[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
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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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