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News & ArtsFriday, August 24, 2012
2012 ACLU Files Suit Against Yakima Elections Process, Saying It's Unfair to Latinos
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 6:00 AM
Attorney David A. Perez wrote about the underlying problem for Slog two weeks ago. Now, the ACLU is taking aim at one part of the status-quo-protecting system that makes it difficult for Latinos to get elected to local office in eastern Washington.
In Yakima, Perez pointed out, "although Latinos constitute 41% of the city’s population, a Latino has never been elected to the city council. Not even once." According to the Yakima Herald-Republic:
Yakima City Council elections would be overhauled to ensure the representation of Latino residents if a lawsuit filed against the city by the American Civil Liberties Union holds up in federal court, those behind the lawsuit promised Wednesday.
The Herald-Republic comments are interesting. From the first one: "The ACLU needs to go home and stop stiring trouble where there is no trouble."
5
Hell, you don't have to prove you're a citizen to vote, why should you have to when running for office? Fuck it, let's let Crackima be annexed by Mexico, drop the pretenses, and bring the beheadings and corruption in-country. Oh, sorry. It's racist to ask everyone to obey the same laws. My bad.
10
Since the Stranger is obsessed with granting special rights, perhaps each Latino should get five votes, and every chick-with-a-dick ten votes.
11
@10 dickhead, this is nothing to do with special rights but everything to do with the insanity of at-large elections on the local level. If you had district elections, this wouldn't even be an issue. We need this in Seattle, as well.
12
Phoebe with the stick up her ass: I have friends and kin back in Yakima and trust me, they are rural, provincial, strictly conservative, own plenty of guns (and are proud to tell you), and they are quietly (or openly) bigoted with respect to gay people, minorities, and people that even look a little different.
They often show an astounding lack of awareness of current events and facts. They blame unions, teachers, and the government for every goddamn thing that seems to go wrong in their world.
And, as Goldy has pointed out, everything they have, all the infrastructure, all the schools, all the policies that benefit them come at a cost to the west side of the state. We're subsidizing their dumb asses and they do not see that. Instead they think they are 'good, reliable, self-sufficient republicans'.
They would fit in quite well in the South, with their racism, their homophobia, and their distrust of science and facts.
So in short, GFY Phoebe.
They often show an astounding lack of awareness of current events and facts. They blame unions, teachers, and the government for every goddamn thing that seems to go wrong in their world.
And, as Goldy has pointed out, everything they have, all the infrastructure, all the schools, all the policies that benefit them come at a cost to the west side of the state. We're subsidizing their dumb asses and they do not see that. Instead they think they are 'good, reliable, self-sufficient republicans'.
They would fit in quite well in the South, with their racism, their homophobia, and their distrust of science and facts.
So in short, GFY Phoebe.
13
Joke answer: Roberto
I'm sorry if this isn't helpful Phoebe. I told the joke to one Mexi-American, and she thought it was pretty funny.
I'm sorry if this isn't helpful Phoebe. I told the joke to one Mexi-American, and she thought it was pretty funny.
14
Yakima is the place where progress comes to die. If one wants to see the failures of conservative politics and "running government like a business", just examine Yakima's stellar (lol) achievments. They pray to the jesus christ at council meetings and still things get worse. I am praying that the ACLU shows the good ole boys on KIT 1280 what liberty is all about.
(Yakima conservative radio is KIT 1280 where the mayor and a coucilman are employed. One of them harps daily between Rush and Hannity about the evils of liberty. You should have heard them yesterday expressing their "love" for the ACLU and this well deserved law suit.)
(Yakima conservative radio is KIT 1280 where the mayor and a coucilman are employed. One of them harps daily between Rush and Hannity about the evils of liberty. You should have heard them yesterday expressing their "love" for the ACLU and this well deserved law suit.)
15
CharlieBickle: Thanks for explaining that, I had no idea how my conservative kin knew so much about the goings-on of the mayor and the city council. Especially since none of them ever read newspapers (a fact they are strangely proud to tell others).
They do listen to the radio a lot. Now I know why they seem to always have sound bites from the mayor and the council, sound bites that are batshit conservative talking points.
Oh, and Yakima stepped forward and courageously banned bikini barista stands! Yay, way to go forward-thinking Yakima! Way to wipe out the sourge of meth abuse, oops, I mean girls in bikinis selling coffee.
They do listen to the radio a lot. Now I know why they seem to always have sound bites from the mayor and the council, sound bites that are batshit conservative talking points.
Oh, and Yakima stepped forward and courageously banned bikini barista stands! Yay, way to go forward-thinking Yakima! Way to wipe out the sourge of meth abuse, oops, I mean girls in bikinis selling coffee.
16
now this is good action against real racism of the institutional sort...unlike the earlier story that presumed all 43% for danielson are racist when that % actually reflects the conservative piece of the pie and there was only anecdotal evidence connecting it to racism, not to mention the fact that when you vote for a licata because you're italian nobody says you're a racist.
but think again, the latinos in yakima do have the right to vote, includling for senator and congress. but five million latinos in puerto rico don't, so are colonial subjects without voting rights in a de jure and discriminatory sense, and it's us here in the usa who rule over them, including us liberals and antiracists, yet you never hear about that. i guess if it's far away impacts of actual discrimination it doens't count, even if we're the authors of it? we can just forget about it? i hope this suit wins but i'd like to see more attention to the more serious forms of racism that are de jure not implied and that affect millions in a serious way or that entail the literal subjugation of an entire polity like's it's a colony. i mean, it is. latinos generally would gain a lot of puerto rico was one or two states. why shouldn't they have two senators? same for dc, guam, marianas, etc., the class of people without voting rights is actually about six million, and their deprivation is quite a lot more severe than not having your city council have latinos in yakima. i guess we only pick on racism when it's right wingers doing it, and when it's comfortable and reinforces our sense of moral superiority not according to actual harm done or when it's on US.
but think again, the latinos in yakima do have the right to vote, includling for senator and congress. but five million latinos in puerto rico don't, so are colonial subjects without voting rights in a de jure and discriminatory sense, and it's us here in the usa who rule over them, including us liberals and antiracists, yet you never hear about that. i guess if it's far away impacts of actual discrimination it doens't count, even if we're the authors of it? we can just forget about it? i hope this suit wins but i'd like to see more attention to the more serious forms of racism that are de jure not implied and that affect millions in a serious way or that entail the literal subjugation of an entire polity like's it's a colony. i mean, it is. latinos generally would gain a lot of puerto rico was one or two states. why shouldn't they have two senators? same for dc, guam, marianas, etc., the class of people without voting rights is actually about six million, and their deprivation is quite a lot more severe than not having your city council have latinos in yakima. i guess we only pick on racism when it's right wingers doing it, and when it's comfortable and reinforces our sense of moral superiority not according to actual harm done or when it's on US.
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