Had lunch with Corinn Williams and Jennifer Velarde, a young lawyer who has done so much work to assist the Guatemalan community. Ate at an unbelievable back-alley Portuguese place, with six crammed tables and incredible food.
Violence started in mid-90s, when Mayan community began to grow in N.B. Some awareness that Guatemalan people are preyed upon, but it is “under-reported,” in Jennifer’s view: “Half of the things we hear about don’t make it into the newspapers; and we don’t even hear about all of them! We just hear about a couple of them.”
“And just think – this is Massachusetts, supposedly the most democratic state in the nation. This is not Arizona! This is not Texas!”
But, what is the best way to proceed? Corinn is protective of the people she knows, and she is right to be. She laid down the puzzle that needs to be solved: how do I balance the need to protect an already-vulnerable population, with the goal of getting their voices out there, bringing the story to light? I’m feeling worried and stumped.