Civic Summit

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Voiceover

"Civic Summit" is made possible in part by Texas Mutual Insurance, providing worker's compensation for Texas employers. That's very interesting. Okay, so I'm supposed to say just one thing? I knOw that vocabulary towards us has a lot of controversy to it, I, for myself, I'm definitely American first and foremost and then my culture is Hispanic and I bring a lot of that and try to integrate it together.

I personally am good with both. I don't really care the label. For me I am Hispanic, I am a Latina, I am an immigrant. Hispanic has a different connotation, it means that I am of Latino origin, I speak Spanish and I live here in the United States.

For me it's more secondary than primary. The bottomline here is that our community is no longer a monolith, you can't typecast or generalize it. I am Mexicana, but when it comes to putting it down on paper in general I'm Hispanic. I'm just Hispanic, yeah.

I am an American, and so at the end of the day I am an American and that's the term I prefer over everything. American. I don't define myself by a label, I am who I am and I'm very proud to be a US citizen. We have double citizenship and I don't wanna anybody to label me as just one thing.

(vibrant music) (audience applauding) Hello, and thank you for joining us for "Civic

Summit

Austin's Latino Identity". I'm Josefina Casati editor of "!Ahora Si!". Austin's Latino community is large and diverse, 35% of Austinites call themselves Hispanic or Latino. Tonight we'll discuss the challenges our community faces.

Some of our panelists pioneered the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, others continue to the legacy of working to improve the lives of Latinos in our city. Beginning from my left, Senator Gonzalo Barrientos. Senator Barrientos served in the Texas legislature from 1975 to 2007, some years in the House and some in the Senate. He was a pioneer of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and continues to be an outspoken advocate for our community.

Mona Gonzalez is the executive director and founder of the River City Youth Foundation. Her foundation provides educational, technological and life enhancement programs for youth in Dove Springs. Next to Mona is Doctor Emilio Zamora. Doctor Zamora is a professor at UT and was an active member of La Raza Unida party.

And next to Doctor Zamora is Carmen Llanos Pulido. Carmen is a native of Austin, a multi-issue community organizer and director of "GO! Austin/VAMOS! Dove Springs", a public house initiative in Southeast Austin.

I'd like to start our discussion by focusing on identity. The first question I'd like for us to all start, if you can all answer it,

is

What is a Latino? And, specifically, what is an Austin Latino? That could take an hour but, generally speaking, Latino is a term, just like Hispanic, I think that was derived from the senses to cover a lot of us who have some kind of Spanish, Latin American roots. I prefer Mexican-American, I prefer Chicano, but since we have any number of Americans who are Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Guatemaltecos, etcetera, so that's the general word that is used for those of us who has those roots, have that language and have a little sun tan.

Nice, thank you. Mona. I'd say "deed-oh" to that. For me the term Latina/Latino is kind of like "una sombrilla", like an umbrella.

It's magnificent because it really brings together over 30 nationalities, and growing. And so when we talk about identity we are who are we are and started when we were children because the identity is formed in "la familia", in the family. We get labels put on us all through our lives but our identity, who we are, we know who we are, we know our "cultura", we know our culture, we know our traditions, we know if we like "tortillas de maiz" or "tortillas de harina", okay? We know, but now we have this terminology of Latino and it is beautiful because it is so unifying.

As I noted it's a self-referent, people consciously choose to call themselves Latinos or Mexican-Americans or other terms, but it has not only a personal meaning but it also has a social meaning in many cases. To be a Latino is also somebody who has some consciousness of their position in society and as members of the Latino community, and even more than that. I think that self-awareness is expressed politically in terms of identifying and promoting the interests and hopes and aspirations of the Latino community. Well, I agree with everything that's been stated and it is a very large umbrella that covers lots of us because not only do we draw roots from many different countries, we are first, second, third, fourth, fifth generation and beyond.

So some of us have lived on both sides of the border and some have been here their whole lives, but there is a deep rich tradition. And we also are black, white, brown and Asian, so we are across the whole racial diaspora and some of us are not even necessarily identified as Latino by the outside world until we speak Spanish or until we reveal something, but I think everybody who is Latino or identifies with that root, there's something very rich and lasting in our culture that does unify us. And people have hold on to at times specifically because of the way people have been marginalized. Let's talk a little about culture and, are we losing our culture because we're not teaching the right culture in our curriculum at schools?

