[Archive: Magazine - Latino Perspectives] Si Se Puede, but how?? - June 2006

Latino Perspectives Magazine
June 2006

Si­ se puede but how? 

 Latinos answer that question in different ways as they decide what they will do to continue the momentum of nationwide demonstrations that catapulted immigration reform to the front pages. 
By Anita Mabante Leach

 Monica Rapps, 50, has never felt compelled to be politically active. But as the daughter of parents who emigrated from Guatemala in 1955, the debate has hit home.

 "I've always had a lot of opinions, but I've never gotten involved in anything. But this issue is very close to my heart." So, for the first time, Rapps wrote a letter to her legislator urging immigration reform. "I feel like I want to do more but I'm not sure what to do," the Phoenix paralegal admits.

Bettina Nava hopes to help answer that question with a new campaign called I Am A Proud American that includes a Web site (www.iamaproudamerican.com) where people can share their own stories and learn how to get involved civically.

 "Theres a lot of energy right now and people want to participate, but they dont know how," Nava explains.

 "We use techniques to make it easy for them like encouraging them to write letters to the editor." The rise of anti-Hispanic rhetoric drove Nava and a friend to launch the campaign, in which they plan edgy commercials challenging stereotypes. "This immigration conversation is really taking an ugly turn sometimes becoming a message of hate instead of staying to the policy of it and sticking to the facts," says Nava, a public relations consultant. While she is an example of Latinos working at a very public level through organizations, some people instead try to influence opinions in their own circles.

 Jose Burruel, 83, has long been active in organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul Society and the League of United Latin American Citizens (www.lulac.org). Burruel recalls his own journey from working in the fields to becoming a teacher and then a university professor. Now that he lives in an upper-class Scottsdale neighborhood, he isnt shy about sharing his thoughts on the immigration issue. He believes Latinos can fight extremists by "working to change other peoples minds by example. We have to put our best foot forward so there is no way they can question our actions."

 Burruel also plans to support the efforts of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (www.aclpu.org or [602] 258-8850 Phoenix, [520] 529-1798 Tucson) to increase funding for English language instruction in public schools. Seemingly simple goals like education and voter registration are often cited as key by veteran community activists such as Raul Monreal.

"We have to get our people to vote and put pressure on the government to do their job," Monreal says. Monreal, director of the South Mountain Community College Guadalupe Center, is also inspired by the "energy" that young people are bringing to the cause.

Gabriel Cruz is one of those young budding activists. The college student and longtime member of MEChA, worked at the border with the organization No More Deaths (www.nomoredeaths.org). "That was the reality check. I realized people are dying to get here and I'm taking it for granted," says Cruz, whose mother was born in Mexico. Cruz now plans to take that passion to the next level and is running for Glendale City Council