ELECTION TIME AGAIN, LEARN HOW TO SAY, “COMO ESTA TU” AND YOU MIGHT WIN THE LATINO VOTE

Election time is here again, with the primary elections on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, and the general elections on November 2nd. For the candidates looking for the Puerto Rican/Latino vote, here are a few pointers to know about Buffalo’s Puerto Rican/Latino community. When you look for the Latino vote, know that over 90% of the Latino vote is Puerto Rican, followed by Dominicans and Cubans, with the rest from Latin America. Many Puerto Ricans do not like the term “Hispanic.” You are better off using the term, Puerto Ricans, Boricuas, or Latinos (inclusion of all Latino people) when addressing our community.

Education is a major concern for our children and young people. The schools lack quality educational programs and there is a great need to recruit Puerto Rican/Latino educators, administrators, and teachers. It does not hurt to hire non-educational staff as well. We can add Latinos to the overall staffing of the institutions. There are many jobs where a degree is not needed.  Language is a concern in interacting with the public and private sector for many in our community whose dominant language is Spanish.  Jobs are lacking. Because of our weak political representation, public and private sectors overlook our community when hiring “people of color.” You can see this reality when you walk into a bank for service. You see all colors, but none are Latinos, and very few, if any, speak Spanish to make our visit productive and meaningful.

While Buffalo is a college town, these educational institutions do little in recruiting Latino students. Their advertising budget is spent on white and black publications, but little, if any, on our community publications (La Ultima Hora, Latino Village, and Panorama Hispano). We do give credit to Buffalo State which does advertise in one of our local publications. Criminal Justice. That speaks for itself. Spanish faces are completely absent in the local criminal justice system unless we are speaking about inmates. Political representation. We have two elected officials and several community leaders with an excellent relationship with the Buffalo & Erie County political system. But unfortunately, that has become a “clique or connection” relationship. Only a few within the circle benefit, having first offer an opportunity before opening to the community, leaving many qualified Latinos unemployed due to a lack of personal connection. As the saying goes: “It’s not what you know, it is who you know”, or “You have to pay to play.”  Consequently, we lose good and qualified Latinos who have no choice but to leave Buffalo for better opportunities. We get stuck with a Latino leadership that lacks creativity, imagination, and vision. Things have not changed for over 40-50 years.  The inner circle continues to feed itself at the expense of the community.  In closing, these are issues that candidates should address if they want to work with the Buffalo Latino community. Latino Resources Online: webpages for new and independent information: theeducationalpledge.com, buffalolatinovillage.com, buffalolatinoartgallery.com, hispanicheritagewny.org, panoramahispanonews.com.