Today: Mar 29, 2024

“The Trump Card” Event held to highlight challenges Latinos face

Courtney Luciana – Special to Southern News

A diverse community of students, staff and New Haven residents assembled in the Adanti Student Center ballroom on Oct. 15 to unionize the Latino culture. The evening was represented by a group of local Hispanic panelists, who each delivered the challenges they have faced in this country.

The event, titled “The Trump Card,” began with Robert Heron, vice president of the Organization of Latin American Students, displaying a clip of the derogatory, racial remarks made by current GOP candidate, Donald Trump. Trump said that he classifies undocumented Hispanic immigrants as “criminals, rapists and drug dealers.”

The commissioners of the event collectively swallowed the distasteful comments, but responded by cultivating an equivalent message as a whole: America aches for change. Fernando Muñiz, Deputy Commissioner for Administration at the Department of Children and Families (DCF), noted the continuous issue that is running our country. “It’s not what Trump said, it’s what others didn’t say,” said Muñiz.

While the criticism made by Trump was demoralizing, it casted the opportunity for a revolution in order to debunk the ongoing perception of the Hispanic stereotype. Jordy Padilla, a native Ecuadorian and alumni of the University of New Haven, told audience members that Trump’s judgment only represents narrow ideas over facts.

“We need to all embrace our struggles and present ideas,” said Padilla.

The discussion elevated toward “Elections 101” which encouraged individuals to educate themselves on the primaries of the election, to present ideas, and to make voting a priority.   Moderator Dr. Rafael Hernandez, a SCSU Spanish professor, took initiative in directing audience members to the tables posted outside the auditorium where anyone could take up registering to vote.

Raquel Santiago-Martinez, alumni of SCSU and producer of CRT’s new business development that renovates community sustainability, exercised her concerns in addressing a common form of disrespect made towards the Hispanic community.

“It’s called undocumented, not illegal. Start getting others to call these members ‘undocumented’ or nothing at all. They pay taxes, social security, and take jobs on that others don’t want to take,” she said.

A powerful message was conveyed that it is crucial to express change for our country instead of manifesting disgust around Trump’s words. The people of America harvesting a passion for bilingual and bicultural communities can make a direct change.  Recent Pew studies conducted in 2011 revealed that Connecticut alone inhabited 343,000 (76 percent) bilingual households. There is no logic behind shooting down advancement in what is known as the land of opportunity.

Southern student Jonathan Plaza, who takes immense pride in his Latino culture, stood up in the crowd to encourage his colleagues on how to suspend the broken formalities that have been made against the Hispanic population.

“It’s necessary to have a broader scope that doesn’t get wrapped up in all of these political divisions that are constantly bombarding us,” said Plaza. “The greatest thing you could do especially as a young individual is constantly educate yourself. The next time you’re spending some time on the weekend and one of your friends invites you to a party why don’t you instead take a minute to pick up a book, a newspaper article, or go online and research important topics.”

The conversation concluded with a reminder made by Dian Brown-Albert, coordinator of Multicultural affairs, to not allow for the intentions of a revolution to expire but to keep spreading the message. With the rising of the 2016 presidential election, it is essential for everyone to make it a priority to take advantage of their voice and make an impact on behalf of our country.  

Photo Credit: Derek Torrellas

3 Comments

  1. Cut spending, yes. Increase taxes, no! Why is it that these all knowing Congressmen can’t see the forest for the trees? The answer is so simple that it is embarrassing! Just kill the sacred cows: the phony war on drugs, the phony wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the central governments intrusion in the field of medicine and the con game that the Saudis and Chinese are playing with the American people.

    • Repeal Obamacare, post haste….why spend a trillion dollars to buy health care for the 32 million Americans who are currently receiving it for free right now? Simply include the preexisting disease and 26 year old child clauses of Obamacare and trash the other 2300 pages of this pay to play scam.

    • Give current Medicaid and Medicare recipients vouchers and let them purchase whatever health insurance fits their needs…this would cut the cost of these corrupt programs by an amazing 70%. Enforceable, meaningful deductibles and co-pays would return Medicare and Medicaid patients to the real world medical marketplace! And would simultaneously cut the cost of commercial health insurance for the rest of us by 50%.

    • Scrap the phony trillion dollar Medicare prescription drug program. This was a tradeoff by Bush and Cheney, aimed at getting old folks’ Brownie points, so that Bush et al not be put on trial for treason vis a vis their phony was in Iraq. Let the seniors buy the safer, much less expensive generic drugs.

