October 21st 2008—Mi Familia Vota Mobilizes the Latina Vote!

What a great day!  First thing this morning I met with Mi Familia Vota www.mifamiliavota.net a fantastic project which aims to mobilize the Latino vote.  I first had the pleasure of meeting with Alejandro, the communications director, and Armando, an outreach worker. Then I went out canvassing with Gina and Carla, and returned to the office and met with Abigail Duarte, who manages the canvassing work.

Meeting with Alejandro and Armando was good as they described the basic work of Mi Familia Vota. I appreciated one aspect in particular where Alejandro spoke of an 83 year old woman who was homebound and discovered through canvassing. When she expressed enthusiasm for the work but was skeptical about what her role could be in promoting civic participation, they said there is still much she could do. In the end, they organized for a local TV station to come and feature her voice in calling on her community to get involved and vote!  That was a warming story which illustrates that we all can and should have a role.

Armando specifically spoke about his work on engaging youth through having started a handball club through the generosity of a community member who built a handball court for this purpose and provides funding for the teams activities, including traveling.  During the course of this discussion I asked about women who are involved in the handball club. In a humorous response they pointed out how the handball is “hard” and how the girls have to be careful of their nails. J  The conversation ended soon after. J

Then I went out with Gina and Carla and we canvassed a neighborhood and apartment complex and informed residents about early voting options, including the mail-in voting option, and also got residents to complete a commitment card. In addition they shared about a “Payday Loan Reform Proposition” which, in actuality is a bit of legislation being advanced by predatory lenders that contrary to actually proposing real reform, suggests lowering the rates from 400% to 397%, according to Gina. What activists are demanding is a lowering to 38%.

The team was able to help out one woman who didn’t know how to do mail-in voting and Carla and Gina were able to provide her the forms which she and her mother filled out for them to mail in order for them to get their packages.

We also encountered a fellow, “Alex” who said he votes yearly. He pressed us to declare our candidate preferences which we didn’t do. He then stated that he’s a registered Democrat but hasn’t voted democrat since Kennedy and Johnson.  He said the reason he hadn’t voted Democrat was because of the abortion issue.  After some time and quite a bit of religious fervor, Gina finally said that she believes that women should have the right to make their own choices. Of course this doomed us to another 15 minutes of moralizing. J  Comments included, “If someone came along with a gun and decided to shoot and kill us all while we stand here innocently, is that right? It’s the same with abortion. Those babies are innocent and they never have a chance.”  In my observer status I didn’t feel like I could say anything, Carla was new to the work, and Gina certainly tried to assert herself but was also conscious of the rules around non-partisanship. At one point in the conversation “Alex” stated with reference to Gina’s comment re women’s right to choose, “Women are weak” to which I was finally forced to say, “Well, now we are DEFINITELY treading a slippery slope” to which he backpedaled a bit saying, “I didn’t mean it like that” to which I gave him a look that said, “Like what?” but then desisted from saying anything further.  When it was finally over and “Alex” invited us to come back around Christmas when his tangerines would be ready for harvest to get a few baskets full.  When we were out of earshot Gina said, “Wow….I could tell you were about to explode.” And we all laughed. As we were debriefing I shared about my earlier exchange around the handball club and said that “Alex”, Armando and Alejandro could maybe start a machismo club. J Gina said they get into a lot of those kinds of conversations.  To see video of Carla and Gina in action and talking about their work, visit the WOCU You Tube Channel. In her interview Gina stated that if Latinas don’t vote, the system won’t work for them because elected officials won’t see themselves as accountable to them.

When we got back to the office I did an interview with Abigail about Mi Familia Vota and what brings her to this work. This interview is available in English and Spanish on the WOCU You Tube channel.

The folks at Mi Familia Vota recommended that I speak to Adorian, an amazing student activist they had encountered and fortunately I was able to find her between classes and willing to talk! So I met her near the library at Arizona State University and we sat on a bench and talked. She had an interesting history of having been born in Anchorage, Alaska to an African American mother and a Japanese American father.  She moved to Arizona when she was four years old. She is the founder and President of the student multicultural association, MOSAIC. Having experienced life with a constant challenge and blessing of blending cultures and endeavoring to integrate, Adorian has considerable sensitivity around cross-cultural issues and thus felt a calling to be engaged with the work of Mi Familia Vota.  In her interview, which can be found on the WOCU web channel, she describes her path and her volunteer work with Mi Familia Vota, as well as some of the issues that she considers to be important to her and her community.

In the course of Adorian’s interview she mentioned that, as a corrections officer, she works under the office of Sheriff Arapaio. I had learned earlier, during my many conversations with Arizonians, that Sherriff is a fairly controversial figure due to his aggressive approach to law enforcement in general and curbing undocumented immigration particularly. Some of his tactics include forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, sleep in tents, and eat green food.  He is also being accused of racial profiling and lengthy detaining of people while their status is verified. As the elections approach he has a significantly comfortable lead over his opponent but immigrants rights advocates fear what a win will mean for their constituents.

For the remainder of the day I made the drive to L.A. which as complicated by the fact that in the middle of the trip, for about an hour, I was completely fighting nodding off slightly afraid to pull off to the side of the road. I did pull off at one point just to be responsible in terms of not risking the safety of others, but I was so nervous I couldn’t nap. Fortunately I got my second wind through sheer force of will and managed to revive myself for the rest of the journey. J  So all is well here in my hotel room in L.A.