Latino

I watched the Obammercial on Univisión to see what good a job they were going to do in translating the thing. Well, I have to give them a B- in Spanish (and honestly, I really should be harsher but am giving them that for effort) and an A- in English.

But let me start with the actual task at hand.

I think Obama knocked it out of the park for fulfilling the first commandment in Marketing and Advertising : Thou shalt never mention your opponent when you're selling yourself.

The video was an iteration of the a documentary they showed at Denver's Invesco Stadium the day Obama delivered his acceptance speech. In between speakers they would show 2-3 minute clips about his life and his policies much like it was done tonight.

Just as he did in Denver, tonight we saw Davis Guggenheim weave Barack Obama's life with the life of the people he is looking to serve. The working mother with not enough food in the fridge. The elderly couple caught in the hell of chronic illness and disability and dead-end yet necessary job at the local Walmart. The latina teacher with the extra job. The factory worker teetering on the brink of welfare. Obama hit the economy, education and most importantly health care while weaving people's stories to his own vicissitudes and accomplishments.

Nevertheless there's one not so small detail that's going to raise hell for Obama : He says in the video that taxes will be reduced for people making  200K and under. Meanwhile we've been hearing all along, especially after the last debate and in reference to "Joe the Plumber", that the threshold was 250K.

Then we have he 2 big elephants in the room : Gay Marriage and Immigration. He spoke of neither. This threw me off because I thought that he would maybe have a different ad for the Spanish broadcasters. So to see the same ad airing and nothing mentioned about the raids, the wrongful incarceration of people was disappointing.

Overall though, the infomercial was a job well done in trying to make a connection between him and voters.

Yet they proceeded to transliterate instead of translating the video.

Oy.

Here's what I twittered :

You all know why I hate the word "Hispanic". So when Marisa from Latina Lista sent this around the other day, I couldn't stop myself from bashing them for using that most detested word.

As a Latinoamericanista by training, Latin American and by extension, Latino, means to include non-Spanish speaking countries like Brazil and Haiti. Hispanic doesn't.

Also, when we speak Latino, we don't speak of people who are only of Castillian Spanish ascendancy. They could be descendants of Persian Jews, Lebanese Christians, Tagalog Filipinos or simple any of the hundreds of Native South American and Caribbean tribes that populate our countries.

If universities across the country can make a distinction between Hispanic and Latino studies, it would behoove the political elites to make those distinctions, no? It's why I've never understood the insistence of advocacy and organizations to use the anachronistic term "Hispanic".

Any organization that doesn't embrace the diversity of the Latino community, with all our languages, ethnicities, cultures and races, is bound to always be political weak. Especially in these times when mobile and internet technologies, along with transnational economies, are breaking down the barriers of racial, ethnic and linguistic identity while fortifying those of class.

Anyhow, thanks Marisa. Am pulling a lazyweb on this one and just cutting and pasting on the blog.

I am running out to the NPR studio here in Manhattan to record another session of News and Notes with Farai Chideya.

We will talk about how steroids brought the downfall of Marion Jones, an MTV poll that says that white youth is happier than black, Juanita Bynum's messy divorce and .... prepare your selves ... why I hate the word Hispanic.

TADA!

Tune in today to your local NPR News and Notes schedule or catch the whole show online after 3pm.

I am opening a chat session and I will also be liveblogging Univisión's Presidential Forum. This is going to be incredibly interesting since the forum will be conducted in English.

LIVEBLOGGING
María Elena Salinas' first question seems odd : Is it a political risk to appear in this forum. This is an obvious jab at all the republicans that have refused to appear before a latino audience.

Jorge Ramos asks Kucinich, Dodd and Richardson if they would support making Spanish the second official language of the United States. Richardson used the opportunity for ragging on Univision for not allowing him and the other Spanish-speaking candidates to do so.

Kucinich has gotten the most applause with his answer about ending the war in Iraq.

I can't believe they went there : Salina's has asked why build a wall on the Mexican border and not build one with on the border of Canada?

More than two thousand questions were polled at Univision and about 70% of the questions were about immigration; which is why more than half of the forum is focused on immigration.

Now that last part of the forums is focused on America Latina ---please notice they didn't say 'hispanic' america.

Another incredibly interesting question : Do you believe Hugo Chavez is a dictator?

What do you think is going to happen in a Cuba without Castro and what would you do to aid that transition.

STOP EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND WATCH THIS VIDEO CLIP.

Yes, I am screaming at the top of my lungs. This piece of genius is brough to you by Latino Comedy Project and, I have to say, it is the most brilliant piece of immigration-related comedy I have seen or heard EVER!

The papi chulo of ethnic polling has this to say about today's elections :

"You can expect the majority of Hispanics to show up to vote in New Jersey, where they are more than 10 percent of the electorate," Miami-based [Sergio] Bendixen said.

The border states of Arizona and New Mexico may also see Hispanics influencing the ballots in a year when immigration became a hot political topic.

Arizona was in the center of the immigration debate, and Republican congressional candidate Randy Graf has taken a hardline stance on illegal border crossings in his race against Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

In neighboring New Mexico, Hispanics could play a key role in deciding whether Republican Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record) loses her re-election bid to Democrat Patricia Madrid, the state's Hispanic attorney general.

"Graf could lose to a Democrat with his strong anti-immigrant speech, and in New Mexico, Patricia Madrid may very well take the congressional seat of Wilson," said political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.

SWING VOTE IN FLORIDA
Bendixen said Hispanic votes could also play a key role in the Florida governor's race to replace outgoing Republican Gov.

El mundo from el punto de vista de una Nuyorican mami soltera livin la vida from the borderline while writing, spitting activist poesia and entertaining her daughter la MapucheRican

From a blog, it's gone on to be a full-fledge magazine about Chicano culture : "We are Xispas Magazine, an online journal of Xicano culture, art, and politics from Aztlan - Anahuac. We present books, opinions, social critiques, history, and indigenous traditions."