We’re coming to the end of 2010, and some things have changed.
Others haven’t.
For the first time, Americans of all background and ages voted for an unlikely candidate because they believed in change. Yet Washington remains paralyzed by the same partisan strife of 20 years past. We have young, visionary people working in the halls of power, yet the same power dynamics remain cemented within those halls.
This year, our most pressing problems –- our shaky economy, our broken immigration system, our over-dependence on oil -– burgeoned into full-blown crises, yet we lacked the political and social consensus needed to solve them.
Voto Latino took this to heart in designing our voter engagement campaign for the 2010 mid-term elections. We asked ourselves, “How do we tell America that Latinos are hurting while simultaneously recognizing that the rest of America is, too?”
And we came up with this: United, we win.
United We Win addresses the lack of unity in this country with participation from Common, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria Parker, Amy Smart, Wilmer Valderrama, Tim Daly, and other top talent to present an American voice united in the search for solutions. You can watch our video PSA below, and you can hear our radio PSAs with Cuban-American hip hop artist Pitbull and other artists on stations nationwide. And last but certainly not least, you can catch us pounding the pavement engaging voters in the sunny suburbs of Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and California.
I registered voters at UCLA. Our team tried something a little different by conducting night-time drive-thru registration at DMVs in the LA area and in Phoenix. People love their cars out West, so we thought, why not register people to vote IN their cars?
United We Win has elicited some interesting responses. Because we faced SB 1070 head-on as a faux political solution guised under the auspices of “immigration reform,” some people took our stance to be pro-illegal immigration instead of anti-racial profiling. Others have come to a latent agreement about the need for reconciliation, and coming together.
This helps confirm my belief that we can do better as a country. And that Americans are good people. And that people standing up for each other will be now, as it has always been, the only real thing that has moved this country forward.
Part of why I founded Voto Latino in 2004 is to show that Latino issues are American issues, and American issues are Latino issues. When I take a stance on youth unemployment or SB 1070 copy-cat legislation, that is me standing up not only as a Latina, but standing up as an American activist.
This country’s workforce, energy grid, and national security are not Latino issues, or white issues, or black issues.
They affect everyone, so they’re American issues.
Young people and American Latinos have consistently upped their voter participation rates over the last three election cycles, so let’s not stop now. On Election Day, ask yourself, “Am I an American, or what?”
I urge you to claim your role in moving our country forward and live your legacy by representing your values at the polls today. Get a reminder to register to vote by clicking here, or join the United We Win conversation on Twitter #UnitedWeWin @VotoLatino. You can also check out the pre-election music compilation I’ve been making on my personal account by searching the #protestplaylist hashtag. My list ranges from Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” (After all, who doesn’t feel under pressure these days?)
We go today to cast our ballot — let’s get our generation out to the polls and close out 2010 on a positive note. Let’s motivate, and make this happen.
We’re not going to see any substantive changes unless we come together about what ails our country. It’s time to fix things, but that’s not going to happen unless we demand solutions loud.
And clear.
Rosario Dawson is an actress, a singer and the founder of Voto Latino, an organization that seeks to change the political conversation about American Latinos.
Follow her on Twitter at @rosariodawson.
Source: Hypervocal
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