Congresswoman Barbara Lee - The System Didn’t Work For Me

Barbara Lee was a young mother of two children on public assistance attending Mills College back in the 1960’s. She recalls that she deliberately did not register to vote because she felt that the system  “didn’t work for me”.  She remembers taking a Political Science class one semester and was prepared to fail the class. The professor had required that everyone in the class go out and work on a political campaign. She refused to do it and had resigned herself to deliberately fail.  However, she ended up going to an event and heard Shirley Chisholm speak about running for President of the United States.
Barbara said she was really surprised. First off, she didn’t know that there were Black women in Congress and secondly she didn’t know that she was actually running for President. That changed her life profoundly and she ended up volunteering and running Shirley Chisholm’s Northern California field campaign. It was crucial in getting her interested in politics.
Barbara went on to become a Congresswoman herself and has actively campaigned on behalf of her constituents. She personally champions many of the issues that represent the interests of women and communities of color.  She holds town hall hearings and panels to discuss important issues like the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our communities of color where there it is disproportionately higher rates than in the general population.  She talks about the crisis of the subprime mortgage industry and how that affects the lower socio economic groups of our society even more dramatically than in other communities.
Issues like obesity and diabetes are impacting our communities and we’re seeing a looming crisis of young children becoming diabetics at younger ages. The serious life threatening affects of this combination of obesity and diabetes have critical impacts on their future longevity and health. Incarceration rates and percentage of our national jail rate populations are disproportionately higher with African American and Latino populations causing major problems for our communities. Violent crimes against women on the rise, homelessness increasing, and poverty levels expanding are all major issues that impact our minority communities in disproportionate levels.
Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the US Congress resolution authorizing President Bush to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11. She stood alone when she said that military action against Iraq at that time was a mistake. She received a lot of disapproval from her colleagues and even death threats for her brave action.  However, history has proven her right and prescient about that vote.  Barbara says emphatically that the Iraq War is the #1 problem facing our nation. It has cost our country at least $500 Billion and potentially up to $3 trillion over time to pay off our debts and eventually disengage from that war. That is money that our country needs to pay for programs we desperately need within our country. The government is borrowing money to pay for this war and expecting our children and grandchildren to pay off this debt over the next generation.
In Congress, Barbara sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee where the major decisions regarding budgets for national programs are voted. She said as one of the few women who sits on the committee, it is important that she represent and fights for the issues that minorities and women care about. If she and the other women were not there, our issues and concerns would be ignored. She encouraged all of us to lobby our elected officials, call them, support them and let them know about the issues we care about. Barbara said that is the most effective way to get our legislators’ attention and ensure that they accurately represent the wishes of their constituents.
If we don’t get involved, then the legislators will vote and support those issues they feel are most important which may not be our highest priorities.
Barbara Lee is the type of elected official who truly listens to her constituents, fights the issues that represent our best interest and is a great leader.  We should all be proud of her accomplishments and fortunate to have such a great person representing us in Washington, D.C.  Thank you Barbara for all that you do for us.   Mable

Felicia Curtis…No memories of my mother

When Felicia Curtis was four years old, her parents gave her up for adoption along with her older sister and brother.  Her mother decided that she no longer wanted the responsibility of raising them and her father was incarcerated in prison.  Fortunately for Felicia, her family was designated a sibling adoption meaning that the 3 of them would be adopted as a family and would not be split apart but raised together.

She remembers a succession of adoptions that took place, but always took comfort in the fact that the three of them were brought up as a family unit. Growing up in a community with different ethnicities and races, she recalls getting into a lot of fights and always being sent to the principal.  Felicia got to the point that she didn’t want to go to school.  When asked if she had any early memories of her mother, she answered “No”. Since she was given up for adoption at four, she said it was like a blank sheet of paper when she thought about her mother. 

Her family to this day remains very close and she sees her brother on a weekly basis. She now has two boys of her own and feels as a mother that it makes you think differently. She is very protective of her sons and makes sure that they are well taken care of.

We asked whether she exercised her right to vote as an act of caring for her children. She said that she voted in the 2000 elections but felt “let down” when the Supreme Court handed the Presidency to George Bush.  She remembered all the controversy with African American voters and people’s votes that weren’t counted. She said that a lot of African American voters felt that their votes didn’t count.

