Are the autochthonous language communities protected racial groups?
To tackle the question of recognition under the RRA, Welsh speakers in Wales and Gaelic speakers in Scotland should be considered separately, for two reasons. First, the Jones precedent, which has little if any direct relevance to the Gaels, represents a significant if not insuperable obstacle for Welsh speakers. Second, the cultural and sociolinguistic situations of the two communities are very different in crucial respects, so that their classification under the statute need not be identical. Analytically, it is best to begin by considering the problem of discrimination against Welsh or Gaelic speakers — refusal to hire a Welsh or Gaelic speaker for a job, or imposition of some condition that brings about indirect discrimination against Welsh or Gaelic speakers. Discrimination of this kind is unlikely to prove the most serious source of actual litigation under the Act — although such problems are certainly not imaginary, given the disturbing vitality of anti-Gaelic prejudice in Sco
