Espanolas en America

There is an excellent article in the Globe and Mail op-ed page, by Julie Barlow & Jean-Benoit Nadeau, on the need for the U.S. to embrace its Latino side. The US is the 5th largest Spanish speaking country in the world and will soon be number #2, after Mexico and ahead of Spain.

The Republican Party lost the White House, in the last two elections, because they underestimated the power of the Latino vote. Spanish is not a new language to the U.S. It was the first language of California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. They were Spanish territories long before they were taken over by the U.S. San Antonio, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles were not named after English towns. The fact that Republicans ignored this community, was a concession of a huge voting block to the Democrats and an abdication of their responsibility to represent all of America.

President Obama has listed immigration reform as a major policy initiative of his second term of office. We have learned today of a bipartisan, immigration reform package, agreed upon by prominent Senators. This package will present 11-million undocumented workers a chance to gain citizenship. The vast majority of whom are low wage Mexican workers and their families. Many of the jobs handled by these workers, are occupations that native born Americans refuse to take. By offering a path to citizenship these new Americans will be paying taxes and contributing to the mainstream economy and accessing healthcare for their families. It's the right thing to do.

The Republican Party can no longer be the the party of the descendants of white Europeans settlers. They are quickly becoming a minority in the US. Much as European Catholics, such as the Irish and Italians, were marginalised in 19th century America, Latinos were cast aside by the mainstream political parties in the 20th century. The Irish and Italian Americans rose up and demanded political power by their shear numbers and voting as a single block, until they were assimilated into the mainstream, culminating with the election of Irish descendant President John F. Kennedy. Latinos are on the cusp of seizing the next century of American politics. They can no longer be ignored.