LATINO VOTERS SENT A MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ELITES AND CORPORATE MEDIA

by Howard Jordan, The Jordan Journal  ([email protected] or tweet @journal_jordan)

I could not wait to get home to watch the returns from the Nevada Democratic Primary. Having been involved in the Jesse Jackson campaign in 1984 and 1988 hoped my continued idealism would prevail and the people would win.  As a political analyst and former radio host I had written and commented at infinitum about the importance of the Latino vote and how it was centered in the campaign of “Tio Bernie,” as he is affectionately referred to by many in the Latino community. LatinDecisions a respected polling group only days before had indicated the majority of Latinos “felt the Bern.” But detractors in the corporate media like Chris Matthews and Joy Reid of MSNBC and the Democratic Party establishment had staked their claims on the ability to brainwash voters with anti-Sanders propaganda and highlighting  talking heads and hacks of the Democratic Party like consultant James Carville. Perhaps even more tragic a group like the Latino Victory Fund headed by democratic consultant Luis Miranda  had done our community a disservice endorsing “Boring Biden.” The night was young and time would tell.

 Then the results came and “el pueblo unido nunca sera vencido” (the People United will never be defeated. Tio Bernie captured 41 percent of the total vote,  51 percent of Latinos had voted for him and 27 percent of African Americans second only to boring Biden. Bernie had captured nearly every major demographic in the state young voters from 17-29, union workers, immigrants, and had even made inroads with the moderates. He  had as promised built a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that captured every major demographic in the state. Listen to his victory speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fFPslBcJ1M

But what are the lessons to be learned from the victory ? Let’s list a few.

 One: The democratic Party and corporate media  CAN NO LONGER IGNORE AND INVISIBILIZE THE LATINO COMMUNITY. NO MORE MEDIA ERASURE Latinos as the largest number of eligible voters in the country by voting in Nevada sent a message. We will not be “invisibilized”. The term “People of Color” has become popularized over the decades referring to African American, Latinx, Asian, and Native American communities that have been victimized by white supremacy but it must be deconstructed. Nevada demonstrates some of  the weakness of collapsing the historical experiences of so many communities under one rubric. Here you had Sanders winning the vote in Nevada and gaining momentum among Latinos but only improving amongst younger African Americans. He still has a ways to go with all African Americans particularly the   older generation. But yes the  days are over when mainstream media hold electoral panels with only white ethnic commentators and African Americans to speak for the Latinos community (we come in all races) and we can speak for ourselves.

I watched as the MSNBC hosts had a meltdown and they could hardly get the word Latina, Latino, or Latinx out of their mouths referring only to “People of color”  or “minority voters even in a state that is 30 percent Latino.” I was not surprised that they brought out, once a year like Christmas, a few Latino journalists and commentators to put a Latino face on a community they had treated all year around with contempt. Maria Teresa Kumar best captured the night when she remarked “Bernie Sanders is part of the Latino household…and integrated Latinos as a  part of his coalition.” To their  credit commentators like Maria Hinojosa, Raul Reyes Theresa Kumar, Ray Suarez and Hector Sanchez did us proud noting when asked who won today in the Nevada? All the answers were a resounding yes THE LATINO COMMUNITY WON TODAY. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Two: THE SANDERS TEAM MUST REJECT THE MYTHOLOGY THAT AFRICAN AMERICANS WILL NOT SUPPORT THE ELECTABLE SANDERS WHO CAN DEFEAT RACIST TRUMP African Americans and Latinos (including Afro-Latinos) have a historical connection that transcends this electoral primary going back to W.E.B. Dubois support of self-determination of Puerto Rico, the legacy of the Young Lords and Black Panthers, and the election of African American mayors like Harold Washington in Chicago and Dinkins in NYC. During the Jackson campaign we activists in “Latinos for Jesse Jackson” often remarked that “the hands that picked cotton and the hands that cut sugar cane” will pick the next President of the United States.”

 African-Americans particularly women are still the cornerstone of the Democratic Party. But let us remember historically African Americans have challenged the  Democratic Party establishment who went after Dr. King and the SCLC and were accomplices to most of the racist legislation going back decades in this country. But young progressive African Americans are also rejecting this corporate elite and billionaire class. Given the history of African Americans in this country Black voters are  “practical,” they are also unafraid of revolution. (though Sanders is not a revolutionary but a social democrat.)  Sanders must appeal to African Americans and advance anti-racist policies that encourage African Americans to  reject the “uncle tom” “Oreo cookie” politics of folks likes Congressman Gregory Meeks and Rev. Calvin Butts that have chosen to “sleep with the enemy” embracing another arrogant billionaire racist practitioner  Mike Bloombucks.  

