Comments on: Waiting in Line As Latinos Change America

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:15:14 +0000

I don’t worry that a governent run by white males will not represent me, but that a government run by racist extremists will not represent me. There have been many white men who have fought for the rights of all Americans, such as Ted Kennedy, LBJ, Bill Clinton, Earl Warren, etc. And the Southwest hasn’t always been politically contentious. That’s only happened in the last 20 years, since Prop 187, but there has always been racism. The anti-immigrant backlash really began when Mexican-American voters flipped California from red to blue in 1992.

When I said that “those things have been common for the last 50 years,” I was referring to candidates vying for Mexican-American votes. it’s been happening since JFK. It’s not really new. It happens across the country now, and with non-Mexican Latinos as well.

By: Roxana A. Soto

Roxana A. Soto — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this timely and very interesting post with us, Chelsea! You’re totally right, for many Latinos, having their vote be counted is a great departure from what they’ve historically been used to in their countries of origin.

For more on how the Latinos — and a lot of other groups — are changing the face of America, this is a must read article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/barack-obama-reelection_n_2085819.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices&ir=Latino%20Voices

By: Chelsea Torres

Chelsea Torres — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:31:07 +0000

Karen,
Allow me to clarify. Certainly, candidates have been concerned about gaining the vote of the Spanish-speaking population for quite some time. However, this demographic has never been as large as it is today. What I meant by “plagued with worry” was more from the voters’ perspective rather than the candidates’. Because they are such a large, diverse group, Latinos worry now more than ever that a government historically run by white males will not represent them. I agree that the Southwest has always been a politically contentious region due to its proximity to the Mexican border, but that contention has now spread throughout the whole U.S. Just look at the rapid growth of the Hispanic population in the past decade: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1940/hispanic-united-states-population-growth-2010-census

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:51:17 +0000

Re: “Twenty years ago, this country was not plagued with worry about how well the government would represent Latinos, and hearing a Spanish campaign ad was as rare as finding a decent Spanish radio station.”

Those things have been common n the Southwest for the last 50 years, at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tQRfyucKY&feature=player_detailpage