Panelists Decry Lack of Strong Latino Leaders

By BRIAN MORENO

One of the panelists at an NYU forum devoted to Latino identity in the age of Trump said that many of his colleagues were lamenting that the community lacked a rabble-rousing leader.

 “One of the things I keep hearing, I’m sick of hearing of it,  by the way, is ‘Gee, I wish we had a Latino Al Sharpton,’” said Angelo Falcón, the moderator of the panel. “It’s the idea of having more outspoken leadership, more militant, and also a leadership that has more of a visibility and also mobility.”

 This viewpoint and others were aired at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, in which Latino activists and elected officials discussed the lack of strong leadership of Latinos at the national level of politics.

 Panelist Myrna Perez was appalled on how the Trump administration was not deterred from continuous attacks on the Latino community from massive deportation to dissolving of DACA. She noted that despite a booming population of Latinos, there is still a lack of powerful influence of Latinos in politics.

 Perez cited that voter oppression, implementing policies that diminish or limits Latinos’ power in politics or eligible voters that are so disgruntled with politics they do not vote as the reason for a lack of Latinos in politic power at the national level.

 Another panelist, Council City member Antonio Reynoso agreed with Perez on the notion of voter apathy, stating that even his mother, who is an eligible voter, only voted,  for his re-election for City Council and has little to no concern for city politics.

 Falcón, Perez, Reynoso and two other panelists Robert Maldonado and Roberto Frugone agreed that Latino leaders must get involved with the community and engage with the locals to support the community to inspire and place future Latino leaders at the national level.

 “There are greater organizations that do work with registration, but we also need organizations that may not do registration but do more outreach to people who are already registered to vote,” said Frugone. “There’s space for everybody, so if anything, the most important thing is to start engaging, to facilitate, to make sure everyone had a seat on the table.