Pictured: Ignacio Yepez listens to interpreter Rosa Cardenas through an audio transmitter during a special Lodi City Council meeting at the Loel Senior Center in Lodi, California on March 29, 2023. The meeting was summoned to fill a vacant seat in the fourth district, following the resignation of Shakir Khan. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)
This article is part of "More Than Words," a Report for America initiative that brought together newsrooms covering Latino communities in eight states to examine the impact of language barriers on Latino economic, social, and educational advancement and efforts premises to remedy this situation.
By Victoria Franco, Bay City News Foundation.
In February, Griselda Juarez left her job early at Premier Finishings, a company that specializes in painting auto parts for various automakers, and rushed to prepare a meal for her family so she could attend a quarterly community meeting with the department of Stockton Police.
Juárez, a 50-year-old resident of Weston Ranch in Stockton, doesn't miss any of these meetings, hoping to get a response to the request to add more grocery stores to the area, as well as discuss crime and security issues at his neighborhood. But most of the time he returns home without having been able to communicate his concerns.?
Juarez does not speak English and translation services are often not available to understand what information is being shared and to allow you to ask questions.?
"In the last meeting we had with the police, the officer said there was no one to interpret, no one to help us, so I didn't get anything out," Juárez said. “I felt like I was wasting my time? I went to sit down to warm up the chair, as people say," he added.
About 45 % of Stockton residents are Latino and about 40 % of people living in San Joaquin County speak a language other than English at home, according to the census. Many who only speak Spanish, like Juárez, are frustrated that language barriers prevent them from obtaining public safety information.
Now, they are asking city officials to step up, offer solutions, and create a real connection with Spanish-speakers in the area.?
The problems go beyond meetings. Residents point to a lack of communication and support in their language as one of the main obstacles to building trust between the community and the police, which increases the risk of limiting public safety information for an already vulnerable population. vulnerable as well as reducing opportunities for them to contribute to the betterment of the community and increase their representation at all levels.
A killer on the loose, a communication gap?
Last October, the potentially dangerous consequences of the language barrier were made clear when Stockton officials held a town hall meeting to discuss the danger posed by a series of murders that had been taking place in the city since April 2021. In At that time, seven people had been killed or wounded with a firearm. Five of them were Hispanic men.?
During the meeting, city officials told community members about the killings, sharing tips on how to stay safe, especially in the early morning hours. However, several Spanish speakers present that day left the meeting disappointed and frustrated that they were left out of the conversation after translation services failed.?
This was particularly concerning for the farmworkers present, who are some of the most vulnerable, leaving for their jobs in the morning, before dawn, and often alone.?
"Remember our people who work in the fields. What time do you get up?" said Luz Sauceda, a health educator from the council, a non-profit organization that offers a multitude of services, primarily to the Hispanic population of the Central Valley.?
Mayor Kevin Lincoln said after the meeting that another meeting was held specifically for the Spanish-speaking community and that he invited other members of the community as well.
“I hear you, your city hears you,” Lincoln said in English, in response to those who felt left out. "We are here to serve you and do our best to meet you where you are, at the point of need."
Translation challenges
Stockton police say that when they organize a meeting they rely on members of the Chief's Community Advisory Board, a group created in 2012 to improve communication between Stockton residents and police, to help them translate at these meetings. .?
But at the quarterly meeting on Feb. 14 there was no one to translate.?
Juárez and Ernestina Barrios, another Stockton resident, said Zoyla Moreno, a Weston Ranch neighborhood watch captain, has tried to translate for them.
However that has only created a more stressful environment for them.?
The dialogue is good, the forums are good, but you have to do work beforehand and build people's trust.
Luis Magana,
An advocate for farmworker rights in the Central Valley
Their complaints centered on the quality of the translation and the lack of headphones to listen to it.
Barrios says that in one particular meeting, an English speaker said he couldn't hear what was being said or pay attention because of the translation being done alongside them, which made Barrios uncomfortable.
"I think that's the problem," Barrios said. Because the woman is translating, but she's not going to be right next to me, right? On the other hand, he has to speak louder, he can't whisper into my ear. So, I think, listening to the people who are close to me is interrupted»
He added that it was difficult for Moreno to interpret during the meeting because he also had to pay attention to what was being said.
Although Moreno offered to translate for the two women, she is not certified as a translator, nor does she have the necessary qualifications to translate during meetings.? ?
Both women say they would like to see the Stockton police department go back to using headphones that were previously used for Spanish-speakers to hear a translation of the meetings.?
Joseph Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, said in March that the department had recently purchased headphones that would be used at upcoming meetings.
In the Stockton-adjacent city of Lodi, hearing aids were helpful in overcoming language problems during meetings and hearings.
Rosa Trevizo, a California state-certified court interpreter, attends every city council meeting to make sure Spanish-speakers understand what's going on, helping them speak during public comment slots.?
She says she has worked as a translator for the city for eight years, attending meetings even if people haven't requested the service in advance.
At a special city council meeting in March, Trevizo gave more than 20 people headphones, through which they could listen to his translation during the more than three hours of the meeting, in which they discussed who would be selected to fill a vacancy in the 4th Ward on Lodi's east side, after a council member was accused of voter fraud.?
Members of the Hispanic community who were upset about possible voter fraud and who wanted a voice in the decision were able to address the council with Trevizo's help.?
The City of Stockton also said it is working on other ways to help its residents, including a website that will offer a translation option through Google services and a translation service through Amazon that will give residents bilingual options to access information and site updates.?
beyond translation
Despite the translation of these sites, Barrios says he feels more meetings should be held in Spanish or with translation services.?
"I don't think it's fair, I want the voice of Latinos to count, the voice of one as a Hispanic," he said.
Spanish-speakers in the community believe that another way to begin bridging the gap is for city officials and police to connect with the community to build trust.?
“Dialogue is good, forums are good, but you have to do work beforehand and build people's trust,” said Luis Magaña, a farmworker rights advocate in the Central Valley.
Magaña has already seen the benefits of this strategy. He remembers a former San Joaquin County police chief who spoke no Spanish but made inroads with the Hispanic community by showing he cared about the issues they faced.
For Magaña, knowing that the authorities care enough to get closer and get involved with the community, even if they don't speak the language, can open many doors.
I don't think it's fair, I want the voice of Latinos to count, the voice of one as a Hispanic.
Ernestina Barrios,
Stockton resident
"He spoke to us and Spanish is not necessary when people can feel the trust and the willingness," he said.
Magaña said that while some city officials do communicate with the community, he feels it needs to happen on an ongoing basis and he would like to see more follow through from city leaders.
Juárez said that although she and her Latino community continue to face obstacles due to the language barrier on matters of public safety, she will continue to attend every meeting with the police because she wants them to know that Spanish-speakers matter and deserve representation, in the hope of May increased visibility lead to lasting changes.?
"I think that even if we don't understand (we should go), so that they see us and see that people are interested," Juárez said. “?a lot of people don't go to the meetings and I tell them “we have to go, even if we don't understand, they have to see us, let them see that we are interested, that we want to change our neighborhood and do new things.”»
This article was translated into Spanish thanks to RFA. You can read the English version here.
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