Puerto Rican Vote | VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘Puerto Rican vote’

NYC Mayor Bloomberg gets a Latino Endorser for His Third Term Run : P.R.’s Gov. Fortuño

6:35 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · New York City|Politics · 7 Comments

28 Aug 2009

michael_bloomberg I first noticed the Spanish language door hangers in my Latino NYC hood last week. The door hangers were promoting NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s run for a third term.

Now, I don’t think he should have been allowed to run again. Here in NYC there was this big push for term limits but now because the billionaire mayor wants to keep power, he’s using the poor economy as justification for a third term in office. I think that fear mongering, especially when his model of city as business instead of as communities of people, has hurt more people than it has helped, is a disgusting way to maintain control. Pero people are buying it and supporting him. In NYC the Latino vote is especially important which is why Bloomy is spending alot of time and effort lining up endorsers with Spanish last names.

One of the latest endorsements comes from a non-New Yorker, Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood Governor Luis G. Fortuño. .

In a statement released by the Bloomberg campaign, Fortuño called the mayor an “honest and independent leader who can make the tough, necessary decisions that will create jobs, keep the streets safe and continue the strides in education that have been made over the last few years.”

“New York also needs a leader who understands the diverse nature of the city, appreciates how invaluable it is, and works to ensure this diversity,” Fortuño added.

“When it comes to Latinos, Mayor Bloomberg wants to make sure that all of us are heard.”

One Mala’s Vote

12:42 pm By Maegan La Mala · New York City|US Presidential Race 2008 · 1 Comment

4 Nov 2008

I have strong feelings about voting, and those aren’t always easy feelings. Raised in a family that always votes (and always Democrat- my dad even had a failed run for Congress once), and politicized by a Young Lord who also ran voter registration campaigns, voting has always been a complex issue. As a New York born and Rican with family who can’t vote because of their current or past criminal record or by virtue of living in a U.S. colony, it’s not a decision I take lightly.

As I went to vote, I struck up conversations with the people in my hood who can’t vote. My community is an immigrant community. The parents of many of my daughter’s schoolmates, my neighbors, the shop owners, are undocumented and they all asked me if I was voting. As I waited online for my bagel after voting, I spoke with day laborers asking what the scene at the polls was like. My vote today was more than my individual vote, it was for My tios, tias, y Abuela Lila who are in Puerto Rico now and for those who work here, put money into the U.S. economy and don’t have a say in who makes the laws and carries out foreign policy.

What a U.S. Passport Won’t Get You As a Rican : A Vote!

3:21 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico|US Presidential Race 2008 · 7 Comments

14 Oct 2008

Not all U.S. citizens can vote. Specifically I am referring to Puerto Ricans. Pero before I am accused of bringing up my background, I direct you to the words of another Rican:

In October of 2008 I have discovered yet another off-putting situation. The other bearers of this passport are receiving their ballots this month, a head start to this November election. It’s an ex-pat party: the hitchhiker who went south from Recife and voted in Salvador, the old roommates from Buenos Aires, the new friends in Recife. All of them received their absentee ballots or voted at the embassy. Friends, acquaintances, strangers: all American citizens.

But, somehow, I am different than them. I cannot vote. Though I am weighed down by the negatives of carrying the same passport, I do not have the same rights. Why? The last address I registered with the IRS (and the American government in general) is in Puerto Rico, my home (non) state. And Puerto Ricans, though US citizens in paper, are second class citizens in practice. Therefore, I am not allowed to vote in the presidential elections, unless I move and prove that my current legal residence lies in of the (actual) 50 states.

I carry the weight of this passport because I have no option. There is no Puerto Rican passport; I am a second class citizen with no alternative.

Read the entire post and the struggle that the colonial status creates at Zerotres

y mil graciaa a Elenamary for sending me the link.

National Rican Organization Challenges Presidential Candidates to Speak Address the Community

7:36 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Politics|Puerto Rico|US Presidential Race 2008 · Comments Off

17 Sep 2008

The Latino vote is one of the most talked about target groups in this presidential election season. Everyone wants us to register, wants us to vote, but what is often forgotten is that Latino means many things, coming from many places. Puerto Ricans (yes there she goes again) have their own issues that demand attention along with other Latino groups, and one Rican organization is demanding that John McCain and Barack Obama respond to the specific interests of the Rican community.

The National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, a social justice organization, has written a letter inviting the candidates to collaborate with the NCPRR to develop a means for communication with the Puerto Rican community.

“We are willing to work with the candidates to creatively set up a discussion that will allow our community to understand the candidates’ positions. Our children are also dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we should know what the future will bring from these candidates.” said Vazquez-Hernandez, a professor of history at Miami Dade College, who is a Vietnam Era veteran and a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV).

Full disclosure : The NCPRR was the formative entity in terms of my political upbringing.

Read the entire letter after the jump.

VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘Puerto Rican vote’

NYC Mayor Bloomberg gets a Latino Endorser for His Third Term Run : P.R.’s Gov. Fortuño

One Mala’s Vote

What a U.S. Passport Won’t Get You As a Rican : A Vote!

National Rican Organization Challenges Presidential Candidates to Speak Address the Community

Hola!

Get our RSS Feed!