Latino and Black families are being regulated to a generational and permanent underclass population status. The history of Texas’ minimalist approach to policymaking has perpetuated limited human capital investments, and unequal opportunities to achieve family bienestar (well-being) – real middle-class equivalency.
Category: Civic Engagement
Republican Voting Disenfranchisement Agenda
Remember Texas’ election law Senate Bill 1, which became active on December 2, 2021? SB1 demonstrated its negative impact on Latino and Black voters through restrictions on voting, voter assistance, and voter outreach. Now, Republican ideologues who passed SB1 are at it again.
Uvalde Tragedy: Latinos Want Justice and Change
The Uvalde tragedy resulted in extensive media, punditry, and political attention. Yet, has anyone asked what the children’s families and predominant Latino community want? The failed communications and understanding of their wants serve as a microcosm of what happens across Latino communities.
Latino Wealth, Political Power, and Policy Influence
Latino economic disparities cut across wages and benefits, median income, home ownership, debts, and savings. Their middle class and wealth-building status affect choices to strengthen family bienestar (well-being), civic involvement to gain political power and policy influence, and structural changes needed.
Inflation and Texas’ Regressive Tax Policy
The people and vital services least able to handle increased costs for food, gas, housing, and utilities are the ones least likely to benefit from inflation-related adjustments. Yet, the Texas Senate Finance charged with examining Texans’ current tax exemptions and whether adjustments are merited because of inflation are looking for more ways to keep businesses […]
Texas’ Climate Disaster: Latino Community Impact and Policy Assessment
The Texas Winter Storm, in February 2021, disproportionately impacted Latino, Black, and low-income peoples. The winter disaster occurred while they were struggling with pandemic conditions and its concurrent disproportionate economic and health effects.
Robert Santos, the new U.S. Census Director wants to ramp up outreach
The U.S. Census is about power and money, and Texas Latinos have so far lost on both counts; in electoral power and federal funding that helps support important vital infrastructure and health and human service needs. Rogelio Saenz’s pre-2020 Census potential ‘undercount’ impact brief was predictive.
Chicano Movement Legacies: Fifty Years of Raza Unida Party
A Reunion and Celebration of the Legacy of Raza Unida Party –One of the Most Influential Organizations of the Chicano Movement. Participants will review the history and legacy of the Raza Unida Party, and its relationships to the current social, economic, and political status of Mexican Americans. Presentations will connect the present to future influence […]
Decades of Latino Health Injustice
There are 2.5 more uninsured Latinos today than their total population of 1.8 million during the 1968 U.S. Civil Rights Commission Hearing conducted in San Antonio. It’s a social justice issue that requires change from the decades of increasing right-wing political obstruction and discriminatory policies.
What Texas’ Classroom Censorship Law Means for Students and Schools
Texas’ classroom censorship law, Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) will make it even more difficult to undo the myths of the Alamo. In particular, the myths and lies of its so-called heroes who supposedly died for liberty as opposed to the TRUTH – to protect slavery and to marginalize native Mexicans, and steal their land.