by Kay Barbaro
TWO QUESTIONS: When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came to the capitolio last week, Hispanic Link took advantage of his visit to broach two questions that are on the minds of some politically involved Latinos in the City of the Angels.
The questions had been raised back home but the City Hall responses were either unclear or evasive, or maybe the questions were not framed precisely enough. So we tried our hand. First José de la Isla, the Link’s lead syndicated columnist, asked Villaraigosa if he planned to join in the May 1 march to City Hall in protesting workplace raids and supporting immigration reform.
The mayor’s answer: “I have a long history of advocacy on behalf of immigrants. I’ve always felt from my days as a high school student I had an obligation to speak for these people. But I don’t feel I need to be at every demonstration to do that. I didn’t attend the last May first event and I don’t expect that I’ll attend this one.” No se enojen, guys. José’s just the messenger.
Then Link publisher Charlie Ericksen asked if the mayor supported having the U.S. Department of Justice take action against the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to redraw the lines for its five elective districts. Latinos comprise about half of the county’s ten million residents. The present lines overload one district — where Gloria Molina has served since 1991 — with Hispanics and spread the rest at about 20% each in the other four, safe for incumbents.
The mayor’s response: “I have been dealing with it of late. I was involved in the MALDEF/ACLU lawsuit that helped create a district where a Latino could get elected. Gloria Molina is a good friend of mine. I supported her campaign...I’m here today because of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. I support it and to the extent that the Department of Justice determines that the Voting Rights Act requires that there be a second district where a Latino has a viable opportunity to get elected. I think it’s great. Whatever the Justice Department does, the California legislature will vindicate the Voting Rights Act in a couple years and I am certainly looking forward to that. It’s an important issue of representation as old as the founding of this country.”
For more, visit www.hispaniclink.org.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Clinton Has 15 Hispanic Capitol Hill Endorsements, McCain, 6, Obama, 5
By Emily Ruíz
Hillary Clinton has the most support among Latino Congressional Democrats, according to a tally by Weekly Report. Fourteen members of the House and one of the Senate have endorsed the New York senator, while five members of the Househave endorsed Barack Obama. All Latino Congressional Republicans have endorsed John McCain.
Here’s how they line up:
DEMOCRATS 21
HILLARY CLINTON 15
California: Reps. Joe Baca, Dennis Cardoza, Grace Napolitano, Lucille Roybal- Allard, Loretta Sánchez, Hilda Solís
Texas: Reps. Silvestre Reyes, Solomón Ortiz, Rubén Hinojosa, Henry Cuéllar
New York: Reps. José Serrano, Nydia Velásquez
New Jersey: Sen. Robert Menéndez, Rep. Albio Sires
Arizona: Rep. Ed Pastor
BARACK OBAMA 5
California: Reps. Xavier Becerra, Linda Sánchez
Texas: Rep. Charlie Gonzáles
Illinois: Rep. Luis Gutiérrez
Arizona: Rep. Raúl Grijalva
REPUBLICANS 6
JOHN MCCAIN 6
Florida: Sen. Mel Martínez, Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
California: Rep. Devin Nunes
Puerto Rico: Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño
UNDECLARED 3
California: Rep. Jim Costa
Texas: Rep. Ciro Rodríguez
Colorado: Rep. John Salazar, Sen. Ken Salazar
For more, visit www.hispaniclink.org.
Hillary Clinton has the most support among Latino Congressional Democrats, according to a tally by Weekly Report. Fourteen members of the House and one of the Senate have endorsed the New York senator, while five members of the Househave endorsed Barack Obama. All Latino Congressional Republicans have endorsed John McCain.
Here’s how they line up:
DEMOCRATS 21
HILLARY CLINTON 15
California: Reps. Joe Baca, Dennis Cardoza, Grace Napolitano, Lucille Roybal- Allard, Loretta Sánchez, Hilda Solís
Texas: Reps. Silvestre Reyes, Solomón Ortiz, Rubén Hinojosa, Henry Cuéllar
New York: Reps. José Serrano, Nydia Velásquez
New Jersey: Sen. Robert Menéndez, Rep. Albio Sires
Arizona: Rep. Ed Pastor
BARACK OBAMA 5
California: Reps. Xavier Becerra, Linda Sánchez
Texas: Rep. Charlie Gonzáles
Illinois: Rep. Luis Gutiérrez
Arizona: Rep. Raúl Grijalva
REPUBLICANS 6
JOHN MCCAIN 6
Florida: Sen. Mel Martínez, Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
California: Rep. Devin Nunes
Puerto Rico: Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño
UNDECLARED 3
California: Rep. Jim Costa
Texas: Rep. Ciro Rodríguez
Colorado: Rep. John Salazar, Sen. Ken Salazar
For more, visit www.hispaniclink.org.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A Chicano Activist Celebrates an Anniversary
By Edward Barrios Acevedo
He could have been one heck of an auto mechanic. But the prevailing forces of the civil rights movement, a raging war overseas, and a leap of faith in education, rewrote the destiny of Armando Vázquez-Ramos.
Beginning this month and extending throughout the year, countless events will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what Armando and many others of his generation hail as the birth of the Chicano Movement.
They connect it with the March 1968 walkouts involving hundreds of East Los Angeles high school students.
Led by a passionate young teacher named Sal Castro, Mexican-American kids defied their instructors and in many instances their parents to protest institutional racism and inequitable education conditions on their campuses. Their actions lit a fire that engulfed young, brown teens throughout the whole Southwest.
