La Raza for sale
On Tuesday, my email address received a message from National Council of La Raza Chief Executive Officer Janet Murguía in which she let me and thousands or millions more know about the decision to not just get rid of half the name of the organization, but renaming it to UnidosUS.
The NCLR has had its name since 1968, a time when leftist and radical movements made revolts all over the world in order to create a more peaceful and lovely place to live.
According to Murguía, the genesis of this change began three years ago in order to prepare for the upcoming 50th anniversary.
After addressing the way the NCLR has reached Latinos all over the country, its leadership learned two things — a strong recognition to the council’s mission and history, but at the same time realizing the “name was not engaging younger and more diverse audiences who are critical to our mission and our nation’s future.”
The council’s president added that the new branding reflects what the organization has done during these five decades by partnering with almost 300 community-based organizations to serve Hispanics.
“As a nonpartisan organization, we have united across the political spectrum and will continue to advocate for policies that secure brighter futures for all,” Murguía said in the email. “We will continue to work together with you to build a stronger America by creating opportunities for Latinos.”
“We trust that by moving forward as UnidosUS we will keep extending our outreach and have an impact in the Latino community all over the country,” added the organization’s Board President Renata Soto. “With this name change, voted unanimously by our board members, we welcome the 50-year heritage and expect the next 50 years with optimism and enthusiasm for what we can reach as a community, if we all work together, united.”
However, according to Los Angeles newspaper La Opinión, not everyone gave a warm welcome to the name change.
Clairmont-based Pitzer College sociologist José Calderón said the modification is part of a path set by other organizations in order to soften their names to make them more acceptable to diverse interests and to lead them into an increased inclusion and influence, while providing a more assimilating approach to the NCLR. He warned as well that this reform might lead to an augmentation in corporate raised donations that, in exchange, might lead to the acceptance of harmful policies for the Latino community and ceding to right-wing groups that still consider La Raza as a racist and anti-American organization.
University of Southern California sociologist and professor Jody Agius Vallejo told the newspaper that the move means an adaptation to the landscape of new Hispanic Americans, especially millennial Latinos who are now part of the middle and high classes that think the traditional organizations have a very short focus among certain Latino groups.
The NCLR predecessor was the Southwest Council of La Raza, whose founding member, Alberto Juárez, said the now-known UnidosUS should not have become a corporate non-governmental organization to accept Washington’s establishment. He went on to say that including La Raza in the organization’s name was to show the commitment with the community base and to recognize the ethnicities and cultures that are part of the Latino community.
Arturo Bojorquez is Adelante Valle Editor.