Key Issue But Far From the Only One

By Arnoldo S. Torres (July 7, 2014)

The April 22 column by Angelo Falc�n of the National Institute for Latino Policy, "Immigration Reform and the Latino Civil Rights Movement: Are They Now in Conflict?" suggests immigration may be crowding out the multitude of civil rights issues that have long impacted Latino communities in this country. I have shared this opinion for many years, especially over the last six years, and respect the arguments made by those who contend immigration is now the "new civil rights issue".

But this perspective raises the many questions that Falc�n rightfully asks: How does this focus on immigration as the single most important issue facing the Latino community help or distort the Latino agenda? Do Latino activists and leaders need to assess immigration's place on their community's agenda vis-�-vis other issues? Is it even appropriate to raise such questions at such a sensitive time for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress?

Before I answer these very important and legitimate questions I would like to share some background that will give context to my responses.

I served as the Congressional Liaison and National Executive Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Washington, D.C., from 1979 to 1985. I also testified more than 50 times before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on this country's most comprehensive immigration reform legislation, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA).

I advocated ardently for the Latino community with many colleagues, and was able to successfully negotiate many recommendations that improved the humanity and administration of this historical reform bill. Our efforts resulted in the legalization of approximately 2.9 million undocumented individuals, and the inclusion of civil rights protections for immigrants and non-immigrants who were increasingly experiencing discrimination based on immigration status.

While immigration undoubtedly received more Congressional attention than other issues during my tenure with LULAC, we did address key issues that extended beyond immigration. For example, we worked diligently with others to extend the Voting Rights Act, to re-authorize the federal Bilingual Education Act, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the federal Fair Housing Act; and to maintain or improve vital federal laws protecting the precarious role of Hispanics in U.S. society.

We also battled the "voodoo economic" policies of the Reagan administration that began the demise of America's middle-class and caused unprecedented havoc for working poor and entry-level middle class Latinos. We also expanded our advocacy to cover U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and beyond.

My experiences during the last two decades of the last millennium underscore the challenges that Latinos faced (as well as other ethnic groups) and the inappropriateness of advocates to act as "single-issue" activists. The current conditions of the Latino community, especially the last 10 years, demonstrate that virtually the same challenges remain and a civil rights agenda is needed to go beyond immigration.

Since the great recession of 2006, Latinos throughout the nation have lost their only possession of real wealth-their homes. The educational system from kindergarten to college has not made any real advancements that improve the future of Latinos. Greater access to health care has been created but substantial obstacles to better health for Latinos, not just the undocumented, remain. Racial profiling continues regardless of our legal status, and opportunities for realizing the "American Dream" are trickled down by "the man."

In other words, yesterday's "civil rights" struggles are still with us today. They may be more subtle, more complex and, at times, not manifested in the same crude manner. But we also see their staying power and reluctance to go away as we witnessed in the 2012 Presidential campaign with Republicans and have seen this past week along the border. Perhaps the greatest testament to their existence is the growing gap between the poor and wealthy, with the added surprise that many non-Latinos and non-Blacks have joined our ranks.

Now that I have given some context, let me answer some of the questions Mr. Falc�n has raised.

How does this focus on immigration as the single most important issue facing the Latino community help or distort the Latino agenda?

First of all, I do not believe that there has ever been a Latino agenda, certainly not one that has been crafted collectively. While Latino groups and individuals have advocated over the many years, and decades, on "traditional Latino civil rights" we have primarily done this based on our regional and community experiences. We have not always agreed with the solutions advanced but we have shared the same poor experiences.

I do believe the focus on immigration has significantly distorted advocacy on other issues and portrays the collective Latino community as being only concerned about one issue. Clearly, this has inflicted major damage.

It has allowed both political parties, all the media, the liberal left and conservative right, national Spanish language media TV radio, and local Spanish language radio to discuss immigration and to ignore all other issues. As long as these institutions are addressing immigration along the lines of the rhetoric being expressed from our community, they do not have to address any other issues.

How else do you explain the poor response of Democrats and Republicans during the economic recession and millions of Latino families who lost their homes? Neither party helped Latinos concretely keep their homes or get their homes back. Obama programs were not utilized and they came on-line very late. Republicans could only defend the status quo and blame poor people.

A good example involves a state legislator in California voted against bill to place a warning label on all sugary drinks that was being sought because of the phenomenal human and governmental costs associated with diabetes and obesity in the Latino community. California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez not only voted against SB 1000 but worked to convince other Latino and Black members to vote against the bill. She took this position despite the hard data that diabetes in the Latino community throughout the U.S. and California, and in her county and Assembly district, is overwhelmingly causing great harm to children and families.

Paradoxically, an article appeared in the LA Times one week after the vote that spoke to how Latino legislators are "...moving to reverse decades of anti-immigrant legislation (the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 state initiative). The article reported that Gonzalez acknowledged that revisiting some of these battles gets her generation of lawmakers "in trouble sometimes" but to not take up those issues now that they're in the Capitol? Oh no, she said. "We've been fighting for this for way too long."

To me this was "el colmo"! This elected official gets quoted in the most prestigious newspaper in California as if she is a defender of the Latino community while she voted to allow the greatest silent killer in the Latino community go unattended. But because she has presented herself as a fighter against the anti-immigrant forces of yesterday and today she is given a free pass.

