United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez is attending the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte as a delegate from California and a member of the national party’s Credentials Committee.
My wife, Sonia, started out teaching public school in our native San Antonio, Texas with Rosie Castro shortly before the birth of her twins, Julian and Joaquin. Sonia went on to become a top education advisor to governors in Texas, California and New York. Rosie’s sons grew up to become mayor of San Antonio and this year a candidate for U.S. Congress, respectively.
At their convention in Tampa, Republicans showcased a handful of Latino elected officials. But the GOP remains dominated by extremist tea partiers who peddle their prejudiced anti-immigrant, anti-worker ideology that today represents the Republican Party. Rosie’s son, Mayor Julian Castro, electrified Tuesday’s opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the first Latino to keynote a major party convention. But much more important than the ethnicity of the keynoter were the fundamental principals he laid out. Speaking for the Democratic Party, Mayor Castro came out squarely for immigration reform, the Dream Act and helping President Obama and Vice President Biden continue to create an economy that works for the middle and working classes instead of just the millionaires and billionaires championed by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Can the contrast this fall be any more stark? Can it be any clearer why President Obama has to be our choice on November 6?
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America
