Iowa AG’s lawsuit shows that Latinos are unwelcome in Iowa

Remember when Gov Reynolds said, “I want my own (attorney general)?”

Well, now she has one in Steve King’s former chief of staff, Brenna Bird.

Lately, Brenna has been busy implementing Republican policy to make anyone who’s different feel unwelcome in Iowa. How better to do this than by prohibiting Iowa counties from offering Spanish-speaking residents ballots translated into Spanish?

Brenna cites the Iowa English Language Reaffirmation Act 2002 as her rationale. She forgot to mention that almost 7 percent of Iowans are Latino.

Read the Act. It does, indeed, mandate official state business be in English. It does not, however, prohibit the availability of materials in other languages.

What do Reynolds and Bird gain by doing away with other-language ballot translations? They get to make a public show of how unwelcome Latinos are in Iowa. They grandstand their racist GOP credentials and curry favor with other red-state haters.

And they hope that those whose first language is Spanish might be confused by English-only ballots and vote against their own interests — or not vote at all.

Where will this hatefulness end?

Lauren Tiffany

Iowa City