I realize that I beat the racism drum fairly regularly. However, in my opinion, this is one of the worst issues facing the world today. With the Olympics coming to Salt Lake City in a month, I find it very interesting that racism is part and parcel with the event.

     Last month, in the guise of 'airport security' an oxymoron at best, Salt Lake City police arrested 69 Hispanic persons, and incentivized the firing of 271 employees of the security agency contracted to protect the Salt Lake City International Airport. The timing was interestingly close to the Olympic 'rehearsal' date. Families were displaced, in one instance a mother was separated from her newborn infant for several days.

     Some of those arrested were illegal aliens; They'd allegedly filed false Social Security numbers in order to obtain work. But all were Hispanic.

     All of these people were taxpayers. They may not have all been citizens, but all pay taxes, work, live, and raise their children in our community. Each was given a bail of $3,000.00. Almost none of the families has been able to raise the bail money, and they are not elegible to use a bail bondsman; no one will guarantee an alien. Because they were fired for allegedly being illegal workers, their employer has not been required to pay the workers. In most cases, the employee is owed 1500.00 or more.     

     It has been suggested that  all Hispanic workers in Utah have a 'sick-out' day during the Olympics to show support for their embattled brothers and sisters. The impact of the international community seeing the result of this 'round up' of Hispanic peoples would clearly demonstrate Salt Lake City's attitude towards minorities. Laundry wouldn't be done, beds wouldn't be made, tires wouldn't be changed, banks would be short handed of tellers, food vendors would be struggling with manning their stores, the list is endless. And Salt Lake would certainly feel the economic impact. Problem is, employers have been quick to state that if such a sick-out occurs, they will immediately terminate employees that don't show up. And the State has been quick to point out that they'll support such a position. I wonder if they'd act the same way for all other cultures. After all, it wasn't Hispanic people who attacked the World Trade Center and overtook commercial planes. What about the Afghani, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, English, German, Sa'moan, Australian aliens? Are they allowed to keep their jobs, homes, quality of life during this 'security purge?'

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     Recently, a person close to me was shopping at Mervyn's. The salesperson who helped my friend was a Hispanic. The salesperson made a mistake in ringing up a sale, and so applied a discount to another sold item of the same retail price.

     At nearly 9:00 the next evening, this person's phone rang; it was the police. Apparently Mervyn's had found the discount applied, and they'd called the police. The police immediately identified (to my friend) that the sales person at Mervyn's was Hispanic, and since my friend was Hispanic, did she personally know the salesperson? Since my friend is Dine', (Navajo) she was a bit surprised by this comment. Mervyn's had identified my friend as Hispanic by her skin color on a security camera. They'd also given the police the check that my friend paid for her goods with, so that the police would have her phone number, name, and address. Information that you and I would consider more or less personal. The police openly accused my friend of being involved with what appeared to be an illegal transaction. Mervyn's fired the Hispanic employee. It was only through personal intervention did the police and Mervyn's admit that my friend knew nothing about what had taken place. Mervyn's has yet to apologize. The police expressed regret at the insult, but that they were only acting on Mervyn's information and position. We've since learned that Dayton-Hudson Corporation, the parent company of Mervyn's and Target, has had numerous complaints filed against them for racial profiling, Given the clime of the times, this problem seems to be on the rise.

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     This year's Olympics are being billed as the "Cultural Olympics;" Indeed, there is a strong presence of non-Anglo culture, including Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islanders, Afro-American, Asian cultures. Dances, villages, demonstrations, etc are all going to be seen. Out on parade similar to animals in the zoo. Interesting how cultures are encouraged to put themselves on display, sharing their inner beings with strangers, but when these same peoples wish to live their culture in the whole of the community, they are labeled as troublemakers going against the grain, anti-communal.  Why the dichotomy? Why aren't cultures encouraged to live as their social edicts demand? Assimilation to mainstream is critical in some areas, yet individualism must be maintained even in the face of discouragement. 

     I wonder if visitors to the Olympics will really be fooled into believing that these cultures actually live or exist in these ways? The catalyst for this question was an e-mail received from a reporter in Japan, wanting to know if when she arrived in Utah for the Olympics, would I please take her out to the reservation to see "the Indians living in tipi's?" She'll see the tipis, hogans, huts, grass houses, etc from the various cultures, and potentially see something that no longer exists in force.  I wonder if they'll recognize that these people demonstrating cultural presence are also taxpaying, hard working citizens of the State of Utah? 

Unless they are Hispanic, and worked at the airport.

     C'mon Salt Lake City, show some fairness, decency, and lack of discrimination. Show that in the light of the world's largest athletic event and gathering of humanity in this beautiful city, that you can indeed be worthy of the Olympic 2002 slogan, "The World is Welcome Here."