[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7283-H7284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FAMILIAS LATINAS EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, yesterday began Hispanic heritage month. And 
for that reason and many others, I am very privileged to read a letter 
from Familias Latinas to the President and Mrs. Clinton.
  The following letter is the product of a radio program called Buenos 
Dias California on KIQI AM in San Francisco. The hosts of the show, 
Carlos de Marty and Marcos Gutierrez, asked, ``What would you say in a 
letter to the Clinton family?'' The suggestions from the Spanish 
listening audience were recorded and a letter written as follows:

       Dear President and Mrs. Clinton: Congratulations to you and 
     your daughter on selecting Stanford University for her formal 
     education. This means you will be in our State more often 
     since you will want to keep your family together. And that, 
     Mr. President, is the reason for this letter, family unity.
       The people who have signed this letter believe that the 
     Latino family in the United States lives in an atmosphere of 
     fear, paranoia, frustration, uncertainty and despair which is 
     detrimental to our community and may eventually have negative 
     effects on the community at large. We want to communicate our 
     feelings and request action now. Our family unit is under a 
     great deal of pressure from propositions and laws which have 
     flourished under your presidency. Among these are 
     Propositions 187, 209 and the latest, a proposition to do 
     away with bilingual classes. We are having a difficult time 
     understanding why you have not been as supportive of us, as 
     we were of you during the last two presidential elections.
       Let us look at the specific elements which are hurting our 
     family unit starting from the elderly and working down to our 
     children. Our non-citizen grandparents live in fear of losing 
     their benefits even though they spent a lifetime contributing 
     to the collective wealth of our country, not only in taxes 
     paid, but in hard work done for little pay which allowed the 
     country to flourish. Some of our parents are being deported, 
     even though they have established roots in this country.
       You will be leaving your daughter at Stanford for four 
     years in a friendly atmosphere. Imagine having to destroy 
     your family because of immigration rules. Imagine having to 
     leave your children in this country because you are being 
     deported. We must remember that a lot of the men and women 
     being deported now to Central America, came to the United 
     States in defense of democracy, under the hardship of civil 
     war. Citizenship should not be used as a wedge between family 
     members.
       Many of us in the Latino family live in a cycle of poverty 
     which forces both parents to work more than eight hours a 
     day. This results in long hours of loneliness for our 
     children. A lot of times we cannot afford to get good care 
     for them. We are sure that because of your busy schedule 
     there were times when you left your daughter alone, but never 
     under inadequate care.
       On the educational front, many non-Latino students get 
     preferential treatment because of their parents' connections 
     to educational institutions. Our children don't. In the 
     recent past our students had affirmative action. Now they 
     don't.
       On the drug front, it is hard to imagine that the Nation 
     which can focus on little rocks in far away planets, cannot 
     see the enormous amount of drugs coming into our communities. 
     Instead of sensible help, your government has allowed the 
     construction of a sophisticated, profit-oriented prison 
     system which sits waiting for our children.
       All these elements, working steadily and daily, have taken 
     their toll on our family unit. We are sure, Mr. President and 
     Mrs. Clinton, this is not what you want. With these 
     signatures, we are declaring our collectively dissatisfaction 
     with the racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Latino atmosphere 
     which has been allowed to prevail for too long. We need your 
     administration's support for our tradition of family unity. 
     We come to this land, as your ancestors did, to find a better 
     way of life, to build community and loyalty to a wonderful 
     country like the United States.
       As far as our past, we believe that the Latino community 
     has contributed to the progress of the United States in times 
     of peace, and specifically with our blood in times of war. We 
     know the length of the list of the Latinos who made the 
     ultimate sacrifice for our country. These contributions 
     should have earned for us a more active participation in our 
     country's internal affairs and specifically in the future 
     negotiations and plans between the United States and Latin 
     America.
       We recommend that you accommodate more Latinos within your 
     sphere of power so that perhaps you could see our plight 
     under a different light. Many of us feel that as descendants 
     of the original inhabitants of parts of the United States, 
     specifically as described in the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty, we 
     deserve better treatment.
       We feel that your role as a leader is to strengthen the 
     Nation's points of agreement, not its differences. We believe 
     that you, Mr. President, have a responsibility to act as a 
     catalyst to rid the xenophobic attitudes

[[Page H7284]]

     which have been allowed to enter our Nation's mainstream. We 
     ask that you undertake a rigorous campaign to establish 
     yourself as a leader who will not tolerate anti-immigrant and 
     anti-affirmative action attitudes.
       We also ask for our Government's support for a Latino 
     U.S.A. summit in Washington, D.C. to discuss the issues which 
     concern our families in this country. We also want full 
     participation in the President's Initiative on Race. We are 
     sure that the items which we have outlined can be addressed 
     through communication and mutual respect.
       Signed, Familias Latinas en los Estados Unidos.

  Mr. Speaker, may I add that a letter has gone from members of the 
Hispanic Caucus in the House of Representatives to the President asking 
him to receive the enclosed letter, and with it there will be over 
30,000 signatures.

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