5th Annual Michigan Hispanic Advocacy Day

When Harvey Santana was invited to the 5th Annual Michigan Hispanic Advocacy Day (MHAD) the State Capital, the casual observer might think that he might have been a little unprepared in his responses as he weathered the many different questions. Some took offense to his answers, some were a touch disappointed. But one thing that Mr. Santana was consistent about was his message. He could only engage in issues that were important to the Latino community if people let him know it was an issue. Moderated by Rick Garcia, State Representatives Mr. Santana, D-Detroit, Henry Yanez, D- Sterling Heights, and Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, all fielded questions from about 40 people in attendance. When one High School student asked the question of how can you help Migrant students in succeeding in high school, Mr. Santana turned the question around and asked, “what is it, you would like me to do?” Some criticism followed from the crowd as to how he could ask a student who does not have the experience that a State Rep might have, he quickly stated his case that he was not sure what he could do and wanted to listen to as much as he could from people. One look at his website and you will find the words: ” he has built a reputation for his tell it like it is style and passionate speeches. He is known for his strong character, uncompromising integrity and willingness to make the tough decisions”. When another High School student asked how could someone “like her” be able to contact her someone like Santana, Yanez or Singh? Mr. Santana offered the answer “I am most accessible State Representative in Michigan”. The full message being that as the people of Michigan, we need to contact those elected officials and let them know what issues we care about, what problems we see and what solutions did they have in mind. I spoke with Mr. Santana and he mentioned that Latino people expect him to do more for them Statewide because he is Latino and he welcomes that challenge. He has been around the State of Michigan to meet with groups and give motivational speeches. But like he said, there is only so much he can do. I mentioned to him that he could help us on Monday, but what do we do on Tuesday when he leaves our city? Point being, we as citizens have to rise up and take the lead. His response: “Exactly!” The Advocacy Day is put together by the Hispanic/Latino Commission of Michigan for the purpose of bringing together representatives from Hispanic/Latino organizations, state and national leaders, activists, students and volunteers to meet with lawmakers about key concerns of Michigan’s Hispanic and Latino citizens, including education, access to health care, racial profiling, barriers to obtaining drivers’ licenses and economic development. Much thanks to the H/L Commission for a highly engaging day and for bringing in local favorite Famous Taco on West Saginaw as the caterer. My own thoughts were that some left a touch disappointed with what they heard. But in that thought lies a lesson and also the beauty of Advocacy Day. When the student asked how can we access someone like Santana, Yanez or Singh, she asked a question many choose not to ask and instead sit on the couch and assume there is no one listening to their concerns. Advocacy Day was setup by the H/L Commission to allow “regular people” like me, to voice my concerns straight to these folks that I only see on the internet or local news. In that one day, we will not save cities, people or lower any dropout rate. But what we can do is call on our local officials. Contact them, drop in on them, take some pan dulce while your at it. Point is, for those of us that attended Advocacy Day, how many of us will continue the conversations we started and if we were disappointed that the Reps didn’t offer more, how many of us will visit them to get a better understanding? For those that did not attend, remember those issues you have and might have even complained about? The next paragraph below (above the H/L Comm website) is what Santana, Yanez and Singh heard from you: H/L Commission on the web: http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/0,1607,7-138-58275_3064—,00.html H’/L Commission on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hlcommission