Let’s Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by Recognizing Our Own Power

• “If you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” – Roberto Clemente
• “We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things. That is what we are put on the earth for.” – Dolores Huerta
• “The best thing we could do is work as hard as we can for what is right and what is good.” Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez

It’s a unique time for Latinx in the US today. We have made careful gains over the years and yet so much is now threatened. We are at a time when the specter of fascism inside the US has risen. Real life, dictatorship supported by tens of millions of Americans. And one deeply grounded in racism, especially toward Latinx in the US.

We are seeing assaults on our voting rights, and opportunities to go to college and our women are fighting for the right to control their own bodies. And so much more.

As we grow past being 20% of the population much of this country simply doesn’t see us. They want us to clean their house, do their landscaping, pick up that plate. Be quiet. Work for low wages and make them rich.

When you look at the business sector you see Latinx entrepreneurs struggling to get capital and investors while similar companies and ideas are funded generously by firms dominated by white people.

In nonprofits, only 1.8% of foundation giving is given to Latinx-focused nonprofits of tens of billions given every year.

We need to do this for ourselves.

As Latinx, it's in our culture to take care of our own. We believe in hard work. We loathe asking for help, handouts, and assistance. But it's time we broaden our definition of family and community. It's time we think more collectively because we have the numbers to exert power for the benefit of this country like never before. Not just in voting but in a myriad of ways.

For example, there are forces in this country that want to make it a great deal harder for our children, and grandchildren, to go to college. They have eliminated race as a factor in admissions. This didn’t happen by accident, there are people raising money, and funding movements to do this to us. When I say “us” I mean all Latinx, not just Chicano families, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Salvadoran families too. They don’t care where your people come from.

We need to act collectively as a large group to counter this. We need to support organizations working on this cause, we need to give money so Latinx communities vote for candidates opposed to this type of racism, we need to write checks and support Latinx organizations funding scholarships and so much more.

It's not enough that you just support your own family, it's not enough that you're doing well in your career. We need to think of a larger “we”. Because together we are giants. Individually we cannot remove the barriers to our families' progress, if we just think of our immediate circles we cannot counter those who don’t want us to vote. If we keep thinking individually they will continue to put our children in cages and ship us like cattle in buses.

Only as a much larger “we” can we fight back. ¡Juntos nos levantamos!

We must do three things:

·         Unify

·         Organize

·         Fundraise

Unify- We must realize that we dance to different music, have different comida, we have so much more in common as Latinx. Our spirits, our history and our powerful, powerful hearts. We need to hold hands with all our Latinx brothers and sisters. No matter where your people come from, no matter who you love, no matter when you got here. ¡Juntos nos levantamos!

Organize- Happily, we do have great Latinx organizations nationwide. JOIN ONE! Give and volunteer and answer their calls to action. Become an activist. Clicking “likes” on social media is not enough. Please, do something give your money, give your time. Answer the call to defend our families and our communities! Be a Warrior for justice. The justice our hard-working people deserve! Be part of a movement. ¡No llores, ponte a trabajar!

Fundraising: This is the missing piece. Latinx nationally have tremendous giving ability. We have an annual giving ability of $24. 7 billion. Imagine if we started giving a fraction of that to the organizations working on these issues I talked about. To key causes and movements? Our current organizations right now are too small. Small budgets, small staff and not surprisingly small impact. There are 62 million of us. These organizations need to be big, powerful, and well-funded. Nothing is scarier to the people who want to oppress us than us unified, organized, and well-funded. That’s the nightmare of every racist.

Finally, don’t believe the negative voices out there. The “it will never happen” crowd. There are always people like that till change happens. I have seen small Latinx nonprofits nationwide with Mexicans, Hondurans, Dominicans working side by side on key issues.  We are the masters of our own futures. Please consider sharing this message. I have seen lots of conferences and pretty speeches that talk about Latinx Power. Those are nice but the only real power is when we work together, raise real money, and have real campaigns that create real change. Unify, Organize, and Fundraise. Each of us has to decide that it’s time to make this happen.