    • Conduct an auction and sell off all government hospitals….Army. Navy, Air Force, VA, USPHS and NIH. Then present the involved patients with vouchers, so that they can seek medical care where ever they wish. Private hospital corporations would buy the above mentioned facilities and run them as they should be run. Patients would be required to pay deductibles and co-pays, just like the rest of us!

    • Issue a federal mandate that would allow patients to cross state lines, in order to purchase more competitive health insurance….in other words, break up those BCBS monopolies, like the BCBS scam that Kathleen Sebelius and her trial lawyer cronies ran in Kansas, for years and years.

    • Scrap the wind farm and gasohol programs that our corrupt politicians and their flim flam puppeteers have forced down our throats. These programs are not, and never will be, cost effective. Just another corrupt political pipe dream that will never pan out.

    • Scrap the phony trillion dollar Medicare prescription drug program. This was a tradeoff by Bush and Cheney, aimed at getting old folks’ Brownie points, so that Bush et al not be put on trial for treason vis a vis their phony was in Iraq. Let the seniors buy the safer, much less expensive generic drugs.

    • Tell OPEC where to get off by imposing an adjustable energy import tax. “The less you charge us, the less we tax your products. And vice versa.”

    • Structure gasoline and diesel road taxes so as to encourage the use of our abundant natural gas resources for surface transportation.

    • Remove all unions from all mass transit in America. Tell these people that efficient, privately run mass transit, free of unions, is a matter of national survival.

    • Get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan right now! Station these troops stateside until they can find work in the private sector. And begin the public trials of those politicians who corruptly got us into these hell holes.

    • Call a halt to the phony war on drugs and the corrupt judicial-prison industry that it supports. Make those government judges, lawyers, DEA, Sheriff’s Deputies, FBI, USMS, local and federal judicial employees who are involved in this phony war on drugs…why, make them go out and get real jobs.

    • We must stop this insane prohibition of opiates that empowers the most corrupt of us. Do this and crime in America would plummet by 80%. But then we will have to listen to the American drug kingpins Oliver North, GHW Bush, Hillary Clinton, Stephens Jackson, Don Tyson, Steven Bresky, George Soros and others …but then we will have to listen to these drug kingpins’ puppets whine about the dangers of over the counter opiates! Where did these thugs get their medical education, anyway? To learn more about the drug kingpins who run this country go to http://www.stopseaboard.net or just search: George Meredith MD Comments

    Do these things and bingo, our economy rights itself almost overnight. But continue to follow Soros, Greenspan, Geithner and Bernanke….continue as these swindlers have been leading us, and we will continue our ever accelerating national slide into the dark abyss.

    To be sure, as suggested by Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin, the answer is not to increase taxes and to further squeeze grandma’s money market funds and CDs. Nor grandpa’s little social security check.

    George Meredith MD
    Virginia Beach

  2. There will be no relieve for Donald Trump when the dirty ads begin appearing. The GOP establishment said in no uncertain words they were declaring war. Anybody who has any credence of what the hierarchy establishment or the democratic radicals say is destined to crap on new future of our great country. The parties will do anything–ANYTHING to keep their cheap labor, massive profits and Liberal ripping off other peoples money and a range of extreme Socialist issues. The mainstream Liberal press are on any negative Trump issue, like flies on putrid meat.

    An uproar has ignited about the embarrassing city of San Francisco, where Americans are no longer safe on the streets after the showing that the publicized death of a innocent citizen shot dead on the openly abhorrent ‘Sanctuary City’. The metropolis were one councilor stated in no certain terms, that the killing was accidental of Katherine Steinle. The SF Board of Supervisors collectively passed a resolution that encourages the sheriff Department not to alert U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials when an illegal immigrant is released from jail, despite the ICE requesting notification in such situations. Supervisor Malia Cohen, a real jerk, vehemently dispute in the chambers before the vote: “We cannot allow one event to dictate 25 years of our city’s policies towards undocumented immigrants in our city.” A young women just 32 years old, who on a visiting to pier 14 with her father, ended up in pool of blood at the hands of illegal alien on July 1.

    ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE DETRIMENTAL TO EVERY AMERICAN MAN, WOMEN AND EVEN CHILDREN, BECAUSE THEY TAKE FROM HONEST PEOPLE OUR SOVEREIGNTY, OUR VOTES, OUR ENTITLEMENTS AND EVEN OUR RIGHTS.

