Nevada Democratic Party At Fault for 'English Only' Controversy

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Dolores Huerta, President of the Dolores Huerta foundation, nominates U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton for U.S. President during day three of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center August 27, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.  

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

After legendary human rights and political activist, and long-time Hillary Clinton supporter, Dolores Huerta was silenced while attempting to provide English-to-Spanish translation services Saturday at a Las Vegas Democratic caucus gathering at Harrah’s Casino, the hashtag #EnglishOnly swiftly began trending online and supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) found themselves playing defense across social media. 

“The Bernie organizers were shouting, ‘No, no, no.’ Then a Bernie person stood up and said, ‘No, we need to have it, I can also do translation’ or whatever,” Huerta expounded in the Washington Post. “The person who ran the caucus said, ‘Well, we won’t have a translator.’ The sad thing about this is that some of the organizers were shouting, ‘English only! English only!’ The Bernie organizers.”

Actress America Ferrera, another Hillary Clinton supporter, co-signed Huerta’s version of events; and it wasn’t long before actresses Susan Sarandon and Gaby Hoffman, both Sanders’ supporters, disputed Ferrara’s and Huerta’s claims.

Sanders’ supporter Erin Cruz also stepped forward to pushback against “English only” claims, saying that neither Clinton’s camp or Sander’s camp was enthusiastic about the chaos that was unfolding.

Between the blurry video footage and conflicting reports, what was supposed to be an exercise in Democracy has turned into a political circus.

The phrase “English only” is both politically and racially charged not merely because of it’s inherent bigotry. There is a movement in the United States that many critics call “English Only” led by so-called patriots who believe that English should be recognized as the nation’s official language. This dismisses the prevalence of Spanish—the second most spoken language in the country—as well as marginalizes Spanish-speaking Hispanic and Latino people.

Language barriers are a form of segregation and being associated with such an inflammatory phrase is not healthy for a Sanders’ campaign already sensitive to accusations of misogyny, racism and paternalism. So it makes sense that time and energy is being spent attempting to distill the truth from the political madness.

Still, we may never know if Huerta was mistaken about what she heard—anyone who isn’t a rabid Sanders’ supporter knows that she didn’t lie—or if some caucusers actually mirrored the moderator when agreeing with his decision that the caucus would proceed in “English only.”

But we do know this: The Nevada State Democratic Party is at fault here. Even if “English only” was not yelled out in words, it was acted out in deed. Latino and Hispanic voters were neglected and taken for granted. The Nevada Democratic Party created an extensive list of what they look for in a “top-quality Caucus organizer” and the ability to speak Spanish or recruit qualified, Spanish-speaking precinct chairs is conspicuously absent.

Every single caucus site should have had a neutral, Spanish translator available. And unlike the veracity of the “English only” claims, that they did not is an unambiguous failure. 

The Hispanic and Latino population in Nevada stands at approximately 27.8 percent. Over 194,000 Latinos and Hispanics in the state are registered to vote, which accounts for 13 percent of the electorate. Democrats are blatantly courting Hispanic and Latino voters, despite—or maybe because of—the Obama administration’s increase in deportations and night raids.

The least the party can do is care enough to include them, plan for them, and give a damn about whether or not they fully participate in the democratic process.

Isn’t that just how racism works, though? How privilege works? The system is constructed to exclude everyone who isn’t white, who isn’t able-bodied, who isn’t Christian, who isn’t male or cisgender or heterosexual.

So when English-speaking caucusers were given the choice—their own language privilege vs. equality of representation for Latino and Hispanic groups—many chose themselves without apology. That is how systems of exclusion perpetuate. Nice, liberal people buoyed by privilege, who would never think to sacrifice it for progress, but who are just so very, very sorry they could not do more.

So-called progressives who have every right to voice opposition to a campaign surrogate translating during the Nevada caucuses and every right to say through words and deeds to Hispanic and Latino voters that those rights come first. They have every right to believe that those rights—language, racial, cultural and political—must never appear to be compromised because, above all else, those rights are the ones that matter most.

Because America told them so.

So, yes, it absolutely matters whether or not “English only” was screamed at the Las Vegas caucus site and in what context. It matters more, though, that while so many people are arguing over who said what to whom and why, the Nevada Democratic Party has yet to issue a statement of apology or acknowledgment that it is they who failed to fully include United States citizens in the democratic process in the first place, nor have they outlined what steps they plan to take to ensure that it never, ever happens again.

And when they do publicly apologize and outline their plan, because they must, they need to make sure they say it, write it, and read it out loud in English and in Spanish.

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