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What does Occupy Wall Street have to do with Latinos??

by Jazmin Chavez

Nothing and everything. This is what this “movement” has to do with our community. The masses are finally coming out and saying enough. All across the nation, Latino immigrants are being used as the scapegoat for the nation’s problems. From unemployment rates to the Listeria scare in the Cantaloupe industry, we are being blamed for all of America’s societal problems.

Due to lending schemes, we have been the victims of foreclosures and bankruptcies, states have created anti-immigrant legislation, and our unemployment rate is at 11.1 percent, 2 percent higher than the national average. The recession has taken a toll on our communities and today; childhood poverty among Latinos is at an all time high. Where was our bailout?

Our community didn’t create these problems by themselves and they didn’t appear over night. They were created by bad policy and lack of ethical over sights of national banks, corporations and the federal government. There is also the failure to address our inadequate educational system and the thriving Latino population in federal and privately owned prisons and detention centers. All of these institutions have failed us, but what are we supposed to do?

Last week, I was excited to attend the #Occupywallst dialogue that would be conducted entirely in Spanish. I had been at the Occupy Wall Street encampment the day before and was upset to see very few people of color participating in the event. Obviously I knew that the Latino community wasn’t going to just appear like we did in 2006, but our voice and presence was clearly missing. After speaking with an organizer, he invited me to attend their “Spanish” meeting.

I arrived with my heart full of hope and optimism and ready to listen to ideas. The scene was beautiful; there were Latinos, Hispanos, Chicanos, and Americanos from all walks of life who had all come to say that en Occupy Wall Street “tambien se habla Español!” But they got sidetracked and nothing was accomplished. Our voices are not so different from the ones at Zuccotti Park, but as a community, we know what our demands are. They stated, at the meeting, that we would not be submitting our demands, and in my head, I had to ask, “why not?” In 2006, we came out in millions marching for immigration reform and nothing happened. I made it clear that our community wouldn’t be humiliated again.

Our communities are facing deportations at a rate that have never been seen before, not even during Operation Wetback, did the U.S. deport so many Latinos. More and more families are losing their jobs and homes. Rogue states like Alabama and Arizona are starting to create their Juan Crow style anti-immigrant laws because Congress fails to address immigration reform. The system has failed us too, but how do we fit in? How do we move forward and change it?

In the end, this movement addresses the issues that impact our community, but this movement does not reflect the needs of the Latino community.

To learn more about Jazmin, visit JusticiaHoy.org.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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Posted on October 18, 2011 at 9:00 am in Comunidad, Mundo   |  RSS feed

7 Responses to “What does Occupy Wall Street have to do with Latinos??”

    
  1. Hilda Salazar
    October 18, 2011 at 10:49 am

    Thanks for your article. In the end, this movement addresses the issues that impact our community, but this movement does not reflect the needs of the Latino community. I totallyt agree with this.

    I would love to have you reach out to me in another Latino matter that might be of interest to you,….

  2. Angry Latino (@AngryLatino)
    October 18, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Beg to differ, I’ve been there every day/night and there are plenty of Latinos representing their distinct voices and concerns. There is an outreach initiative being organized to bring the OWS movement into our communities. Stay tuned and check out my interview of the son of Cubam Immigrats/organizer/activist Danny valdez.
    http://angrylatino.com/?p=374

    • jazmin
      October 18, 2011 at 8:04 pm

      I’ll make sure to keep following, but the folks that I’ve reached out to, the lists that I have signed up for have literally yielded me no responses…? I’ll definitely stay tuned as this is an issue that is very important to me, but we need to actually get to a next step and not just keep “talking” about what we “might” want or need to do. Thank you for attending the events and I’ll be sure to check them out, maybe I’m checking into the wrong group? Thank you so much for your comment!

  3. CD
    October 18, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    “In the end, this movement addresses the issues that impact our community, but this movement does not reflect the needs of the Latino community.”

    Really, you got all that from *one* meeting. Wow. I guess we should just give up now…. #sarcasm

  4. KEstela77
    October 18, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    To believe that Latinos can come to a consensus on what the demands are from a Latino perspective is ambitious and far-fetched given the diversity of our experiences. The problem is and will continue to be (if people don’t wake up) that there isn’t one sole “Latino” issue. We have continuously been boxed together and an ethnic unit when the communities and needs are diverse. As a Puerto Rican who has worked in both heavily Puerto Rican and Mexican communities, I have observed that while both are amidst struggles, those struggles are very distinct and do not necessarily overlap. And if one is engrossed in their own movement, taking the time to be completely versed in the struggles of the other is slim, hence the image of complacency amongst the “Latino” community as a whole, statistically on certain issues. For many, the only thread that binds these communities is language and these days that dwindles from generation to generation from spanglish to English. Demographically speaking, holding a meeting in Spanish, while very accomodating for some and an “Oh ghow progressive are they doing a meeting in Spanish” quality it has, it doesn’t accurately then represent all Latinos and some real needs can get lost in the shuffle. I would argue that the Occupy Wall Street movement adresses Latino issues under the inclusivity of all being a part of the 99%. Does there need to be language that is sensitive to the needs and the abusese undocumented? Yes! Which is what this article seems to be skewed towards – and as Latinos, we need to be more specific about what community we are talking about, lest we box ourselves in. Access to affordable, quality education, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, so on and so forth – these things are all “Latino” issues. In fact they are HUMAN issues. If you look at the images through social media and if you’re in tune to this movement at all, these are GLOBAL issues. So yes, the undocumented community as a whole needs to speak up. Now is the time. but stop trying to put it in a box under an ethnic banner. If we don’t make the demands for inclusivity through coalitions of interest, creating yet another coalition of color will just further set the group back.

    • Jazmin Chavez
      October 20, 2011 at 3:27 pm

      You are absolutely correct, and we can’t box the “Latino” issues under one scheme and I do agree that the problems we are protesting are internationally shared human experiences. My point is that in this moment in time, we know the issues that impact the immigrant community and these experiences are unique to marginalized immigrant communities. Perhaps it would have been better to present it under that format, because I think you raise a great point and we shouldn’t put it in a box under an ethnic banner. I think we have finally made those demands for inclusivity through coalitions of interest and are finally working together to support a movement that includes not just Latinos, but all people of color. Thanks for the comment. Truly appreciate it.

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