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.
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission Hearing held in San Antonio in 1968, and the 1997 publication “The New Texas Challenge: Population Change and the Future of Texas” led by Steve H. Murdock are entangled. Latino bienestar improvements are noted but remain unsatisfactory across the state.
The Latino Texas Policy Center (LTPC) is a developing statewide organization based in San Antonio. The Texas Latino Policy Symposium (TXLPS), which includes this blog, has described the need; and advocated for leadership to establish a Latino ‘Think Tank.’ Its purpose is to increase the policy-making influence of Latinos.
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.
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.
The Texas Organizing Project is a grass-roots membership organization organizing in four cities at a neighborhood level. They’re organizing model involves strategic issue-based campaigns that engage people in the fight for their daily lives, direct actions, disrupt power structures, and deliver meaningful change with broad support base.
One would expect Latino interests and concerns among the 87thLegislative Session’s budget priorities given they represent 40% of the states’ population and are a major reason for the state gaining 2 congressional seats: however, …
Latino faculty representation and leadership is crucial across Texas’s higher education system. Yet, Latino/a faculty is experiencing wage inequities regardless of equivalent and better qualifications. A group of Latino/a professors at UT Austin have been leading efforts to redress the extensively documented promotion and pay inequities that cut across the UT Higher Education System.