Good morning!
I’m going to start this morning where I often end it, with a recommendation for a lunchtime read. It’s called
Clinton’s Latino Firewall, written by
Roberto Suro, published in Politico. It was suggested to me by Latino daily subscriber
Ana Valdez (thanks for pointing me to it, Ana). Here’s why I think you should read it: it’s new, in the sense that it’s something I hadn’t read or considered concerning U.S. Latino voters and why they haven’t flocked to the disruptive Trump and Sanders campaigns. Here’s an excerpt:
“What’s emerging is a realization that the people least likely to want upheaval are those who have struggled to gain access to the status quo, and who have succeeded at least a bit. With fierce political storms on the horizon, many Americans are genuinely worried about the future of the republic. The onetime-outsiders who make up America’s minority vote may end up providing the ballast that keeps the nation steady: Americans who have experienced exclusion and feel they have something to lose.”
It’s a six-minute read. And it leads me to . . .
►Thursday’s numbers
64 – The percentage of African-Americans who “strongly agree” that they fear the outcome of the presidential election.
53 – The percentage of Whites who “strongly agree” that they fear the outcome of the presidential election.
38 – The percentage of U.S. Latinos who “strongly agree” that they fear the outcome of the presidential election.
45 – The percentage of U.S.-born Latinos who “strongly agree” that they fear the outcome of the presidential election.
30 – The percentage of Latino immigrants who “strongly agree” that they fear the outcome of the presidential election.
87 – The percentage of U.S.-born Latinos who say they are registered to vote.
28 – The percentage of Latino immigrants who say they are registered to vote.
66 – The percentage of African-Americans who say they “strongly agree” that this election is more important than elections past.
63 – The percentage of Whites who say they “strongly agree” that this election is more important than elections past.
50 – The percentage of U.S. Latinos who say they “strongly agree” that this election is more important than elections past.
►Are the 2 Latino GOP governors going to the RNC?
50,000 people are expected to travel to Cleveland next week for the big GOP confab, but Nevada’s
Brian Sandoval isn’t. According to
KSNV News Sandoval has a previous engagement, he’ll be in Australia on a trade mission.
New Mexico’s
Susana Martinez will probably be a no-show as well. I couldn’t find an official word on whether she’ll be there or not, but my bet is not. Donald Trump was
especially harsh towards Martinez when he held a rally in her state, he accused her of being at fault for the state’s high unemployment: “It’s your governor’s fault. We have to get your governor and get going. She’s got to do a better job, O.K.? Your governor has got to do a better job.”
Neither Sandoval nor Martinez have endorsed Trump’s candidacy.
►Here’s something you probably didn’t know, the question is why?
Attn.com reports: “Between July 3 and July 9,
five Latinos were shot and killed in the U.S. by police, according to TeleSUR, a public news outlet sponsored by various Latin American governments. The incidents happened during the same week as the high-profile deaths of
Alton Sterling and
Philando Castile, both black men.”
The five are:
Vinson Lee Ramos, 37, was
shot and killed by police in Bell, California, while holding a knife, according to the Southgate-Lynwood Patch.
Melissa Ventura, 24, was
shot and killed by cops in Yuma, Arizona. Reports say she was holding a knife. The Yuma Sun says she had a history of mental illness.
Pedro Villanueva, 19, died after undercover California Highway Patrol officers
shot into his moving car, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Raul Saavedra-Vargas, was
shot and killed in Reno, Nevada, after he allegedly tried to drive through the barricades at a festival to avoid a traffic stop.
According to
The Guardian, Blacks are killed by police at a rate of
3.3 per-million; Latinos at
1.6; Whites at
1.4; and Native-Americans at
3.4. The problem, of course, is that Latinos also identify as White (my grandfather identified as White), Black (I have two Black nieces), Asian (my sister-in-law was Mexican-Korean) and Native-American (I’m sure there’s more than a drop of native blood in my veins, enough for Trump to call me Hiawatha, or something like that).