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American Jewish Committee
Latino & Latin American Institute
Issue 51. Monday, December 15, 2008.
IN THE NEWS
LATINO-JEWISH AGENDA
The Impact of the Jewish and Latino Vote Discussed Nationwide
Juan Salgado, Executive Director of Chicago’s Instituto Del Progreso Latino and Jay Tcath, Executive Director of the local Jewish Community Relations Council were the keynote speakers at the panel Latino and Jewish Community Perspectives on the 2008 Election. The program, co-sponsored by AJC’s Chicago Chapter and the Alliance of Latinos and Jews, took place on November 20. Panelists reviewed Jewish and Latino voting patterns, the impact of the results on each community and how the incoming Obama administration and the new Congress can address issues that affect the Jewish and Latino communities.
In Atlanta, the local AJC chapter and its young professionals division, ACCESS, hosted a post-election analysis on December 10th with representatives from ethnic communities. Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) spoke about the issues that affect the Hispanic community and what his organization expects for the upcoming year.
Hispanic-Jewish Women’s Task Force Speaks about Retirement and Renewal
Founded in 1997 with the mission of fostering open communication and dialogue between Hispanic and Jewish women in the San Fernando Valley, the Hispanic-Jewish Women’s Task Force met in mid-November to learn about Project Renewment. The group, co-sponsored by AJC’s Los Angeles Chapter, the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance and El Proyecto del Barrio heard from the co-authors of a book that speaks to women working outside the home and who are now considering retirement. Renewment was coined by the authors to suggest optimism and opportunity, growth and self-discovery.
Western Hemisphere Affairs Task Force
A task force convening Latin American Jews was launched by AJC’s Greater Miami and Broward Chapter to create a platform for the exchange of information and perspectives regarding hemispheric issues. During the inaugural event on November 18, Susan Kaufman Purcell, Director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami, discussed the implications of the new U.S. administration on Latin American policies.
Promoting Tolerance Through Pluralism
Eleven young communication students and professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Uzbekistan were hosted by AJC offices in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles for the 16th annual “Promoting Tolerance” program. The initiative identifies emerging leaders in the new democracies of Europe and Eurasia and introduces them to projects aimed at fostering pluralism and respect for diversity in the United States. The hope is to inspire similar efforts in the participants' respective countries.
While in Washington, the group heard from leaders from the African-American, Asian and Hispanic communities, who spoke about the challenges and opportunities faced by minorities in the U.S. Octavio Hinojosa, Executive Director of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) participated in the panel. In Los Angeles, the students and young professionals attended a panel discussion with Yvonne Mariajimenez of Neighborhood Legal Services of LA county and Consul Mariana Díaz of the Mexican Consulate General, who discussed the various facets, challenges and successes of the Latino community.
Thanksgiving Celebrations Embrace America’s Diversity
AJC's traditional annual pre-Thanksgiving gatherings of ethnic and faith leaders of diverse communities took place in a number of AJC Chapters, once again featuring the AJC publication America’s Table: A Thanksgiving Reader. The events focused on the holiday as a time for Americans to celebrate their diverse roots and their shared identity.
In Arizona, the local Chapter, in cooperation with the Arizona Republic, sponsored an event at the Creighton Middle School, a large inner city school with a 95% Latino student population. A dozen 8th grade students told their family stories, affirming the aspiration that everyone deserves “a place at America’s table,” regardless of is or her ethnicity or country of birth.
More than 250 people attended Long Island’s 5th Annual Thanksgiving Diversity and Interfaith Breakfast. In the aftermath of the murder of a Latino man in Patchogue, community and political leaders helped focus the gathering on immigration issues. Nassau Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy made his first public address about the killing of Marcelo Lucero on November 8, and Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi also spoke about the case. Chapter leaders, together with the Latino Jewish Council, organized a widely attended rally in Patchogue a few days earlier in response to the hate murder of Lucero. Numerous speakers decried this wanton and senseless murder by a gang of seven teenagers who went hunting for a Latino to beat up.
Leaders of Muslim, Hispanic and other ethnic organizations shared their challenges and hopes as immigrants to America during the Thanksgiving program in New Jersey. Latino participants included Daniel Santo Pietro, head of the Hispanic Directors Association, and Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Director of the NJ Division on Civil Rights, who came to American from Venezuela.
