Interpreter censored by Baltimore mayor
In Baltimore, there was a bit of a controversy with the Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young and the deaf community.
On Tuesday, there was a news conference with a Certified Deaf Interpreter present. It was going smoothly until pro-homeless protesters interrupted by honking their horns while driving around. A demonstrator walked up to speak in front of a large banner that said, “HOMELESS CAN’T STAY HOME.” They demanded that the Baltimore mayor do more for them. The CDI interpreted for the protests even as the mayor stopped speaking to allow the demonstrators have the floor. But the mayor walked to the CDI, tapped on his shoulder, and told him to stop interpreting for them.
[Video clip]
BaltimoreBrew.com said that the first person who walked to the interpreter was the mayor’s spokesman. The second person is the mayor himself who tapped on the interpreter’s shoulder to stop him.
[Video clip]
The Baltimore Sun said the mayor said “You interpret for us.”
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://bit.ly/2RyMogR]
The Baltimore City Association of the Deaf (BCAD), who is led by President Jacob Leffler, posted on their Facebook page a letter they wrote to the mayor on April 22 in response to the mayor’s actions. The letter said that this “left the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community without access to the entire message that was being communicated at that time.” The letter said an ASL interpreter’s primary role is to “facilitate the entire message between Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Hearing people, which includes background noises and protesters, in this situation. It is a professional job that serves both communities.”
On Thursday, Mayor Young issued an apology. But BCAD and another organization said the apology was not good enough. Here is a video clip.
[Video]
Mayor Young: “I stopped everything because I wanted to make sure the protesters were heard. I didn’t mean harm to the deaf community, I have a brother who is deaf, and it was no slight to the deaf community. I wanted the protesters to be heard by the community. That is why I asked the interpreter to stop. I’m sorry.”
THE DAILY MOTH:
The BCAD said in a Facebook posting that it was “time for us to have a dialogue. Wanted the protesters to be heard but stop the interpreter from doing his job?… Why would an elected official tap the interpreter’s shoulder and tell him/her to stop interpreting if the intention was to give the protesters the floor?”
The Baltimore Black Deaf Advocates President Emeritus Darrin Ryan Smith said “The Mayor’s office committed one of the worst atrocities that a hearing privileged person can do - he did something that the Black community has spent years trying to prevent and fight against - he oppressed a Deaf person from the ability of being both an advocate and a professional at his job. I would say that he need to do some self-evaluating especially if he’s trying to win an election in his own right. BBDA is working on a letter that would mandate several things from the Mayor’s Office.”
The BCAD said they would write another letter to the mayor’s office.
BCAD: https://www.facebook.com/BCADeaf/?redirect=false
https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-pol-interpreter-cut-off-coronavirus-20200423-zxacccolmvbcbcluaew4wlumjm-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3to3SkRl96rFrzvs94pw_B5Q_hTIuBhdpptfBL1RcH6Rd-hITmDx2Otl0
https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2020/04/23/mayor-cuts-off-deaf-interpreter-then-city-edits-protest-out-of-video/?fbclid=IwAR2wGuXVVtPIMq4De9s050UbBA3JjR2gIca3EBMmGryw77OIqzfUjmFc1iw