by Contessa Abono and Rigoberto Hernández
Sharing the spotlight with Super Tuesday, the election day for the 2008 California Presidential Primary Election was full of uncertainty for many.
Residents of the Mission District in San Francisco were voicing their concerns about the candidates, which many felt did not adequately address the issues that mattered to them most.
Although many were excited by the news that Democratic candidate and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has won in California’s presidential primary and Republican John McCain is the state’s GOP pick, some in the Latino community thought there were issues still not dealt with by the presidential candidates.
Roberto Hernández, a Mission District resident and co-chair of a local voter registration campaign in his neighborhood, said he did not like the way the issues he cares about are addressed by the presidential candidates. “I have not seen one candidate that has a comprehensive immigration plan for Latinos,” said Hernandez.
Luis Aroches is part of the Community Response Network, which is in charge of preventing and responding to youth violence in the Mission District.
Aroches, who voted for Clinton, said the candidates have not focused on the issues that he cares about and that the candidates do not reach out for the Latino vote.
Education is another issue that Hernández would have liked to see addressed by the candidates.
“I have not heard a comprehensive plan now that we are going to get rid of the Bush Administration’s ‘No child left behind,’ a total failure,” said Hernandez. “In terms of this county Latinos are never counted.”
Hernández, who supports Obama, was part of a Latino march last May in San Francisco and remembered the slogan for the march: “Today we march, tomorrow we vote.” The slogan caught everyone in this country by surprise, including Hernández, who realized how the up-rise of Latinos took place.
“They realized it was time to do something about it. It got the Latinos to say we have power. It went beyond illegal or undocumented workers, and it got the Latinos to say they are not going to treat us like this,” said Hernández.
Anhoni Patel is a contractor who took the day off from work to campaign for Obama outside the BART station on 16th Street and Mission Street. Patel said she didn’t have strong feelings about the primaries until Obama became a candidate. “Obama can really bring change, he always mentions we. He represents what we care about,” she said.
For Karina García, 21, who works in a Guatemalan restaurant on Mission Street, it is all about showing that Latinos have a voice. “I would like someone who supports Latinos.”
Now more than ever the Latino vote is being sought after “now all of a sudden the candidates are locking into the Latino community,” said Hernández. “We are making a difference in this election. Politicians took us for granted for so long, those days are over.”
