Jamesgatz / Creative Commons
Latinos continue making historic strides in 2012.
From the Huffington Post:
“San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in September, it was announced Tuesday, making him the first Latino to receive the honor.”
The 37-year-old mayor and graduate of Harvard Law School, who the New York Times dubbed in 2010 “The Post-Hispanic Hispanic Politician,” released a video message expressing his thoughts on being named a keynote speaker.
“I know I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Castro says in the video. “Two conventions ago, the keynote speaker was a guy named Barack Obama.”
Castro is the son of the late Texas social reformer Rosie Castro, who dedicated her life to the Mexican-American civil rights movement and the advancement of Chicano identity.
“When Obama talked about the audacity of hope,” Castro says, “I thought back to my mother saying that if you didn’t like the way things were, you could dare to change them. I thought, my mother would like this guy.”
If the video is prelude to the mayor’s speech in September, he’ll probably deliver a message similar to the one then-Senator Obama delivered in 2004 — launching the junior senator from Illinois onto the national stage and leading to a presidential bid just a few years later (the rest, as they say, is history).
Plan on hearing Castro talk about the power to change America for the better, both economically and socially. Undoubtedly, Castro will also tout the president’s record during the first three and a half years, in terms of the economy, foreign policy and social reform — the young politician will have much to draw from there.
“We’ve come so far over the past three and a half years under Obama’s leadership,” Castro says. “And I know he’s not done yet. We got a lot more work to do.”
Coincidentally, the same can be said of Castro himself: “he’s not done yet.” His background and accomplishments at such a young age make Castro a potential powerhouse on the national scene should he deliver a strong keynote address at the convention.
Castro may also prove to be the counterweight to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who Republicans hope can draw Latinos over to the dark — that is, red — side of the political aisle. And in the end, what a delicious morsel of irony it would be to see Senator Rubio bumped from national prominence by a Castro.
Nonetheless, Castro appears to be the real deal. Who knows — if all goes well, we may be looking at the first Latino president of the United States.
A similar thing happened once before.
Video message from Julián Castro, mayor of San Antonio:
About Being Latino Contributors
A decent piece on the rising mayor until..” what a delicious morsel of irony it would be to see Senator Rubio bumped from national prominence by a Castro.” Really? A politician of Cuban descent figuratively “taken out” by a Castro is a delicious morsel? Then others act surprised when Cubans refuse to blindly support “Latino” causes. Why should they when many “Latinos” in the US fawn over the men who killed their family members and continue to hold their people hostage?
Well thank God for that!! Finally!!
Fat chance!
President? Do u see how inhumane “they” treat Hispanics at the border? Their is no way they will give us the white house. We have to go through so many more obstacles before we get that chance. Just ask the blacks. Plus, I rather see my people get it right in our mother lands first so that our ppl don’t have to come from so far… Congrats to our first keynote speaker.
What so they can blame us for all that is going wrong like they are doing to Obama even though they started it all and then left it as is!!!
Yeah, the same thing happened before – and we got Obama! Now another Obama they trying to push on us the same way they did with Barry? Ay no.
About time!
We need to start voting first.
Obama has no moral compass.I, as a Latina, will NOT vote based on what someone tells me to. I will vote based on what I see. Obama has shown me rot.I will vote for anyone over Obama.He doesn’t fool me. He has done nothing but attempted to destroy this great nation that has opened it’s door to us and given us opportunities, and now he’s attacking religious freedom in our Catholic Churches. Abortion is not women’s health. That’s a lie. Abortion is murder. Our parent’s would never approve of that. Our parents came to this country with good values and morals! Now Obama’s? trying to feed us little bits by giving us a little scraps of immigration laws. Where has Obama been these past 3 years with immigration laws? Why now? Because there’s an election coming up. God does not support abortion! There is no social issue that supercedes the taking of an innocent human life. Don’t bring up God when talking about murder. The economy is NOT getting better, and everyone knows it. Obama has never held a real job. He’s only held government jobs & paid with our tax dollars. He couldn’t even come up with his own campaign slogan, so he stole the Latinos’ “Si se puede” with “yes we can.” We he couldn’t. I will vote Romney 2012! I choose God over race! You shall know a tree by it’s fruits!
I wonder if his mom was involved in radical subversive anti American Chicano agit-prop? At least Rubio’s parents were working class, his mom working in a factory, and his dad a bar tender. Real Americans are going to vote for someone like Rubio over a Latino Obama who was a red diaper baby. And who’s this Castro guy’s father, how come no one mentioned him? Obama v.2. This guy won’t open well in Peoria, Rubio will.
You actually touched on something rather interesting, Mario. Progressive politics ARE subversive. I agree with you there.
But, I should add that subversion is definitively American.
It only took 100yrs of Latinos being in the Democrat Party to get an invite! Think about it!