¡Ya era hora!

Letter from the President

Welcome to the Summer Edition of our quarterly newsletter. I am excited to write my first welcome letter as President, following my election at our Annual Summit in Chicago last February.

NHCSL works in a bipartisan manner on many issues, including criminal justice reform, equal access to technology, quality healthcare and affordable housing, as well as promoting respect and equality for all people: from immigrants, to women, to LGBTQ individuals, to racial, religious and ethnic minorities, including non-Hispanics.

But, for the last two years, it feels like we have been in overdrive – in a permanent state of emergency – constantly fighting to defend our community, one attack after the other. These attacks include: families being separated at the southern border, efforts to undercount our people in the 2020 Census, the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and the constant attacks on the press.

In 2016, only 13 out of 27 million eligible Latinos turned out to vote, and here we are, in 2018, and it looks like “history repeating.” Back then, the hateful rhetoric trumpeted against us was just words. Today, we are living the consequences of our inaction every day.

Doing nothing about it on Election Day is immoral --- not as immoral as the cages full of innocent children, weeping for their parents --- but immoral nonetheless. We often talk about the power of the Latino vote, but there is no power if we don’t flex our collective muscle and make sure that every single member of our community comes out in force this November.

I look forward to working with you in the months ahead, so when we wake up on Wednesday, November 7th, we celebrate the fruits of that hard work, by saying: ¡Ya era hora!