From: The South Chicagoan
The Service Employees International Union is gambling that the potential for greater Latino political empowerment will be on display this election cycle, and is laying down a $300,000 bet on that concept.
That figure is the amount of money the union is spending to air radio spots in nine broadcast markets that have significant enough Latino populations that they could turn out and influence the electoral outcome on Nov. 2.
SPECIFICALLY, THOSE ADVERTISEMENTS will be en Español and will focus on the DREAM Act, the measure floundering about in Congress that would give the non-citizen children of unvisa-ed immigrants a chance to gain “resident alien” status (and eventually, citizenship) if they can complete a college education, or serve in the U.S. military and gain an honorable discharge.
But it is not like the union is all that concerned about the fate of DREAM (which as of now is alive because of a technicality being exploited by Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., but is uncertain to come up for a vote this autumn) in Congress.
What they are promoting is the idea of Latino political empowerment, and they’re trying to turn it on the Republican officials who are counting on all those “angry white men” who portray themselves as “patriots” who are “taking back” their country from all these foreigners.
As these radio spots tell us, it is the “Republicans” who are opposed to DREAM because it might enable people they want to think of as undesirables making gains in our society, try to deny immigrant rights in Arizona and who “always seem to stand with big corporations against working families.”
IN SHORT, IT is a call to Latinos to vote against Republican candidates who are anxious to see a strong voter turnout from their ideological allies in society – the ones who think a “fair” United States is one that tries to shape the nation in their own image; and excludes anyone who doesn’t try to comply with that narrow vision.
In theory, the logic of the ad makes sense.
The Latino segment of the U.S. population is on the rise and creates a segment of society that will not be ignored, no matter how much some people are determined to do so.
If we speak out come Nov. 2, we reinforce that idea. If we don’t, then we feed into the image that the nativists want to have of our ethnic brethren as not being worth listening to.
THE REASON I call use of the ads a gamble is because there is an apathetic sentiment among too many Latinos. I hear it all too often. People are going to claim that there’s no one worth voting for – even if they will concede that one side in this election is getting its support from people who have hostile intentions toward us.
The way we fight back is with that demonstration of strength – and that includes at the polling place. Honestly, I have always thought that casting a ballot was a more significant act than marching in a protest rally.
Yet too many people seem to view it the other way around, as though one day of shouting “¡Justicia! ¡Ahora!” (Justice! Now!) accomplishes much of anything – other than perhaps angering the security guard who had to turn his attention away from a television set to make sure that a peaceful protest outside the building where he works remained so.
So I am hoping that these radio spots, which will air in Chicago, along with Phoenix and Tuscon in Arizona, Miami and Orlando in Florida, Houston and McAllen in Texas, Denver and Las Vegas, will inspire some people to get off their lazy duffs.
“VOTE FOR THE candidates who support our families and make our dreams come true,” the radio spots tell us.
It is a true enough sentiment. Because when all those Tea Party types turn out on Nov. 2 to cast their votes for conservative ideologue candidates, that is what they’re doing – casting their votes for candidates who will make their “dreams” come true.
The problem is that their “dreams” all too often include a limited role for our ethnic brethren. So unless you’re willing to accept that concept, you need to vote your interests. Otherwise we will have no one else to blame but ourselves for two years of ideological nonsense prevailing in Congress and an even more rigid stalemate prevailing over important issues. People who don’t speak out and cast a ballot, in all honesty, deserve to have their views ignored.
Personally, I’d rather avert political nonsense being done now, rather than have to focus attention in 2012 on trying to undo the stupidity that could be inflicted on our society because we couldn’t be bothered to vote this year.
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