What options do we have for our future generations to really connect with their heritage? First of all, let me take part of that last question and move into this one. My opinion, because of CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etcetera, etcetera, on the national level, there are a lot of people, specially non Spanish-speaking, Anglo, should I say, Americans, who have this image that anybody who's named Gutierrez, Sosa, Sanchez, etcetera, and has a little sun tan we just walked across the border two years ago. They have that image, when most of the Hispanic population has been in this country for generations if not even before the Europeans came to Plymouth Rock.

So we have our own history here with our own background going back hundreds if not thousands of years. I for one found out that I had a great-great-uncle who was a soldier in the Union Army during the civil war. At any rate, the culture, the language. The language brings people together.

Now, I was telling some friends a story a while ago about an undocumented who was telling me one day, he said in Spanish, "No, no, a mi no me gustan los Texanos, "se creen muy grandes y no hablan Espaol". He said, "No, I don't like 'Texanos', "they think they're big shots and they don't speak Spanish". And I told him in Spanish, "Sabas t, mi amigo, "que cuando nosotros estbamos en la escuela "si hablamos Espaol los maestros nos golpeaban?" "When I was in school that if we spoke Spanish "the teachers would paddle us?" And he said, "De veras?", "Oh, really?" I said, "So there are reasons", and we're losing some of that culture, that language, and we must teach our children who we are, where we come from, as proud Americans. -

Carmen

is

I think what Senator Barrientos is pointing to is a thread in all these questions which is a history of oppression and a history of resistance to that. And ever since this country was founded as a, from a European colony, there has been pressure to assimilate. So there was pressure on ethnic Europeans to become Anglo and to speak English and to leave behind their customs, and there has been pressure on every incoming group to be as mainstream in that mold. And so in my generation it's difficult to get a job now if you don't speak Spanish, and learning Spanish correctly was very, very important in my family and in my operating, but most of my parents' generation were punished in school for speaking Spanish.

And so we're in a real inflection point right now where our country is really having a struggle between a right nationalism that is Anglo, European-focused and claiming the country back, which is its own narrative, and actually embracing the richness of this country as a multi-cultural place and an immigrant nation. And I think in that inflection point is where we find where our culture is going to be preserved and live on. And I definitely can say that it's incoming immigrants who have helped me practice my Spanish. I married to a first-generation Colombian and this is something we talk about all the time.

But I do have hope for our future that we're starting to embrace what was for so long shamed, and I think that was the source of a lot of the tension between immigrant youth and Latinos who've been here for many generations, is that everybody is trying to fight to get out of that oppression, you either get out by assimilating as best as you can or by trying to actually overcome those systems. And I think that's where we find ourselves now. I'd like to add to this, the schools and other institutions have subjugated our identity and our knowledge, but that doesn't mean that our culture has remained static, it's always evolved, there is no such thing as static culture. And it's evolved for a number of reasons, of course there's loving parents that nurture the children and promote important values as part of our culture, we talk about it in terms of familism, but there's other people that are also reinforcing very important positive, constructive, generative values.

In the social-political movement, we often associate these movements in terms of material gains we're gonna make like improving wages and political representation, which are good, but there's also a cultural element to the political movement, we also promote mutualism, reciprocity, respect for elders. And I think the social-political movement is reinforcing very positive cultural values that maintain our identity with the eyes on the prize, that is equality and so forth. But I think when we speak, by culture there's obvious things like language and stuff, but I think that we also need to look underneath what are the values that are promoting good change for us, cultural revitalization is what these movements involve. And I think people, when they go up and protest or vote for a particular candidate that promises change they're reinforcing their modeling, the kind of behavior that we wanna have among us.

We wanna reinforce mutuality and reciprocity and caring and respect for each other. So our movements go beyond simply that the material gains that we seek. I'd like to talk a little bit more about both the language and the values. Language, whether you speak Spanish or not, specifically, tends to really impact the way that individuals see themselves, or their comfort level with identifying as Latino, Hispanic or not.

How much value do we give to language? Does that feel some of the conflict between recent immigrants and longer-term Latinos who don't have the language and don't have that ability to communicate? -

Emilio

is

Well, I think that's part of the problem that we face. I think we often times are influenced to think in negative ways about ourselves. There's nothing wrong with the language you speak, whatever you wish to speak, but we've been made to feel ashamed about who we are and that's what I meant by subjugating our identity. I tell my students at the beginning of every semester when I teach Mexican-American history at this university, I tell them, "I do not wanna see any of you "playing language politics with each other, "because if I see it I'm gonna come down on you "one way or another".

