My Thoughts on LULAC at 97 – Fort Worth Convention

By A. Govea, President, LULAC Council 4568

Last week I shared my reasons for not getting directly involved in the convention. And I didn’t — pero, I did make an appearance.

Primero, on Thursday I went to register as a delegate, which would allow me to vote for National Board officers. Why? Because just like in any election, if you don’t vote, you lose your right to complain. And believe me, I have more than a couple of complaints about this organization since I first joined in 1979.

Before I get to that, I want to be clear: I believed in 1979 — and I still believe today — that LULAC is the best member‑based Hispanic advocacy organization in America. Its mission has always been, and remains, to work for the advancement of the Latino community in all areas of life and to protect the civil rights of Latinos in the United States.

All that said, here are my concerns and one or two complaints.

This great organization is now 97 years old, just shy of a century, and it has gone through many iterations. Without going into extensive detail, let’s just say that some of its past positions were judged — correctly — as wrong. Pero, LULAC corrected course once it recognized those errors and became a champion for Latino rights. That doesn’t mean everyone agrees with LULAC on every issue. You always hear people say, “LULAC should be doing more,” or “LULAC does nothing.” That’s not uncommon for any large organization or its leaders. You can never please everyone. My concerns are different.

As someone who joined in 1979, I’ve seen LULAC in its heyday — huge, diverse turnouts at state and especially national conventions, with delegates from large and small cities. When it was time to vote, you needed massive halls to hold the thousand‑plus delegates. This Saturday, I believe we had maybe half of that — and that’s me being generous.

Which begs the question: ¿Por qué? Just by looking at the delegation, I can see that many veteran members have either passed on to the great delegate hall in the sky or simply left the organization. That group concerns me most. Why did they leave, and why haven’t they returned?

For years, I’ve heard the same complaint — and I still hear it today: Why do we always have the same people leading the organization? People say it’s always the same individuals, either through lineage or geography. They say San Antonio or Dallas always dominate the national and state leadership. They say deserving people from other areas can never get elected because those in power work together to stay in power.

And this year’s elections — state and national — didn’t do much to quiet that perception.

Is there truth to it? In my opinion and experience, yes, there is some truth.

I know there are issues that appear to be irregularities in voting, which is something many of us have known about for years. I’ve pointed this out to local, state, and national leadership, and it has never been fully addressed.

I ran into a gentleman from San Antonio who told me, “I’m not sure what council I belong to; they’re always moving me around.” Which begs the question: Who is “they,” and did they pay your dues and your trip here? Sadly, I’ve seen this more times than I can remember. It doesn’t take a genius to wonder: Is this vote‑buying?

I have my own opinion, but I’ll let you decide. What I do know is that over the years, we’ve lost many good people because of this issue. I’ve threatened to quit more than a handful of times myself.

To be fair, many in the organization will disagree with me and say I’m wrong or misinformed — and I respect their right to disagree. But on this issue, we disagree completely. And I’m a big believer in “You can disagree without being disagreeable.” After all, we are all volunteers, and I’m sure they do good work in their communities.

Pero, until the powers that be, acknowledge this problem, I don’t believe our organization will return to the full halls we once had.

In 2029, we return to Corpus Christi, the birthplace of LULAC, and my hope is that we will see a full resurgence by then. It’s not just about numbers — it’s about the work ahead. It will take all of us to reclaim the rights that organizations like LULAC once fought for and won. Sadly, we must once again fight to regain rights that have been lost or diluted.

There is a role for all of us — inside and outside of LULAC.

You are welcome to comment publicly here or email me at alberto@holatexas.us.