* The NYT story, of course, is ridiculous. It repeatedly states that the Latino community has “deep roots” in Pasco, yet it cites low levels of civic involvement perhaps due to “apathy”. The victim himself had been in the United States 10 years but spoke no English – did he have “deep roots”?
Deep roots is not synomymous with being somewhere for some time – it connotes making an investment in a community to produce future growth (hence the “roots”).
* In addition to any Ferguson-like motives, maybe this piece is also trying make us whites who live in flyover country better cater to our new amigos. From the article they reference the language barrier and the fact many of the residents in Pasco, including the victim, don’t speak English. “Of the city’s 68 officers, 14 are Hispanic. A dozen officers speak Spanish fluently, and some residents cite language barriers that complicate interactions with the police. “
I noticed yesterday another NY Times article complaining about immigrants in our hinterlands not having access to all the essentials they do in big towns like NYC. From that article, “Yet the kinds of services that immigrants rely on — low-cost legal help, language classes, interpretation and public transportation — have not kept pace with demand and remain disproportionately concentrated in big cities, scholars and immigrant advocates say.”
So maybe this is part of their push to make us in flyover country shoulder more of the burden. After all, if we make our flyover territory more hospitable to the newcomers, it might make gentrification of cool cities easier.
One final point, I’ve taken a couple of foreign languages, both of which were European and used the Latin alphabet. Though I have forgotten much, I found I could rather easily pick up those languages because of the similarities to English, especially with the alphabet.
So I find it odd that in both NY Times articles above, they discuss or interview people who have been in this nation for over a decade, yet cannot speak English despite the fact that Spanish is their native language. Wouldn’t a Spanish speaker have an easier time picking up English than a Chinese whose native language is so different?
* “He was arrested for assaulting a police officer in January 2014. The police said he had thrown objects at officers and tried to grab an officer’s pistol. He pleaded guilty in June.”
Why did this guy seem to make a habit of harassing police officers? He was also an illegal alien.