That's created divisions among us that do not help us, do not help us advance anything, it only sets us back. So, schools by denying us to speak Spanish, I think are promoting that self-hatred or the shamefulness that we feel. But we also promote that by playing language politics with each other, and putting down people that don't speak the language the way we speak it. (vibrant music) -

Teacher

is

For the most part children in our public schools, and this is in Austin, they are not getting a curriculum that responds to their culture, their identities, their communities in ways that affirm who they are. Children that come to Academia Cuauhtli have an opportunity to learn these things and learn that they're not marginal, that they're actually members of communities that have roots that go all the way back to the original inhabitants of this continent. The idea was to really build on the district's current efforts. The Austin Independent School District has 60 plus schools that teach dual language, but there's really not enough curriculum right now.

Because there aren't those basic kinds of materials the community felt an urgency about bringing in resources that could be of use to our teachers. (speaking Spanish) We are teaching exclusively in Spanish. The children right now are learning about migration, immigration, civil rights and local history. A lot of children feel very united from school, particularly for immigrants, it helps them to feel connected to the larger curriculum, it becomes a bridge.

Children at this level are studying the Greek gods and getting access to Texas' history, and this is an opportunity to share from a grounded, rooted historic standpoint what that culture, language, what the culture arts are and have been for this community. (ethnic music) I'd like to hear others from our audience now. Is there anyone up there who'd like to ask a question? I have a question.

Okay, my name is Jill Ramirez, I'm from El Paso, which is on the border of Mexico and Texas, and I think about Austin, since we are talking about Austin. I moved here in 1983 and I really thought I was moving to this wonderful, liberal place called Austin that everybody was going to have this open mind about who you are as a Latino woman. And when I got here and I was a bilingual teacher I had kids talk to me and say, "Miss, don't speak in Spanish to me "'cause it's embarrassing". That's when I realized Austin needed to really work on how they see themselves and their Spanish schools and just their language and their culture.

I was really shocked, and that was just like in 1983-84. So that's my experience. -

Mona

is

Well, perhaps at that, Jill, we still had a majority of Anglos in this public school system, but today that has changed and the majority of students in AISD are Latinos, Hispanics. And so what I'm seeing slowly happening is that we're trying to play catch up in a sense. We do see now with families, we see them embracing the importance of instructing their children to take pride in their language, but go beyond that because we are now a global society, it's really changed a great deal since you and I arrived here in Austin. -

Josefina

is

So you do see a shift. I see a shift. With the AISD having more dual language programs and, you see that there's more of an acceptance or even an encouragement to have bilingualism or just multilingualism. - Multilingualism.

And so the days when we suffered, because that was what happened, intellectually you can call it what you want but those of us that did experience what Gonzalo was talking about, it was suffering. -

Josefina

is

You experienced that as well? As well. It was suffering. You had intelligent, wonderful young people who were being denied the opportunity to express ourselves in our language, in our native language.

But today, what I see happening slowly but surely is that we're moving towards embracing, maybe because of economic reasons because we are becoming much more global, we are preparing our future-ready cities, we're having to move fast and we're having to be nimble and we're having to catch up, but I am seeing a little bit of progress that's being made in the families where they realize that they are best served as a family by taking pride in who they are and instilling that in the children. And that's where programs and schools and churches and colleges and all of this come in, that we can inspire them to move forward in that direction, because once you go in that direction you will not turn back. Great, thank you, Mona. I'm gonna ask, as we see an increasing gentrification on the East side of Austin there are a lot of properties that were traditionally Hispanic or Latino, I think this is what the term yourselves seated agreed on, that used to be there that are now going up in apartments, and as these apartments go up you notice that they have names like "El Corazn" or in my neighborhood "El Chicn".

So, how do you feel about that? Is that an appropriate homage to the heritage that was there? Is that a token gesture? Is it unfair commercialization of the people that were there that no longer can afford to live there but now the neighborhood is associated with them?

I'm just kind of curious on your perspectives. -

Josefina

is

Thank you, sir, so almost like that, diversity of the neighborhood. Would anybody like to address that? Well, I'll just address it as somebody who, so my dad lives on the East side and he's the last Latino or the last Mexican-American on his street, and there's been a large influx of mostly younger and slightly wealthier white property owners who've come in and either built homes or have moved in. And he feels very fortunate that he gets along with those new neighbors and that they actually have an appreciation for the work that he and many other community leaders have done to make East Austin such a wonderful, beautiful, livable place, the work that's been done to get industrial toxins out of the neighborhood that were placed there when the city was segregated.

