Survey offers look at growing indigenous community

A new farmworker survey suggests that nearly a quarter of such laborers in Western Washington are indigenous Mexicans or Central Americans.

With their distinct culture and history, the relatively new migration of indigenous peoples from Latin America means cultural adjustments for their host towns.

Indigenous peoples from Latin America are the direct descendants of the inhabitants who lived in the region before colonial times.

The survey - "A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future" - was conducted by the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust and released Friday. More than 2,800 farmworkers in 14 Washington counties were interviewed for the survey in 2006.

Nearly 23 percent of the farmworkers surveyed in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish and Clark counties said they were indigenous from southern Mexico - most from the state of Oaxaca. Statewide, indigenous farmworkers were 3 percent of those surveyed.

The number of indigenous workers "shows the dire economic situation for indigenous people in Latin America," said Rosalinda Guillen, one of the survey coordinators. "I think it shows how bad our trade agreements have worked. Here we are at the northern border, and we have indigenous women dressed in their traditional dresses."

She echoed an argument suggesting that an overflow of American goods - specifically corn - drove the indigenous from their lands after many could not compete with cheap goods from the north. Many were self-sustainable farmers, working small plots of land.

Guillen said the influx of Oaxacans and others to Whatcom and Skagit counties has increased in the past 10 years.

But their presence in Skagit County's biggest cities - Mount Vernon and Burlington - is well established now.

A Mount Vernon radio station run out of the local community college broadcasts public service announcements in one of the native languages - Mixteco. The other language spoken is called Triqui.

"We're involved with all the community and part of the community doesn't speak Spanish," said Carlos Bejar, the Spanish programming director at KSVR 91.7 FM.

According to Mexican government figures, one-third of Oaxacans speak indigenous dialects, and 14 percent don't speak Spanish.

The survey found that around 18 percent of those who said Spanish was not their first language reported that they could not read or write in Spanish.

Bejar said there are plans to create a newscast that will have segments in Mixteco.

County sheriff's deputies, who patrol the rural areas where many of the indigenous migrant workers live and work, also have had to adjust to the additional language barriers.

"You'd find somebody and they'd be speaking what you thought was Spanish, but you'd find that it's something else that's not Spanish," said Skagit County Chief Deputy Will Reichardt.

Reichardt said that officers now have people they can turn to in the worker communities if they need translation from Spanish to Mixteco.

"There's a learning curve there for everyone," Reichardt said. "Officers learn to be more patient. (The workers) are speaking a dialect that might not be as common."

At community clinics and social service agencies, the children of the migrant workers have been key in bridging the language gaps.

"We're found that in the first few years, when we started to see the families from Oaxaca, it was very difficult. We didn't know who to reach to," said Mary Lou Martinez, a clinic manager for the Sea Mar Community Health Center in Mount Vernon.

But now many of the children are in grade school, learning English, Spanish and speaking their native languages, Martinez said.

The migration of indigenous peoples from Latin America has grown in the past few years, with many pushing north through Mexico into California. Many workers from Guatemala have also found jobs in Florida.

Indigenous peoples in Mexican and Central America have historically faced discrimination. In Guatemala, most of the 200,000 people killed in a genocide during the 1980s were Mayans.

For Guillen, the arrival of the Mixteco, Triqui and Mayan people in Washington state presents a challenge to both whites and Latinos.

"Just like we insisted that Anglo farmers be aware of our ways, we have to be aware of their ways," Guillen said.