Divide and conquer

It's starting, apparently, in Detroit:

In May, Sterling Heights, Mich., Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko asked the city's attorney to prepare an ordinance requiring businesses with foreign language signs to have identifiers such as "bakery" included, the Detroit News reports.

According to the News, Michael J. Steinberg of the ACLU said the proposal is unconstitutional "because it singles out businesses with signs.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked officials in a Detroit suburb to reject a proposal that would require businesses with foreign language signs to add English translations.

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A Detroit News blog reader recently left this comment pointing out the lunacy of the situation:

"Paramedics, police officers and firefighters, who don't happen to read Arabic, Farsi or Hindi, probably are going to have a tough time differentiating which squiggly lined sign is the business in need of an "emergency response"."

Looks like the answer to this previously posed question

Whose Detroit is it anyway?

just might end up with a brand new answer!