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This great story about right-wingers firing Raul Martinez from Miami radio really is a big deal - and I have a funny story (with a @JoeBiden cameo) that illustrates why. 1 https://twitter.com/Carrasquillo/status/1382085580205461507
One day in 2015, my wife realized that our nanny, a wonderful Honduran woman named Gloria who started working with us 2008, did not know that I had a job. 2
I was a bit hurt, because I love Gloria and chat with her all the time in my broken Spanish, but all she could see was that I spent a ton of time on my computer, a lot of time on my phone, and a fair amount of time away. I guess that didn't look like work. 3
My wife explained to Gloria that actually, all that screen time and yapping is work, Mike is a journalist, he goes away on reporting trips to interview people. And to prove it she showed Gloria a photo of me interviewing the vice president of the United States, @JoeBiden. 4
Gloria had no idea who @JoeBiden was. 5
My wife explained that he was a very important American politician. Blank stare. He's Obama's friend! Ah. Gloria had heard of Obama. But she kind of doubted he was close friends with the old guy in the picture. 6
Anyway, Gloria seemed to accept that I was gainfully employed, but she wasn't impressed. Until we threw a book party for @RoigFranzia, and we invited some of the sources for his Marco Rubio biography, including Hialeah-mayor-turned-local-media-star Raul Martinez. 7
Anyway, this big Cuban guy I had never met walks in the front door. Gloria screams: EL ALCALDE! The mayor. It's Martinez, and Gloria is hyperventilating. This is the greatest celebrity encounter of her life. She is in shock. 8
Martinez was very gracious - he gave Gloria a hug and chatted with her a bit. She still talks about it sometimes. And she decided that day that whatever it is I do on my computer and my phone, it must be super-important because El Alcalde came to my house. 9
Gloria does know who Joe Biden is now - he's the viejito who beat Trump - but I just asked her if she remembered the picture of me interviewing him and she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. 10
The point is, for at least some Spanish speakers in Miami, Martinez is not only a celebrity but the only prominent Democratic voice they hear on the radio. It's a big deal that they're going to replace him with a Latin Hannity. 11
I guess another point is, doing journalism is not as easy to distinguish from doing nothing as I would have hoped. END
