The Road to Freedom

Paving the Road to Freedom
by Talia Rodríguez

We need to continue to register our neighbors to vote. And while more Latinos voted in this past election than at any other time in history, we still have a lot of work to do.

Although more present, we are no longer a voting block.

Rather, we are more like little voting Roblox that one on top of the other creates a unique pattern regionally and then nationally.

Data illustrates that media and media influencers play a major role in Latinos personal, cultural, and political identity development, more so than other voting and consumer groups.

In Dec of 2019, I began the Latinaherstory project for a dual purpose: (1) to honor the passing of my paternal grandmother, a civil rights participant and inspiration for me and (2) to contribute to the Latinos media space.

Abuela and her fellow congregants joined the national Puerto Rican organizer Gilberto Gerena‐Valentin’s call for citizens to attend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s March on Washington in 1963. Where Dr. King ultimately delivered his famous “I Have a Dream speech.” Abuela stood in her only dress, with her young son in tow, a welfare recipient, with a third-grade education, who believed that with hard work and sweat equity, her family could realize liberty.

Two generations later in a column published in four major papers, my voice is echoing back to hers, saying, “You were right”.

The story of Latinos in politics in The United States of America is the story of democracy.

This past election new sources indicate the Latinos voting electorate is increasingly important and influencing critical margins for victory.

Let’s review some of our learnings from post-election media coverage.

According to NPR:

“Latinos went up significantly as a share of the electorate, going from less than 1-in-5 voters in 2020 to more than a quarter this year.”

According to the BBC, in battleground states like Pennsylvania, “Exit polls suggested Latinos in Pennsylvania amounted to about 5% of the total vote.”

According to Univision:

“As of early Fall, our survey of 35,000 registered Hispanic voters showed that an astounding 65% of Hispanic voters considered themselves persuadable on who to support in the Election, validating a critical point that party loyalty was not a fundamental determining factor as it may have been in past Elections. Less than 25% identified as Democrats and only 12% identified as Republican.”

Univision goes on to point out that:

“For the past several elections, less than 2% of political advertising has been spent communicating with Spanish-language voters in Spanish”

“The vast majority of Hispanic respondents planned to vote on the issues that mattered to them directly, as opposed to their cultural pride or party.”

The emerging red tint of the Latino community nationally demands us to dig deeper and ask ourselves critical questions like:

“Who wasn’t registered to vote, and why, and how would the national election trends be impacted if they did?”

And on the individual level, most importantly we must ask “how can I show up in more meaningful ways politically?”

When I am looking at my son, @ajshybriddinos716 on YouTube, playing on the VR and drinking bubble tea, I consider him and the rest of the Latinos children in the nation to be critical voters.

Did campaigns reach me in a way that illustrated their understanding that my beliefs impact my little future voter’s political efficacy and beliefs?

As a Latina political scientist, who earned a B.A. in Political Science at St John Fisher University, an M.A. in Social Policy, and a Law Degree from SUNY, I don’t need to posit much.

The writing is on the wall, our Latinos community isn’t homogenous, we want to be reached in dual language, we want to see their candidates in Spanish-speaking news outlets, and they want experts to stop assuming we will vote with their last name instead of on our issues.

The foundation has been laid, it’s up to us to finish paving the road to freedom. One Roblox at a time.

Talia Rodriguez is a bi-racial, bi-cultural, and bi-lingual Latina from Buffalo. Ms. Rodriguez’s mission is to write about Latina’s, who have shaped the face of our city and our region. It is Ms. Rodriguez’s believes that our own people should inspire us and in telling our collective stories, we push our community forward. Ms. Rodriguez is a community advocate and organizer. She is a 5th generation West Sider, a graduate of SUNY Buffalo Law School, and an avid baseball fan. She lives on the West Side with her young son A.J… Ms. Rodriguez sits on the board of several organizations including the Belle Center, where she attended daycare. Ms. Rodriguez loves art, music, food, and her neighbors. You can send your comments or questions to talia.rodriguez.716@gmail.com.