It turned her off to voting and in 2004 when Bush ran for re-election, she decided not to vote. Her feelings were that they were going to do whatever they wanted to and that her vote wouldn’t count, so why bother.

Now in 2008 with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigning to become the Democratic presidential candidate, we asked her how she felt about re-engaging and voting in this election.

She said that she would vote in this election cycle. However, she said “I think it would have been fair if Al Gore had won”.  There seems to be a lot of confusion about whether votes are counted.  “I personally think it’s a joke if people feel that our votes are truly counted”.  While she would like to feel optimistic about the elections, she’s practical about the harsh realities and the outcomes of our political system.

Today as a mother and an African American, she serves as  a Commissioner on her County’s Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Commission. When we asked her what were the most important things to her, she honestly said “My sanity”.  She feels that she has to keep everything in perspective so that she can be there for her family and community.

When I hear Felicia’s story and think about all the hardships she’s had to overcome in her life, I can’t help but reflect upon my own family and childhood. I’m thankful that I have memories of strong and protective parents and growing up in a large family. My parents provided me with a great education, support and caring that helped me to become who I am. For all the parents in the world like Felicia who care for her own family and the adoptive kids in the world, we salute and admire your strength and fortitude. Thank you for being such great role models.  Mable

Margaret Ouye….”Your name is now Margaret”

On Masako Kitashima’s first day at school in Centerville, California in the 1920’s, her teacher Miss Diaz asked her what her name was. When she answered, Masako Kitashima, her teacher said “No, no…that’s too hard. We’ll call you Margaret from now on”. What Margaret didn’t realize was that it was a sign of things to come which would deeply affect her based on her Japanese ancestry. She didn’t know that her life’s journey had begun and would entail many twists and turns that led her to speak to us on this warm April day in 2008.

Margaret was raised with 2 older brothers and parents who only spoke Japanese at home. They lived in a community where they associated mostly with Japanese families with whom they felt most comfortable. After high school, Margaret wanted to attend Healds Business College in Berkeley, CA but was unable to attend because World War II descended upon them and the war with the Japanese would change their lives forever.

Initially, all the Japanese families in her community were placed under curfew. Then they were given notice that they had 3 weeks to sort through all their personal belongings and had to evacuate immediately. They could only take their possessions that could fit into two suitcases and everything else would be taken away from them. She remembered her mother telling her that she should only take her clothes. However, she was 19 years old and a huge fan of Dick Paul and Ruby Keeler. She had cut out and saved every article of information about them and pasted them into two scrapbooks. They were her most important treasures. Her mother said that they were going to a “wild country” and she needed to make room for some boots because it was going to be very cold where they were being sent. Margaret refused and packed her scrapbooks which were her most favorite treasures.

Her family was first sent to Tanforan Racetrack to occupy the stables in San Mateo, CA where they were assigned to a small horse stall and told to get burlap bags to fill and use as beds. Each of the families was given numbers and the numbers, not their names, only identified them. Rumors were rampant and no one really knew how long they would stay there and what would happen next to them. After four months living in the stables, they were told to load up on a train where they would be taken to an internment camp at Topaz, Utah. Along the way they were told to pull the curtains down in their cargo trains because they didn’t want any of the other passengers to know they were on board so that it wouldn’t cause a lot of problems. She said it was a very long and scary ride, with babies crying, sitting in the dark, and not knowing what was to become of them.

When they arrived in Topaz, Utah at camp, she ended up staying there four long years. There were armed guards everywhere constantly pointing guns and watching their every move. She remembered one very scary incident that stood out in her mind. There was one old man who only had one possession in his life, his dog. He didn’t pack and own anything else. Just his dog, which he loved more than anything else in the world. One day, the dog got away from him and ran towards the barbed wire fence towards the soldiers. The old man ran to get the dog back from the soldiers. The soldiers however shot and killed the old man under the pretense that he was trying to escape the camp. A horrible silence fell over the camp and produced the intimidation and fear that the soldiers wanted to create on the Japanese families. To teach them a lesson that they would be punished if they tried to escape.

