Washington, D.C., Found to Discriminate Against Latinos

The city government in Washington discriminates against Latinos, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported Friday.

In the first in a series of reports on tensions in U.S. cities, the commission found that Latinos are underrepresented in the city government, do not receive a fair share of services and are victims of “abuse, harassment and misconduct” by the city’s police.

“This is applicable wherever there is a sizable Latino population,” commission Chairman Arthur A. Fletcher said. “Many major cities are wrestling with dramatic increases in the non-English-speaking immigrant groups from Latin America, Africa and Asia at a time of shrinking budgets and services.”

Fletcher said language is a big part of the problem. The city must employ people who speak Spanish “and understand the culture,” he said.

According to 1990 census figures, 32,710 Latinos live in the district--5.4% of the city’s population.

The report uncovered “America’s best-kept secret”--endemic, pervasive discrimination against silently suffering Latinos, said Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino rights groups. He is a member of the commission.

“We see . . . a belief that the rights of Latinos are somehow secondary to the rest of the population,” Yzaguirre said.

Fletcher said many of the city’s Latinos are Salvadorans or refugees from other Central American nations. Their problems are compounded because many are fearful of authorities, cannot find legitimate work because of their illegal status and fear deportation, he said.

The commission studied the situation here in the aftermath of three days of civil unrest in May, 1991, after a Latino man was wounded by a policewoman during the annual Cinco de Mayo festival.

“The issues addressed in areas of police and institutional denial of access in government certainly just didn’t arrive overnight,” said Vada Manager, spokeswoman for Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. “We certainly believe we made a lot of progress in the two years Mayor Kelly has been in office.”

She cited the city’s hiring of bilingual 911 operators and community outreach programs.