'm shocked that something like this happened in Alabama. I'll tell you what.
The President and CEO of the Alabama Trucking Association, rather than stand up for his drivers, backed the officers. Mark Colson told 48 WAFF, "The English language proficiency standard has been there for a long time," adding that it was actually about "safety" and the ability to "read the rules of the road" and communicate with police and the general public. Of course, I'm fairly certain these truckers have no issue reading posted signs on the side of the road. After all, they were able to get their CDLs.
In fairness to Trump, the policy he reinforced had been on the books since the 1930s, but they were loosened under the Obama administration, curbing enforcement and lowering penalties. I don't know about you all, but it didn't seem like the roads got markedly more dangerous after this happened.
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What The Hell, Man?
It's not totally clear what sort of fines and penalties the two drivers — one from Texas and the other from Florida — are facing. Trump's executive order says that if a driver is found in violation, they'll be put out of service," according to our previous reporting. The ticket itself doesn't give us much information other than the fact that they were cited for being a "NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING DRIVER."
There's no mention of the two drivers being pulled off the road for anything more than a ticket, and let's hope that continues to be the case. It's also not clear what led to the truckers being ticketed. There's no exact word on why police decided to talk to these guys, but if I had to guess, it was for this specific reason — hoping they'd be able to catch some poor trucker out and give him a ticket.
Of course, an order like this — and the fact it was carried out — is just another way to "other" people of color. The basic facts are that most truckers already speak English proficiently enough to do their jobs to the standard the U.S. government is holding them to. Regardless of that, though, there are plenty of tools to bridge language barriers between truckers and the general public, and I find the idea that they can't read road signs to be a bit rich.
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