City elections were coming soon, and even if the residents of this Barrio never voted, one candidate from the foothills told us he wanted to talk to the people here.
We met at the school playground. An unusual number of people came. Maybe the enthusiasm surrounding the swimming pool had a lasting effect. Either way, his speech started by him stating his support for the swimming pool effort.
“I am very proud of what you people have done. And I am here to let you know that you can count on my full support.”
I translated into Spanish what he had just said.
“I know many, or some, of the members of your culture that came from this neighborhood, and they are some very good friends of mine. Whatever you want, know that my office is open to you at all times.”
I translated this portion as well.
He looked at me with impatience for a second.
“The City is making plans for things to do in the future, and it is important that all residents be fully aware.”
As I translated, I thought every person here was aware of the last few times the City spoke to them about plans, such as the consultants telling them they had a very unstable neighborhood intending to let the City destroy a large portion of the Hispanic residency to build the Convention Center.
Then this wise man with silver white hair and a three-piece business suit got up, stood in front of me, and said in a low voice to me,
“I don’t think we need to waste time translating into Spanish,” then turning his back to me and facing the crowd who had been politely listening to him, he said in English in a loud voice, “If there is anyone here who cannot understand me in English, please raise your hand.”
A long, long silence followed. No hands went up. He turned to me, “You see?”
The very polite silence continued. Slowly, I moved next to him and said in Spanish, “Los que no pueden entenderlo cuando él les habla en inglés, por favor levanten la mano.” Half the hands went up. I turned to the politician and told him, “I asked them in Spanish how many of them could not understand you in English. You see?”
Maybe that was not totally true, but he didn’t know better. His question in English about who could not understand English was so foolish, that even if I understood his unspoken concern that to vote in America you should know English, I could not defend him. He had invited himself to this Barrio, he should have been respectful and smart enough not to reveal how stupid he could be. I don’t want to make too much out of his ignorance because if people feel that their properties are being taken away from them, and yet they do not learn the language in which such unfair advantage is being committed, then how can they protect themselves. It goes both ways. How can one stupid and ignorant action justify another equally so?
What I also found puzzling was why so few would come to listen to one of their own, and more came to listen to an Anglo. Maybe with the first they knew whom they would vote for, while with the second they came to see if there was any hope. Maybe.
People began to move away and he lost all interest. After a few questions and answers, he left. I never saw him again. Needless to say he didn’t get elected.
Ray was not pleasant with me. In fact, he was stern, “I don’t think you should translate for them. If they want to live in this country, they should learn English.”
I agreed and did not agree. Being bilingual gave me a great advantage over other people in getting jobs, reading other countries’ news, traveling, and doing business. Maybe Ray resented that? To know only Spanish or not speak English extremely well is a major disadvantage. Learning a second and third language is a sign of civilized advancement and is superb for stimulating brain cells. A bilingual person is much better off than those who only speak English. If all you know is one language, be it English or Spanish, or Japanese, stop complaining, you are at a disadvantage too, and it is up to you to learn another language! I don’t care who you are or what country you are in, even if you are in your own country, but worse if you are elsewhere where English is a foreign language and the roles are reversed.
However, the Ugly American is really not that ugly. As a matter of fact, the American in general is a much better specimen of kindness and caring most of the time, but he/she can improve. That political incident left me thinking, and I grasped a very simple concept, so I wrote a short flyer in English and Spanish to distribute house to house. It basically suggested that “at the next election register and vote no matter for whom. There are over four hundred potential voters in this Barrio, enough to turn a local election, but only about ten people are registered to vote, no one running pays any attention to this Barrio unless 400 people vote. Then they will come here to listen to what we want.” This flyer was very resented by the educated liberal newcomers who did not want to share voting power[xi]. Preventing the sharing of power is key to what happens in much of the world.
