Electing for self-defense
Latinxs in the 2016 election
By Marisa Franco
Co-founder of Mijente and the #Not1More Deportation Campaign
For veteran community organizers, election season is always chaotic and fraught with contradictions. This year is no exception for me. I am a queer, Chicana woman from Arizona who after many years organizing in other states has moved back to Phoenix. I helped found Mijente, a digital and grassroots hub for Latinx and Chicanx organizing and movement building.
As we watched the rise of Trump, we knew he had to be stopped. But we also knew that for many communities of color, Trump’s America is already here. Like many, I’ve engaged in this election to defend against racism, sexism and xenophobia, and to do this in a way that mobilizes social movements and raises expectations for what we expect from the next president — because we have our work cut out for us regardless of the victor.
As the lines form, polls poll and this presidential cycle (thankfully) comes to a close, significant takeaways from this election make themselves clear.
1. Yes, Latinxs are turned up and turning out.
Trump has had our names in his mouth from the moment he announced his candidacy for president. Early voting shows that many of the people Trump attacked are delivering an unequivocal response to prevent his rise. According to Pew Research, the Latinx electorate has increased by 4 million people since 2012. Reports from early voters show significant turnout of Latinx people, led by Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Many in our community are registering to vote simply to vote against Trump. I, for one, am thrilled to see my community coming out to stick it to Trump.
2. She’s still #NotOurAbuela.
Impressive turnout numbers should not be misinterpreted as simply a watershed of support for Hillary Clinton. These numbers represent a community motivated to act in self-defense against Donald Trump. In this election we’ve seen celebrities and corridos, but we still have 3 million deportations that no one has been accountable to us for, a lukewarm embrace of a $15-per-hour minimum wage and silence on the economic crisis in Puerto Rico.
Candidate Clinton campaigned to the Latinx community that she was not just “la Hillary” but “tu Hillary.” President Bill Clinton was often problematically referred to as the “first black president,” and when we look at his record on economics, race and trade, Clinton’s legacy of impact on black communities has been abysmal. Hillary should not be positioned to make such claims about herself and the Latinx community. Democrats too often take us for granted and rarely reward communities of color for partisan loyalty.
This election may be a show of power, but that power quickly evaporates without political independence. Count on us to keep building our own Latinx political leadership, outside of the big Democratic party machine.
3. Electoral battlegrounds are shifting.
Is it me, or have we heard a lot less about Ohio in this election? This time around, those big red-and-blue maps are shifting. Election crunch time has featured razor-thin races in states like North Carolina, Florida and Nevada. At some points, stalwart red states like Georgia and Arizona have even been in play. My home state of Arizona has been visited by Tim Kaine, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama in late October. Part of this can be explained by a Trump candidacy. But it also speaks to migration patterns and demographic change.
We cannot ignore the impact of recent migration of African Americans to the South, Puerto Ricans settling in central Florida from the island (or the Northeast), and the maturation of new immigrant communities in states like Georgia and North Carolina. Ohio, a bellwether in presidential elections since 1964, has long proved decisive in presidential elections because it represented the quintessential “American” electorate. Maybe that’s not longer the case.
4. Don’t blame black communities for not being excited about Clinton.
If you falsely interpret Latinx turnout as solely pro-Hillary, then you might be concerned about what may be lower-than-average turnout from the African American electorate.
Trump tapped into white fear and anxiety and built his campaign on a promise to deport and build a wall. He consistently denigrates Mexicans, Muslims and, in extension, immigrants. Without the threat and visceral anger many felt, I suspect voter turnout in the Latinx community would have been similar to past cycles. So before any fingers get pointed at black folks who stayed home, know this — Trump actually sought to peel off support from black voters, and in the end the record will show he was overwhelmingly rejected. Likely it will be at a rate higher than Latinxs.
If turnout is lower, it speaks to the lack of enthusiasm generated by Clinton and her campaign, not the African American voting bloc that has consistently delivered so much for the Democratic Party.
5. We both boo and vote.
Shifting battlegrounds are a result of migration but also of organizing. Many of us are left out of elections — whether it be because of where we live or because we can’t vote. A key story of this election is people opting in. Young people, formerly incarcerated people and undocumented people are advocating for change.
Arizona was not a state that was seen in play for this election. In comparison to other states, Arizona received a fraction of the resources and investment. It became a swing state because our communities have been fighting for themselves. November 8 could mark the end of 23 years of racial profiling and terror at the hands of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Time and time again, we are fighting and the political parties who claim to represent us are nowhere to be seen. These are the day-to-day issues that cannot always be addressed through the ballot box. If they won’t show up, we must. If they won’t invest, we will.
People of color don’t want to live where we can’t control our political present and future. When we are conscious, we are more likely to organize, and when we organize, we are more likely to vote. As this 2016 election cycle comes to a close, we have the duty and opportunity to honor the way in which our community has defended itself in this cycle. The best way to do that is to go on the offense, on our own terms.
Editor’s note: This piece is “firsthand” and the views are of the writer, not AJ+.
