The Great Debate
December 2, 2009 by Anais, under Blog, Home, Media.
Watch the highlights!
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On “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
November 12, 2009 by Anais, under Blog, Media.
Policy Director Nik Dixit leads a Cal Dems presentation on why DADT should be repealed now.
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Diverse City
October 26, 2009 by Anais, under Blog.
Let’s agree that President Obama’s election was a step forward for people of color in America. However, two stories this last week frankly remind me how lucky I am to be white, speak English, and have a name most people know how to pronounce…well, maybe not that last one. I am privileged by “white privilege”-whether I asked to be or not.
Both of these stories come out of the Southwest, an area with large Latino populations, which surprises me. These areas have a high level of minority visibility, although the actions of a few white male residents make it look like the Civil Rights movement didn’t quite make it there.
The first occurred in Dallas: 46% Latino. A grandmother was cited for a lack of proficiency in English while driving her granddaughter to school, and although his superiors say it was the policeman’s rookie mistake, 38 similar citations have been written by Dallas PD in the last three years. Here’s the story:
I wish the last commentator would have actually answered this question: Does not speaking English make anyone less qualified to operate within American society? Sure, it might make it a bit more difficult, but in this case, the officer assumed that the woman was inept, speaking to her character and intelligence rather than her crime. And let’s be real, plenty of us have made illegal U-turns. We’re not better drivers because we speak English.
The second story absolutely disgusts me. It compromises the identity of the individuals involved. It shows us that business practices too often forget that they deal with actual people.
Source: CBS News
Hotel owner Larry Whitten moved to New Mexico with a mission: to revamp the failing Paragon Inn. Soon after, he asked Paragon employees to refrain from speaking Spanish at work, so that he could understand what they were saying. I understand the need to communicate with your employees, Larry, but it’s disappointing that you would ignore their culture, and their right to communicate freely with each other. Even more disappointing, and really unacceptable, is Whitten’s next business action. He asked many employees to Anglicize their names. “No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.”
These stories are about ignorance, something I fear we all risk if we get too comfortable with the level of diversity within our communities. I simply ask, is it ever okay to think we’re diverse enough?
