Our Silence is Killing Us

Our Silence is Killing Us

It was early one morning and I was on a press tour, just about to launch my now ​New York Times bestselling Book, ​SELF MADE: Becoming Empowered, Self Reliant and Rich in Every Way. My first scheduled appearance was on the Fox News morning show, ​Fox and Friends, because according to my publicist, “that’s a show that sells books.”

Anyone who knows me, knows that privately I am very opinionated; but it’s another thing altogether to step into the national press circuit, which then gets picked up on social media, and potentially have your words haunt you for a long time, particularly when you are not a political pundit.

I went on the show and spoke about my book, about the opportunities for women entrepreneurs, about a nonpartisan, private sector approach to growing the economy, and helping women achieve their self-reliance. Everything was going smoothly until I was suddenly asked the question about “illegal aliens.”

The term itself stung my ears, and I felt I had no choice but to correct the news anchors. “That’s not what they are called,” I said, with all the courage I could muster​—​“They are undocumented.”

My appearance on Fox News went viral. I received love mail and hate mail alike, and guess what? I lived. Not only did I survive the enormous backlash, but I also walked away feeling so empowered and proud for speaking my mind and standing up for undocumented Latinos. Thank God for a journalist like Jorge Ramos, who has spoken up loudly himself, and has helped me to become so much braver.

But the experience left me wondering why it seems we, as a culture, don’t speak up as much as we should and why we aren’t mobilizing peaceful demonstrations, just as we did in support of immigrant rights in 2006, in response to one particular candidate who continues to berate our community.  And while there are a few individuals in our community, other than political pundits, speaking up and against him, I strongly believe that it won’t be until we go beyond our $1.3+ trillion purchasing power and actually VOTE we will ever be taken seriously.

Consider what I wrote in my book about this being the greatest time in history for Latinos financially, specifically for Latinas who are the number one emerging market and the number one purchasers in this country, and that our numbers and our birth rates are greater than every other group by a long shot.  So why, I ask, do we seem to lack real political clout?

We should be taking cues from the African American, Jewish and LGBT communities, all groups who continually fight for their rights, who speak up when they are maligned or mistreated.  Let’s defend ourselves and people in our community who can’t speak for themselves.  Let’s not let our silence get the better of us.  By not speaking up, we damage our power base and our ability to be part of the national narrative.

We Latinos need to come together and try to fully understand each other.  We share a common language but our individual communities are different and it often feels difficult to comprehend and relate to each other’s respective plight.  For example, Mexican and Central Americans are facing difficult immigration issues; Puerto Ricans are contending with the prospect of their country’s bankruptcy; Cuban Americans, not all, are disappointed that our nation is doing business with a communist and totalitarian regime; and ​most of us don’t understand what the future of Venezuela will be following Chavez’s death. With such markedly different circumstances, it’s no wonder we haven’t been able to find a common thread.  But there is a common thread: WE ARE ALL LATINOS.

As a Latina immigrant, I ​will speak up for other Latinos in my community, especially those who aren’t able to speak for themselves.  And I’ll do this because I want my son, Lukas, to see what a person should do for people from his same culture even though we may not all think the same or have the same ideology, even though we may not be from the same race or religion, even though we may not share the same sexual orientation and gender identity.  I want Lukas to understand that history has shown us when people don’t speak up and stand up for each other, the darkness that lies in our nature can cause atrocities to occur.  I will show my son that silence is the greatest perpetrator of hate.

Some of us may believe that we have nothing to do with those undocumented immigrants who many want to keep out by building a wall, but we don’t have to go very far back to remember that they are us and we are them. Smart minds can figure out what is right for this country and right for human beings, but as Latinos, we should be leading this conversation and not allowing others to determine that for us.

So I ask: is there something we can agree on, is there a common denominator that we can get behind that unites us and allows us to finally bring our potential power into the light, into action and into results that help us as a group?  I believe that voting is one way, are there others?

How can each one of us be braver, be louder?  How we can show our children that they are Latino, that their lives matter and we are willing to fight for their futures?

Who is going to pick up the baton and pass the torch of power and possibility to our children? The answer has to be: WE ARE. WE ALL ARE.

John C. Shuey

Homo sum humani a me nihil alienum puto.

5y

Over a half century ago I worked at McDonald's with a maintenance guy from Puerto Rico. He was proud of his heritage and talked a lot about Puerto Rico's indigenous past. It made a strong impression on me obviously, if I recall it so long afterwards.  Also, I have a friend whose father is Mexican American. She said something presumptive about latinos hanging around when a bike came up missing and her dad told her to show some love because of her heritage. She replied, incongruously, that he was hispanic but she wasn't - and ,of course, he laughed. Years later she learned Spanish and traveled Mexico as an activist. So, I concur that people should speak up. It makes a difference. Likely more than you will ever know.

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Erick EscalantePumagualle

Offensive Security | Security Monitoring | Vulnerability Management | Data Security

5y

Yes!! I thank you for showing me where to begin and join you in this mission. I belong to a Latino church full of unlimited potential and I believe that now is the time.

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Tina Aldatz

Entrepreneur, Author, Community Advocate

5y

Thank you Nely!!! 🙏🏻❤️👊🏻

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Rosa Yazmin Ayala

Preschool Teacher. Spiritual Rebel. Warrior. Seeker.

6y

I am so proud of you!! I wonder the same thing. But to be honest Latinos have so many issues with each other... i wonder how would we work as a unit when we feel animosity for one another. What about issues of race in our communities. Many Latinos would not call themselves black. So when we are so fragmented... how can we pass that and work together? Latinos are so affraid they might lose their jobs they are turning against each other. It is so disheartening. But you stood up for Latinos. Reading this was empowerring... thank you.

Robin S.

Co-Founder @Synchronicity.co, Inc. & BOS

7y

My Grandparents on my Dad's side came up from Guanajuato to find a better life and escape the revolution. They struggled but survived by running a boarding house for other immigrants that were day laborers. But my Dad, a first generation Californian, accomplished a lot for all people in the school district where he worked after serving in WW2 and graduating with a teaching degree from Cal Irvine. With that teaching credential, he could not get a job because he was Mexican and to support his young family, took a job as a shipfitter while he kept up the job search. He got his first "career" job and had a very successful couple of years at CYA. With that experience and high recommendation, he got a job and became the *first* Mexican-American hired into the California School district. He became an Elementary school Principal, then as an administrator, he helped set up and get established the local Head Start program. Later he started a school within a school for the deaf children in our community at my Elementary. He knew him and was asked by Caesar Chavez to become more of an activist but NO, my Dad wanted nothing to do with upsetting the system. He just wanted to fit in and stand on his own successful merits in order to set a good example for the Chicano. After one too many mis-quotes in the local and State press, he stopped doing any interviews but continued making great strides from where we was. By the 1970's, he became #2 in the Carlsbad Union School District and accomplished other improvements in parent-teacher-student relations. With that as my heritage and example, I can only feel sad for others who do not give our seemingly, underprivileged or immigrant brothers and sisters a chance to step up to the plate.

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