A reporter called today from New Jersey to ask what I thought about the
comments of a Freehold, N.J., councilman who said, in essence, that Dominicans
and Mexicans are more promiscuous than other groups.
The reporter wanted an outside opinion on whether Latinos in
the community had a point when they called the council member a racist. In his remarks, councilman Marc
LeVine leaps from work-related contacts with Dominicans to make sweeping
statements about Dominican values and morals. Racist thoughts? Read his remarks
and judge for yourself.
What I know for sure, though, is the people of Freehold have
reason to believe that personal opinions like LeVine’s can easily become public
policy. I only have to travel a few miles north and west of my office for
evidence. In Largo,
Fl., city council members this week voted to fire a highly successful and effective
city manager
because they didn’t like the fact that he was a transsexual intent on a
sex change.
The question for the council member in Freehold, then, isn’t: “Are you a bigot?”
How can you ever really know that someone isn’t racist? Journalists, on behalf of
the people, need to ask what he meant, exactly, when he said “much more
(promiscuous behavior) is found among Dominicans…”
The public needs to know how the councilman responds to the
concerns of people who think his personal prejudices will become public policy.
They need to know if he truly believes he’s informed enough about an entire
ethnic group to generalize that they’re promiscuous and partial to the public
dole.
Those questions – not the “is not, is too” debate about the racist label
– will help people figure out how they should respond. That’s journalism as
public service.
