Siglo 21: Deval Patrick Best for Immigrants
Chalk up another endorsement for the Deval Patrick juggernaut. Siglo 21, one of the largest Spanish-language newspapers in New England endorsed Patrick today as their preferred candidate in next Tuesday’s Primary.
For us immigrants, Deval Patrick’s trajectory is especially inspirational. His Afro American origin—a minority, like us— and his humble beginnings, bring us close and make us brothers. He grew up, like most of our people, in a poor home and thanks to his determination and personal effort, went to school and was able to become a successful professional, businessman and political leader.
To disqualify his candidacy, his adversaries say that his liberal positions on the issues and his race are factors that could affect the voters’ choice. On the contrary, we believe that we must vote without thinking about racial or political prejudices, but based on the ideas and the capacity of the candidates. And in these elections, the best equipped candidate for the position is Deval Patrick.
Certainly the endorsement by such a demographically-based newspaper — or the endorsement of any newspaper for that matter — will not be enough to completely swing the election in Deval’s favor. It is still a significant endorsement because, while Massachusetts is losing population overall, one of the only demographics to gain numbers are immigrant groups. Most of those are Latino, including Brazilians. As the continued loss of the in-state tuition bill shows, immigrants don’t quite have the political power they might hope, but clearly they are politicized. Hopefully enough of them are registered to vote, and excited by this editorial to vote for Deval.
