Voting: Race/Class

When I think of our discussions in class along with our readings about Latino voting, I feel like I am sometimes hearing about the black struggle to vote. Here it is a generation or two later and Latinos are struggling with making their mark in the political world. It is sad because they actually can vote if they are legal, but eventhough they have this ability they are still stuck behind a barrier. This barrier consists of discrimination, classism, racism, and struggle to understand language. They need someone to give them change, give them chances, but all of this seems so far out of reach for them because they often do not have the education it takes to reach out and participate in this change. As spoke about in chapter 5 of Bedolla, she mentions that the stronger sense of attachment to your group, the more likely you will want to better your community and group. With East LA and Montebello, you have two class system. One being primarily middle and one lower. Montebello tends to go for the "survival of the fitest" mentality while East LA has a "shared injury" mentality. East LA has a stronger since of group identity which in return has a larger percent of volunteer work and or pride in their community. It is clear that race is not the only issue when it comes to taking part in politics, community and voting, class as well plays a huge ROLE! To read more read chapter 5 or refere back to our class discussions.