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Time to get Back in the Game
Almost daily, I hear someone complain to me about the government. Whether it's mismanagement at city hall, runaway business taxes resulting from laws enacted by the state legislature or court decisions eroding our constitutional heritage, I hear it all the time. We Hispanics love to complain.But let's be honest, voter turnout in the Hispanic community is unacceptably low. In fact, 64 percent of U.S . citizens age 18 and over voted in the 2004 presidential election, compared to 47 percent for Hispanics according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For all the complaining we do, we don't back it up. It is unquestionable that to make a change, we must be in the game. Voting gets us in the game.
When you look back on how far we have come, you learn that other Americans died to preserve the right to vote. Thousands shed their blood on foreign battlefields. When Black, Latino, and Indian GIs returned from the battlefields of WWII (and later Korea), they demanded that all American citizens should have the right to vote regardless of race. They had fought and died for democracy abroad, yet they could not vote at home due to restrictive voting laws meant to deliberately keep us away from the voting booths (One out of every eight American GIs was an African-American; Hispanic or Native-American.) And so, former GIs and community activists led efforts against the laws and the men denying them the vote.
In March 1965, Civil rights activists led by Dr. King and others took to the streets in a peaceful protest for voting rights for African-Americans. They were met with hatred, anger and clubs. The murder of voting-rights activists in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and other acts of violence and terrorism during the turbulent 50's and 60's set the stage for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Today, many of us don't even bother to register. How did we become so negligent, ungrateful and indefferent so fast?
On November 7, Americans will once again elect leaders who will be making decisions that impact our families, our public institutions, local infrastructure projects, and our well being. They will directly impact our schools, our taxes, our roads, and the lives of everyone in our community.I encourage every Hispanic citizen who made the effort to register to get involved and serve your community. Making an educated and informed vote on critical local, state and Federal races will mark the direction our nation takes on issues such as national security, the institution of traditional marriage, the war on terror, and immigration reform. Because you care about your family, your community and the values you hold dear, vote November 7th. Encourage your friends and family, who possess like values, to go to the polls November 7th and vote for candidates who will stand up for what you believe is right. If you don't think your vote matters, think again. Everyone is waiting to see how we vote, for whom we vote and how much we vote.
Daniel Garza, President and CEO of CONFiA
http://www.confianow.com/
by Daniel G. Garza @ 7:30 AM
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2 Comments:
Hello Daniel.
I totally agree with you about the huge importance of voting and the enormous relevance of Hispanic vote in The U.S. I also encourage all Hispanic voters to “make their voice sound” on November 7th elections.
Daniel, I would like you to expose your opinion about a topic related to elections and voting: We voters usually have only “two soups in the menu” (three in Mexico) and most of the time (not always) both soups are cold and insipid (false and even dangerous). I think it has a direct relation with elections’ nonparticipation.
I checked the CONFIA web site, and I found their mission is really interesting and noble. You are promoting actions of civic responsibility among the people who can impact their Country as deep as they’ve been impacting their World for thousands of years (Hispanics, Christians, and Christian Hispanics). I believe CONFIA can offer a solution to the soups problem. CONFIA promotes the participation of honest and integral people in political issues. A man or a woman with real and strong values would be the soup that everybody wants to see in the menu. More and more of those men and women participating and more and more participation of them can come as a fruit of the activity of groups like CONFIA. Congratulations for being part of the group and one of the men who can be the good soup.
Saludos!
omargabrielmacias@hotmail.com
good blog. I haven’t lost faith in our community. I think we do care and we have the ganas to influence our future. It’s the system that utterly disappoints me.
The Selig Center at the University of Georgia recently released a study predicting that in 2007 the Hispanic buying power will top all other minority groups at $863 billion dollars.
We, as a community, have so much power. So much power, but we haven’t flexed our political muscle in our nation’s electoral process. I’m not referring to the excellent social activism we saw on display across our country calling for immigration reform this summer. I’m talking about the lack of political influence to be able to force effective and efficient movement within the system.
Republicans and Democrats need to craft a more compelling and sincere effort to motivate our community. They aren’t speaking to us, and often when they do, it’s at the end of a campaign and so inadequately funded or so full of b.s.-- it’s insulting.
Until our parties invest the resources to engage our community, we won’t vote.
Until our local governments create more early-vote opportunities for Latinos who can’t leave their jobs mid week to stand in line, we won’t vote.
Until our political campaigns create opportunity and foster talent for Latinos in senior levels of these campaigns, we won’t have an internal voice with power to influence these machines, and our community won’t vote.
We are $800 billion strong, and need to find a way to speak our truth to their power. or we won’t vote.
Mr. Garza, I checked out your site. I admire the courage of anyone to build and manage organization which is grounded in a belief to spread a message. I know that one organization can’t be everything to everyone, but to be honest, as a person of faith in this country, I would like to see more done to heal the sick, clothe the poor, and create economic opportunity for us to take care of our families. Hmm. Maybe I should start my own nonprofit.
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