THE VIEW FROM HERE-I read a Los Angeles Times article the other day entitled “Health Sign-Up Slow To Attract Latinos.” In summary, it stated that too many of the millions of California Latinos who are eligible to sign up for healthcare are not doing so because they prefer to communicate in Spanish only. They want to speak over the phone or in person with a trained guidance counsellor who will speak fluent Spanish with them. As my husband frequently points out to me, What other country is that accommodating to their foreign-born residents or visitors?! Do I sound a bit sullen?
Even though Covered California (one of the best and most effective health coverage programs in the nation) offers a website page in Spanish, apparently that is not enough to satisfy potential Spanish-language applicants. I think I understand the Latin culture which is often distrustful of government, but filling out these application forms to qualify for health insurance (that many have never had and/or could not afford) is no different from filling out similar information when applying for a job or a credit card. It truly is no more an invasion of privacy than responding to the questionnaire one’s doctor or pension plan would require.
In some ways, Californians in general are being held hostage because if enough Latinos (a large segment of our population) do not sign up, the premiums could increase and some of the insurers might even decide to leave the program, reducing choices for the rest of us.
As many of you know, my family is an eclectic one, made up of people who identify as white, Black, Latino, Filipino, Jew and Christian, immigrants from Poland and Hungary/Romania—and what they all have in common is that every one of them speaks “perfect” English. If they were foreign-born, they made it their business to learn the language and to assimilate into our societal order (without having to lose their native language or identification with their homeland heritage).
I have friends whose parents have been in this country some 40-50 years and don’t speak a word of English! They don’t vote because they never became citizens. They watch Spanish television exclusively, listen to Spanish radio, read Spanish-language newspapers and other periodicals, know more about current events in their birth country than their new one. They have good jobs but cross the border nearly every weekend to make their purchases there.
I even remember some students that I had in one of my English as a Second Language (ESL) classes who would spit on the American flag as they entered my room (until I caught them). Their response? In essence, they had disdain for the country which was educating them--free of charge!
Certainly I know that this description does not apply to most immigrants in America (legal or not) though it does represent too many. I do, however, feel a little betrayed, so I know I sound pained and even disgruntled and aggrieved by these attitudes. While I and many of my colleagues are demonstrating to get immigration reform passed, while we are working diligently to make sure everyone can obtain affordable health care, while we are fighting to raise minimum wages—what are these reluctant residents doing?
Though it hurts me to see the rifts and class divides in this nation, I realize that at least some of that is our own doing. Being part of the American Dream is not a betrayal of our past but an affirmation of our present and future and that of our progeny.
A common language is what we use to communicate. Language brings a richness to our lives through inter-personal relationships (between foreign-born grandparent and American-born grandchild, for instance), during the school and work day, at the junior soccer game, through literature and movies, television and radio--a gateway to understanding politics with the urgency behind an intelligent and timely vote. Language can help us to sign up for a health plan that can save lives—yours and those of your family.
I only wish that the people who should be reading this message could read it. If only … if only …
(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Coalition. She also writes for CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 102
Pub: Dec 20, 2013