Latinos in 2012: Vote out Loud!

With a new holiday season kicking in and facing a last push to get a vote on the DREAM Act, the November 2^nd midterm elections seems like a distant memory. The results show the growing influence of Latino voters in swing states like Florida and New Mexico. They also secured key races for governor and the U.S. Senate in California for the Democratic Party by repelling GOP advances in the state with most Latinos in the nation. Most notably, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) retained his seat by winning over Tea Party favorite Sharon Angle thanks to  “her inability to stop saying crazy things” like advising young rape victims to make “lemons into lemonade.”

Despite these important milestones, campaigns from grassroots organizations like the National Association of Latino elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) among others, left the aftertaste of being too little too late. They were effective, no doubt about it; however, they failed to motivate Latinos voters to achieve their true electoral potential. According with the Pew Hispanic Center, Latinos represented the same eight percent of all voters in 2010 as they did in 2006. However, the number of eligible Latinos to vote this year grew to approximately 19.2 million voters from an estimated 18 million in 2006.

As the national Spanish-speaking media started to turn up the volume and “banging the drum of [the] ‘you have to go vote, you have to go vote,’” the enthusiasm among voters picked up traction starting only until the first week of October, Latino Decisions reported. Once the campaigns were in full swing, social media also played a key role on reaching wider audiences. On November 28, Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) invited Univision’s Martin Berlanga to participate in a Twitter party on the importance of voting for Latinos. The tweetchat achieved an impressive 8.1 million impressions in one night, according to LATISM’s Vice-Chair Elianne Ramos.

(For the not social media savvy, impressions means how many times people saw tweets about the party’s hashtag.)

They all seem like successfully calculated efforts given the positive election results against the most radical anti-immigrant candidates. However, imagine what they could have accomplished if the media heavyweights had devoted their full resources to these campaigns way earlier in the game. This fast-and-furious approach didn’t spark enough interest among many freshmen citizens who may suffer psychological roadblocks thanks to years of discrimination and disenfranchisement. Let’s not forget that the naturalization process is long, hard, and expensive plus many have to deal with their own negative preconceptions on civic participation. Also, the high educational gap between Latinos and Whites remains disadvantageous against the former.

For the 2012 presidential elections, we should expect that the traditional political parties will diligently work to enfranchise Latinos. However, neither party seems to have even a remote idea on how to tally our votes. Right now, they are busy putting down their own fires rather than making a sincere effort to reach out. Democrats have lost their luster with the electorate and face an uphill battle to reelect President Barack Obama on 2012. On the flip side, Republicans remain overconfident between their trepid loses and surprising gains thanks to a new lot of conservative Latino politicians. For illustration, read the opinion from Representative (TX-R) Lamar Smith and a counter argument from columnist Edward Schumacher-Matos on the Washingtonpost.com.

So what to do next? As NCLR’s Director for Immigration Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro writes, a “meaningful outreach is essential.” For sure, both parties will make their best effort to win the Latino vote; at the same time, grassroots leadership must capitalize on their media partners’ increasing clout. Univision is already the number five national network in the nation and seem poised to “surpass the Anglo networks in seven years, even without the boost provided by growth in the Hispanic population,” AdWeek reports. What a better opportunity to rev up their campaigns starting today and entice every able Latino to go out and vote.

This article was originally published in the LatinoPoliticsBlog.com.

Is Cancer Knocking on Your Family’s Door?

Cancer has been looming around my family and friends for quite a while now. It brings a devastating sense of hopelessness but also awakens our hearts to what is really important in life. I want to use this forum to share my personal experience helping others fighting cancer and how it has carved deep inroads in my soul.

The American Cancer Society defines cancer as “the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases in which cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control.” No wonder how it can show up in any part of one’s body and not be detected in time. Early diagnosis and treatment are the keys for living many years after discovering the disease.

The first impact after being diagnosed is like being hit by a freight train. After the news has sunk in, the inner fighter we all carry deep inside steps up to the plate and says: I’ll battle this illness and survive. For the rest of us, the spectators of such a cruel show, we are left with the responsibility of being as supportive, stoic, and caring as we can. However, we must deal with our frustration in silence when we see our loved ones fall on their knees thanks to chemotherapy or radiology treatments. In time, we learn to graciously lie about how they “look so good today” when in reality they are more fragile and hairless than ever. At night, we pray for endurance and dream of having the power to make it all go away and save the day. But we wake up and realize that we are innocuous against fate.

Despite not holding the higher ground in this battle, we have at our disposal the best medicine: Love. A kind word, a warm touch, and an honest smile can make a world of difference. I dare to say that love might be even more effective in fighting cancer than using proper treatment alone. Unfortunately, all of our efforts are always dwarfed and often unrecognized because we are not the ones fighting to regain our health and survive. That’s precisely the burden that we must bear, and feel grateful for. I’ve managed to share my strength and shoulder to cry on when people needed me the most; in that moment, I am mentally hitting the “snooze” button on my own tears. Later on, I let go because no man should internalize sadness (culturally, women show their feelings easily). Yes, I have cried inside elevators, after hanging up the phone, or before going to sleep. Those tears make me a better, stronger man, never weaker.

These life-or-death experiences are always transformational for everyone involved in the process, including healthcare professionals. But why wait until someone’s life is in peril to open up our hearts and show our real feelings? It supposed to be like that all the time, but we manage to take life and its intricacies for granted. For the record, my sister-in-law is a two-time breast cancer survivor; a young friend lost his fight against brain cancer less than a month ago, and my mother-in-law still battles uterine cancer that unfortunately has metastasized despite chemotherapy and surgery. Her prognosis is reserved.

