The Seattle Times ran an AP story over the weekend under the title: “In Washington, illegal immigrants canvassing for Democrats.” Pretty terrifying, huh? Unless you actually explore the story, as Goldy did.
In fact, the real story here, the one which truly deserves the headlines, is the story about how Seattle-based OneAmerica Votes has put together a team of enthusiastic volunteers to canvass immigrant voters throughout Washington state. It is an inspiring story about how our region’s newest Americans have passionately embraced their adopted nation’s grassroots democratic traditions.
Instead, the AP cynically cherry-picks its lede:
When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters’ doors, she’s not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally.
She knows it’s a risk to advertise this fact to strangers — but it’s one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election.
The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers — many of them illegal immigrants — canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-and-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi.
...According to director Pramila Jayapal, OneAmerica Votes has recruited a team of over 150 volunteers, only four of whom Valdes interviewed. And of those four only Gianni told the reporter she was undocumented. That’s one out of four out of 150. So I’m not sure where Valdes conjures up the assertion that “many of them” are “illegal.”
....
“The exciting story here,” (and one, by the way, that starkly contradicts the prevailing national narrative), “is that even people who cant vote are energized about this election, because they understand that it’s their future that is at stake.” Indeed, many of OneAmerica Votes’ volunteers can’t vote, not because they are undocumented, or even non-citizens, but because they are simply underage.
“We have an amazing group of high schoolers who are canvassing with us,” Jayapal told me, “who say to me ‘Wow... I just woke up to politics.’ That’s very exciting to watch.”
As Goldy points out, that's a story that the Times could have spent a little time on, and considering it's happening right on their home turf, that they really had a responsibility to spend a little time checking. OneAmerica Votes is a great story. "Over the course of this election over 162,000 immigrant voters throughout the state have been contacted by OneAmerica Votes, including over 41,000 homes canvassed by phone and/or at the door by volunteers." But it was a lot easier to just use the national, scary "illegal immigrants" story, however bogus.
If they don't want to work on that story, here's another one that might be interesting that seems kind of, you know, real.
Republicans have worked hard to sow fear and anger this election season, and if recent events in the Washington Senate race are any indication, their rhetorical hyperbole is having an unsurprising effect. On October 14, a man was arrested for threatening Patty Murray supporters with a meat cleaver outside a debate in Spokane. Four days later, a man was arrested outside Walla Walla County Republican headquarters for assaulting a young woman who was protesting Dino Rossi, hitting her with "force." And just a few days ago, a man was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for threatening to kill Sen. Murray.
Huh. That's starting to look like a pattern.