 Three: MEDIA MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE LATINO REALITY IS COMPLEX. Perhaps the most interesting dimension of the tremendous victory by Sanders is how  ignorant, boarding on “journalistic malpractice,” the mainstream media is about Latinos. It should be understood that Latinos come in diverse races so that we have overlapping identities and levels of oppression. Latina women, like their African American counterparts, are also the cornerstone of new leadership in our barrios ala Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.   We are 57 million strong but while similar we are not the same. For example Afro-Latinos live a different world experience than a racialized Latinos or even self-identified white Latinos. (See Afro-Latin@ forum and Black Latinas Know Collective)

 Equally troubling is the lack of understanding  of the diversity of Latino nationalities. Six out of every 10 Latinos is Mexican, Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens for over 100 years, Dominicans are now the largest Latino subgroup in New York, and we have an emerging population of four million residents with origins in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. I watched as bendito some sympathetic white female commentator looking to reach out told a tear-jerking story of a Latino immigrant family at the border. Yes immigration is an issue in all Latino communities we detest a racist like Trump putting our children in cages that is why we have always championed immigrant rights as human rights. But two thirds of Latinos are U.S. born or naturalized. The growth of the Latino demographic is U.S. born Latinos and maldito sea (dammit) most of us speak English though we rightfully embrace bilingual education.  Immigration is an issue but so is health care, free higher education and affordable housing to all Latinos like all U.S. citizens and residents. SOMOS UNO (We are one) but a complex one.

 Four: RECOGNIZING  OUR SHEROES/HEROES, CONSOLIDATING PROGRESSIVES AND THE STRUGGLE TO CAPTURE THE “HEARTS AND MINDS” OF U.S. VOTERS MUST CONTINUE. We must pause in our deliberations to honor a few sheroes and heroes that fought the good fight having  been victims of character assassination and taken political hits by the Democratic Party establishment  and the corporate media. I will mention only three our beloved African-American sister Nina Turner is a standout. Un abrazo hermano. Watching you go on MSNBC  being attacked by those media hacks is a testament to the love you have for the movement and our people. Also my Latina sister Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, 30 years young, taking much political fire for your amor de lucha (love of struggle) that has led to your mobilization of Latinos for Bernie all over the United States. Finally Chuck Rocha, my mejicano brother with his cowboy hat, Texas drawl, and rented pick up a leader of the Sander’s 2020 operation in Nevada. I must also say y no me maten (don’t kill me), with a sense of pain given the lack of women in the race, but Elizabeth Warren if your campaign continues to spiral for the greater good I would respectfully suggest you withdraw and support Tio Bernie and by so doing consolidate the progressive wing of the party for the upcoming fight at the Democratic convention.

 Lastly let us get back to business if the Dem. Party establishment and corporate media were panicking before at this point they are hysterical. (take a chill pill) Get ready for guerrilla warfare, backstabbing and dirty low down tricks. Look for amplified attacks on Sanders pointing to his position on gun control, the socialist boogeyman, he is not a "real democrat," so-called "Bernie Bros, Putin Russiagate which is a form of  modern day red baiting,  and again demanding Sanders release all his medical records. The corporate media will encourage all the establishment democrats to gang up like a cult on Sanders and lighten up on Republican Bloombucks in the second debate. Get  your “arrows of justice” out because a new tier of political warfare is around the corner. It is time for talking to friends, donations, volunteers, door knocking, and greater use of social media.

 Familia as an aging activist and OG (old guard) I must share the joy I feel at having the younger generation step up and take leadership  as they did in Nevada, are doing in all the barrios of this great land, and in my beloved homeland Puerto Rico. We are at our best when, conscious of our historical legacy, we elders nurture and guide this young generation to accomplish what because of societal oppression and infighting we couldn’t, namely take TRANSFORMATIVE POWER.  Tio Bernie and the political movement he embodies in this decade may be the gateway to a new beginning for people of color and all working families in this nation.  

Howard Jordan is a tenured Professor at Hostos Community College, attorney, journalist, and political activist. ([email protected] or tweet journal_jordan)

Latinos, Sanders's secret weapon in Nevada, could make him unstoppable on Super Tuesday https://news.yahoo.com/latinos-sanderss-secret-weapon-in-nevada-could-make-him-unstoppable-on-super-tuesday-015922411.html

 How Young Latinos Delivered Nevada to Tío Bernie https://theintercept.com/2020/02/22/latinos-bernie-sanders-nevada-caucus/