OK, for those of you who consider yourselves loyal readers please bear with me, this one might hurt a little. When I heard that the City Council was considering a translator for Council meetings my first instinct was to oppose it. After all, if we continue to translate everything for non-English speakers they will have less and less incentive to learn English in this country. It’s the sink or swim method of thinking and I am not backing off on that at all.

However, Nilka Alvarez, the District "B" City Councilor, made a statement during the last meeting and it struck a chord with me. She said that there are people in the city who are always criticizing the Latino community for not getting more involved. She said this will help the people who do not speak English to understand what their city government is doing. If you read last week’s Paying Attention! column in Rumbo you know that I am one of those people who criticize people who do not get involved and particularly those who do not vote.

There is a fundamental principal here which rises above the issue of encouraging people to learn English and I do believe Nilka Alvarez has touched upon that. It is far more important that we encourage intelligent people to participate in city government. Apathy runs rampant among people of all ethnicities in Lawrence but among Hispanics it is far worse because of the language barrier and they are the statistical majority.

While there are many Hispanics who do not speak English because they refuse to take the time or make the effort to do so, there are many more Hispanics who want to learn English. There is a three to four year waiting list for adult English classes making it impossible for some to learn the language properly. This alone does much more to discourage English proficiency than translating Council meetings. We have to look at the big picture here and put aside some our personal feelings on the issue. We need more involvement in local government and we need to get information out to everyone concerning our city.

It is because of the language barrier (some self imposed, some not) that those people who only speak Spanish must depend on ignorant and uneducated radio personalities on WHAV to tell them what our Council and School Committee is doing every week. Media studies consistently show that the majority of Latinos in America get their information from radio and television. I do not want misinformed citizens voting in the next election based on the trash hey hear on WHAV. Believe me when I tell you, those who listen to that station, for the most part, are mislead by the talk show hosts who know nothing about our city charter, the political players involved or the process of government services.

You often hear me talking about the self appointed leaders of the Hispanic Community. They are the Jesse Jacksons of the city who take advantage of those who do not speak English and feed them half truths to whip up public sentiment in order to feather their own political nests. If more people who do not speak English can hear the Council meetings for themselves and are more aware of the government services we offer, they will no longer need the Jesse Jacksons of this city to help them understand the process and obtain those services. They will know much more (first hand) about the incumbent elected officials and what those officials have really done for their constituent By translating council meetings we are eliminating much of the ignorance in the Hispanic community and driving out those who prey on that ignorance.

I know, I know, this goes against my usually philosophy of sink or swim English proficiency. And while I admit that the translation of Council meetings will, in fact, be one more hindrance to the encouragement of immigrants to learn the English language, we would be doing ourselves a grave disservice by continuing to lock out people who care and want to know what’s going on. Once the council meetings are translated for those who do not speak English there will be no more excuses in the Hispanic community for lack of involvement. We will find out very quickly who really cares about the city by watching who actually listens to the meetings and gets involved in the process.

There are very few things (if any) which are more important than the issue of language. But I truly believe that access to public meetings and first hand knowledge of government services is one of them. I am not saying we should cater, only that we should be inclusive. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I see some very positive things resulting in this Council translation.