Sometime I ask to myself how would I react if cancer knocks at my door. I would surely look myself in the mirror and say: Bring it on %*#!, let’s dance! And if I lose my battle, I will die with my head held high because I have loved, I have lived. And for those who have left us, until we meet again guys.

To learn more about cancer, visit the American Cancer Society page and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital website.

The original article was published on the Being Latino blog.

¿Por Qué Son Importantes los Asesores Financieros?

Este artículo fue publicado originálmente en el portal de Impremedia.com de Recursos para Negocios. This article was originally published at Impremedia.com’s hub for small business owners.

Hay veces que los dueños de pequeños negocios no tienen la experiencia necesaria para manejar todos los aspectos de una microempresa. Por eso es aconsejable de que se asesore de expertos en finanzas para minimizar sus riesgos y aumentar sus utilidades. Pero usted se puede preguntar ¿Qué sabe un “experto” en finanzas que no sepa yo? Un asesor le puede ayudar con lo siguiente: Contabilidad, nómina de empleados, compra y venta de equipos, seguros para su negocio, finca raíz e hipotecas, prestamos, inversiones en la bolsa de valores, impuestos, fondos de pensiones, etc… Como usted se puede dar cuenta, casi nadie tiene la experiencia profesional de manejar todos estos frentes al mismo tiempo y de una manera eficaz.

Como primera medida, tómese un tiempo prudencial e identifique cuales son los aspectos de su negocio que usted quisiera mejorar y expandir. Después, identifique los asesores financieros que estén certificados en su campo y que tengan como demostrar su expediente profesional. Antes de seguir adelante le tenemos una regla de oro a la hora de pagar por servicios financieros: Al igual que con los doctores, SIEMPRE pida segundas opiniones antes de hacer cualquier inversión ó tomar una decisión que pueda afectar a su negocio. Haga su tarea de investigar y aprender lo más que usted puede acerca de cualquier tema para poder entender mejor lo que su asesor le está aconsejando. Así minimiza el riesgo de tomar una decisión que le pueda afectar negativamente.

Un punto para considerar es el de buscar un asesor adecuado para cada aspecto de su negocio. Algunos grandes bancos y compañías de inversiones le ofrecen planes que cubren toda la gama de servicios financieros que un pequeño empresario necesita. Esta podría ser una buena alternativa siempre y cuando usted necesite toda esa ayuda. Por el contrario, si usted solo necesita ayuda específicamente en escoger las pólizas de seguro necesarias y comprar el equipo para aumentar su producción, no es necesario que pague por un corredor de bolsa o por un agente de finca raíz. Pagar por servicios que usted no utiliza se pueden convertir en una pérdida cuantiosa de dinero, así que tenga cuidado.

Por último, le recomendamos que busque a un asesor que entienda su negocio y que si es posible que también hable su idioma. Sabemos que nuestra comunidad tiene unas necesidades particulares y que mejor que usted se asesore con un profesional que entienda la cultura de sus empleados y de sus clientes. A la hora de decidir si ya es hora de ampliar su negocio, escoger el seguro médico y laboral para sus empleados, o automatizar sus libros de contabilidad busque un experto que le ofrezca ventajas y entienda su visión. Recuerde, la responsabilidad de tomar tanto buenas como malas decisiones recaen sobre una persona: usted.

The Kind of Leadership Latinos Really Need

As the biggest minority in the United States, Latinos are reaching critical mass by becoming a powerful voting bloc, an indispensable purchasing power and a vibrant staple of American culture. Despite all these potentials, we can hardly identify a handful of leaders that understand our shortcomings and trumpet our ideals.

The question that we need to ask ourselves is what kind of leaders we need and/or want to lead our community in the national arena? An easy way to eliminate contenders is to look at the kind of leaders that we DO NOT want:

At the federal level: We don’t want representatives like Charles Rangel who awaits censure for being guilty of violating 11 counts of ethic rules “including failure to report assets and income and misusing his office to raise money for a public policy center to be named after him,” according to USA Today.

At the state level: The New York Daily News compared the organization lead by former state senator Pedro Espada with the most prominent mafia clans in New York City. He “looted more than $14 million from the government-funded nonprofit since 2005.”

Another shameful example is former state senator Hiram Monserrate. He was removed from office after being convicted of assault charges for hitting his girlfriend Karla Giraldo with a broken drinking glass. Mucho animal! However, this was just the tip of the iceberg. On October 19, he was charged with mail fraud and conspiracy for using taxpayer funds for his own benefits, just like Espada did.

At the local level: We cannot afford to have Latino officials like the former Hartford mayor Eddie A. Perez. He was the first Latino mayor ever elected in this Connecticut town running a campaign on accountability, but convicted afterwards on five felony charges of corruption and sentenced to three years in prison.

Is it too much to ask that we get honest public administrators and lawmakers who stay clear from graft? You can make a very decent living as a politician as it is. We need leaders who understand the true nature of being public servants and proudly represent our interests. Also, we need leaders who, once holding office, will not succumb to greed and hubris. However, some in the Latino blogosphere argue that having a single national leader is “strange” and “that just isn’t going to happen” as a response to a Pew poll that highlighted the lack of national Latino leaders. Others, including myself, politely disagree with them.

“The fact remains that Latinos do not have a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Cesar Chavez, and we could definitely use one,” writes Being Latino’s Cristina Villareal in her blog Are you the next Latino leader?. In addition, AOL’s PoliticsDaily.com correspondent Luisita Lopez Torregrosa hopes that “when the next Latino leadership survey comes around, Latinos will not only be able to name one national leader, but many.” We have plenty of leaders in our community to fit these roles and hopefully they’ll rise up to this unique occasion in history.

The original article was published on the Being Latino blog.