So that's appreciation, but I think naming a complex "El Corazn" when it's not affordable to the families that were displaced is appropriation, I think that's very clearly not appreciation, it's an appropriation, it's capitalizing off of a culture that's not actually being catered to in that case. And I think there's plenty of room for people to come in to East Austin, I know a lot of people feel like there's a huge housing shortage, I think it's more a question of how we actually allocate space and housing, are we looking for families and classes apart of that? But we have to look at the ethnic segregation that created East Austin, we have to acknowledge that history and there needs to be historical recognition for the communities that made this city what it is, and without that it's pure appropriation in my opinion. And I think we also have to keep the city council, hold them accountable for their development policies and the land use policies.

It's pretty obvious that the city council for a number of years has used land policies to reinforce previous segregation based on racial covenants. Our president, we have a gentrification once again reinforcing segregation by moving people out. A friend of mine, ours, has said recently that the city's vision that they call, what is it? Austin?

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Carmen

is

"Imagine Austin". - "Imagine Austin", he says, "It's not 'Imagine Austin', "it's 'Imagine Austin without poor people'". And I think the city council needs to be held accountable and other political institutions for not only allowing this thing to happen and reinforcing trauma in our history, but not be really proposing anything for the welfare for the community. I think the city policies regarding planning and land use, I think it has been intended primarily for the sake of business growth and development and less for the welfare of the people.

It's a multi-faceted problem. It's unfair, we're talking about big money, and moving that culture away, we shouldn't do that but it's happening. And I must defend the city council to some extent, I was a chairman of the Charter Commission which pushed through the 10-1 to change, to have geographic representation on city council so that we have more Latinos and African-Americans on there. And what we've talked about there, that came before that.

Now, in terms of what is done through the city depends a lot on the city manager and the top administration of the city, but we most hold all of them accountable. Okay, thank you. We have more questions? Joseph Roland, professor emeritus of Communication.

The term identity basically answers the question which is "Who am I?" as individual, as a community, say the Latino community, the question is "Who are we?", and usually has reference like language, territory, history, shared values. For the Latino community in this area, like Senator Barrientos, some of them are natives of the area, they've been born and raised here, they have families for generations, the majority are newcomers. The question I have is, what does anyone in Austin do to help the new Latino residents of the area? Go through this process of cross-cultural adaptation so that respecting the culture they bring, the way they answer the question "Who are we?

Who am I?" can now be incorporated into the new resident of the community so that you keep your roots, you keep your heritage, you keep your tradition, but you adapt, you don't feel embarrassed because you speak your language, you speak with an accent, you are allowed to or help to become integrated into the community? What is anyone doing? And if nothing, then what should be done? So you're wondering what kinds of programs currently exist to help the newcomers maintain their culture but also integrate and assimilate, I suppose?

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Joseph

is

To integrate and assimilate, exactly. -

Josefina

is

Okay. -

Carmen

is

So "GO! Austin/VAMOS! Austin" is a coalition, is a resident-led coalition, we work with a lot of immigrants who are in the community and Latinos, multi-general Latinos. I think I struggle with the question a little bit because I recognize that there are people who have been here for decades and still hold on to their language and their culture, and, again, it's almost who are we, it is upon us to work with people to find that happy medium, but it's really upon us to work on our whole society because how somebody feels when they speak Spanish or when they speak with an accent that shows that they are not necessarily natively from here, how they feel in that moment has everything to do with the way they're treated by the person on the other side of that conversation.

So I think, in terms of decreasing the stigma, is just like when I hear people say, "How can we decrease the stigma "around signing up for food stamps?" Well, we have to talk about a society that shames people for being on benefits. So I think it's kind of two sides of the coin, I think there are a lot of ways to make sure that our programs and service providers are meeting people where they're at, helping people learn English, providing what they need to in Spanish, but just this stigmatizing, that's on all of us, I think. The first ones who the undocumented people come here, the ones who newly arrived, the first people they go to for assistance are Hispanics, are Mexican-Americans, first, then from then on it works with some of the programs like these folks are pushing. But we must remember that this integration has to be a two-way street, that the people who come here have to learn the ways that Hispanics have here, and also make an effort to learn English.

So, just to clarify, you see that there is a value in understanding the history. Are you suggesting that it is important for recent immigrants to also understand the history as to why a "Texano" may not speak Spanish as well as...? That is very important, that's why I say it's a two-way street. People who come here really should study or ask, what has happened here before?

