Thread: Vista event intended to mobilize Latinos

Vista event intended to mobilize Latinos

By Elena Gaona
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 4, 2006

SAN MARCOS – After watching hundreds of Latinos march on North County streets in the name of immigrant rights a few months ago, local leaders want to harness that energy as positive action.

“First Steps to Civic Education and Community Engagement,” an all-day workshop scheduled tomorrow at Cal State San Marcos, is part of that plan. It is designed to educate families about how to become more civically involved through such activities as voting and serving on city councils and school boards.

The free bilingual event is being sponsored by the university, the National Latino Research Center and the city of Vista. It is open to everyone.

“We have a diverse community and unless we start paying attention to the diversity, we're going to have problems,” said Vista Mayor Morris Vance, who will welcome attendees to the workshop.

Vance said he is going to encourage residents, especially Latinos, to become more active.

Meanwhile, organizers say they hope more civic engagement by Latinos will build bridges in neighborhoods that are becoming increasingly divided because of the often bitter national debate about illegal immigration.

Arcela Nuñez Alvarez, interim director of the National Latino Research Center, said the idea for a “Civics 101” gathering came nearly six months ago from members of the Vista Community Resident Committee.

The outreach committee was created in the fallout from a U.S. Justice Department investigation into possible violations of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Vista three summers ago. No violations were found, and since then the group has worked to get more Latino families registered to vote.

When immigrant marches became intense on the streets in recent months and groups including the San Diego Minutemen began visiting a day-labor site in Vista, the resident committee decided to wait for things to calm down before organizing a community-involvement event, Alvarez said.

Recently, the Vista committee contacted the National Latino Research Center to help organize a broader event for all of North County, and Alvarez took over planning.

“Workshop activities will send the message that constituents have a political voice,” Alvarez said.

The day's topics will include how local and federal governments work; the legislative process, including how bills become laws; and how residents can influence the process. Community organizing sessions will focus on how residents can join grass-roots groups, school boards, parent groups and other organizations.

Already, a flurry of Latino organizations are making a difference in North County, said Bill de la Fuente, an outreach employee with the Vista Townsite Community Partnership, which is helping organize tomorrow's workshop.

About four months ago, De la Fuente started Comerciantes Latinos Asociados de Vista, a Spanish-language chamber of commerce. The group follows the model of a similar organization in Escondido that holds blood drives, awards scholarships and mentors Latino business owners.

“The Latino population is starting to learn that organizing tactic,” de la Fuente said.

Some other North County Latino groups were formed after recent controversy.

The Vista Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity, for example, was formed last summer to seek accountability from the Sheriff's Department after three Latino men, two of them being pursued, were shot and killed by sheriff's deputies within five days. Capt. Ed Prendergast at the Vista patrol station said a new Latino advisory group he's putting together should build bridges with the Sheriff's Department.

Other recently formed organizations include the Committee of Human Rights of Escondido, created in summer 2004 after a series of immigration sweeps in the city; the League of United Latin American Citizens, which launched two chapters in North County last fall; and “Amigos de los Inmigrantes” (Friends of Immigrants), a grass-roots group that is still forming at St. John the Evangelist Church in Encinitas to help educate immigrants about legislation.

Retired Assistant Sheriff Bill Flores, who now lives in Escondido, said he and other Latino leaders are organizing an umbrella organization that could soon help the growing number of Latino groups speak with one voice.

Critics have labeled such Latino groups as racist, but organizers said they hope the organizations and increased leadership by all residents will do the opposite: encourage Latinos and non-Latinos to come together.

“I'm mayor of the whole city,” Vance said. “We must communicate with one another.”

Elena Gaona: (760) 737-7575; elena.gaona@uniontrib.com

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“We have a diverse community and unless we start paying attention to the diversity, we're going to have problems,” said Vista Mayor Morris Vance, who will welcome attendees to the workshop.

The history books are full of stories about fallen civilizations that celebrated having diverse communities.

The Vista Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity, for example, was formed last summer to seek accountability from the Sheriff's Department after three Latino men, two of them being pursued, were shot and killed by sheriff's deputies within five days.

SO?? Why were they being chased? What's the rest of the story? They look for ANY reason to form another coalition or something. There must be millions of them by now.