Margaret also recalled another horrible incident that deeply impacted her life. Her husband, Joel Ouye another Japanese American had signed up to serve in the U.S. Army and was a member of the 442nd unit, which ultimately became one of the highest decorated WWII battalions. He was stationed in Mississippi and was suppose to ship off to Italy to fight in the war. On his last night before leaving, he and 2 other buddies decided to go into town for a last drink. When they were through and headed back to the base, they hailed a taxicab. As they got into the cab, a White guy came up to them and yelled at them to get out of the cab. He wanted it. They told him that they needed to report back to base so they could ship out the next day. Then suddenly, the man swung and broke his beer bottle and attacked Joel Ouye on the head. When Mr. Ouye woke up the next morning in the hospital, he heard the doctor say to him “I’m sorry Mr. Ouye, we tried everything we could to save your eye.” Joel Ouye woke up to find that they had removed his eye and eventually replaced it with a glass eye that he had to live with for the rest of his life.

While Margaret Ouye has endured many racial encounters, she has maintained a positive and participatory attitude towards being an American citizen. She consistently votes in all the elections. She said “I’m proud to live to be 87 and able to vote in an election where there is both a young Black man and a woman who are running to become the President of the United States.” She encourages everyone to vote and quietly remembers that her parents didn’t originally have the right to vote when she was a young girl.

We thank and salute Masako Kitashima…Margaret Ouye for sharing her story and her positive contributions. Mable

Aileen Hernandez…..”This is going to be a hard class”

When Aileen Hernandez attended Howard University as a young African American woman, she remembered enrolling in a Political Science class. There was a male teacher whom she recalled announcing on the first day “If you are planning to attend this class, this is going to be a very hard one. If you don’t want to work hard, perhaps you should take home economics”. Aileen would not move out of the room and the next day she came back and attended the class for the rest of the session.

It was indicative of the type of struggles Aileen faced throughout her life as an African American woman growing up in the 1920’s in Brooklyn, New York and attending college at Howard University in Washington, DC. Ever since she was 5 years old, she has had to push back and challenge things that weren’t right. Her life has been all about righting the wrongs in our society. She said “the possibilities were so narrow for women in those days”.

Aileen’s parents came from Jamaica in the 1920’s and settled in Brooklyn, New York. Back then, it almost felt like the countryside with cows in the fields. She remembers growing up with families of many different ethnicities: Norwegian, Italian, Jewish all attending the same schools. When she was deciding which college to go to, she was encouraged to attend Howard University in Washington, DC. It was a college that was predominantly attended and supported African American students. Her father went with her from New York to Washington, DC when she went away to school. She vividly recalls when she arrived in Washington, DC someone telling her father that “You have to get the Black Cab” in order to get taxied to the university. It was a rude introduction to a world where people lived in totally segregated communities. There were segregated theaters, restaurants and schools where the Black people could attend separate from the rest of society.

At Howard University, Aileen got a political awakening that would influence her development and interests in the years to come. She became very involved with the Civil Rights movement and NAACP. Later she immersed herself in worker rights, the women’s movement through the International Ladies Garment Union and many other women’s and political activism issues.

When we asked her why she thought minorities and women don’t participate in higher percentages for voting and active engagement, she listed all the reasons. She said that a lot of women don’t feel the issues on the ballots affect them directly, a lot of women don’t have the time to vote and get involved, they think it’s too much trouble to vote, that voting doesn’t benefit them and that many women’s husbands dictate to them how to vote. She further stated “many women think that they don’t matter and that their vote doesn’t count”.

In order to get more women to vote and get engaged, she said, “It’s important to see somebody that looks like you… a woman”. She said that seeing Shirley Chisholm, an African American senator running for President fighting for women’s issues was very motivating. Seeing Senator Patsy Mink from Hawaii was an important role model for women. Reflecting upon the gains made in the Congress and Senate with women legislators, while it’s been improving, it is far below what it should be when you consider that women make up 51% of the population and our elected officials are in the minority.

Aileen said that it is possible for all of us to change the world. Having Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama running for President is important. Her last comment was that “You have your life ahead of you….You can make the difference and help us create a new generation of leaders. You are one of many, not the only one”.