What did you go through? How did you succeed? What were your failures? It's a very valuable point, thank you.

Yes? There's someone else? I was gonna add that there are, and answering your question, there's a lot of groups in Austin beginning with the group that campaigned for single-member district elections, which is a major victory, and there's people as a result that got elected, and there's people that have been appointed to Commissions and Committees that advice those people. And that, I think, increase effective representation.

There's a large number of non-profit organizations working in health, education, and so forth. I think we've reached the shift here a little bit more, and a comment on what Senator Barrientos was saying, and that is we as Mexican-Americans are really coming into a new period that is defined to a great extent by demographic change. We're becoming a major portion of the population as well as the social justice community, and we have to learn how to reach out in both direction, in multiple direction. We have to learn leadership abilities in this new environment that includes class differences and language differences and nativity differences and so forth.

I think, historically, we're at a very important point, as Carmen was pointing out earlier, and I think we're prepared, at least in this city, to assume leadership positions in this new people rights movement. (vibrant music) My name is Capicci Vazquez and I own Ceremonias 15 and Bridal. Well, the "Quinceaera" business, I mean, it's a wonderful business. It's a wedding without the groom.

The difference is that you just add color to it, you just make it colorful. I've been a business owner for two years right now. My experience has been good this year, we've noticed a lot more flow of people, a better revenue. (crowd chattering) -

Voiceover

is

Welcome to Austin, and I'm excited to tell you what starts here changes the world. In 2013 about 10,000 Hispanic-owned businesses that were responsible for $4.8 billion dollars in terms of contributions to the economy. I believe that the surge and the explosive growth of the Hispanic-owned businesses matches the overall demographic. When you look at the fastest-growing demographic over all it's Hispanics.

We wanna build small business capacity because at the beginning and at the end of the day the heartbeat of our American economy is small business. (slow rhythmic music) -

Adviser

is

I think that for Hispanics, for us, it's not difficult to open a business. I mean, we are hardworking people, so imagine adding all of that to a good idea, then you have a winning combination. "Emprendedor U" is a small business program, education program, in which we help inspiring entrepreneurs and business owners to grow their businesses, and we do it all in Spanish. Many people think that just by translating information that makes it relevant for Spanish-speaking individuals and that's not the case, you need to culturalize it because you need to find a true connection so people can really understand what you're telling them.

(speaking Spanish) "Oficina legal". There are new ideas coming out from immigrants all the time. My name is Karla Maria Valles Gonzlez, I'm an attorney, and since I've just opened my own firm, literally like two days before the classes started, I went ahead and took the classes. There are a lot of people with legal issues that don't know how to speak English, they have these issues but they're scared to access the system, and so to hear that someone can speak their language and they can understand what's going on they need, they need that.

And it's the same thing with the "Emprendedor U". There are a lot of Hispanics here in Austin who do have their businesses open, it helps them to have more confidence in their business, confidence in themselves. -

Adviser

is

I think there's a tale of two cities in Austin because, you know, we're the "progressive Austin", the crane is the Austin bird, but we've also been reported as the number one most economically segregated city. There's 30,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in a five county area, that's projected to grow almost 6-7%. But what we wanna do is make sure that the start-ups that are coming to the marketplace that they have the capacity to remain here in this great city and that we don't push them out. -

Capicci

is

(speaking Spanish) "Cmo lo sientes?" It's not easy owning a business (laughs) but I don't think I will go back to be an employee. We'll return to our audience in a little bit but first let's shift our conservation slightly to focus on civic engagement, perfect segue, and how healthy our community is when it comes to civic involvement. Of course all of you are very engaged in the community and Austin has a history of Chicanos and Latinos/Latinas fighting for our rights. How effective are we now in 2016 in engaging with government and city programs?

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Emilio

is

I think we're more effective than we were before. In Austin there's places where we've taken steps backward in other places in the state, but I think we're in a pretty good position organizationally. I think one of the things we need to start addressing too is this basic dilemma, how do you deal with obvious advances that we've made in the area of education, employment, and so forth? We have, for example, record numbers of young people that are graduating from high school and going to universities, top-tier research universities.

A clear sign of advancement. But there's another side of the coin always, there's a serious gap of achievement between Latino youth and white youth. There's gaps in the area of employment and health that continue to the point that we can say that they almost seem to be permanent structural problems. We have to figure out a way to dialogue in a very frank manner that acknowledges advances but also that recognizes that we're still concentrated among the dropouts, we're still concentrated among the low-wage skilled workers.

