El Valle

Have you noticed that Spanish is widely spoken in Amherst now? ¡Gracias a diós, la comunidad latina está creciendo en el valle! ¡Que sigan viniendo! ¡Que monten sus empresas y que no se olvidan de la necesidad absoluta de tener música en directo (entre otras cosas)! Most new Spanish-speaking members of our growing community are coming from El Salvador and Guatemala. Specifically, from San Vicente, San Miguel, Santana, Concepción las Minas, El Ranchón, and Sacapa el Paso. (Por favor, que me perdonen los compañeros boricuas, colombianos, ecuatorianos y peruanos, e quem pode esqueçer dos brasileiros?!). In Mount Vernon, NY, the local officials celebrate a thriving Brazilian immigrant community by creating official sister-city/town ties. We have the numbers to do the same in the Pioneer Valley, so where is the love in Amherst? Would that mean that people could no longer ignore the fact that many community members are being exploited for cheap labor? And our lovely academic departments at our nation's leading academic institutions are studying the problem and doing what with that knowledge exactly?