District 17's Diversity, Part One

Post #62

Of Montgomery County's eight legislative districts, I feel very lucky to live in the 17^th. Its diversity offers special opportunities to communicate and learn as I campaign from neighborhood to neighborhood.

When I was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1994, the district was 70% white, with African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics each representing roughly 10% of the population. As Rockville and Gaithersburg have grown, the population has become ever more diverse. The Latino population has grown to nearly 16%; Asians are approaching 15%, and the African-American presence is over 12%. More than 10% identified themselves in the most recent census as either “some other race” or as “two or more races.”

Think of the richness of languages, cultures, religious observances, social customs and points of view represented by such a diverse array of residents! Whether your family has lived in Rockville for generations, like many African-American residents of Lincoln Park, or you just moved into an apartment in Gaithersburg from the West Coast or from Korea, you provide a unique perspective on the District’s strengths and on what needs improvement.

Before I got hooked on politics in college, I was planning on a career that would put my foreign language skills to use. I have a facility with language that serves me well when traveling abroad. It's a source of pride to me that I don't fit the stereotype of the American who demands that the rest of the world speak English.

I don't need to pull out my passport to practice my linguistic skills, though. Just recently, while campaigning in Gaithersburg, I had a conversation in French with a woman originally from Chad. A few days later, I was invited in to speak with an 84-year old King Farm resident who wasn't very confident of his English language proficiency. I assured him that we could have our conversation in Spanish. Although I needed coaching on some words like “deficit” that I never learned in my high school Spanish classes, he apparently understand me-- and liked what he heard-- well enough to pledge his support for my campaign. (In fact, he even sent me a donation a few days later!)

Communities only thrive when we communicate with one another. My being able to speak well enough in other languages to share thoughts and ideas-- if only at a basic level-- with the district’s most recent residents allows me to hear experiences and opinions that might not otherwise be shared. And that’s worth celebrating in any language-- si?

I would love to hear from you, dear Blog reader! Is English your first language? If so, how do you communicate with neighbors who are less fluent in the language? Send an email to Blog@CherylKagan.org or click on the "Comments" link below to express your views. Please be sure to indicate which post (#62) you're addressing.

Thanks for reading. I will post again soon.