Aileen has been an inspired, passionate and committed activist that has dedicated her life to improving our society for everyone. It has been an honor to interview her and to welcome her to our National Advisory Council for Engage Her. We know that she continually inspires many new future leaders with her dedication and passion. Mable

Maria Teresa Peterson….Latino Cultural Ambassadors

As Executive Director Voto Latino.org, Maria Teresa Peterson has learned a lot about how young Latinos are using New media technologies to communicate, share and network with one another. Her organization is one of the leading sites that targets young Latinos under age 30 to educate, encourage and help them register to vote. Started a few years ago as a non-profit that aired Public Service Announcements (PSA) over the air, it has developed into a big powerhouse organization.
She’s heard many stories about how Latinos and Latinas have turned to the Internet, text messaging and other media and mobile technologies to connect and engage with other young people who share the same issues.
While there seems to be a myth out there in the media that Latinos aren’t using technologies at the same rates as other groups, she’s seen statistics that show that Latinos are using text messaging at incredibly high rates, that Latino/Latina bloggers represent one of the highest populations and that they are turning to these new technologies to help them make decisions.
Voto Latino has also launched one of the first text-messaging voter registration campaigns in American history, where young Latinos could register to vote by sending a text message from their mobile phone. On Election Day 2006, those participating received Get-Out-The Vote text message reminders and it helped to increase Latino participation in the polls by 9%.
By listening to their members they’ve initiated creative and innovative ways to capture interest and drive more member sign ups and involvement. They’ve gone out and recruited Latino artists who help to promote voter registration and encourage voter turnout. A new program they’re piloting is to work with local DJs and celebrities to promote voting through programs that encourage the young Latino population to get involved. They are also employing Google ads, Facebook, and viral marketing on websites to reach out to their powerful constituents.
Maria Teresa shared that the young Latinos are what they term the “cultural ambassadors” in their households. That means in many households where parents may not be as familiar with English or the commercial products to purchase, they will turn to their children who will dictate what products and services to choose or that are deemed “cool”. So their children may state that they have to have high speed DSL or cable modem access so they can conduct research online to complete their homework at home. Parents would then ask which brand and where they can find the products. Their buying and consumer influence covers all categories of products including food, electronics, clothing, cars, services, etc. That’s why many savvy consumer brands are courting the Latino youth as a key influencer for making household buying decisions and recommendations.
In terms of voting, Maria Teresa also says that there are many missed opportunities to engage the Latino communities. She said that many candidates, consultants and organizations assume that the Latinos are consuming their media in Spanish only outlets. Citing a recent poll conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, over 79% of all American Latino eligible voters consumed electoral news in English. Additionally, over 50,000 young Latinos turn 18 every month and 93% of them are eligible to vote. So reaching out to this segment of the population requires targeted marketing and savvy outreach with specific messages.
She also said that some of the biggest issues Latinas are concerned about include Health i.e. Obesity, diabetes, cardiac disease, sex education for women and AIDS information, Education and Immigration issues.
She said the issues facing young Latinos are different from the ones that their parents dealt with when they first emigrated from their native countries. Our future will depend heavily upon how we reach out and engage this next generation of Latino voters who will heavily influence the future outcome of our nation. Thank you Maria Teresa for the incredibly important and creative work your organization is performing to engage the young Latino voters. Mable

Janis Hirohama “You look like Yoko Ono”

Janis Hirohama was born in Japan on an U.S. Army base as a third generation Sansei. She spent most of her time growing up in Hawthorne, California . A working class neighborhood where many families were employed by the local Aerospace industry. Her neighborhood was mixed with second to fourth generation Latinos, a handful of African Americans and Whites. She grew up in a traditional Japanese American household where their family projected their cultural values on her: study hard and get a good education, uphold the family honor, never dishonor your family, be accountable to your community and always behave honorably. Her mother used to tell her “Comb your hair, you look like Yoko Ono” and there was nothing worse than being married to a hippie. Janis had to go to Japanese school to learn Japanese in Gardena, a nearby city where many Japanese Americans lived. Janis’ family shopped, bought their food, and went to all the local service providers in their community.

Her parents voted and encouraged her to vote. They didn’t make a big deal of it. However, she remembers when she was young and watching the Watergate hearings on TV. Senator Daniel Inouye was a prominent figure during those proceedings and it was a point of pride for her that a U.S. Senator was a Japanese American. However, she remembered John Ehrlichmann calling him “You little Jap” at one point of the proceedings and how it awakened her political consciousness that he would be subjected to outright bigotry. She clipped and saved an article detailing the event as it made a significant impact upon her.

