LULAC Joins Landmark Civil Rights Summit In Voter Rights Call-To-Action
Nation’s Largest and Oldest Latino Civil Rights Organization Challenges Coalition to Create New Tactics to Draw Out the Latino Vote
Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) co-headlined a landmark redistricting and voting rights summit Wednesday in San Antonio, Texas, that brought together nearly 20 grassroots organizations. Their purpose was to review the past 50-years of voting rights advocacy and discuss actions needed to counter recent redistricting changes.
Domingo Garcia - LULAC National President
“I think it’s vital that voting rights go to the forefront of the struggle for Latinos, both in Texas and across the country. The ballot box is where political power starts, and if we can win the redistricting battles, we can elect Latinos all over the nation. Eventually, we will elect a Latino governor of Texas, governor of California, and president of the United States. To make that happen, the message I shared here is that LULAC will be out front leading the kind of public action that seizes attention, changes the narrative, and commands change to happen. We must be firmer with our efforts to win for our community.”
Lydia Camarillo, President, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
“The fact that we had so many community groups involved and leaders from all over the country, including Houston, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles, join us in San Antonio on a weekday evening to talk about redistricting and develop a plan is very, very exciting. More importantly, people understand the need for us to unite. It’s time that we collaborate so that we can organize and be ready, not only for this redistricting cycle but for the 2022 elections.
Mario Compean - Co-Founder Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and Raza Unida Party
“There’s a need for us to rise and challenge bad things that have happened in the area of voting rights. We must organize ourselves as we did in the ’70s, and we can move forward. We did it then, and we can do it again. Young people care as much now as we did back then, but it’s a question of reaching them. It takes a special effort to reach anyone of any age with a social message for change, especially young people, but we must do it. Change always needs to happen, and this is why I am still very active because there are always people on the other side who want to undo what we did.”
Dr. Lisa Ramos - Program Coordinator, San Antonio College, Mexican American Studies Program
“As an educator, I see the challenge that we live in a society where it is tough to pay for a college education; even at a community college, it’s very costly. The result is that our students attend school part-time, so to get them to absorb the message and want to make a change is hard. They have family and work obligations, just trying to have a work-life balance is difficult. They are very inspired, and they are very determined to be agents of change. We must keep fighting the good fight and keep having faith, which I try to instill in my students.
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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services, and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting the critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/