Transcript of full Marianela Jordan interview

BY DAVE MARCUS | dave.marcus@newsday.com

"My parents and I moved from the Dominican Republic after a terrible hurricane in 1979. I was five. Growing up in Freeport, I saw a strike at a factory where my mom worked -- they stamped logos on the outside of makeup jars. The workers didn't have the basic breaks and things that immigrant workers don't have. It made an impression on me when I saw all of them work together to get fairness.

I used to translate for my parents and people in the community. It just so happened that as the Latino population grew and became more visible, people were being targeted for housing code violations. I started to just help people as individuals, then I got them connected with other people, and they asked to have equal and just code enforcement in the village. That led to a [successful] lawsuit from the New York State Attorney General's office, so that the state supervised Freeport's building department and required them to get warrants before entering houses.

The more that I got involved in helping people with small problems, the more I saw how all of those problems were connected with them not really understanding American systems. People like us got an opportunity to become citizens in the 1986 national immigration reform ... That led to me feeling a sense of responsibility, to giving back to the community, and also to building a bridge to people so that they could better relate to new immigrants. I wanted them to see that the person who is standing on the street corner looking for work may not be so different from me. I want them to see the value of their hard work, to understand that they are able to contribute.

My office educates people on how their civil rights cannot be violated because of an assumption about the way they look. For almost four years, I have trained the Nassau County Police Department as well as the Health and Human Services Department to treat everyone equally -- not on where they were born, what they look like or how they sound. When you actually change the minds of people, that makes you proud.

There were many times that my activity against the building department in Freeport caused a lot of friction, tension. I've gotten anonymous letters to my house, telling me to be careful. You have to do what's right in spite of fear. You have to tell the truth, and the truth is that people should be given an equal opportunity in this country.

It's hard for others to understand that people come here to this country not only because they want to look for a better way of life, but because they really do want to be a part of the United States. It doesn't matter if they have an accent. It doesn't matter if they were born here, as long as they are abiding by the local laws.

We are not trying to create a separate Latino empire. No, we are a part of the same neighborhood. We want to be Americans."