Photo AP
The Americano First Annual Hispanic Conference is organized by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's venture The Americano "a bilingual site that [...] offers a more balanced view on all the issues that concern American Hispanics today, while celebrating the richness of Hispanic Heritage". This conference is being held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.
As a blogger, I registered to this event and The Americano staff was kind to grant me a media credential. My interest is to learn on what conservatives have to offer to the Latino communities. As you might know by now, I am not a conservative but I support non-partisan social justice.
At the same time, I am not fond of the lack of inclusiveness that both the Democratic and Republican parties have shown towards Brown communities, as both lack of a strong and proportionate Latino leadership in their parties.
This video shows the opening session of this conference, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar, Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan with introductory remarks from author and political analyst Leslie Sanchez. They talked about the growing impact of the Latino vote, the role of "Hispanics" in the U.S. politics, and the increasing violence in Mexico which originates in the U.S. somehow, among other issues. This is worth watching:
I have recorded very interesting interviews and taken photos during the opening day of this conference, which I will post later on in this blog. Also, I have prepared personal commentaries about this event, of what I have seeing and learned. This will be posted later as well.
Even after the resonant election of conservative Latinos in the recent mid-term elections, including Susana Martinez as the governor of New Mexico, Marco Rubio as Senator for Florida, and Brian Sandavol as the governor of Nevada - I still don't believe the Republican party has a great future among Latinos. Their ideas can appeal to old-fashioned and elitist Latin Americans, but they are a minority among us.
We can understand the lack of support from Latinos to conservatives in the U.S. just by reading the list of speakers, topics and the program of this conference. The lack of a numerous attendance -and media coverage- of this conference is a reflection of this reality.
Last night for instance, The Americano gave special awards to Cuban-American Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (a Republican and supporter of right-wing coups and abusive governments in Latin America), former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe (denounced of horrendous crimes against humanity), and Cuban-American physician Orlando Silva as "Outstanding Hispanic".
Among their guests included Spain's José María Aznar (a controversial Bush supporter in the illegal war in Iraq), former Bush's Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez (a Cuban-American fierce free-trade policies advocate), Alvaro Vargas-Llosa (the son of conservative writer Mario Vargas Llosa), Jeb Bush Jr. (the handsome but mediocre son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush), and Hernando de Soto (a free-trade advocate who is trying to convince Indigenous communities in Peru to sell their lands to destructive U.S. corporations).
Among the sponsors of this conference, are included private corporations, mostly focusing on corporations interests, national and border security, trashy and racist media (Univision), and think-thank groups linked to the Republican party, among others.
I feel that the conservatives will fail to capture the support of Brown communities, as long as they continue to promote an elitist and unrealistic right-wing agenda which has caused so much violence, inequality, racism and poverty in the Americas.
Personally, I reject their use of the term Hispanic, an imposed term of Euro-centric roots that will never reflect the true origins and heritage of our Brown communities, so diverse in races and cultures that are mostly indigenous to the Americas, not to Europe.
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Carlos,
ReplyDeleteInteresante post. Una observacion: Cuando llamas a la comunidad Latina (o Hispana, o como quieras llamarla) Brown Community no haces mas que simplificar la complejidad de la inmigracion Caribena, Centro y Sudamericana a EE.UU.
No todos los provenientes de aquellos paises son de piel "marron" como denominas tu. Justamente, por ello el Censo 2010 de EEUU ya no se considera "Hispanic" como una raza - algo que justamente llevaba a la conclusion que todo "Hispanic" era "brown".
Ahora, uno puede ser hispanic y tambien senalar si es blanco, afro, asiatico, mestizo, nativo, etc.
Entonces, cuando llamas a la comunidad Hispana "Brown" caes en una simplificacion tan grave como la que personas que siguen asumiendo que todo latino tiene que ser "brown".
Por el bien de la inclusion, seria chevere si tuvieras otra manera de expresarte de latinoamericanos.
Saludos.
Even though I share conservative values, influenced by my deeply religious family and the way I was raised, it is hard for me to support the Republican party agenda and their elitist and pro-war platform.
ReplyDeleteIn the other hand, the Democrats are using the Latino vote for political gain, while disregarding our interests. Look at Obama and Immigration Reform.
It is hard to support either party when both are clearly hypocritical towards our communities, as you describe well. I wish there were more options out there for Latinos!