I think that's one of the challenges we face as we assume leadership positions in the city as a whole. -

Josefina

is

Mona. -

Mona

is

One of the concerns that I have is that what I see with so many of our Hispanic, Latino families including those that have just arrived, they are very busy, and they are busy surviving. This is a huge number of the population. When I say that we are growing very fast in Dove Springs and that we have the highest number, the fastest growth of youth, I'm very proud of that because those families tend to be large and they tend to be robust and they are filled with excitement about life and they wanna succeed, but they're also very poor. And so when you're in that situation UT, which is only about, what?

Six miles away? Might as well be 60 or 600 or 6,000, because they are busy, and they're busy surviving. And so when we speak of leadership we need to think about the best ways to teach leadership and to find those natural leaders instead of them heading off to gangs and to other negative things, to really find them and to really excite them about learning and about leading. And what that means in this city, what it means in their "barrio", what it means in their neighborhood, and how it can really change not only their lives but truly their family's lives because they care about that.

So I wanna see the conversation elevated to the level of deploying the resources for true leadership development, because we've given this a lot of lip service over the years and those kids, they drop out of school, and I'll tell you why they drop out, because they have to go to work. So many of them get to 16, legal age for dropping oUT, and they go on and you find them in jobs and they're supporting their families. -

Carmen

is

And they need to vote. I mean, I think just because on the topic of civic engagement. What Senator Barrientos said, we've made, and I agree with Emilio too about the progress, we've gotten a step further. I think it's no secret that we have low voter turnout among Latinos, and there are a lot of people who care, and it's not all because people don't have the right to vote there's a combination of things, it's a lot of what Mona's been talking about.

I have a lot of faith in the dreamers, I have a lot of faith in the young civic and social justice movements that are encouraging people to be more of a political process, and I serve on Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that drew Austin's 10 districts thanks to the work of Senator Barrientos and the whole coalition that pushed it, and it was an intense election process, there were about 500 people who applied to be on the Commission, it was narrowed down to 60, and then they, literally by the luck of the draw, five of the first eight commissioners were Latinos, four Latinas. So we actually had to look for white men to even out our Redistricting Commission and as well as to represent African-Americans and Asians in the community. And it's not perfect, and the first round of elections it was a bumpy ride, it still is, but we are definitely several steps closer to not only talking to our kids and our youth about why voting is important, and civic engagement and leadership in addressing some of these issues, but also having politicians that live in their neighborhoods, that come to their meetings, that come to their schools, and they actually see people in positions of leadership. And so, we have a long way to go but we are making progress.

Number one, it starts right here. I don't care how poor people are, it begins with that mother and father and those children. Government can do a lot of things, "pero aqu estoy, primero". As the saying goes, "El que no habla ni Dios lo oye", "Who does not speak not even God will hear".

And people have to realize that this is a free country, I mean, you don't have to go out there and call the city council members names, but you get up there and give your statement of how you feel. "Aqu comienza" with individuals, "el padre y la madre". (vibrant music) (slow music) -

Jill

is

It's so excited to see that 10-1 is taking place and that it's working so well. Harmony isn't... My name is Jill Ramirez Coronado and I live in Battle Bend area of Austin, but of course our business is in Montopolis, so I'm actually in two neighborhoods and I'm pretty involved in both. You know there's a few bumps in the road but what we have seen from, you know, after it happened was that really the representatives are really trying to be more engaged with the constituents.

I think it's going pretty good. We were able to do a lot of projects in my neighborhood that we've been struggling trying to convince the city of doing. And historically it's always been the minority, it's always been in last in line waiting for anything to come from the city, and we've been neglected over years. So I believe that that was one of the reasons why is because we didn't have the influence.

But generally there's a great man with, number one, ungentleman, I don't know why the called it that but a true gentleman would have never settled for having people who are second-class citizens. I think that having the right personnel at city hall and people who understand what they went through in East Austin is like that shared history that is important. The problem that we're struggling with right now is the young people, the young voters up to 30 or 35. They're turn out is horrible, a lot of them don't see up to vote.

I really feel like, you know, it comes down to grass root, I like to got to the places in my area, the businesses, and I talk to people, you know, and one of the things that I tell them, I say, "You know, you're the ones that don't speak out, "not even the Lord could hear you". I think that they understand that now they have a way to get their say so, and that that will bring about voting they go. They did change my life so, you know what? I need to continue being involved.