During World War II, her mother, two sisters and older brother lost all their possessions and were put into the internment camp with all the other Japanese Americans in Poston, Utah. This experience had a major impact for her mother and she never alluded to the experience except to say obliquely “When we were in camp….”. She never explicitly talked to them about the experience. For years, Janis thought her mother was referring to a “summer camp”. Janis shared with us a saying “There’s a 100 ways to tell you’re a Japanese American….one of them is that camp doesn’t refer to summer camp”.

Janis remembered her first time seeing the film “Farewell to Manzanar” in 1993. It clearly articulated her feelngs about incarceration in camp. How people were so traumatized and ashamed to be put into a concentration camp. How they suffered unjustifiable burdens of shame. She remembers her mother who liked to write poetry and stories and that was the only subject she wrote about. The Japanese Americans were not open to talking about their experience and it created major impacts on their lives and their families. It taught them as Japanese Americans to keep a low profile, stick to their own communities, trust only people in your community. They didn’t want to leave their small communities and have to worry about being discriminated against. Janis was raised to be quiet, trust only your own kind and that it could happen again. Janis said that there was self consciousness being in groups of Japanese Americans. They felt that if White people saw you together, then you must be “up to something”.

Janis had no women mentors nor strong role models. When she graduated from college and became a litigator in the 1980’s for a Wall Street firm, it was very unusual to see an Asian American in that role. In fact, she was oftentimes mixed up by people in the firm with the other Asian American woman who happened to be a Chinese woman.

One of the reasons why Janis became involved with voting and eventually became the President of the California Chapter of the League of Women Voters California League of Women Voters is because her grandparents were barred from voting. They did not earn the right to vote until years later and then voted in every election. She saw what happened when minorities didn’t vote. She learned that the Japanese Americans were easy to target. Many of them were too young to vote and nobody called the community to tell them about their rights to vote. So they were powerless. She saw how it was important that we all use the right to vote as a way to change things.

Janis got involved with the League of Women Voters because their primary efforts are to inform and encourage active participation in government. Through their educational efforts, advocacy and empowerment of women to vote, they can teach them how to lobby within their own communities.
However, the League of Women Voters is not a diverse organization. It is largely a White and older group. It is important to reach economic and racially diverse communities to build and expand the organizations.

Janis said that there are numerous reasons why minorities do not vote in higher percentages:
-They come from a culture of non-voting
-Immigrants mistrust the government
-There is no confidence that their votes will be counted
-Lack of information and a language barrier
-Initiative system is confusing and doesn’t provide enough information
-Lack of creation and culture of voting and civic engagement in minority communities

She goes on to say that the Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are a very diverse group of cultures. Many people do not speak English. While most people try to put all AAPIs into one bucket, it isn’t about “one size fits all”. The Japanese Americans had to fight hard for citizenship and many Japanese Americans died to get the right to vote. More recent immigrants did not face the same exposure and hardships and their issues are different.

We want to thank Janis for all her hard work and efforts to getting more women and minorities to vote and be engaged. She is setting a very strong role model for the rest of us in the years ahead. Congratulations on being the first woman of color President for the League of Women Voters in California. Mable

Dolores Huerta….Passion & Commitment

In New Mexico, everyone voted and considered it their duty. When Dolores turned 21, she registered to vote and it was a big deal for her and her family. As a young girl, she remembers hearing President Franklin D. Roosevelt making a speech and making a strong impression upon her.

Dolores got involved with the CSO, Community Service Organization where she met Cesar Chavez. Together in 1962 they both quit the CSO when they were refused the right to organize the farm workers and formed the National Farm Workers Association, the precursor to the United Farm Workers of America.

Dolores has been active in organizing and registering Latinos to vote. She has been knocking on doors in the community to conduct the critical face to face efforts since 1955 and has never stopped.
She remembers going door to door to find out if people were eligible to vote and if they were, they would mark the door with an “X”, so that the next person following would register that person.

