Friday, February 29, 2008

What's Going on with Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos?

It is very unfortunate that the mass-sponsored media continually fuels the flames of discontent and class warfare between Hispanics/Latinos and Blacks. Both communities don’t have the types of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Caesar Chavez, members of the Protestant clergy or the Catholic Church that can unite Black Americans and the Hispanic communities in their quest to gain entry into the mainstream of all facets of American life. It is the White political power structure along with the multinational corporations in California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas that have historically pitted one group against the other in order to harvest the benefits of that class warfare and to keep both Black Americans and Hispanic/Latinos at the bottom of the socio-economic scale.
It is my opinion that Hillary nor Bill Clinton cares about Hispanics or Blacks. They are only courting the Hispanic/Latino vote in Texas to offset the overwhelming support that Barack Obama has with Black Americans, White males and female voters. Mr.Obama has worked consistently with Hispanic and Latino groups on the streets of Chicago, has marched with them in their parades and has been a champion of their causes. Mr. Obama received 90% support from the Puerto Rican population in the City of Chicago in his state senate campaign and in his U.S. Senatorial race.
The Hispanic/Latino and Black communities need to build stronger bridges to understanding and realize that the Afro-Hispanic coalition of voters would pose one of the most formidable alliance of voters in the history of this country. Also note that the Brown Berets, a Mexican-American militant activist group of the 1960's and 1970's in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, shared many of the same views as the "Black Panther Party For Self Defense". The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican militant organization from New York which was an offshoot of the Black Panthers, worked cooperatively on many community related projects in conjunction with the Panthers and other progressvie organizations. Perhaps one day Americans will evolve and become emancipated out of the ethnic, racial, gender, generational, class identity politics of the present into a more unifying 21st century new type of politics that is not strapped in the divisiveness, polarization or special interest politicos of the past and present center politics.
Many Hispanics realize that Mr. Obama has been the most consistent on the issue of immigration relative to providing a pathway to citizenship as well as the granting of bona fide driver licenses to illegal immigrants. Hillary Clinton on the other hand has flipflopped on the illegal immigration issue based upon which state she was in for political expediency. Many young Hispanic/Latino voters recognize the inconsistency and hypocrisy in Hillary's position in dealing with illegal immigration. I say this to the Hispanic/Latino and Afro-American communities: after all is said, I would submit that our best gain and our best advantage lies in working together in a cooperative spirit rather than in a climate of acrimony and personal enmity. We have common friends and common enemies. We must be considerate to the one and proselytize the other and if possible convert them. If all else fails, abandon and isolate the enemies of both Blacks and Latinos. For the treasure will be found in the old and new found alliance between Blacks and Hispanic/Latinos rather than in a climate of indifference and perpetual conflict.

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