In Miami, over 100 guests attended the chapter’s Third Annual Thanksgiving Breakfast. Unity on the Bay Director Juan del Hierro and the Honorable Immigration Judge Stephen E. Mander read passages from the Thanksgiving reader, America’s Table®. Moving presentations were given to the Honorable Rosemary Barkett, a Mexican immigrant who became the first female to be appointed to the State of Florida Supreme Court and is currently a U.S. Circuit Judge; Trinidad and Tobago born and raised John Yearwood, World Editor for the Miami Herald, and Dr. Cindy Miles, Miami Dade College Hialeah Campus President.
Cultural Identity Discussion Prefaces Latino Play in San Diego
"Tough Choices: Ethics, Leadership, and Change" was the title of the panel discussion organized by the Latino-Jewish Coalition at the San Diego Repertory Theatre just prior to the performance of Richard Montoya's Water & Power. The panel featured Howard Wayne, a former CA State Assemblymember, as well as Aída Bustos García, editor of Enlace and Latino affairs editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Dr. Geoff Cox, President of Alliant International University, and Dr. Jaime Romo, leadership consultant.
Montoya’s Water & Power Culture Clash gives a tough-minded and penetrating look at Southern California's power politics, and the Latinos and Gringos who hold America’s future in their hands.
MONTHLY FEATURE
AJC Special Report: Implications of the 2008 Election
By Jason F. Isaacson, Director of Government and International Affairs, and Richard T. Foltin, Legislative Director and Counsel, of the American Jewish Committee.
The election of Senator Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th President was historic on many levels – as a turning point in the long, painful saga of American racial conflict and reconciliation, as evidence of new political engagement by younger Americans and new political alignments in key demographic sectors, and as a dramatic reshuffling of the red-blue political deck that has dictated national election outcomes for 40 years. The Obama campaign set records for voter turnout, for political spending, for the aggregate size of its enthusiastic rallies – and, it may be argued, for expectations, here and abroad, that fundamental change across a wide swath of public policies is possible and will occur.
According to exit polls, Jewish voters overwhelmingly chose Obama over Senator John McCain, and played a significant role in the outcomes in key states. The initial polling showed 78 percent of Jewish voters supporting Obama, and 21 percent McCain. Substantial portions of the Obama margins in Florida, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, all battleground states, can be attributed to Jewish votes – although it must be noted that the margins were sufficiently close in Indiana and North Carolina, states with active but relatively modest Jewish populations, that almost any bloc with a strong preference could have proven decisive. Florida, however, which George W. Bush won by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2000, and by more than 400,000 in 2004, flipped this year to the Democratic candidate – by a little more than 200,000 votes; with roughly half a million Jewish voters in Florida, Obama’s advantage among Jews was clearly a factor in his pick-up of the state’s 27 electoral votes.
The Democrat’s strength among Jewish voters wasn’t obvious throughout the long campaign. It climbed after he wrapped up the nomination last spring, besting Senator Hillary Clinton, his principal rival (who had enjoyed considerable Jewish support), and grew in the run-up to, and then after, the late-summer convention; an American Jewish Committee survey taken in mid-September had him at 57 percent among Jewish respondents, to 30 percent for McCain and 13 percent undecided or unresponsive. By the following month, Gallup found the gap had widened – with 74 percent favoring Obama and 22 percent McCain. In the end, according to exit polls, the Illinois Senator tallied support from Jewish voters at levels similar to those recorded by recent history’s most popular candidates in that demographic – in the same neighborhood as Bill Clinton in 1992 (80 percent), and Al Gore in 2000 (79), although short of the stratospheric heights twice achieved by Franklin Roosevelt (90 percent in 1940 and 1944) and Lyndon Johnson in 1964 (also 90 percent). Obama’s support among Jews polled slightly ahead of John Kerry’s; various exit polls placed the 2004 Democratic nominee’s support among Jewish voters between 74 and 76 percent. It must be noted that Jews do not automatically support Democrats – and, when they do, not always by a wide margin; Jimmy Carter, in his failed bid for re-election in 1980, won the backing of 45 percent of Jewish voters, to 39 percent for Ronald Reagan.
To read the full report, DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY.
QUOTES AND FIGURES
Mexico gets U.S. drug aid
The U.S. released $197 million out of the $400-million aid package to help Mexico's police and soldiers fight drug cartels. The rest will be disbursed throughout the year. The aid plan includes no cash but provides helicopters, surveillance aircraft, airport inspection gear and case-tracking software. It also supports efforts to weed out corrupt police and protect witnesses.
