Immigrants Up Against Language Barriers at SF Public Meetings
More than 30 Chinese American residents lined the walls at a recent city Planning Commission meeting to oppose the opening of a cannabis dispensary that they said could bring drugs, crime and violence to their neighborhood, the Bayview, in the southeast part of the city. In the lead-up to approving the dispensary, commissioners tried to ease the attendees’ concerns. They said the project fit into a local push to decriminalize the cannabis industry, and promised that city staff would work with the dispensary operator to make sure it followed all regulations. But it’s unlikely that their message reached many of the people in the room, because they said it in English — most, maybe all, of the objecting residents were monolingual Chinese speakers. An interpreter, provided by the city, had interpreted only public comments from Chinese into English for the […]