(slow music) And the way we're used to nowhere, people forgot about us. I do really get a sense that a lot of my niece in their community were a priority. -

Voiceover

is

I welcome you all to city hall for a truly historic event. 10-1 gave us a big voice, and we were able to get four minorities elected. That added a lot of influence. Now we have a voice.

Let's get to the questions from the audience, I'm very interested in following it up with body and what we can specifically do to change that. -

Attendant

is

I guess I'll just touch on a few themes. We politically navigate through the world through language and we've been talking about identity in specific terms but I'm more interested in spelling, because particularly for like queer and non-gender binary people, Spanish is such a gendered language. Do you guys, for the people in the panel, do you, when you consider yourself in whatever term it is, do you consider also alternative spellings like Chicano with an "x" or Latino with an "x" or with the "@" sign at the end of Latino or Latina, to be inclusive for all, for even a more diverse community? -

Carmen

is

The intention is certainly there and I think we're addressing it, I think specially -- Well, I would say in younger generations we talk more about gender politics and LBGTQ issues perhaps more than the previous generation did, but then again there had been pioneers in this area for decades and there actually is a category of like queer chicana lit, right? Which for some of us that was such a breakthrough relief to find an outlet that embraces both Latino culture and queer culture. I learned about spelling Latina/Latino with an "x" only about three or four years ago because I had used the "@" symbol to mean Latina or Latino, and then it was pointed out to me that that is very gender binary, and if we're gonna be inclusive of the whole gender spectrum of people who identify as transgender or gender queer, or we just wanna get gender out of it for a second, we spell Latino with an "x". So I don't know if the spelling necessarily addresses the issue but at least we're talking about it and they know it's a relief to a lot of Latinos who have felt kind of on the margin for a long time.

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Josefina

is

It's great. -

Emilio

is

This is important symbolic gestures, you know, the "x" and so forth that doesn't mean it's not important, it's very important, but for me also what is important is where these issues are raised, and I think the LGBT community, the feminists earlier, I think discovered that in these social-political settings where we promote these values of neutrality, reciprocity and respect for the rights of others, we have the natural social-political environment where we can talk openly and honestly about theses things. And talk about inclusion, including all parts of our community with respect, and also to promote their concerns and interests, absolutely. -

Josefina

is

Great question, thank you. Miss. -

Veronica

is

Thank you. My name is Veronica Forsythe, and I was hoping that you could comment on what I see as the lack of leadership in the city and, don't know if the word that I wanna use is defend, but talk about lots of the virtues of the Hispanic community, Latin community, Mexican-American community, because what I see is that national level is all this stereotyping us as, I don't wanna repeat what you all know what they're stereotyping us as. And I don't see anybody in Texas, any of our leaders that serve us, coming up and saying, "Wait a minute, "that offends the people that we serve "and that is not what we see in our community". So I'm like kind of upset that nobody in a leadership position has really come up and said anything to that effect.

And our community also hopefully will unite and stand up for that too, because talking about stereotypes, as you can see I'm tall and all time, right? Okay, we agree on that. All the time I'm asked, "and, so, where are you from?" And I have to say, "Well, I was born here "but my parents are from Mexico, "and they're from Mexico", and then it's like, "Oh, so, but where are your grandparents from? "They surely are like Europeans" and I don't fit in that stereotype so people starts asking, "Oh, so, what about back, back?" I say, "Well, how about 400 years in Mexico, "would that be sufficient for you?" So, yes, I am tall, I have an accent, I'm Mexican-American, and I am not happy to see that nobody has stand up for us to say, "No, that is not acceptable, that offends us".

So, thank you. -

Josefina

is

Thank you. Do you all agree that no one is standing up for against the negative stereotypes? Part of our problem throughout the whole country, throughout all groups, is that we have to... If you want something done and they're not doing it you get up there and do it.

We need fewer politicians and more public servants, and the way to do that is to vote. Very simple, very easy, it's free, otherwise you're gonna keep getting what you've been getting. What can we do? The question I have for the panelists right now is, what can we do to get more people out to vote, to exercise their voice and their right?

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Emilio

is

Public education, there's a direct cause or relationship between low education of Latino and the franchise, the higher you're educated the more you participate. I think that's one way to do it. The other is to speak to the youth, our population is youthful population, youth does not vote, so you need to reach out to the youth. That's not to say people haven't done it, I mean, we have a long history, the Southwest Voter Registration and Educational Fund in San Antonio built a movement around this issue, registering people to vote and get them out to vote, and it continues.