On the issue of education it's even worse. Latino elected officials at all levels of government and school administration have largely not been at the forefront of reforming public education in many states with high concentrations of Latinos in public schools. While they have one set of comments during campaigns and when they need to be "down with Latinos" they cite the poor performance of many K-12 schools in our neighborhoods. They talk about the importance of education for our children and future. However, they are not proposing major reform legislation, holding the current system accountable, changing and creating more options for parents and children, nor empowering parents to understand and access the educational system for improving their children's chances for a reasonable future.

I see this in virtually every state in the nation. While most state legislators take little or no initiative or leadership on what Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project continues to find in polls of Latinos --- that education and health are the first two issues of major importance to Latino voters; they are hitting the Republicans and Mr. Obama hard on deportations and lack of action on immigration reform legislation. Those that support Obama because of their strong ties to the Democratic Party have a good wiping boy in Republicans, who always find a way to be even more offensive and take no action than Democrats. In Texas, Latino Democrats in the state house spend more time talking about how bad Republicans are on immigration and their anti-immigrant rants while the majority do not engage in finding solutions to a public education system that has failed Latinos for three generations.

On these two issues, as well as other issues, Latino elected officials and Latino immigrant groups are seldom on the front lines fighting for change---unless it can be traced directly to undocumented communities. Yes, there are exceptions to this scenario but I have not found many in most Southwest, Midwest, Northeast and Southeast states.

Also contributing to this dynamic is how the media covers issues impacting Latinos. It too often appears that a whole new group of journalists have cropped up and have become advocates on Latino immigration issues. We have journalist now playing the role of advocates when they never have to suffer the consequences of their own advocacy. They know little about policy and most of what they have come to understand is not firsthand knowledge. Yet, their coverage of policy issues in the Latino community revolves largely around immigration and appears to be taken with the intent of changing complex immigration laws and policies.

Another key contributor to the focus on immigration has been left leaning philanthropic foundations. They will generally fund immigrant right community organizations, which is very important. However, they do not fund educational empowerment efforts in Latino communities. In comparison to the millions of dollars that these foundations have invested in immigration over the last ten years, similar efforts have never been made on education, health or economic policy over the last 30 years.

All of these dynamics have contributed to the ill-placed focus on immigration.

Do Latino activists and leaders need to reassess immigration's place on their community's agenda via-a-vis other issues?

ABSOLUTELY! It should not take what has been going on for Latino activists and leaders to reassess what is done on the political and policy front for the community. With the constant demographic growth of Latinos, the political obstacles we face and the increase in Latino elected officials, we should be stepping back and taking time to reflect on at least three questions---where have we been? Where do we want to go? How do we want to get there?

Reflection and constructive critiques of our "so-called Latino agenda" requires constant review and questioning. We have not effectively resolved the issues that were with us in the 1960s but we continue to be confronted since the 1970s by the realities of immigrant flows from countries primarily south of the U.S. We must recognize that U.S. foreign political and economic policies have served as major "push factors" from these countries yet we have failed to insist that this be incorporated in immigration reform policy. This makes it an imperative that we reflect and re-examine what we do as a community. The new leaders in the immigrant communities know little of the past battles fought on civil rights and those who have fought those battles need to know more of the current complexities of immigrant flows.

Are we satisfied with our elected officials? Is their real agreement on what the key issues are given the diversity of Latinos residing in the U.S.? Should we change tactics? Should we begin a dialogue amongst the various generations of Latinos who are voters and non-voters? Should we develop a stronger commitment to holding elected officials, Latino and non-Latino, accountable?

These are but a few of the issues we should reassess on a continuing basis. We must sharpen our thinking to be more independent thinkers and not Democrats or Republicans first. We must recognize that we must develop the solutions and not depend on political parties and other institutions to come up with the answers. If we have been suffering from these problems for so long, shouldn't this provide us with the ability to develop viable solutions?

Is it even appropriate to raise such questions at such a sensitive time for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress?

ABSOLUTELY! As a community we have failed to raise such questions about reassessing our efforts up to now. As a consequence this has made what's on the table even more difficult and complex to deal with.

While timing is always a sensitive matter in the political arena, immigration reform cannot be attempted by the Latino community until we reach general consensus on key reform principles and are organized. History has demonstrated that effective participation by impoverished groups in the world's most influential political system cannot be achieved otherwise.

The longer we wait to assess our situation and define our solution, the more sure that others outside of our community will do it for us, while providing their own analysis based on ignorance, stereotypes, or their knowledge of what's in our best interests.

I thank Angelo Falc�n for opening the door for all of us to discuss our past, present and future of Latinos in the U.S. We would do well to recognize that we have many issues that trouble us and require our collective attention and resolution. We have the talent, energy, ideas, and strength to improve on many of the issues that plague us but we must understand that the solution begins with us; in addition, we must not be afraid to admit that we too have become part of the problem.

Arnoldo S. Torres is a journalist, consultant, partner in the Sacramento, California based public policy consulting firm Torres & Torres, and the executive director for the California Hispanic Health Care Association. He can be reached at arnoldots@yahoo.com.