Weekly Review: September 13, 2015

By Angelo Falcón

Remembering 9/11. It's hard to believe that it has been 14 years since the 9/11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center towers. I was working on that terrible day in what was then the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), which was located just ten blocks from the towers. Many of us in the office got to see firsthand in horror as the second plane crashed into one of the buildings. We then began a scary trek to get back to our homes on foot, seeing along the way survivors covered in dust, wondering if the buildings we were passing in the street would also be falling on us. We all made it home safely but had to return to work in the Ground Zero area, making it difficult not to relive the experience for some time.

Beyond the recollections of that terrible day, we commissioned a study the following year on the impact of the 9/11 recovery on the Latino community. The result was the report, "Cracks in the Unity: The Impact of September 11th on New York Latinos --- Relief, Redevelopment and Lessons for the Future" by veteran journalist Annette Fuentes, which we published in 2003. We repost it here as a reminder and to illustrate another instance when the Latino got the short end of the stick during a "recovery."

Trump's Deconstruction of the Latino Vote? Charles D. Ellison's op-ed, "Is Trump proving that the Latino voting bloc is a myth?," in the September 9th Washington Post raises some interesting questions about the nature of the Latino vote. The case of Trump's candidacy, he argues, raises serious questions about the conventional wisdom about who Latinos will be voting for in 2016. He concludes that,

"Despite all the fears from Republican strategists of mass Latino voting pushback, and the glee of Democrats watching from the sidelines, Trump keeps spraying a steady stream of fairly bigoted anti-immigrant tirades as if he won't face any political consequences for it. In terms of a very white GOP primary electorate, it obviously doesn't appear as if he will. But his Latino support numbers also deserve closer, less culturally myopic scrutiny. Something rather fascinating is going on there, and it's making him feel politically safe at the moment. Apparently, Trump keeps seeing things we're not."

Ellison, for example, sees the fact that Trump recently met with Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Javier Palomarez as evidence that he may have more Latino support than meets the eye. He cites polls that show significant favorability ratings of Trump by Latinos and points out that Republicans have gotten as much as 40 percent of the Latino vote in Presidential elections.

However, the flaw in Ellison's analysis is that he begins with a stereotypical picture of the Latino voter. The idea that all, or almost all, Latinos would vote or think the same way has never been advanced by any serious student of politics. What he calls the "Alonso Effect" from the "American Crime" TV series is also nothing new (and he neglects to mention that by the end of the first season, Alonzo rethought a lot of his biases). There have always been Latino conservatives or even nativists.

The amazing thing that he doesn't acknowledge, is that despite the great national-origin and generational diversity in the Latino community, the concerns with issues beyond immigration reform, and all the Koch Brothers dollars going to woo the Latino voter, Latinos do form a formidable voting block tied to the Democratic Party. The early campaigning we are currently experiencing, as well as the waning Hillary Clinton campaign on the Democratic side and the political circus of Trump and the rest on the Republican side may be the source of any fluidity we may see in current responses to polls. Ellison's analysis provides us with food for thought, but it more like fast food that only has limited nutritional value.

By the way, on the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president's meeting with Trump: he actually invited Trump to speak at his group's October forum. Well, it seems that the group, United We Dream is circulating a petition demanding "that USHCC not provide Trump with platform to legitimize dangerous and racist influence." Will other national Latino civil rights organizations join this campaign? They probably won't if Ellison's analysis is correct.

Puerto Rico Crisis Update. The Governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, finally released his official austerity plan to address the country's debt crisis and, to no one's surprise, everybody hated it. As Alice Ollstein in the September 9th Think Progress put it: "In exchange for demanding some concessions from the island's hedge fund creditors, the government is promising to pay workers less than the minimum wage, slash retirement benefits, limit collective bargaining, cut funding to universities, and shut down more K-12 schools." Those in Puerto Rico most affected by these proposed changes see them as draconian and unacceptable while the debtors think it does not go far enough to insure their investments. I am sure that since is the case, someone from the Populares at some point will be saying something like, "Since nobody likes the plan, it means we got it right." Some in the U.S. Congress have said that they have been waiting to see Governor Garcia Padilla's plan before taking any action, but let\s see if this was just an excuse for inaction.

