Discussion to focus on Latino issues

CALEXICO — These days, hardly any election cycle is complete without high-profile public office seekers campaigning to secure their Latino constituents’ vote, all while paying tribute to the growing political clout Latinos possess.

Yet, that same dutiful campaign attention was largely absent from the Southwest of the 1960s and ‘70s, as was any identifiable Latino voting bloc, said Texas-based filmmaker Hector Galán.

Since then, Galán said, the political gains that Latinos have amassed at both the ballot box and the public halls of power owe a lot of their success to the early efforts of the late Willie Velasquez, who in 1974 founded the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, and who is the subject of Galán’s most recent documentary.

“This was something that was close to my heart,” said Galán, referring to his documentary. “I’m happy to re-introduce (Velasquez’s) work to a new generation, so they can see what it took.”

The documentary, titled “Willie Velasquez: Your Vote is Your Voice,” will be screened Friday at San Diego State UniversityImperial Valley campus, followed by a panel discussion about voter empowerment featuring a group of prominent local Latinos.

Before his passing at the age of 44 as a result of complications from kidney cancer, Velasquez and the SVREP would come to organize the largest nonpartisan nationwide Latino voter registration drive the nation had seen, and in the process gain credit for altering the political landscape.

Velasquez’s feats were in direct response to the discriminatory practices against Mexican Americans that were observable in his home state of Texas and throughout the Southwest at the time, said Galán, who personally knew Velasquez and many of the core group of Texans who viewed the ballot box as a powerful vehicle for Latino empowerment.

“I think when people watch (the documentary) and see the people that were involved and volunteering, they’re going to see themselves there,” Galan said.

Some of the documentary’s more rare footage of Velasquez dates back to 1983, when Galán interviewed him at a national conference of Latino leaders convened to discuss their concerns and ongoing voter registration drives.

Galán has more than 40 years of filming under his belt as a news director and independent filmmaker, with a large part of his award-winning works dedicated to Latino issues and culture.

“I realized that a camera was a very powerful tool,” he said.

Prior to Velasquez’ and SVREP’s undertaking, the general consensus held that Mexican Americans had no interest in voting and that nothing could be done to change that, said Andy Hernandez, who worked alongside Velasquez and who is featured prominently in Galán’s documentary.

At the time, some political commentators and social scientists went so far as to suggest the phenomenon was best explained by genetics or Mexican Americans having a cultural disposition to not get involved in politics, Hernandez said.

The truth, as both Velasquez and Hernandez were aware, had more to do with Mexican Americans voters’ frustration that, despite casting a ballot for their preferred presidential candidate, many Latinos still found their communities plagued with underperforming schools, high unemployment and low-paying jobs.

In response, SVREP built their voter registration drives around raising public awareness about the influence that local public officeholders have on the daily lives of community members. This is turn led to the civic engagement and recruitment of a new generation of Latino leaders, Hernandez said

“It’s transformative in terms of how people view politics,” he said, “and it really tells the story about how Latinos in this country came into political power,”

The documentary is a co-production of Galán Incorporated and Latino Public Broadcasting, with major funding from the Corporation from Public Broadcasting. Its screening at SDSU-IV is being sponsored by the campus’ Borderlands Institute.

Although Mexican Americans were very active during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and ‘70s, their efforts are often overlooked by the challenges and accomplishments of the nation’s black civil rights leaders, said Carlos Herrera, institute director and history professor.

Yet, Chicano activism associated with that turbulent era just as often overshadows the activism of Mexican American World War II veterans, who volunteered by the thousands, fought, bled and died, only to face bitter disappointment upon their return as a result of being treated like second-class citizens, Herrera said.

“So really, it’s the generation of World War II that jump starts this civil rights thing,” he said. “But it’s really the generation of the ‘60s and ‘70s that gets most of the attention.”

On Friday, the film will be followed by a panel discussion about voter empowerment, moderated by Eric Reyes, director of the Institute for SocioEconomic Justice, and featuring Daniel Santillan, community activist, Arturo Bojorquez, editor of Adelante Valle, Norma Sierra Galindo, Imperial Irrigation District Division 5 director and Herrera.

The free event will be at 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the campus’ Rodney Auditorium.