Ernie L. Hernandez, Jr. is lucky to have such a loyal daughter and son-in-law. Erin and Doroteo messaged me recently after what they consider to have been a personal attack on their father and father-in-law respectively by Emma Perez-Trevino, a Brownsville Herald writer. Erin mixed two sports analogies encouraging me to "step up to the plate", while also stating that the "ball was in my court". Doroteo tactfully explained the Hernandez position about several media revelations over the last few years. Both messages were gracious, respectful in tone which speaks well of the parenting they both received and are now extending to the next generation.
I understand defending those you love. I understand daddies and kids. After all, I am a daddy. Children remember what their dads have done for them, not necessarily how their daddies got it done. The children of political dads hear bad things. The Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon children did. Certainly Chelsea has. When I write or infer unpleasant things, I visualize the kids or offspring affected. I really do.
Someone sent me every Brownsville Herald article written about Ernie Hernandez in the last twenty years. Do we need to chronicle those episodes again? I don't think I do. Will it help the daughters of daddies who didn't work for the city but wanted to own a wrecking company, make t-shirts or empty the change nightly from vending machines? Will it help the daddies who could pass a standardized test to work as a bridge guard who were not related to Ernie Hernandez? Will it help any daughters of Ruben Pena? Probably not.
But calling attention to these indiscretions calls to mind another sports analogy, the level playing field. That's what we want to give the future daughters of daddies in Brownsville.
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