This year Armando celebrates a parallel 40-year stretch at California State University at Long Beach that began as a student leader and continues as an activist professor. He doesn’t appear ready to slow down any time soon.
“Much has happened since then,” the burly, bespeckled professor reflects. “But we still see a similarity to the conditions we faced 40 years ago — unpopular war abroad, attacks on civil liberties, and a continuous dehumanization of immigrants and Latinos.”
ONE PROJECT: CAPTURING HISTORY
There has been tremendous progress, he admits, but challenges are everywhere, including raging dropout rates, poorly prepared college entrants, unacceptable retention statistics, and unequal representation at almost every level of business and government.
Today, the Chicano Studies professor says, he is offering tune-ups not of automobiles, but of the lives of underserved young people in this beachside town 20 miles south of Los Angeles.
At an early morning breakfast, I caught up with the professor to press him on the environment he finds himself in 2008.
“My mission is the same today as it was 40 years ago — to improve the educational level of my community,” he insists. He’s juggling a dozen projects, including writing a detailed account on the history of Mexican Americans in Long Beach for generations that follow to read.
LIFE AS LABORER WAS HOPEFUL GOAL
Over the years, Vázquez-Ramos has assisted thousands of students. Many return to him as elected officials, educators and business leaders, some seeking his counsel on issues, others just to absorb an old fashioned pep talk from a trusted adviser.
“Seeing students succeed as professionals and do things of value in their own communities is the greatest glory of teaching,” he insists.
Against a backdrop of poverty and lack of role models, Armando came to the United States from Mexico City when he was 12 years old. Life as a skilled laborer was a hopeful goal.
Then, when he graduated from Lincoln High School, where the walkouts were incubated the following year, he was accepted at California State University at Long Beach as part of the first Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) class in 1967-1968.
Today, the EOP program continues to identify promising students who need enrollment and education assistance.
“It really changed my life,” he reflects. “It has inspired me to do the same for others just like mE. He argues that there is a direct correlation between the success of students and curricula that reflect the cultural and ethnic content the Latino students demanded during those walkouts four decades ago. He recalls leading some fellow college freshman to visit Lincoln High and encourage the rebels to pursue their reform mission.
“It’s a constant struggle to eliminate ignorance and hate through education,” he says as he drives home his final point: “We all benefit from the investment. We owe our kids the same effort and opportunities that gave us our chance.”
(Edward Barrios Acevedo is a teacher and freelance writer in Los Angeles. He can be reached Edwardfactor@yahoo.com.)
He could have been one heck of an auto mechanic. But the prevailing forces of the civil rights movement, a raging war overseas, and a leap of faith in education, rewrote the destiny of Armando Vázquez-Ramos.
Beginning this month and extending throughout the year, countless events will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what Armando and many others of his generation hail as the birth of the Chicano Movement.
They connect it with the March 1968 walkouts involving hundreds of East Los Angeles high school students.
Led by a passionate young teacher named Sal Castro, Mexican-American kids defied their instructors and in many instances their parents to protest institutional racism and inequitable education conditions on their campuses. Their actions lit a fire that engulfed young, brown teens throughout the whole Southwest.
This year Armando celebrates a parallel 40-year stretch at California State University at Long Beach that began as a student leader and continues as an activist professor. He doesn’t appear ready to slow down any time soon.
“Much has happened since then,” the burly, bespeckled professor reflects. “But we still see a similarity to the conditions we faced 40 years ago — unpopular war abroad, attacks on civil liberties, and a continuous dehumanization of immigrants and Latinos.”
ONE PROJECT: CAPTURING HISTORY
There has been tremendous progress, he admits, but challenges are everywhere, including raging dropout rates, poorly prepared college entrants, unacceptable retention statistics, and unequal representation at almost every level of business and government.
Today, the Chicano Studies professor says, he is offering tune-ups not of automobiles, but of the lives of underserved young people in this beachside town 20 miles south of Los Angeles.
At an early morning breakfast, I caught up with the professor to press him on the environment he finds himself in 2008.
“My mission is the same today as it was 40 years ago — to improve the educational level of my community,” he insists. He’s juggling a dozen projects, including writing a detailed account on the history of Mexican Americans in Long Beach for generations that follow to read.
LIFE AS LABORER WAS HOPEFUL GOAL
Over the years, Vázquez-Ramos has assisted thousands of students. Many return to him as elected officials, educators and business leaders, some seeking his counsel on issues, others just to absorb an old fashioned pep talk from a trusted adviser.
“Seeing students succeed as professionals and do things of value in their own communities is the greatest glory of teaching,” he insists.
Against a backdrop of poverty and lack of role models, Armando came to the United States from Mexico City when he was 12 years old. Life as a skilled laborer was a hopeful goal.
Then, when he graduated from Lincoln High School, where the walkouts were incubated the following year, he was accepted at California State University at Long Beach as part of the first Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) class in 1967-1968.
Today, the EOP program continues to identify promising students who need enrollment and education assistance.
“It really changed my life,” he reflects. “It has inspired me to do the same for others just like mE. He argues that there is a direct correlation between the success of students and curricula that reflect the cultural and ethnic content the Latino students demanded during those walkouts four decades ago. He recalls leading some fellow college freshman to visit Lincoln High and encourage the rebels to pursue their reform mission.
“It’s a constant struggle to eliminate ignorance and hate through education,” he says as he drives home his final point: “We all benefit from the investment. We owe our kids the same effort and opportunities that gave us our chance.”
(Edward Barrios Acevedo is a teacher and freelance writer in Los Angeles. He can be reached Edwardfactor@yahoo.com.)
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