Nuestra Voz in 2016

(Our Voice)

By A. Govea

December 14, 2015

As we close out 2015 and look forward to the New Year, we see a presidential election now in full steam.  On the left we have what appears to be the Heir apparent to Obama, Hillary Clinton with Bernie Sanders pulling huge crowds to his rallies with his liberal agenda that makes a lot of sense.

On the right we have a circus with Donald Trump as the ringleader, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, others with Lindsay Graham the sanest of the bunch.  Full disclosure I am not a Republication but I do believe in a two party system, any kind of monopoly is dangerous.  Having said that this party appears to be imploding, it appears to be the equivalent of the patients running the insane asylum.  But hey, that is someone else’s problem.

However, my/our problem is that many in the Republican Party have targeted those in our community that cannot defend themselves.  People that came to our country out of economic desperation and in some cases to escape violence in their own countries.  In addition, many brought their children that only know the US as their country. For them POTUS has through executive action given them a path to legalization, however those on the right proudly proclaim they will reverse this order once they become president.  Further they also plan to deny citizenship to children born in this county of parents without legal status.  Many in the Replication Party call them anchor babies, which I find totally disgusting.

Donald Trump stated that Mexicans are drug dealers, murderers and rapists and that he would built a Great Wall of China to keep them out.  Surprisingly, or maybe, not this demeaning rhetoric did not hurt him, in fact he further surged in the polls. Sure many people in our community and organizations like LULAC pushed back but there was not a loud response like we now have for his anti- Muslim comments.  Don’t’ get me wrong I am glad to see that finally decent people have decided that Trump crossed the line. I guess since I was and have been disgusted and sad to hear the anti- Mexican rhetoric I was hoping other in the general population would also share my disgust.  

When I shared my thoughts with others in our community most responded by saying “Yea, what else is new” that is the way it has always been.  Sorry to say that most in our community have settled to this fact but I still refuse. You will hear comments like if we were Black they would not treat this way and now maybe you can add Muslim. Their I think many reasons why we have accepted this marginalized fate but the loudest reason I believe is lack of political power.  Your vote is your voice and ours has grown louder in last Presidential election cycles, however it is still not loud enough to prevent our community from being targeted as the scapegoat.  Well you say “I agree but what can I do? “I’m glad you asked that” We at Nuestra Voz are starting a Voter campaign and we need you, your familia, your compadres, comadres and your amigos to succeed. And when they why should we get involved or even vote. Tell them the following;

Respect—Respeto; If you are tired of your community being the easy target of the far right, it is time to push back

For our children and grandchildren; Someday history will report on the inequality of treatment for those in our community and your children will ask “What did you do to change it?

Education; It is no secret that our children as a whole lag behind all groups in education, in fact it has been reported that right here in a North Texas school district the achievement gap in math and science if nothing changes for the better it would take 111 years to catch up to the Anglo community.  (Now if this does not make you fighting Mad! Someone better check your pulse)

Economy; A good economy is good for all of us, it allows for better schools, roads, parks neighborhoods etc. we cannot increase our tax base unless all our medium incomes increase.

There are course many more reasons you can add your personal ones if you like and in fact I want to hear them email them to me at goveaalberto215@yahoo.com  You can also go to www.nuestravozdetc.com and click on NV2016 for campaign updates and support. Please Join Us in our fight for Justice and Respect (Nuestra Voz in 2016) Our Voice.