    These SF Supervisors are going to find out the consequences when Donald Trump becomes President; their should be no forgiveness for not following federal law. It’s paramount we need unprejudiced legal teams to assure the voting public that non citizens are committing voter fraud in every national precinct, as this will be the most important election–EVER. Those who are setting themselves up for voting in Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton (obviously a risk to our National Security), need to understand the huge yoke around the neck of taxpayers in such countries as Sweden, where its not comfortable Shangri-La, where moderate socialism is the name of the game? Joe Biden who has dropped out of the race was a good, honest man who has always been willing to compromise with their opponents on the other side.

    San Francisco is one of the growing number “sanctuary cities” throughout the United States. These havens as illustrated as jurisdictions which provide a Sanctuary for illegal aliens–not undocumented immigrants–not immigrants, ILLEGAL ALIENS! The law as its written is a violation of Title 8 Section 1324 United States Code “aiding, abetting, encouraging, harboring, transporting, and hiring illegal aliens is a felony.” By illegal ordinances or by fabricated policies. Local governments arrogantly decline any cooperation with Federal (ICE) Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities.

    A bill, called ‘Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act needed to overcome a 60-vote threshold. It would withhold certain federal funding from states or cities that refuse to comply with requests from federal immigration officials to turn over immigrants who are in the country illegally.

    Overall sanctuary policies differ, but in broad provisos illegal aliens have admission to the matching services and the safeguard as citizens and permanent (green Card) residents, such as emergency services, health care, education, food banks, emergency shelters and even food stamps with children who can claim in California $600 each. The sheltering mainly in big cities even are now issuing drivers licenses. other ID cards to such persons. In the Liberalized state of California, the brain-dead Governor Jerry Brown has implemented giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens, has also passed out Voter Motor applications, that shows that the left are intentionally pressing illegal aliens to vote. additionally this is not only illegal, but a felony as cited in Title 18 Section 611 US Code prohibits non citizens from voting in our elections. But this is completely ignored by the left.

    I am praying that Donald Trump is our next President. A man who shown love to all Americans, but draws the line of foreign thieves, stealing our voting rights, jobs and welfare services, as we need our immigration laws to be enforced, which the Obama administration has ignored and in enforcing the border, where Trump will build a wall. A trump wall that limits illegal aliens en mass reaching the other side as patrolled by the enhanced US Border Patrol and unmanned drones with an all seeing eye. A further innovation MANDATORY E-VERIFY that will be an intense method to control the workplace; a system that will audit nationwide workers, to see what business owners are illegally using foreign labor. It is my suggestion that a reward should go to whistle blowers who are aware of companies that are breaking the law. Hefty fines and even time in jail will be a worthy deterrent, for those who believe they cannot be touched.

    With the uncertain amendment to Birthright Citizenship (anchor Babies) to gain citizenship by an pregnant Mother through slipping into our sovereign nation and then adding the heavy burden of taxpayers covering hospital fees, welfare service and then bring in other members of the family through chain migration.

    Senior Citizens Cola recipients are have been short changed next year, as to the party elites thinks illegal aliens on welfare and their offspring is more important than our old people, who kept Social Security system working through the years they were employed, but the foreigner who jumped the fence, lied at ports of entry including airports arrivals have paid–NOTHING, not even a cent.

    Sen. David Vitter, R-La., introduced the legislation just yesterday, which American voters found out that the Democratic Senate blocked this ‘Sanctuary City’ law, and specifically ‘Kate’s Law’ With Senate Democrats refusing to introduce serious legislation that would punish “sanctuary cities” in a losing 54-45 vote on Tuesday afternoon. that would end this nauseating plague of the Obama’s Administration refusing to enforce our immigration laws. Read about the outcome of Democrats who voted against this law at http://dailysignal.com/ 2015/10/20/sanctuary-cities-bill-blocked-in-senate. This includes releasing before any warning criminal aliens back into society by the thousands.

    Barack Obama has been instrumental in the death of Katherine Steinle and radical politicians, city mayors, managers and elected officials by completely circumventing immigration laws. Crimes committed by illegal immigrants is at the heart of the current debate over sanctuary cities. Katherine Steinle’s confessed murderer Francisco Sanchez, had an long rap sheet, counting drugs, together being deported five times.

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