Latino Coalition for a Healthy California Introduces Legislation to Disaggregate Data Collection for Indigenous Mesoamerican and Latine communities

March 7, 2024

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“Our government doesn’t recognize us as Indigenous people and continues to impose and force us to accept the label of Latino as an identity—and yes, we do take it because it’s a survival mechanism for us to exist—and with that existence there is a lot of violence. There’s a lot of violence against Indigenous people, what we call language violence.”— Odilia Romero, co-founder and executive director of Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO)

CIELO is an Indigenous and woman-led organization that focuses on combating racism, while securing resources and visibility to Indigenous communities. Romero said that language interpreters should not be seen as a service, but that communication in one’s native language is a human right. She provided an example of language violence, noting that if a parent takes their child to a doctor, receives medications, and no interpreter is provided, the parent may unintentionally misdose their child, which can lead to social services becoming involved and trauma for both the parent and child from court proceedings and foster care. 

“We need the governor to be supporting our existence, just like we support the existence of California as a state,” Romero said.

Many Indigenous community members cannot access health or social services due to language barriers, Valez said.