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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2014)
February 12, 2014 The Portland Observer Black History Month Page 19 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. America the Beautiful for the 21st Century Coca-Cola’s inclusive Super Bowl commercial R aul A . R eyes D uring this y e a r’s S u p e r B o w l, C o c a - C ola debuted a 60-sec- ond com m ercial p a y ing tribute to the d i versity o f our nation. C oke’s “It’s B eautiful” ad featured expansive scenes o f the country and shots o f a w ide variety o f real people. Som e o f them w ere enjoying a C oke. It w as set to “A m erica the B eautiful” — as sung in seven different languages, including E nglish, Spanish, T agalog, and H indi. T his com m ercial generated a profoundly negative response am ong conservative co m m entators. T hey reacted w ith h o stility, fear, and even bigotry. T o their discredit, these com m entators revealed not only their ig n o rance — but also a w illful refusal to accept by the reality o f A m erica in the 21st century. O n his radio show , G lenn B eck term ed the ad “ in y o u r face,” and an attem pt to “divide p eo p le.” This is quite ironic, considering that only w eeks ago B eck adm itted that his Fox N ew s program w as itself divisive. “ I think I played a role, unfortunately, in helping tear the country apart,” he said. H e ’s right about that. His conspiracy theories, “b irth er” com m ents, and dem agoguery w ere a far m ore corrosive influence on A m erican society than any com m ercial e v er could be. F o rm er Rep. A llen W est also took offense at the C oke com m ercial. “I f w e cannot be proud enough as a c o u n try to sing “A m erican the B eautiful” [sic] in E nglish in a com m ercial during the Super B ow l, by a com pany as A m erican as they com e — doggone w e are on the road to p erd itio n ,” the F lorida R epublican w rote on his w ebsite. E ven though W est gets the nam e o f the song w rong, that does not stop the tea partying politician from calling the spot “truly d istu rb in g .” A s a self-styled “G uardian o f the R ep u b lic,” W est m ight be surprised to know that o ur country d o e sn ’t have an o ffi cial language and that the C ensus B ureau reports that 381 languages are co m m only spoken w ithin o u r borders. T hen th e re ’s T o d d Starnes, w ho tw eeted “C o u ld n ’t m ake out that song they w ere singing. I only speak E nglish.” T he Fox R a dio host w ent on to w onder, “ So w as C oca- C o la saying A m erica is beautiful because new im m igrants d o n ’t learn to speak E n g lish ?” A pparently these conservatives need a decoderforthiscom m ercial. “W ith ‘It’s B eau tiful, ’ w e are sim ply show ing that A m erica is beautiful and C oke is fo r ev ery o n e,” ex plained K atie B ayne, P resident o f N orth A m erican B rands fo r C oca-C ola in a state ment. By the w ay, new im m igrants do learn E n glish. C o n sid er a 2012 study by the Pew R esearch H ispanic Trends Project that looked at language use am ong L atino im m igrants. W hile the first generation is usually only proficient in Spanish, by the second g en era tion, the use o f Spanish falls as the use o f English rises. By the third generation, E n glish is the dom inant language. A separate study last year by U niversity o f W isconsin researchers found that L atino im m igrants are learning E nglish faster than previous groups o f im m igrants. It’s sad that B eck, W est, S tarnes and o th er con serv ativ e co m m en tato rs d o n ’t a p preciate the richness o f o u r m u lticultural society. T he fact is that o u r co u n try has alw ays been m ultilingual. There are 169 N ative N orth A m erican languages that are still spoken today, linguist N ataly K elly notes at T he H uffington Post, and several o f the F o u n d ing Fathers spoke languages besides E n g lish , in c lu d in g Jo h n A d a m s, T h o m a s Jefferson, and Jam es M onroe. T oday, 60 m illion A m ericans speak a lan guage oth er than E nglish at hom e. T his year, for the first tim e, the S u p er B ow l w as also televised in Spanish. So C o k e ’s com m ercial truly reflects o u r n a tio n ’s past, present, and future. W h at’s w rong w ith that? C o ca-C o la deserves praise fo r its inclu sive Super B ow l com m ercial. A nd critics o f the ad ought to think about the m otto on the G reat Seal o f the U nited States: E pluribus unum . It m eans “O ut o f m any, o n e”------and it’s in Latin. Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and colum nist in New York City. Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org). We It’s about safety, justice and fairness for all by M arc H. M orial E lections have c o n sequences. N ever has that been m ore clearly dem onstrated than last m o n th w h e n N e w Y ork’s new m ayor, Bill de B lasio, announced an agreem ent to reform the stop-and-frisk p rac tice o f the c ity ’s police departm ent, tactics w hich have d isproportio n ately targeted A frican A m erican and L atino young m en for years. At the B row nsville R ecreation C enter in B rooklyn, a com m unity burdened w ith m ore police stops than any other in the city, the m ayor fulfilled a cam paign prom ise and announced that his adm inistration w ould drop an appeal o f a ruling by Judge S hira S cheindlin, w ho found the policy unconstitutional and an exam ple o f “ indirect racial profil ing.” M ayor de B lasio m ade stop-and- frisk reform a m ajor issue in his 2013 cam paign, and the agreem ent he announced represents a dram atic re v e rsa l of th e p r e v io u s a d m in istra tio n ’s staunch d efense o f the policy. T he agreem ent calls for the co m m encem ent o f a dialogue betw een police and com m unity leaders to ensure that policies driving the police and com m unity apart are co o p erativ ely addressed. Furtherm ore, fo r the next three years, a cou rt-ap p o in ted m oni to r w ill oversee the N Y P D ’s Let m e be clear. As the form er m ayor o f N ew O rleans, I fully under stand that the first obligation o f governm ent is to protect its citi zens, and I believe in com m unity policing - done intelligently. B ut N ew Y o rk ’s stop-and-frisk policy w as counterproductive and violated basic constitutional p rin ciples. A ccording to statistics c o m piled by the N ew York Civil Liberties U nion, “From 2002 to 2011, Black and L atino residents m ade up close From 2002 to 2011, Black and Latino residents made up close to 90 percent o f people stopped, and about 88 percent o f stops - more than 3.8 million — were o f innocent New Yorkers. co m pliance w ith constitutional law. T he m ay o r ex plained that once the resolution is co n firm ed by the F ed eral D istrict C ourt, N ew Y ork C ity w ill officially drop the appeal that w as put in m otion by the B loom berg adm inistration. to 90 percent o f people stopped, and about 88 percent o f stops - m ore than 3.8 mi 11 ion - w ere o f inno- cent N ew Y orkers. E ven in n eig h borhoods that are predom inantly w hite, B lack and L atino N ew Y ork e rs fa c e th e d is p r o p o r ti o n a te Advertise with diversity in 11 " Portland Observer Call 503-288-0033 ads@portlandobserver .com b ru n t... This, on its face, is discrim i n a to ry .” this discrim inatory p ractice as we know it. T h e c ity ’s n ew p o lic e c o m m is sio n er, B ill B ratto n , u n d e rsc o re d the m a y o r’s com m itm ent to reform , n o tin g th a t in ste a d o f sec u rin g c o n fid e n c e , le g itim a c y and j u s tice, in recen t y ears the c ity ’s stop- a n d -frisk p ra c tic e s h a v e “ ra ised d o u b ts an d c o n c e rn s ab o u t the p olice force in this c ity .” He added, “ W e w ill no t b re a k the law to e n fo rce th e la w .” T he N ational U rban League has been am ong those calling fo r stop- and-frisk reform in N ew Y ork City. T h is new ag reem en t e sse n tially m arks the beginning o f the end o f W e applaud M ay o r de Blasio, C o m m issio n er B ratton and esp e cially the people o f N ew Y ork w ho voted for change and got it. By paving the w ay to a reduction in racial profiling, a greater guarantee o f equal treatm ent under the law, and better relations betw een police and the com m unity, this m ove o f fers a guide to other cities across the n a tio n c o m m itte d to e n s u r in g safety, ju stic e and fairness for all citizens. * Marc H. Morial is president and chief executive officer o f the Na tional Urban League. THE LAW OFFICES OF Patrick John Sweeney, P C . Patrick John Sweeney Attorney at Law 1549 SE Ladd Portland, Oregon Portland: Hillsoboro: Facsimile: Email: (503) 244-2080 (503) 244-2081 (503) 244-2084 Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
