Diversity Is Our Strength: Mayor of Massachusetts City Can’t Even Speak English

There is nothing wrong with American city mayors being bilingual, obviously. In theory, the more languages one speaks, the better, and when one is the mayor of a city that now tops out at 82% Hispanic, it’s normal to expect the mayor to speak Spanish. 

Of course, that begs the question: how on Earth did a city in Massachusetts become 82% Hispanic in so short a time? It’s not exactly a border state. But that is a different issue. 

But, one would think, the mayor would still be able to speak English, right?

I can’t believe this is real

Lawrence, Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePena needed a translator during a Commission hearing because his primary language is Spanish

Again, a Massachusetts mayor needs a translator because he can’t speak proficient English

‘The judge overseeing the… pic.twitter.com/fn431ZQtz1

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Yeah, well, nope. It is racist to expect government officials to be able to conduct business with non-Spanish-speaking people. If you think about it, anybody born in the United States should endeavor to learn all the languages of those who were not. Anything less is racist, right?

There are between 350 and 430 languages spoken in the United States of America, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. While there is not an official language at the federal level, many states have adopted English and other indigenous languages as official. According to the 2018 American Community Survey, over 78% of the population only spoke English at home. There are over 40 million Spanish speakers in the US, meaning only Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain have more Spanish speakers. Amongst the 65 million people who speak a language other than English, nearly 26 million report speaking English less than “very well.”

Mayor Brian DePeña moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic more than 40 years ago, and, apparently, never quite found the time to speak English fluently. 

Diversity is our strength, I suppose, and it is really on us to learn the 350-420 languages that are now spoken in the United States. Otherwise, our local elected officials might not be able to communicate in hearings with those of us who have selfishly chosen to remain stubbornly attached to English. 

Lawrence, by the way, is not some small town. It has 90,000 residents and is not far from where the Pilgrims landed. 

Is this settler colonialism in action? 

I’ve never understood the argument against making English the official language of the United States. Requiring people to share a common language when conducting government business just makes sense, and this example proves that fact gloriously. An official hearing—regarding a matter of potential misconduct, by the way—couldn’t go forward because the Mayor couldn’t testify in the common language of the court officials. 

The hearing concerned former Lawrence Police Chief William Castro, a political ally of DePena, who was stripped of his policing credentials following an improper police chase. Castro was accused of driving the wrong way down a city street during the chase and filing a false police report, claiming he was responding to an armed bank robbery when he had actually been responding to someone attempting to cash a bad check. 

It’s absurd. The hearing was about police misconduct, and the mayor’s apparent attempt to cover it up. The mayor is pulling his “no hablo ingles” shtick to avoid having to testify against his buddy. 

New documents uncovered by the NBC10 Boston Investigators show the Lawrence mayor tried to avoid an investigation into the acting police chief, a political ally he had appointed to the important public safety position.

Last March, the Massachusetts POST Commission suspended William Castro’s law enforcement certification after he engaged in the vehicle chase of a suspect wanted for writing a bad check.

The suspension order from POST said the chase violated department policies and accused Castro of being untruthful about the incident by reporting that he thought it was a bank robbery. The oversight agency said it was also probing questionable hiring practices.

Video of the incident obtained by NBC10 Boston shows Castro pursuing a Mercedes in his unmarked department vehicle through the streets of Lawrence in the middle of the day last February. At one point, Castro followed the suspect vehicle onto a sidewalk and later into lanes of oncoming traffic on a bridge.

“You could not chase for that. There’s no gray area,” said Sgt. Mike Simard, the president of the superior officers’ police union, who responded to the scene that day. “Luckily, no one was hurt, but our officers were put at risk and so was the public.”

Following the incident, the lieutenant in charge of the internal affairs unit compiled a summary of his findings for Mayor Brian DePeña, who had appointed his chief of staff to the police chief position in October 2023.

In his written response, DePeña said he did not believe Castro’s behavior was inappropriate and justified further investigation.

“I have concluded there is insufficient evidence to move forward with this matter,” DePeña wrote. “I believe (Castro) acted assertively and quickly in an attempt to safeguard the citizens of the City of Lawrence.”

Is it possible that the mayor is just pretending not to understand English well in order to cover up for his buddy? Perhaps. That makes it even worse, though, and not just because it makes the mayor look even worse and even corrupt. It is an exclamation point on the need for having an official language for the conduct of government business.