Information taken from the Los Angeles Times
Thousands of Deported Children Abandoned at Mexican Border
A report published recently by the Mexican Congress indicates that 90,000 children were deported from the United States to Mexico during the first seven months of 2008. Of these, 15 percent, or about 13,500 children, were abandoned on the Mexican side of the border without any governmental protection. While the lucky ones are cared for by religious or nongovernmental organizations, most are left behind without supervision. International standards require that undocumented children be greeted by someone in their home country. However, in practice, some children are simply abandoned.
Information taken from La Opinión newspaper.
LATIN AMERICA AND MIDDLE EAST PERISCOPE
AJC HIGHLIGHTS
AJC Meets Argentine President in Buenos Aires
An AJC leadership delegation, led by AJC President Richard J. Sideman, met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The hour-long conversation addressed Iran's continuing efforts to expand its influence in Latin America, protection of human rights in the region, treatment of Israel at the UN, prospects for Middle East peace, and Argentina’s ongoing efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the 1994 bombing of AMIA. The AJC group also met with Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez; Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who leads the AMIA investigation; the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to Argentina; and Argentine Jewish leaders. Dina Siegel Vann, director of AJC's Latino and Latin American Institute, discussed prevention of terrorism in Latin America in an address, in Spanish, before a prestigious audience of 250 people at the Argentine Senate. READ NEWS RELEASE.
AJC Leaders Conclude Brazil Visit
An AJC leadership delegation concluded its visit to Brazil yesterday, where it met with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim in Brasilia and developed ties with Brazil's Jewish community.
“Brazil is on the rise, and we are impressed by its openness, its optimism, and its dynamic and forward-looking Jewish community," said AJC President Richard J. Sideman, who led the delegation. "We will continue to build our friendship with Brazil and its Jewish leaders to address key issues of common concern.” READ NEWS RELEASE
Responding to the Terror Massacre in Mumbai
AJC worked around the clock, during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, to deal with the consequences of the three-day terror outrage in Mumbai. AJC expressed grief and outrage over the Mumbai terror attacks, the murder of nearly 200, including Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who ran the Chabad House. "This is India's 9/11 and should serve as another wake-up call for the world," said David Harris. READ STATEMENT. AJC sent a letter of solidarity to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as soon as the first report of the attacks came out. READ LETTER. David Harris devoted his national radio commentary on the CBS radio network to Mumbai, saying “These murderers are kinsmen of those who killed in New York, London, Madrid, Istanbul, Jerusalem and many other places.” LISTEN. AJC’s representative in India, Priya Tandon, provided round-the-clock email and telephone updates, and Jim Busis, director of AJC’s Asia Pacific Institute, gave regular reports. AJC has longstanding relationships with the government and people of India and the Indian-American community, through our office in Mumbai and our network of offices across the U.S. AJC also made a donation to IsrAid, the Israeli humanitarian relief organization that already is on the ground in Mumbai providing assistance.
AJC Renews Call to Pass Colombia Trade Pact
“We need to stand with our allies, and Colombia has proven to be a stalwart democratic ally of the United States,” said AJC in a letter sent to all Members of Congress, urging its leadership, during the lame duck session, to swiftly approve the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA). “Congressional approval of the TPA will honor America’s commitment to its trusted friend, and will promote economic growth and stability in these challenging times.” READ NEWS RELEASE. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe addressed AJC’s 2007 annual dinner in Washington. AJC actively promotes stronger hemispheric relations, chiefly through its Latino and Latin American Institute.
New York Times Publishes AJC Letter on Immigration Debate Rhetoric
The New York Times
December 7, 2008
No More Fear-Mongering
To the Editor:
“A Catastrophic Silence” (editorial, Nov. 26) underscores the problem of turning a blind eye to the dilemma of our nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. While reasonable people may have different viewpoints about this difficult challenge, bigotry should never become acceptable in public debate.
As a longtime leader in advancing intergroup relations, the American Jewish Committee is concerned with the racism, fear-mongering and scapegoating that increasingly are a regular part of the immigration debate. This rhetoric comes not only from extremist groups, but also from public officials, pundits on television and radio, and other influential Americans.
Such language is antithetical to American values. There must be a return to reasoned discourse in this significant national debate. Thus, we urge civility in this debate, not demagoguery. At stake are nothing less than individual lives, the unity of families, the state of our economy and the very nature of our society.
Jeffrey Sinensky
New York, Nov. 26, 2008
The writer is director, Domestic Policy Department, for the American Jewish Committee.
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