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Este informe no está disponible en español. Will Gore Represent Latinos?by Carlos Muñoz, Jr.September 20, 2000 If the Democrats want to be the party of diversity, they need to work harder. It's not enough to have Tipper Gore trying to dance solo to the drumbeat of Latin jazz great Poncho Sanchez and his group. It's not even enough to have more minority delegates than the Republicans. Democrats need to recognize the pivotal role Latinos have played within the party. And Al Gore needs to champion not just "working families," but Latinos as well. Whoever wrote the script for the convention missed a golden opportunity to lock in the Latino vote for Gore. Not one prime-time speaker made reference to the fact that the convention was being held in the largest Latino city in the nation. Nobody mentioned that after John F. Kennedy was nominated for the presidency in Los Angeles 40 years ago, the Mexican American vote helped propel him to a slim victory over Nixon. The Democrats also failed to acknowledge the fact that the Latino vote helped swing recent gubernatorial and legislative races in California. These lapses are not surprising, since Gore and his party do not have a vision of a multicultural democracy. In fact, Gore's reference to Latinos was limited to mentioning a couple he had met in San Antonio. He said their daughter attends a school that is "crumbling and overcrowded." He told them he would "fight to rebuild and modernize our crumbling schools" and put "safety, discipline and character first in every classroom." But he did not articulate a plan to reduce the Latino drop-out rate, which is the highest in the nation at 25.3 percent, compared to 13.4 percent for blacks and 7.6 percent for whites. He went on to promise to spend $115 billion more in the next decade to guarantee qualified teachers in every public school classroom. But he did not mention whether those teachers would educate American youth about the experience of Latino and other peoples of color throughout U.S. history. If they want to capture Latino votes, the Democrats also need to get serious about immigrant rights. Gore must be willing to address human rights abuses at the U.S.-Mexico border. The border has become a war zone for immigrants. Gore needs to be willing to use the office of the presidency to stop the ongoing vigilante violence against immigrants in Arizona and other border states. He also needs to end the abuse of immigrants by Immigration and Naturalization (INS) agents. If Latinos and other people of color are to believe that Gore will fight for them, he must present a vision of a multicultural and multiracial democracy for the 21st Century. Carlos Muñoz, Jr. is professor emeritus in the Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He may be reached by email at cmjr@uclink4.berkeley.edu.
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