From Moral Outcry
Latinos have often been referred to as a “sleeping giant” in the arena of national politics. They “account for more than half of U.S. population growth and one in four American newborns,” writes Michael Scherer, a White House correspondent for Time magazine and author this week’s cover story, which argues that Latino voters could swing the 2012 election. In other words, the sleeping giant has woken up.
Scherer writes that Latinos, who currently make up 16 percent of the U.S. population, are dissatisfied with both Republican and Democratic parties— it is a dissatisfaction centered mostly on the issue of immigration. In a radio interview about the article, Scherer said summed it up this way: “Latino activists believe Republicans look like them on paper, but don’t want Latino votes, while Democrats want Latino votes, but don’t look like them on paper.”
What does Scherer mean by referring to Latinos as “Republicans on paper?” In the article, he explains that most Latinos are traditionally against such issues as abortion and gay marriage. “What’s happened is the rhetoric around immigration — and it’s really the way these issued are talked about more than the policy itself, has so turned off this community of people,” Scherer said.
In a January survey for the Spanish-language network Univision, pollster Matt Barreto found that 27% of Latinos felt the Republican Party was hostile toward Hispanics, while an additional 45% believed Republicans “don’t care much” about them–a total of 72% who don’t feel welcomed by the party.”
The article goes more into depth on these topics, including the fact that Latinos are also unhappy about the Democratic Party’s stand on immigration, which has lead to an increased number of deportations. However, the fact remains that when it comes to the issue abortion, Latinos have the potential to stand up and be a powerful voice for life.
As a first-generation immigrant Latina in this country myself, I made the decision to vote the most closely to the values of God’s Kingdom when I became a naturalized citizen in 2008. It was my first chance to vote in this country, and I remember that as I stood in that voting booth, my heart was drawn to His on the issue of abortion. I made the commitment then, and reaffirmed it later as well when I joined Bound4LIFE, to never vote for a pro-abortion political candidate.
I also have to be honest by expressing that I have felt most of the sentiments that Latinos have expressed about the Republican Party in this article. But while the issue of immigration is close to my heart, I believe that the issue of abortion is one of the most pressing issues in God’s heart. There are 54 million lives that have been lost since Roe vs. Wade passed in 1973. Those are 54 million individual faces that God loved, and counting. We can’t turn our backs to this issue, no matter what race or ethnicity we might be. Let us stand up and be His ambassadors on this earth on the issue of LIFE: pray, vote and obey.
About the Author
Jael is originally from Bolivia, but grew up in the Northern Virginia area most of her life. She leads worship and directs the House of Prayer at Iglesia Nueva Jerusalen, a local Latino church pastored by her father. Just out of graduate school, she finds Jesus to be the most fascinating, awe-inspiring,mind-bending, speechless-enabling God that she’s ever encountered.
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