VivirLatino

It's Election Day : I (grudgingly) Voted. Did You?

16:16 H | Topics: Politics

Whenever election day rolls around I am reminded of a few things. One is that imfamous phrase, "The Latino Swing Vote". This idea, that Latinos because of our sheer numbers can make or break an elecion has led to positives like non-partisan voter registration drives and has led to negatives like politicians pandering to "Latino interests" with a slew of commercials of them speaking really bad Spanish or with Latino celebs/politicos singing Que Linda Manita. I am reminded of Malcolm X's famous speech, The Ballot or the Bullet. I am reminded of the late Richie Perez and how he always said that there are many weapons at our disposal for revolution and voting is one of those tools.

Today I was one of 5.6 million Latino voters expected to vote today acording to The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and yet when I took my daughter into the old school voting booth with me, there was not one Latino name on any of the ballots nor was there anyone I considered "Latino friendly". This mid-term election has been touted as important because of how it could impact the control of the Congress. There are elections in states such as Michigan where people are voting on the so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), a proposal to ban affirmative action in public education, employment and contracting. But like in 1964, when Malcolm X spoke about the ballot or the bullet, in 2006 there are millions of people - many of them Latinos- in this country who will be impacted by what happens today and they can't vote either because they are undocumented or have been disenfranchised because of a criminal act.
Today 8 will vote on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

I used a weapon at my disposal today because people died or went to jail for the right to vote. I voted because so many of my neighbors can't vote and yet their experiences are being used by all political parties. I voted today but I also know that tomorrow morning , when the final poll numbers are in, not much will have changed.

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