But I'm just basically affirming some things that I think are important. Senator Barrientos, you've dealt with this issue for decades. Have you seen a change? What are the effective steps to get people out to vote?

There has been a change. There are several things that we have done in the past. One, part of our culture is that you have to ask the individual, ask, if you don't ask they're gonna say, "They're not interested" or whatever. Ask, "Would you please go out and vote?

"Would you vote for me? "I'm going to do this, this, this and that". You have to ask first. Number two, traditionally in Texas and throughout the county, the Southwest anyway, the money for advertising and going door to door, and newspapers and TV has gone into suburbs of white America, and the money not being there we had to stretch the dollar in order to get elected, we had to make our own silk screens, our own signs, our own posters, we even put them on coat hangers and threw them up in trees so that you could see 'em.

We did a whole bunch of new things in order to get the "raza" out to vote. And they will come out to vote but the campaign has got to be done just right. -

Carmen

is

I think it involves listening too. I'll just briefly say that what's being talked about is, what are the issues that are affecting people day to day, and we have to create the space for those conversations and on those conversations so that we speak for ourselves in our communities, and our youth can speak for themselves and not be spoken for 'cause I think for decades people saw a system that wasn't working for them, that didn't represent them, didn't see politicians who looked like them, and then when they do see politicians that's, you know, some are really public servants, as Senator Barrientos mentioned, and some are in it for the politics. And so it's a slow evolution but it's getting out there and talking and it's listening, and it's creating the space for that conversation. I believe it works on a grass root level but it's gonna take all of us.

There's a difference between internalizing something that you believe in and you think it's important and complain, where you do it because somebody told you to do it or you're trying to make somebody happy. There's a very big difference in that. I see that for many of our Latinos, for many, and it's just not Latinos, but for many of our youth who aspire to succeed they have yet to internalized the value of living in this country in a democracy and exercising that need and that right to vote. They haven't internalized it.

Now, why is that? It could be for a lot of different reasons, but it could be because they haven't had the role modeling, perhaps, or perhaps they're very intelligent and they are seeing all of the political games that are being played and they wish not be part of that. We have to respect that, they haven't fully internalized. Once they internalize the value they do what you were talking about, it starts with at home and it starts with them, and it's almost a heartfelt need.

When you internalize it you're going to do something about it, and that means that you're going to learn the issues, you're going to attend those forums, you're going to get excited about that election. Until the internalization happens it's complaints. I think this bring goes directly to what a viewer asked, goes to discrimination and some of this divisiveness that we've been speaking about. Juan Zuiga Jr.

asks, "How do you suggest we handle discrimination "against Latinos and Latinas and other people of color "when confronted with in a workplace or other setting?" If I may take the first shot. There are certain laws on the books already, people have to try to become aware of what those laws are in discrimination in the workplace. The laws are there, they have to be enforced, but the individual being discriminated against does not speak up it'll keep getting what you've been getting. I think that's very, very true, and I also know that for a lot of people of color there's retribution that comes from speaking out against things, so in my experience in pointing out discrimination, as an organizer you always have to have power of analysis, so you kind of have to have a cost-benefit on strategy, you have to know your laws, you have to do your research, but you also have to know who are your allies, who are the people who share the same frame of reference and how can you articulate what you see when sometimes it can be very emotional and you can react without necessarily being helpful.

And I think it's very important that in the nation we're talking more about race and race relations, we're talking more about discrimination and things are coming to ahead, but what we often find is that while the topic of race and discrimination hasn't been popular in the mainstream for a long time if you go into the households of people of color and immigrants and Latinos, that conversation has been happening for a long, long time. So we need to make it a common conversation so that we can come to come on understandings and have each other's backs so that when somebody calls it out we actually analyze what's going on, we don't turn on the person who is blowing the whistle, because that's a real threat and that happens with women facing sexism, it happens with LBGTQ people facing discrimination. We have to become each other's allies and speak a common language about what we're experiencing. It feels like we've just started the surface of the conversation but that is all the time that we have for tonight.

So I'd like to thank all of our panelists for joining us. Thank you for being here. You can see more KLRU stories about Austin's Latino Identity and his Chicano history by visiting KLRU.org. Thank you for watching, I'm Josefina Casati.

Good night. (audience applauding) (vibrant music) -

Voiceover

is

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