On a bright Saturday morning our team approached a beautiful Arts & Crafts home in Oakland, California to conduct an interview with Dolores Huerta, Co founder of the United Farm Workers of America and Founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. It was a very important interview for a number of reasons and a deeply personal one for many of us. For Victoria, our filmmaker it was an opportunity to interview a heroic woman who is one of the most important icons that she grew up with in her community. For Annie & myself, we would have a chance to meet a woman whose incredible work, courage and commitment has been burned into our memories. As young women we grew up hearing the struggles of Dolores Huerta & Cesar Chavez to build the National Farm Workers Association and their historic grape boycott. Dolores proudly shared with us that over the years as an advocate for farm worker rights, she has been arrested for conducting non-violent peaceful union activities on twenty two separate occasions.

As we walked into the spacious and beautiful home of one of Dolores’ many supporters we were quickly hugged and engulfed into the community that follows and supports Dolores in her travels. We were greeted by Ramona, her dear friend who was accompanying Dolores on this trip and ultimately by many other women in the household. It was a warm friendly gathering of women who had never met before, yet united by the desire to support and to hear the story of Dolores Huerta and her important work.

When Dolores first came into the room and shook my hand, I was immediately struck by the intensity and friendliness of Dolores’ eyes. She looked at me intently and I could feel the energy and passion within her. When you meet someone of Dolores’ stature and accomplishments, you never really know how you will feel. I felt both honored and eager to hear Dolores’ story and thrilled to be able to capture her comments on videotape for our documentary. Dolores has an extremely busy schedule as she travels around the country campaigning and accompanying Hillary Clinton on her Presidential campaign. She also is representing the Dolores Huerta Foundation speaking about the great work that they are accomplishing through their programs. We were very fortunate that Dolores felt our work to be important enough for her to participate in our documentary and deliver her views about voter engagement for women.

Dolores was born and raised in New Mexico and lived there until she was 6 years old. Her grandparents and great-grandparents were also born and raised in New Mexico. The family celebrated all the Mexican holidays and her mother made sure that she had a strong sense of their culture. Dolores’ parents divorced when she was 3 and her mother raised herself, her 2 older brothers and 2 sisters as a single mom. Her mother, Alicia was a strong role model for Dolores. She owned a restaurant and a hotel where they often housed farmworkers and their families. In addition, she was responsible for starting the Mexican Chamber of Commerce and was a prominent figure in her community. Dolores’ mother made sure that she had an excellent upbringing and encouraged Dolores to be a Girl Scout for 10 years in the program. Her father, Juan Fernandez was a field worker, union activist and state assemblyman.

Her family household was bi-lingual where they spoke both Spanish and English. Her grandfather insisted on speaking Spanish as Dolores always remember him saying “English is the language of liars. They have to write the words down on paper because they don’t always keep their words.” This must have been reflective of the experiences he encountered in New Mexico.

She has been actively involved in promoting and getting legislation passed to help register people to vote. When we asked her if she ever heard stories about voter intimidation and voter suppression tactics, she said absolutely. She vividly remembers asking for voter registration forms so that they could go out into the community and register all the voters. At the registrar’s office one time, she was given only one single form. When she stated that they were going to be able to register hundreds of voters, they refused to give her any more forms. This was clearly how voter registration tactics and suppression was taking place. It’s not the most obvious tactic, but it effectively diminished the efforts to register every eligible voter. She said there are numerous instances where many voters are “shaved off” the registration lists in areas where there are predominant Latinos who could vote for one specific party.

Dolores stated that there a lot of reasons why minorities don’t register and turn out to vote. She said that many people feel their votes don’t count. For many Mexicans, there used to be a “poll tax” that was levied against them in order for them to vote, basically charging them a “fee” for voting. For others, if they were receiving welfare, they weren’t sure whether they were eligible to vote due to their welfare status. Many others do not understand the ballots themselves and worry about voting for the wrong person or the wrong position on a ballot initiative.

To address some of these issues, they can be shown a sample ballot, instructed on how to read the information and then vote the way they wish. Also, being told that they don’t have to vote for the entire ballot, only for the people they wish to vote for or initiatives they care about helps to alleviate the fear of voting for the wrong person.

In the 1960’s Dolores recalled voter intimidation tactics in San Diego. There would be people physically standing in the polling stations, verbally challenging Latinos’ rights to vote, thereby scaring them from exercising their rights and diminishing turnout. There have many instances of voter intimidation and suppression throughout the years. It culminated in a California initiative called Proposition 187 that was approved by the voters in 1994. It was essentially an initiative designed to deny illegal immigrants social services, healthcare and public education. While it was approved by 58% of the voters and implemented the next day, it suffered from a number of appeals. By 1998, Governor Gray Davis dropped the last remaining appeals effectively killing the law.

