TO THE EDITOR
REDUCING THE LATINO EXPERIENCE
N
ormally I do not read Eugene Weekly, until a recent article titled “La Lingua” (5/1) caught
my attention. The article elaborated on the barriers being faced by local Latinos, in partic-
ular Latinos who have assimilated into the English language and those that have retained
their ancestors’ language of Spanish. Although the article attempted to illustrate the experience of
Latinos, I believe the article gravely reduced their experiences. Additionally, the article was nothing
short of a token attempt to understand Latino experiences, which resulted in a White publication
cashing in on people of color.
Experiences (barriers being faced) were reduced to conflicts between English speaking Latinos
and those who speak Spanish. The author then further attempted to show racial tension between
the respective groups.
Barriers faced by Latinos are hardly those of inter-group conflicts and racism. Who has one of
the highest rates of unemployment in Lane County? What students have been the victims of hate
crimes at the University of Oregon? What group has been reduced to having their national holiday
underneath a highway? What group gets pulled over by police at higher rates than the white popu-
lation? The answer is Latinos. So to reduce barriers to inter-group tensions is a mischaracterization
of the Latino experience and a slap in the face to a people.
Although the title “La Lingua” caught my attention, it was not because I felt pride. The article
drew me in because of its token appearance. Tokenism occurs when people in power appeal to the
majority’ prejudices of fairness and equality but do little to actually fulfill such values.
In the case of the article, tokenism is evidenced in no one noticing the obvious grammatical and
spelling error in the article’s title “La Lingua.” There were further Spanish errors throughout the ar-
ticle.
The point, of course, is not to quibble about proper punctuation, etc. The point is to interpret
why this was allowed to occur in the first place. My experience has been that tokenism occurs be-
cause white people (holders of power) generally tend to do the minimum when it comes to under-
standing and appreciating the cultures of people of color. In other words, enough is done to appear
fair and supporting of equality, but in reality no power is given to those whom they claim to help.
Other examples of tokenism are the following: The UO supports diversity, yet underfunds its
Ethnic Studies program. The UO promotes multiculturalism, yet does not give the Office of
Multicultural Affairs enough power to hold other departments accountable for their institutional
racist practices. The city of Eugene welcomes people of color, yet has had few city officials of color.
In my case, I get to participate in University committees, centers and institutes, yet am limited to
catering to white values and needs. Lastly, EW runs an article on Latinos, yet does a poor job at rep-
resenting the Latino experience and in writing the article.
Forty years have passed since the Civil Rights Movement. Although some racist practices were
eradicated, similar institutional practices, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors continue to live on. The
article “La Lingua” is only a kernel that represents a system of racist reductionism and tokenism
that the white population continues to bank on. Forty years have passed, but the racist system of
yesterday is yet to be truly uprooted.
Javier Ayala
Eugene
EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter and at least two responses to it can be found in the UO campus paper
at www.dailyemerald.com
ROGUE RULE
Tom Hunnel’s letter (5/1) criticizing my
commentary on war tax resistance (4/10)
adds an important war tax resistance strategy
that my piece failed to mention. He is quite
right that one of the important ways of reduc-
ing tax liability is to increase contributions to
tax exempt organizations. In this way a per-
son can not only support causes one believes
in, but can substantially reduce financial sup-
port to the war machine. I thank Mr. Hunnel
for this criticism.
I do, however, stand by my recommenda-
tions that people consider living below tax-
able income as a way of denying funds to the
military and walking more lightly on the
earth and of becoming self-employed in order
to get out from under the withholding tax sys-
tem, thus regaining power over whether to
pay or not to pay.
It is quite true that a decision to not pay
can be very costly, eventually risking home
(but only for those who own one), garnished
wages and liens on assets. In practice, the IRS
BY TONY CORCORAN
Post-PERS
Time to move on.
I
can’t wait to have PERS done; the nastiness — the anger, the scape-
goating, the innuendo — has greatly outweighed the positive comments I’ve re-
ceived. Sometimes this can be a tough life. Within hours after giving the hardest
speech of my life on the Senate floor, I received supportive calls from Mike Lehman and
Bryan Johnston; we were all freshmen in the House in 1995 and we’ve retained a close
friendship. The next day Bryan sent me this e-mail:
Tony, It was good to see you last night. I’m sorry you have to go through
your current ordeal. I was troubled by not being able to give you the Emerson
quote, so I looked it up:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the
affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the
betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to
leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a
redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because
you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
By his definition, and it is one I accept, you’ve led a very successful life. My
sense of it, though is that we both could have survived a little while longer with-
out understanding what the “betrayal of false friends” line meant.
My response was: That’s all very kind Bryan, but it’s a damn eulogy — something
usually reserved for the posthumous.
The week from hell concluded with the governor signing the three major PERS
pieces on Friday. This met next Tuesday’s deadline for the PERS Board to instruct the
actuary to lower the employer rates for next year, saving state and local government
and school boards $670 million next biennium. I told the employers not to rush to
spend the money; we made these bills as constitutional as possible, but they would be
challenged and some aspects would probably be overturned — put the savings in
escrow! The lawyer from the employer’s side, Harrang Long’s Bill Gary, thinks it’ll all
pass constitutional muster. Our problem was the conflicting opinions we got from leg-
4 MAY 15, 2003
islative counsel and the Attorney General’s Office. Bottom line: For the next
year we will await a court decision. Meanwhile the last piece, a successor
retirement plan for new employees, is in front of us.
It’s time to move on. As I said in my floor speech Thursday: “To the business
community who said they wouldn’t support tax reform until PERS is fixed … it’s
done. Now do your job.” Thursday afternoon in my Senate Rules Committee, I was
able to present my bill to reduce the video poker lottery commission to save essential
services. It’s important to note that an identical bill of Representative Rosenbaum’s
can’t even get a hearing on the House side. Even as late as yesterday, the House lead-
ership is still in denial regarding the budget. “Raising taxes is not the answer, Speaker
Minnis says” was the R-G headline. A few moderate Republicans are working up a plan
that includes going after some of the tax expenditure loopholes, adding a little beer
and wine tax; a little here, a little there. But it’s not enough. My goal is to get educa-
tion, human services and public safety back to the funding level we were at after the
second special session.
N
ote to self: Don’t ever show up at home again on a Friday night — after being
gone all week in Salem — with a used bowling pin in your hand on Mother’s Day
weekend. “What the hell is that?” said my sweetie. “It’s a bowling pin; it was
given to me by a bunch of angry public employees.” “Is it a reward?” she asked. “No, ac-
tually it’s because of the PERS fix I supported; these nice people asked me to ponder the
anatomically impossible deed of placing this thing sideways up one of my apertures, so I
brought it home to practice.” “Let me get this right, a gang of angry folks marched into
the capitol to spread a bunch of bad chi? And they think this will help bring about some-
thing good?” she pondered. “It’s called lobbying,” I replied weakly. “Some of those folks
wouldn’t know a Rufous-sided Towhee from a Black-headed Grosbeak when it comes to
PERS anyhow,” she opined. “Now, get up to the barn and build me another horse stall,”
she ordered. “Do something constructive. It’s great to have you and Simon home for the
weekend.”
Yes, my love, it’s great to be home, as well.
Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 4,
which includes the UO area. He can be reached at sen.tonycorcoran@state.or.us