Barack Obama:
"The notion that is being perpetrated, unfortunately I think in the media, that somehow Hispanics won't vote for African-Americans because of this particular race and the fact that Senator Clinton has an advantage due to a long-standing presence on the national scene just doesn't make sense,"
While there have been moments where Latinos and Blacks have agreed and worked together, this has not often been the case. Since the immigration debate began in late 2005 - Blacks have often berated immigrants. Personally I have seen Black and Latino academics argue vociferously about whether Blacks or DREAMERS (undocumented college students) should get more support for scholarships or into better colleges.
It is common knowledge in a large school district in Houston there is long standing tension between Blacks and Latinos.
Unfortunately, it appears that many Latinos have taken on the attitudes of white people who disparage Blacks. It's ironic, because if people only knew the real history of Mexico and Latin America --- there was a HUGE slave population that was imported from Africa. During certain points in Mexico's colonial period there were 3 times as many Black slaves as there were "white" Spaniards.
What happened to all the millions of slaves? They intermarried into the rest of the Mexican population.
In addition, Texas has a number of stories about Mexican helping Blacks escape from slavery (a very interesting story of this in Houston's nearby Colorado County in 1856).
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Despite this history, anyone that says that Blacks and Latinos always get along is deceiving themselves.
However, this doesn't mean we can't begin to collaborate. Maybe Obama could really show the Latino community that he is sensitive to their needs... that would help dispel the bad feelings left over from past conflicts.
in regards to immigration:
I am surprised that either candidate hasn't figured out that if they made very strong statements about stopping the ICE raids they would guarantee getting just about all the Latino support. Unfortunately it didn't happen during the debate in Austin, when they both had a chance to say something.... In Spanish there is a saying when someone finally gets it "se le prendio el foco" --- their light bulb finally went on. Maybe someone's light bulb will turn on soon, it would be nice.
If the candidate who wins follows through with his/her promises to both the Latino and Black community, the relationship between the two groups would certainly improve - part of the tension comes from many people of color feeling left out of the larger American Dream.
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Excerpt from:
East Texas may hold key to Democratic primary
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Clinton has held a lead among white voters of about 7 percentage points and a lead of at least 20 percentage points over Obama among Hispanics. But more than 75 percent of the blacks surveyed supported Obama.
Clinton had more than 60 percent support in traditionally Hispanic South Texas.
Obama in his interview rejected the idea that her [Clinton's] lead may be the result of racially polarized voting by Hispanics.
"The notion that is being perpetrated, unfortunately I think in the media, that somehow Hispanics won't vote for African-Americans because of this particular race and the fact that Senator Clinton has an advantage due to a long-standing presence on the national scene just doesn't make sense," Obama said.
Obama said he has had good Hispanic support in his past races, and if he is the nominee he will have a record to show Hispanics why he would be better for them as president than any Republican.
for link to complete Houston Chronicle article, click the title of this post
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