Do you remember the game show, “Name that Tune?” The contestants would face off with the challenging words, ‘”I can name that tune in three notes,” then the challenger would come back with, “Alex, I can name that tune in one note.”

Guess what? The game is back in Federal Way. As we continue to search for the right candidates in the upcoming elections, it seems that candidates are playing the “name that political tune” game. Whether it be for a prime seat on our city government, school board or city council, the answers to the issues facing our community and schools are being diluted to as low as one tune — and unfortunately it is the wrong note.

Take for example the debate/open forum for the two priceless front row seats on the Federal Way School Board. The candidates danced to the tunes of the old Fonzie show of “Happy Days” until the question regarding language and ethnic barriers. That’s when they resurrected the tunes of tip-toeing through the tulips.

Talk about being out of tune. When you have a candidate that calls it a “mistake” when parents want to instill their cultural values, which begins with their native language, then I believe that it is the wrong message for today’s multi-cultural/multi-linguistic society. Then the label of “them” is used. Why hide behind political skirts and not say that the “them” is referencing the Latino community? Then to have the audacity to use the “I’m God” attitude and tell his labeled “you” group to teach their children English. Wrong note, amigo — you have played the notes to the tune of nativism.

The problem is not the parents teaching their children their mother tongue. We have people that pretend to be public servants, but speak with a forked tongue. Let me remind you of the words from the song “Smiling Faces:”

“Smiling faces, smiling faces they’ll lie. Beware of the pat on the back, they might just hold you back; beware of the handshake, it will hold you tight. Smiling faces, smiling faces, they don’t tell the truth, they’re only trying to screw you.”

It is time to stop using band-aid approaches to issues involving Latinos. Federal Way does not need leadership with a mindset that will take us back 50 years. We need individuals that are abreast on the issues of multi-cultural urban America. It is time to change tunes and seek the leaders of tomorrow who are competent in understanding diverse cultures.

Who would have thought 20 years ago that Federal Way would be a fast-growing, congested and as diverse a city as it is? The pot is no longer melting, but the melting is now reality. We are a community of diversity and multi-culturalism. It is time to put the labeling gun down and zero in on the target issues with a laser.

In order for any public servant running for office to capture the support, the vote, and the Latino business, he/she must discard any form or characteristics of a nativist. As long as we tolerate those that have this mindset, we will have difficulties gaining ground with the Latino community. The hate mongering against Latinos and especially undocumented immigrants is so widespread that it has created in many a loss of current contact from reality.

Latinos have a long history of experiencing nativism and racism, which has resulted in a number of discriminatory conditions and consequences such as social and geographical segregation, employment discrimination, patterns of abuse at the hands of law enforcement officials, vigilante murder and justice, substandard education, electoral fraud, exclusion from petit and grand juries, forced dislocations from their neighborhoods, voter intimidation, and language discrimination.

In spite of the negativity raised by venomous individuals, Federal Way is a great place to raise a family because of many level-headed individuals of all backgrounds, who recognize that hardworking and productive Latinos and undocumented residents are a positive investment in our country’s future and should be allowed an expedient path toward permanent residency, if they so desire. Many Americans of all backgrounds are thankful that undocumented Mexicans and other immigrants from throughout the world are willing to sacrifice and travel to the U.S. to help us build a stronger and stable economy and society — just as millions of immigrants have done so in our nation’s past.

So, as you make a selection on the ballot, listen carefully to the message and challenge the messenger if they are implying hidden agendas that will hurt our community. There is a solution to nativism and behaviors that tend to overpower those that may not yet be of mainstream America, but are contributing to the flow of America’s prosperity.

A humorous example of a person asked to name a tune in three notes. A U.S. Border Patrol Agent catches an undocumented man in the bushes right by the border fence. He pulls him out and said “Sorry, you know the law, you’ve got to go back across the border right now.” The Border Patrol Agent thinks to himself, “I’m going to make it hard for him,” then said “OK, I’ll let you stay if you can use three English words in a sentence.” The Mexican man agrees and the Border Patrol Agent tells him, “The three words are green, pink and yellow. Now use them in one sentence.”

The Mexican man thinks really hard for about two minutes, then said, “The phone, it went green, green, green, I pink it up and sez yellow?”