There’s a huge misconception that, when it comes to the Latino vote, the issues begin and end with immigration. But at Twitter’s #ElectionVoices talk on Thursday, hosted by HuffPost Latino Voices, it quickly became clear that Latinos across the United States are far more dynamic, diverse, and engaged in the issues than the current narrative would have us all believe.
“Latinos aren’t necessarily these partisan affiliates,” said Voto Latino’s Maria Urbina during the event’s panel discussion.
“Rather they’re community, they’re family, or they’re issues... When you look at those issues, when you look at family leave, on choice and abortion, and pay equity, Latinas are more progressive than our counterparts in the same age group then any constituency group.”
So much of the discussion surrounding Latino issues has hinged on immigration reform, heightened of course by the incendiary comments from Republican candidate Donald Trump about Mexican immigrants. But as the panel showed, Latino identify cannot, and should not, be defined as one thing: doing so erases the voices of millions of voters who find themselves impacted by issues ranging from student debt to police brutality.
The importance of acknowledging intersectionality in Latino voters was further emphasized by panelist Daniel Leon-Davis, who added that while he works in the immigration space and is formerly undocumented, he thinks as much about the impact of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement as he does about the former issues.
“Because of the shootings, I have to think about when my [black] husband leaves the house,” Leon-Davis said. “We’re becoming so intersectional with our issues, and that’s so important to build not just the immigrant movement but all these movements, and how that impacts our vote.”
In the wake of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the sniper attacks in Dallas, it may seem like black issues and Latino issues have nothing to do with one another. And yet, audience member Jamila Brown challenged the panelists about the lack of inclusion of Afro-Latinos in the discussion around Latino issues.
“We’re not seeing ourselves represented on panels, we’re not seeing ourselves represented in mainstream media,” Brown said to the panel. “What exactly are we going to do to get institutions, such as the ones you all belong to, to catch up and actually include us and make sure that our voices and our lives are centered in the discussion?”
Leon-Davis answered Brown, saying it’s about being intentional about the visibility of who they bring onto their teams.
Journalist Maria Hinojosa also weighed in, encouraging Brown and others to continue to keep questioning the status quo and hold institutions accountable. “You have to keep on doing what you’re doing by standing up and raising the question and pushing the envelope and saying ‘where are we?’ and ‘we’re here’ and ‘we’re present,’” she explained.
She went on to say Twitter and social media is the perfect medium to push and “say we are here and visible.”
Watch an excerpt clip from the #ElectionVoices event above.
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