Latinos make their mark at Democratic convention
PHILADELPHIA, July 26 — In a dramatic contrast with the Republican convention, Spanish is spoken here. Not only that. Among last night’s speakers there were undocumented migrants.
Karla Ortiz, 11, and her undocumented mother, Francisca (both shown in photo at top), a native of Mexico, told their story about achieving The American Dream. The girl said that every day she worries that her mother might be deported.
“I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada,” she said. “My parents came here looking for a better life, for the American dream. El sueño americano.
“But I don’t feel brave every day. On most days I am scared. I’m scared that at any moment my mom and my dad will be forced to leave. And I wonder — what if I come home and find it empty?”
Francisca spoke. “Like all other parents, we work hard to give our children a better life. We live every day with the hope that our efforts will ensure that their dreams will come true. The immigration system needs to be improved so that all the families may stay together and achieve the sueño americano.”
They said that Hillary Clinton is committed to the struggle of those families.
[To watch their entire speech, click here.]
Astrid Silva, a well-known activist for undocumented youngsters who arrived when they were children and were saved from deportation by a regulation (the DREAM Act) promoted by Barack Obama, also spoke about her case.
After telling how her parents and her crossed the Río Bravo [Rio Grande] from Mexico, she said that they were always afraid of deportation.
“While President Obama’s immigration action protected me, we live in constant fear that my parents could be taken away,” she said. “So, when Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million people, he’s talking about ripping families apart […] Hillary Clinton understands that this is not who we are as a country.”
[To watch Silva’s speech, click here.]
Beyond that, it turns out that senator Tim Kaine, selected as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, speaks Spanish; he learned it while a Jesuit missionary in Honduras. In fact, his first few words during a campaign appearance with Clinton last weekend in Miami were in Spanish. He welcomed everyone to this country.
[To watch Kaine’s speech, click here.]
The large Latino presence among delegates and elected politicians proves that this is not a Republican Party show. The appearance of figures like Illinois representative Luis V. Gutiérrez and Texan actress Eva Longoria are proof of that.
[For Gutiérrez speech, click here.]
[For Longoria’s speech, click here.]
The convention condemned Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico and took up the commitment to promote an immigration reform that would include a path to legalization for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.
However, this is not the first time that an undocumented migrant speaks at a Democratic convention or the first time that immigration reform is promised. The words, in Spanish or English, remain the same — words.
(From La Jornada.)
