If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Undoubtedly, Romney will have to engage on the topic at some point during the next five months of the general election. What will he say when he does?
Of course, there are Latino libertarians out there. But in general, talking Hispanics into espousing the Ron Paul agenda is only slightly easier than getting the pope to show up at the Stonewall Inn for a drink.
There's a lot of talk by the networks about reaching out to the Latino audience, but little action. Networks need to be brave enough to pick up shows with Latinos in starring roles. Learn from what works and what doesn't work, then try again until you succeed.
It appears probable then that, without the need to energize the troops for the primaries, and with the urgent need to reach independent voters, the GOP tone on immigration and Latinos will turn civil and dialogue will resume.
The questions facing these Republicans are simple: if Obama had, in fact, introduced an immigration reform bill, would Republicans have supported it? Do they support comprehensive immigration reform now? The answers are also simple: a resounding no.
In this election year, I wonder why it is that those of us identified as Latino feel the need to point out what a diverse community we are? Certainly we should acknowledge our differences, but perhaps all of our assertions of difference are politically detrimental at a certain point.
Spread the word and let everyone know that there is a victory to this struggle for respect against the ABC network, a victory that needs to be shared with our community.
Today, a lot of attention and funding is given to STEM programs but the humanities, language acquisition in particular, deserves just as much attention.
We don't need a confusing patchwork of 50 state immigration laws. We need a federal solution. This is what both common sense and the Constitution require.
If Texas Democrats want to be more like those in California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, and less like Arizona's -- all states with similar Hispanic populations but with very different voting patterns -- then apparently we have some real work ahead of us.
The American sociologist, Erving Goffman, famously wrote, "By definition...we believe the person with a stigma is not quite human. On this assumption we exercise varieties of discrimination."p
Calling all of them Latinos, talking to them in Spanish, and focusing only on immigration issues will probably not be the best way to secure their support.
For years, Democrats in Texas and outside of Texas have worked on the assumption that the rise of the Latino vote will inexorably turn Texas into a blue or at least a purple state.
Despite some of the lingering political divisions, which often make the most news, we are getting closer as a hemisphere. The US is becoming more Latino and Latin America is becoming more developed.
Guillen's insensitive comments and the subsequent explosive reaction from Cuban-Americans have exposed a raw, painful vein in the U.S. Hispanic experience. And such a vein should not be dismissed or ignored.
There is a strong sense of matriarchy within the Mexican-American culture, and Latinas will 'wise up' during the 2012 elections when we evaluate how politicians treat women of Latina descent.
