Tennessee offers driver tests in only five languages. This group is trying to change that

Tennessee residents can only take drivers tests in five languages, and a group of immigrant rights activists is taking action to get that changed.

The Our State, Our Languages Coalition, created by local immigrant groups in 2022 to address this specific issue, filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday against the Tennessee Department of Homeland Safety and Security, the state agency that administers driving tests and issues driver licenses.

The group argues that not offering the test in more languages or providing interpretation or translation services amounts to discrimination by national origin in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to a news release from the organization.

Driver's license tests in Tennessee are currently offered in English, Spanish, German, Korean and Japanese. While testers can bring a translation dictionary, no other interpretation or translation services are available.

Missing from the list are the third and fourth most spoken languages in Tennessee: Arabic and Chinese. In addition to those two languages, they believe federal guidelines from the U.S. Department of Transportation require the inclusion of Vietnamese, Somali and Kurdish, and likely several others.

Those involved in the Our State, Our Languages Coalition say they were pushing for more inclusion on drivers tests for years before the coalition was started. Sabina Mohyuddin, executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), one of five organizations that make up the coalition, said they've been dismissed or told such changes would be too expensive.

"We’re tired of waiting. Driving is an essential need to get to work, buy groceries, access health care and stay involved in your children’s education," Mohyuddin said in the news release. “Our communities cannot afford to wait any longer for the language services they are entitled to.”

As part of their investigation for the complaints, volunteers for the coalition visited or called all driver services centers in the state, according to a news release from the group.

Diana Sanchez-Vega, founder and CEO of Sanchez-Vega Communications, a translation company, said excluding some non-English speakers from being able to easily obtain a driver license "thwarts their access to basic needs services and perpetuates systemic discrimination based on national origin.”

The Our State, Our Languages Coalition is made up of AMAC; API Middle Tennessee, which advocates for Asian and Pacific Islanders in the region; the Ethiopian Community Association in Nashville; Never Again Action Tennessee, a Jewish-led mobilization against the " persecution, detention, and deportation of immigrants in the United States "; and the Somali Community of Middle Tennessee.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMe a lins .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee offers driver tests in only five languages. This group is trying to change that