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En Pocas Palabras VI The “Mexican Situation” and the Mayor’s Race Ken R. Crane and Ann V. Millard This account deals with Ligonier, Indiana, and a race for mayor that turned on the “Mexican question.” In many ways, these events typify political struggles in Midwestern towns through the 1990s and into the twenty-first century as the low-wage Latino population has grown. In Ligonier, it grew from less than 10 percent of the townspeople in 1990 to over 40 percent in 2000. Many Anglos saw this change as a dramatic, threatening transformation in their community of about 4,000 residents. The flashpoint of tension in reaction to the Latino influx was highly visible in the town in the mid-1990s. The public reaction of Anglos and the consequences for public officials were openly expressed in the local newspaper , which provided the information for this analysis. It was evident in our study, however, that the entire region was undergoing a similar change in the ethnic composition of its population, for similar reasons and with similar reactions. The town of Ligonier was simply representative of many small towns and cities in northern Indiana, although other places may not have articulated their experiences with the same degree of candor. Mayoral Politics: 1993–1995 In January 1993, the same year that in-migration of Latinos became quite noticeable in Ligonier, a new mayor took office. Glenn Longardner began his tenure confronting a mounting series of complaints to the mayor’s office regarding certain practices of the now highly visible Latino population. One of the early complaints was from an agitated Anglo neighbor of a “Mexican” family who had slaughtered a goat and left the entrails “laying around.” The neighbor was concerned that the dogs were going to drag these things all over town. Some townspeople were not surprised in the least, recalling their farm days when it was customary to leave the remains of slaughtered animals for the dogs. N L 196 196 08-T3109 196 08-T3109 196 9/29/04 6:56:16 AM 9/29/04 6:56:16 AM Others, however, did not understand; it was hard for “city folks” to take. The city authorities had to send someone out to get the people to clean up the goat remains. This was the end of that matter but only the beginning of a series of complaints about loud music, loitering, drunkenness, and fixing cars in the backyard. It was the beginning of what became known as the “Mexican situation,” as it was called in the local newspaper. The Mexican situation, first of all, did not concern all Latinos or all people of Mexican descent . Latino families had lived in Ligonier for more than 30 years without coming into the political limelight. In fact, these longtime residents had established themselves as hard working and industrious factory workers, businesspeople, and professionals. The complaints were directed at the public presence and behavior of certain newcomers. The Mexican situation concerned what was perceived to be a particular segment of the population, often profiled in variations of the following: young, male, rude, monolingual Spanish speakers, illegal, and prone to drinking too much, loitering, and listening to loud music; also, there were “too many” of them. The complaints were prompted by the public presence and behavior of certain newcomers, but the description of the problem was generalized to encompass the entire ethnic group “Mexicans.” The mayor felt strongly compelled to do something to bring the two communities together. At his request, the council agreed to form the Intercultural Committee (ICC) to “bridge the cultural gap.” This committee consisted of the mayor, two members of the town council, and members of the Latino community. The mandate of the ICC was to build understanding between the Mexican population and the Anglo community, finding ways to build rapport and trust.1 Their official motto was Bridge the Gap. The first step in cultural bridging was to provide some ways to incorporate the Latino community more fully into the town. One approach was to educate the newcomers about local ordinances (e.g., regulations limiting the number of people per residence, car maintenance at residences, and goats), and to provide information about using services such as banking, mortgages, language classes, and the steps for gaining citizenship. Information was to be disseminated through a monthly newsletter and the town newspaper, whose editor agreed to publish notices in Spanish. The committee also organized a group...

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