Today is 2008 Blog Action Day, where over 10,000 blogs reach out at once to raise awareness on a certain issue. With our current financial crisis, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that these are shaky times for the US economy. The problems facing struggling Americans have been intensified by lack of affordable child care, health care, and transportation; dangerous predatory lending practices; cuts in social spending; and exclusionary politics at all levels that limit public participation and accountability in government.

Recently, the US Census Bureau reported 37.3 million (12.5%) people were living in poverty in 2007, up from 36.5 million in 2006. According to the Census, poverty rates were statistically unchanged for non-Hispanic Whites (8.2 percent), Blacks (24.5 percent), and Asians (10.2 percent) from the previous year, however, it increased for Hispanics (21.5 percent in 2007, up from 20.6 percent in 2006).

For many Americans, poverty is considered to be an unheard concept because it is assumed this country classless. To acknowledge that class does exist is to acknowledge poverty does exist in this country. When the topic of poverty does arise, popular images of poverty in America are typically associated with black ghettoes and white trailer parks. However, Mexican American barrios or the colonias of South Texas are rarely included in images and discussions of American poverty.

One of the poorest parts of the US can be found along the US-Mexico borders. Approximately 400,000 Texans live in colonias. Areas along the US-Mexico border that are invisible from the highway, where families crowd into battered trailers patched with plywood in communities that still lack of sewer systems and paved streets where ordinary rainstorm can fill yards with disease-ridden sewage from flooded septic tanks.

Poverty is a costly and wasteful brake on the nation’s economy and future. Addressing poverty and economic security takes on greater urgency in the new economy. Employment for millions is now less secure than at any point in modern American history. In a recent study, Latinos suffer negative effects sooner, more severely and for longer duration during economic downturns compared to their counterparts. The study also found “that the disparity in unemployment rates between white and Hispanic workers likely will not correct itself and recommends policy actions to address some of the underlying causes.”

As inequality continues to grow and take an ever larger toll, one way to end poverty is to elect and hold officials who are committed to the fight against poverty accountable. They must be willing to pass legislation that will repair the damage created by years of piecemeal attempts that have failed.

Widespread enthusiasm can be found across the country in the belief the proverbial “Latino sleeping giant” has awaken. The immigration debate has energized new citizens to join long-time US citizens of Latino descent to turn out for the first time in years. It is expected that millions of new voters are preparing to cast their first ballots in November. This election year has proven to be a political turning point for these voters, they are now realizing the power of the ballot box and how it can shape their future and the future of their families.

While passion of the immigration debate has galvanized immigrants to flex their political muscle this November, as Latinos, we must remember political action does not stop at the voting booth. We must hold our elected officials in all levels accountable to enact antipoverty policies that will cut the current poverty rate. Such policies advocated by The Half in Ten Campaign, which is committed to cutting poverty in half in the United States over the next 10 years.

Related posts

• Beating Poverty One Blog At A Time (5)
• XP’s Register to Vote PSA (2)
• The Racist Heiress America Loves and Hates and Our Criminal Justice System (17)
• The Immigration Human Zoo (10)
• The Green Card Draft (3)

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