The mayoral race may be over in New York City, with billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg winning over Rican Freddy Ferrer by 20 percent, but Latinos and other Democrats are still talking with the next election in mind and wondering que paso? The heavily Latino borough of the Bronx, which Freddy once ran as Borough President, was the only section of the city that Ferrer won.

Some blame the former candidate Ferrer, saying he didn’t really reach out to the community, didn’t play up his “Latinidad”, and most importantly didn’t really represent the values of the grassroots community. Some actually blame the community, saying that Latinos and Democrats overall gave Freddy lukewarm support at best. The answer probably is somewhere in between.

There hasn’t been a person of color in NYC’s City Hall since David Dinkins and Latino names like current Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion are being tossed around for the next election, four full years away.

What Latinos and all people of color and working class people need to decide is what values people want running this diverse city, not what color he is or what accent his last name has.

Via / The Village Voice and WBAI(audio file).