Dolores said the outcome of Prop 187 was that it resulted in a huge increase in voter registration for Latinos and immigrants before the passage of Prop 187 to ensure that people who were eligible to become citizens actually registered. Another significant outcome was that the Latino communities came together and put together a long term strategic plan to increase their representation in the State legislature so that there are now 27 Latino legislators.

Dolores is also a strong feminist supporter and believes that women need to get out and vote. She started a Dolores Huerta Foundation Dolores Huerta Foundation whose mission statement is:

To inspire and motivate people to organize sustainable communities to attain political and social justice

Dolores is an amazing and inspiring woman who passionately believes that we should exercise our rights and make sure we demonstrate the power of the individual by voting. Thank you Dolores for all that you have done to make this a better world for all of us. Mable

Announcing at the Women’s Caucus…

Imagine standing in front of an overflow crowd of several hundred people at the California Democratic Party’s State Convention in San Jose, CA recently. Thanks to Lynn Shaw Hilfenhaus, Chair of the Women’s Caucus and Elmy Bermejo, our Director of Latina Affairs, I had the wonderful opportunity to announce our Engage Her documentary to this esteemed crowd. As I looked throughout the audience I saw an amazing collection of women and men of all ethnicities, races and ages holding up signs to support their candidates. I had a few minutes to describe our project and to let them know that our documentary was due out in mid June for national distribution. I could tell when I explained that there were 26 million or more minority women who could’ve vote in the 2004 elections that they were surprised the number was so huge. Letting them know that only 60% of African American women voted, while Asian American Pacific Islanders dropped down to 40% and Latinas were only 38% was eye opening. I mentioned briefly some of the amazing women that we are interviewing and that the documentary would conclude with solutions and calls to action. We now have national organizations and partners such as Momsrising.org, DemocracyforAmerica.com, League Of Women Voters who are interested in helping screen and host house parties for our documentary when it is released.

Afterwards, I was approached by a number of different organizations and individuals who are interested in hearing more about our documentary and the movement we are creating including Emerge California, National Women’s Political Caucus of California among others. It was exciting and gratifying to see such a strong response and interest in our project. Maria Victoria Ponce, our Filmmaker, Annie Masullo, our Director of Operations and Elmy Bermejo were there filming and networking with people as we handed out postcards announcing our documentary and blog. Women were very interested in hearing more about our project and I would hear feedback like “It’s about time”. A number of people kept telling us that we needed to get the documentary onto PBS for national screening since it is such an educational project and resonates with so many people.

It was an exciting moment to announce our documentary publicly and to see that it resonated so deeply with a very diverse audience. Everybody’s pushing us to get the documentary out as quickly as possible and we’re moving at break neck speed. Stay tuned for more individual interviews and videoclips. Mable

Beatriz Leyva-Cutler… Bahia and Centro Vida

Walking into the beautifully colored turquoise building that houses BAHIA, Inc. you feel the warmth and hear the laughter of the little preschool children playing at the Preschool center that Beatriz Leyva-Cutler oversees. There are brightly colored pictures that the children have drawn and a feeling of nurturing and love abounds everywhere. You could hear the children talking excitedly in both Spanish and English and there were a lot of women paying constant attention the children. It almost felt as if it were an extended family location with the aunties taking care of all the little ones.

Beatriz has been the Executive Director of BAHIA, Inc. since 1988 and an employee of the organization for 27 years. She has been involved with childcare and education for young children and advocating for immigrant families for a long time. Her work has been honored and the fact that her organizations have existed and thrived this long is a true testament to the great work that she performs. Beatriz grew up in San Francisco with a stern authoritarian father. He raised his children with strong cultural values expecting Beatriz and her sisters to date and marry only Latino men. Beatriz remembers how she had to make up stories about who she was dating so her parents wouldn’t know. In fact, she never did marry a Latino man like her father wanted. Instead, Beatriz attended San Francisco State College and participated in Chicano/Latina leadership programs on campus. Her political conciousness was formed during the 1970’s when she got heavily involved with Latina issues.

