James Harrington, GUEST COLUMNIST
Texans recently received yet another startling reminder of a lingering racism that still
infects the judicial system of the Lone Star State.
In June, our highest criminal law court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, made the
astonishing announcement that a Smith county judge had the authority to jail a family
man, Aristeo Lara Flores, rather than to grant him probation, because he spoke only
Spanish.
Then, late last month, Amarillo District Judge Samuel Kiser amazingly accused Martha
Laureano of child abuse because she conversed with her 5-year-old daughter in only
Spanish, "relegating her to the position of housemaid," causing her to be "ignorant."
It's difficult to cast the judge's comments, during a hearing on a custody arrangement
between the girl's mother and father, as anything short of racism.
His words are too far outside the realm of reality and decency to reflect anything but
crass stereotyping.
How can it be child abuse for a mother to talk with her little daughter in the language
with which she grew up?
As in the Flores case, this judge interposed his personal bias to the detriment of a loving
and nurturing family situation. Indeed, Laureano's performance with regard to her
daughter's two older siblings is admirable. They do well in school and obviously benefit
from a supportive mother. The girl's father converses with her in English.
And since when is a person who speaks two languages "ignorant," as the judge says? All
educators, to a person, attest to the easily ability of young children to learn two (or
more) languages.
Countless Mexican-American professionals, political leaders and just generally good
folk grew up in homes where their parents spoke only Spanish. They went on to master
English and even excelled beyond many a native English speaker.
A Spanish proverb has it that an individual who speaks two languages is worth two
persons. That's hardly ignorance.
Worlds are opened to those who speak Spanish that remain closed to those who do not.
Judge Kiser, despite having lived in Argentina for two months, is not proficient in
Spanish.
According to my lights, he is the ignorant one in this context, but his pride interferes
with him admitting such -- just as it caused him cynically to apologize to "housemaids"
for his comments but not to Laureano.
What to do about this situation? The judge lacks the courage and respect for others to
confess his grievous error. Nor have we heard a peep from the Texas Supreme Court,
which oversees this state's judiciary, nor from the State Bar of Texas that speaks for
lawyers, nor from the commission that regulates judges' conduct. Their silence is
deafening and tends to reinforce the racism that has historically riddled the state's legal
system throughout this century.
The people tried to correct this dishonorable past by ratifying the Texas Equal Rights
Amendment on a 4-1 margin in 1972, proclaiming that all Texans have equal status,
regardless of race, national origin, color, creed or sex.
Apparently, some judges have yet to hear the resonance of that declaration.
Judges like Samuel Kiser undercut our legal system, and they hold our state up to the
ridicule of the rest of the nation.
Were it not for the media, Judge Kiser's conduct would stand still unreprimanded. The
state's press served us well in this case, as a true watchdog against the abusive power of
judicial authority.
Not only should he finally find it in his heart to apologize to Laurano and her daughter, to
the state's Mexican-American citizens and to all Texans, but Judge Kiser should have the
integrity to match his words with action and resign from the bench.
Anything less is unworthy of a judge and of the promise of equality that the Texas Bill of
Rights commands.
Harrington is legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Project and an adjunct
professor at the UT School of Law.