Every election cycle, Latinos don’t quite match their voting potential. But every cycle, it should also be said, we come closer.

It’s been a long process to merge the gap between potential and reality because to be Latino in America is paradoxical. We are frequently told how powerful we are, how desperately politicians need us if they are to win, and how quickly our ranks are growing.



But our lived reality tells a different story. It remains politically expedient to scapegoat our communities. Hatred of immigrants from south of the border provided the bedrock for the Trump campaign, but long before him, there was Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Steve King, Lou Dobbs – the list goes on.

To be sure, there is a vigorous, politically engaged sector of our community. But there is also a pervasive sense of helplessness, of lethargy – there are so many of us, but so little is changing.

Under a Democratic president, a man Latinos helped surge into the White House, undocumented immigrants, many of whom are economic and political refugees, are being deported en masse. Some are taken in raids. Detention centers swell with our people. For detained LGBT refugees, particularly those who are transgender, the conditions are inhumane.

Preceding all of this is a history of oppression and marginalization. When the border was moved south, Mexicans who were already living on the land found themselves labeled as aliens. In the 1930s and 40s, up to 2 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, regardless of citizenship status, were rounded up and expelled from the country.

Today, an onslaught of voter restrictions that disproportionately harms the Latino community, such as voter ID laws, suppresses the ability for Latinos to express their will in the electoral process. Our turnout isn’t exactly what it could be, and English is a huge barrier for many immigrants to engaging in politics.

And yet, despite it all, our ranks are growing. We are registering to vote. We are reshaping the electoral map, and politicians who use our existence in this country as a cudgel would do well to take note: the strategy of othering us has an expiration date. We could soon be the majority.

There are plenty of pundits who argue that the prophecy of a powerful Latino voting bloc remains a myth, but I believe we have reason to be optimistic.



That we have so far failed to activate the sleeping strength of Latino voters is not to suggest that we are not politically active or that we have never succeeded in political protest. I would point to the Chicano Moratorium, the largest anti-Vietnam War protest spearheaded by any minority group. It drew 30,000 demonstrators in East Los Angeles in 1970.

I would also point to Cesar Chavez and the National Farm Workers Association. The success of the Modesto march in 1975, which started with just a few hundred people and swelled to 15,000, is a counterpoint to claims that Latinos lack the education and means to engage in political action.

To be Latino is to inherit a rich history of resistance. Our people, so often mistreated by both sides, but especially by Republicans, are waking up. I look at young Latinos who are taking to the streets to fight for undocumented people, to protect Daca, to free LGBT refugees from detention. It is a reminder that we were never truly silent, and that our voice is growing louder every day.

We need to harness this energy and direct it to getting Latinos to the voting booth if we are to make manifest our potential in this country. That includes pushing for more Spanish-language material from campaigns, dismantling voter ID laws that target Latinos, and actively engaging with organizations like Voto Latino that are working to get more Latinos registered to vote. It includes talking to our family members, especially those of us who speak English and have an understanding of American politics, about why it’s important to vote and why it’s more crucial than ever to be a part of the electoral process.

It’s important that we do: Trump wasn’t the first demagogue to use our community as scapegoats, and he won’t be the last.