Ready to Vote?
By Ramón Pérez

Once again, political organizations including the Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Libertarians, and the like will be looking, listening, and checking to see if the Latino community across the USA have a get-out-the-vote pulse or not. There has been made mention in the media from time-to-time by Latino and non-Latino organizations and political parties that they will target and invest resources and funding to help get our gente to the voting booth for the 2008 presidential election.

Are we ready?

The most common way we are courted to support or vote for a political party is by using an already known Latino/a individual or organization and parade them around our community with them in hopes we will join their group. In the end, it’s kind of like having the guy who does the “Rose City Auto” commercial here in Toledo who is supposed to be dressed up as “Poncho Villa” with a sombrero, mustache, zarape, and waving plastic hand-guns, saying something like “Bang!Bang! We’ll give you a good deal.” I hoped by now that we would have stopped being part of these types of embarrassing stereotypes and exploitation of our community.
 

Ramón Pérez

It can be hard to resist the temptation of these mega-bucks organizations but Latinos must resist and present our agenda for change if they want our vote. Latinos have been meeting these past months across Ohio developing their top issues about what matters most in their communities including education, jobs, housing, affordable college, immigration reform, and so forth. Stick to your guns and don’t let these political-machines come into your homes, colleges, community centers, and, most importantly, your way of thinking, because in the end they usually just leave us crumbs and a broom to clean up after they leave town.

If you or someone you know wants to get registered to vote this year, contact me and I will register you to vote and if you’d like I will take your photo, and a quote from you or your familia and publish it in this paper: [email protected]