The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

A n interesting discussion ensued after we ran the story about the marijuana growing operation in the upper Tucannon watershed the week before last.

It was actually more about the headline than the story.

It read "Mexican Jailed In Mountain Pot Raid."

Several people raised eye brows at our use of the word "Mexican" in the headline. When we picked up leftover papers in Walla Walla last week, we found that one super market put our stack of newspapers behind the counter after several customers complained about the paper carrying that headline.

For anyone who read the story, the headline was an accurate reflection of the fact that the suspect who was arrested near the pot-growing operation on the rugged mountain terrain near Cold Creek was a Mexican national.

We used that detail in the headline because it seemed noteworthy and informative that one or possibly a group of growers from south of the border set up shop on national forest land to cultivate an illegal substance.

Nothing more was implied by the headline - just that the suspect was from Mexico.

Of course, we can be technically correct and politically incorrect or seen as insensitive.

Was that the case here?

In retrospect and with 20/20 hindsight, we understand that some people may have seen the use of the word "Mexican" as a slight or stereotype, causing readers to link the suspected behavior of this individual to the behavior of others of the same descent.

This was certainly not our intention, even though we also feel that such associative thinking is a mental leap most rational readers won't make.

It's noteworthy that few of the objections against the headline came from our regular readers.

As they know, we treat everyone in our law-abiding community with respect and our stories reflect our community's diversity.

We feel our coverage, such as our articles about the formation of the Waitsburg Prescott soccer team or the international Tour of Walla Walla race team, help promote a sense of inclusiveness rather than divisiveness. Our readers know and understand that this is where we are coming from week by week.

It's also important to note that strictly speaking, the word "Mexican" reflects a nationality and not an ethnic identity the way "Caucasian" or "Hispanic" does.

We checked with various folks in the Touchet Valley about our headline and most had no problem with it, though some said it would have been better to add the term "national" to reflect more precisely what we reported in the story.

Better yet, take the nationality from the headline altogether and make it more generic, like "Suspect" or "Man Jailed In Mountain Pot Raid." This would be somewhat less informative, but avoid the risk of being seen as insensitive.

In the end, we do not believe our readers are going to think any less of Mexicans or Mexican Americans because of our headline.

Nor do we believe our hardworking, law-abiding Mexican American neighbors fear they'll be somehow associated with the suspected illegal behavior of those with whom they happen to share a national identity or origin.

Still, if ways exist to say things differently, as they do here, and we have the option to avoid stepping on toes, we should take advantage of it and we expect to do so in the future.

Meanwhile, we continue to encourage readers to give us the kind of feedback they did this past week. It will help us better understand the community we serve and allow us to be constructive in our approach to our news presentation.