First there was Aaron Schlossberg that New York City lawyer whose rant against restaurant Spanish-speakers went viral. In the video taken of Schlossberg’s exchange, he said he’d be calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to have the Spanish-speaking workers “kicked out of my country.”
He also complained to a restaurant manager, “it’s America” and “staff should be speaking English.” What the hey güey? “SEE IT: White man threatens to call ICE on Spanish-speaking workers at Midtown Fresh Kitchen.”
But like I told someone who asked — no, I don’t think he’s going to be disbarred for his off-the-wall outburst. Loyola Law Professor Jessica Levinson has it right — mostly.
I say “mostly” because last time I looked, New York is one of a handful of remaining jurisdictions with a so-called ethical ‘catch-all’ rule. It’s Rule 8.4: Misconduct that says “A lawyer or law firm shall not: (h) engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness as a lawyer.” In other words, if the discipline folks really want to hook you on something, there’s always the catch-all rule to do it.
You could ride a freight train through that vague tunnel of overbroad ambiguity.
Which means that the lawyer disciplinary folks in the Empire State could still parse out punishment — short of disbarment — based on the elasticity of that rule, especially when two NYC pols have filed bar complaints against angry Aaron. Politically speaking, I won’t be surprised if they come up with a wrist-slap of some kind. But beyond all that, it’s not like public opinion isn’t already pillorying the guy. See “Lawyer’s firm gets bad Yelp reviews after he is named as man in video ranting about Spanish-speakers.”
Just the same, fearful of its potential for abuse some commentators have called for eliminating the ‘catch-all,’ See “New York’s Catch-All Rule: Is It Needed? Part 1.”
What the güey in ELA?
I despise racism whenever and wherever it rears its ugly poisonous head. As a proud melanic Hispanic (aka Latino) and a native Spanish speaker who grew up in East Los Angeles (ELA), I’ve seen my share both then and now. I take comfort, however, in knowing that since ELA remains 98% Latino that a guy like Schlossberg wouldn’t get away with his kind of rant at, for example, an eatery like what was once my local King Taco — not at least without potentially unpleasant consequences.
Even so, I’m for free speech — even his despicable kind. Moreover, the last thing I’d want to see are the self-styled lords of lawyer discipline deciding permissible and impermissible speech. There are plenty of state and federal laws already on point dealing with discrimination without unleashing the agenda-driven prosecutorial paragons of partiality from the state bar.
But now there’s news of more. A story out of small-burg Montana talks about how last Wednesday a Border Patrol Officer stopped and detained two Spanish-speaking U.S. Citizen convenience store patrons for speaking Spanish. The New York Times reports, “They Spoke Spanish in a Montana Store. Then a Border Agent Asked for Their IDs.”
So has it really come to this? Of course — it has. Again, what the hey güey?
But racial profiling? As the Times reports, “It had nothing to do with that,” the officer, who identified himself as Agent O’Neal, responded in the cellphone video. “It’s the fact that it has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store in a state where it’s predominantly English-speaking.”
And yet I ponder what will become of those immortal words of stand-up comic and fellow ELA homeboy Paul Rodriguez from his comedy album — “You’re in America now, speak Spanish”?
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Credits: NPS map symbol fishing, National Park Service fishing symbol, Wikimedia Commons, public domain; Bakersfield, California. On the Freights. Helping a newcomer hop a freight, Partridge, Rondal, 1917-, Photographer (NARA record: 8464464, Wikimedia Commons, public domain; Boyle Heights King Taco, by Mimi C. at Yelp, fair use commentary; Paul Rodriguez album cover, fair use commentary.