The Labor Day visit by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his delegation of Puerto Rican elected officials and others had the positive effect of keeping Puerto Rico in the news and demonstrating that the issue of the debt is getting the attention of political leaders outside of the Puerto Rican community. While it is not clear how Governor Cuomo will affect the debt problem with technical assistance and a "New Yorkers Love Puerto Rico"-type tourism campaign, his visit has raised other, more impactful things that he could be doing. The Hedge Clipper group has called on him to divest his political campaign of hedge fund donors, but others, like Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, would prefer to have him use his influence with these hedge funds to appeal to them to provide Puerto Rico with fair restructuring of the debt. Others have argued that Cuomo, who Vice President Biden has christened the best governor in the United States, should use his influence to rally the state's Congressional delegation, other governors and, ultimately, the White House to come to the rescue of the debt-ridden Island.

While there seems to be increasing skepticism that the Congress will respond to proposals to provide Puerto Rico some bankruptcy protections (and even less to reform the 1920 Jones Act), a group has emerged that feels that this is not the case and is mobilizing to stop it. The 60 Plus Association, an 18 year old group that bills itself as a conservative alternative to the AARP, and whose national spokesperson is Pat Boone (no shit), is lobbying Congress to reject HR 870. As they put it on their website: "Congress is edging closer to granting Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection to Puerto Rico, a move that would allow the island to walk away from $164 billion in debt. ... But this would shortchange millions of seniors, pensioners and other investors who placed their faith - and life savings - in Puerto Rican bonds, only to now see island's government try to shirk its obligations." Are they right about the prospects of this legislation, or are the skeptics?

As I observed last week, there seems to be some movement to hold President Obama more accountable on the Puerto Rico crisis. The Hispanic Federation has created a petition on the White House's We the People petition website that calls on" on the President to take action on Puerto Rico now." The way this White House petition program works is that the President will respond to a petition in writing once it reaches the threshold of at least 100,000 signatures. This Hispanic Federation petition, submitted on September 10th, had 331 signatures on September 13th, needing another 99,669 by October 10th. As an example of the type of message you can expect from President Obama, see his response to the petition calling on him to remove Puerto Rico's Governor Garcia Padilla by clicking here.

Meanwhile, back in Puerto Rico, Gallup released the findings of a poll on the opinions of the residents of Puerto Rico on life on the Island these days. They found, to no one's surprise, that a whopping 76 percent feel that economic conditions in Puerto Rico are getting worse . . . and this was last year! They compare this with 24 other countries, with Puerto Rico ranking last. Their poll also found that 64 percent of the Puerto Ricans surveyed disapprove of the job Garcia Padilla is doing as Governor. Gallup concludes that "As this fiscal crisis continues to play out, it is possible more Puerto Ricans will look to U.S. statehood as a preferred alternative to remaining a commonwealth." This would, in my opinion, be having the opposite affect stateside, where the U.S. Congress would probably be terrified by the financial costs of making Puerto Rico a state.

To get reports on the responses of the people of Puerto Rico and in the diaspora to this crisis, take some time to look at the "A Call to Action on Puerto Rico" page on Facebook and by clicking here.

Melissa Too Radioactive for the DNC? It came seemingly out of nowhere when the news came that Nevada Senatorial candidate Catherine Cortez Masto disinvited NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, who was scheduled to headline one of her fundraisers. Cortez Masto, Nevada's former Attorney General who is running to succeed Harry Reid in the Senate, pointed to Viverito's support for the release of political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera as the reason. Her campaign explained that "After learning of Speaker Mark-Viverito's support of clemency for a convicted terrorist, our campaign felt it necessary to cut immediately all ties between the Speaker and the campaign."

Viverito's people pointed out that she was joined by many others in the Democratic Party in support of the release of Lopez Rivera and the reaction within the Puerto Rican community was critical of Cortez Masto's decision. Although she has such a narrow view of the issue of Lopez Rivera's freedom, in Puerto Rico political leaders of all political parties support his release.

However, the potential political problems this can cause Viverito in terms of her national political profile can be significant. She is seen as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton for one, which ties her to the presidential candidate's fate. Then there is the problem that the Oscar Lopez Rivera campaign has not been mainstreamed enough nationally among Democrats and non-Puerto Rican Latinos (very few Puerto Ricans live in Nevada), which could create a problem in getting President Obama's support as the presidential election develops. Viverito is to be commended for standing firm on this issue, but there may be some serious fallout at the national level that she will have to deal with as a result.

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