Beatriz is very aware of the economic and political issues faced by many immigrant Latino families. Her centers provide services to these families and she hears about many of their issues on a daily basis. Through her hard work securing funding to provide much needed services to her community, she’s been able to establish and strengthen three programs: Centro VIDA, Bahia School Age Program and a new program in Fremont. She said that there is a lot of concern and unease amongst Latino families recently because of the change and enforcement of immigration laws. She noted that there have been more immigration raids to find and deport immigrants without documentation. Therefore a lot of people are afraid to register for services or lack the knowledge of whether they are qualified to vote. There is a great deal of apathy and concern that someone within their family or community could be asked to leave.

Beatriz said that if the government really wants to encourage more eligible voters to go out and vote at the polls, then they have to reach out to the community differently. She said that they need to educate the people using Spanish speaking TV, radio and printed media like Channel 14 and Univision. They should recruit more spanish speaking people from the community to go to local produce markets, shopping areas and places where the Latinos frequent and congregate. In addition, the candidates have to talk about issues of importance to the Latino community such as jobs, economy, immigration, healthcare and education. They need to explain their positions on these issues and how they translate directly to these people’s everyday lives. When the politicians talk about large national issues like the Iraq War or terrorism, they don’t connect with the everyday voter. These voters have to deal with their daily ongoing struggles such as employment, childcare, education and housing. When the politicians talk about national issues, it doesn’t necessarily resonate with a large part of the population that is struggling to make ends meet.

Beatriz and her organizations were just honored last night at the Latino Community Foundation for her outstanding work and contributions to the community. She is running for an elected position on the Berkeley School Board and is a member of emergeCalifornia a powerful organization that encourages women to get involved and run for local & regional politics. We’re fortunate to have committed and wonderful people like Beatriz working on behalf of so many needy families over the years. Thank you Beatriz for all the great work that you do. Mable

Reaching out to the communities….

My last post talked about reaching out to minority communities through their preferred media sources. I talked about how authentic and credible these mono and multi lingual media organizations are in their respective communities. While we may think that only the older generation of minority immigrants watch these TV channels, read the newspapers and magazines and listen to their radio stations, we’re wrong. Many young people and families choose to consume these types of media because of one important reason.

It’s the one place where minorities can see people, personalities, celebrities and families who look just like them. Where they can see Asian, Latino, African American, Indian, Middle Eastern newscasters, talk show hosts, celebrities discussing issues of importance to them. They can hear about movies, foods, events, and types of social, cultural, political and economic news that they care about. Where else can they find a plentiful choice of minority spokespersons and hosts talking about issues they really care about? Where else can they read about cultural events important to them in their local communities? Mainstream media companies miss this really important point. They need to pay attention to how they will market to the changing demographics and challenges of supporting these fast growing communities that cannot be reached in the traditional manner.

I’m pleased to announce that our documentary, Engage Her, just got written up by Nichi Bei Times, a leading Japanese American news organization that publishes news and information in both Japanese and English. Here’s the link to the article:
Working to engage minority women to vote

It’s fitting that the first announcement of our project is of great interest to the Asian American community and that it’s tied to coverage of the 2008 elections and politics in general. Nichi Bei Times realizes that Asian American women are concerned about politics, being involved and making a difference with our votes. We care and want to know about the issues that are most important to us and our families. Issues like the Iraq War, U.S. Economy, Education, Healthcare, Civil Rights, Employment, Immigration affects all of us and we need to inform and educate ourselves about these concerns.

The politicians need to address our issues with realistic solutions so that we can determine the best candidate to support and earn our votes. They need to remember that there were over 26 million minority women who were eligible to vote in the 2004 elections. In 2008 there are far more minority women who can now vote for our next President. Every month, one million Latinos & Latinas turn 18 and become eligible to vote. Minorities make up 30% of the overall U.S. population. In 2004, there were more women than men voters. We are the dominant majority of voters. We deserve the attention and support of politicians and the media.

We’re pleased to see that news organizations like Nichi Bei Times are thriving and growing in our ever changing world. They cover all the important issues and events on both a local and national level for their community. They serve a very important function of representing information and news in a trusted format to their readership. Unlike many of the other traditional news media, they have expanded to host their news online through their website to seek a broader and increasingly diverse audience. Kudos to Nichi Bei Times for their vision and coverage.

Mable