Latina Leaders Urge Community Political Empowerment

America’s Latino communities must empower themselves in order to make their political voice heard, two prominent Latina leaders said Friday.

The panel discussion—which drew about 30 students to the Kennedy School of Government’s ARCO Forum—was the opening event for Harvard’s sixth annual Latino Law and Policy Conference.

The two panelists, Maria Echaveste and Gloria Molina, have extensive experience in the political arena.

Echaveste served as assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff for President Clinton from 1998 through 2001.

Currently based in Washington, D.C., she is an attorney and consultant.

Molina is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and served in the Carter White House. In 1996, TIME named her one of the Democratic Party’s “10 Rising Stars.”

Echaveste and Molina debated what impact a growing Latino population will have on the country’s political dynamics.

Molina said although much progress has been made, there is still a great deal of work left to be done to politically empower the Latino communities.

“We have much to do, it is not going to be easy work, but we are an optimistic community,” Molina said.

But Echaveste said she does not believe there has been much change in key government policies that affect Latinos.

“Latinos will have to organize to make both parties do what is needed to be done” because, according to Echaveste, “neither party is interested in empowering a community. That is something we have to do ourselves.”

“There is still not enough effort being put into campaigning for us,” Molina added. “They continue to take Latinos for granted.”

The differences among Latino communities hinder attempts to mobilize Latinos because not all issues concern all Latinos, Molina said.

For example, she said, Puerto Ricans are not as concerned with immigration issues as other Latino groups.

But she said that issues such as empowerment, education and affirmative action do bring Latinos together.

Molina said that in the absence of a single institution or network acting as a unifying force—such as the role the church has traditionally played in the black community—leadership on core issues must come from all quarters of the Latino community.

“There is not going to be a Martin Luther King...There are going to be different kinds of leadership,” Molina said.

But Echaveste said that “you can’t just wait for a leader.”

“We are not standing up, assertive and aggressive. This apathy is the most dangerous thing to a democracy,” she added.

Student audience members said that the panelists provided inspiration for future action.

“To see two latinas who came of age in the Sixties was amazing. But seeing them so concerned was also scary because it means that there is still much to do,” said RAZA President Priscilla J. Orta ’05.

Eric Shaw, a graduate of the School of Design, said the discussion was “a true call to arms.”

Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government organized the event.