sincerelystephb

[sincerelystephb]

A Letter to Governor Chris Christie of NJ: What are you doing in Mexico, if you won't listen to Mexicans in your state?

*Readers, please sign the petition!*

Dear Governor Christie,

My name is Stephanie Bello and I am a Mexican American recent college graduate in New Jersey. For the last few years, I have been working with my community to find solutions to the problems that plague many New Jersey communities. For the majority of my college years, I was an executive officer in the Mexican American Progress Movement, Inc, and now I am serving as the interim president. When I read the news that you were planning a visit to Mexico for next month, I was interested in the motivation behind your choice of Mexico for your first trip abroad this term.  You are calling it a trade and diplomatic mission, focused on building economic ties between New Jersey and Mexico.

With Mexico being the largest importing Latin American country for New Jersey, with $3,219 million according to the 2010 Census, I believe we already have a solid economic relationship with Mexico. Particularly in New Jersey cities that have high concentrations of Mexican communities, like my hometown of Passaic (34,573 people of Mexican descent lived in Passaic County in 2010, and since increasing, according, once again to the Census), have high numbers of restaurants and businesses owned, operated and consumed by people of Mexican descent. In Passaic, we have the largest  number of Mexican distributor enterprises that import from Mexico to supply other businesses and customers products from their native country. So unless you mean NAFTA*-style “economic ties”--where preferential trading agreements end up displacing Mexican workers in Mexico as small businesses are lost, unable to compete with transnational companies, and then create another wave of Mexican refugees seeking a better life in the US--we have already have strong ones that are growing organically.

So why are you going to Mexico, Governor, when there are many Mexicans and Mexican Americans already living in New Jersey who are trying to make their voices heard? Your concerns should prioritize your constituents, not international relations. When it is convenient for you, you boast about passing the “NJ DREAM Act” but completely ignore the fact that you had refused to touch the subject until you felt forced to. Do you remember speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in 2011? A lot of folks began to clap when you said, “I do not believe that for those people who came here illegally that we should be subsidizing with taxpayer money through in-state tuition their education.” Your stance then was very anti-immigrant. If I was supposed to believe you in 2013 at the Latino Leadership Alliance of NJ’s Gala, where you said you believed “every child should be given the opportunity to reach their God-given potential” and that we needed “to get to work in the state legislature [to make] sure that there’s tuition equality for everybody in New Jersey,” than something must’ve happened in between that time period. Perhaps, your future goals had shifted. Because the youth movement that worked tirelessly with other lawmakers in the legislature to pass this legislation, did not hear a response from you for almost an entire year until it was time for your electoral campaign in 2013. And when it became convenient for you to make a political statement by winning the Latino vote, you lied to us and hoped we will forget 2011 ever happened, bribing Latino organizations with appointments so they could convince their communities to vote for you.

But I am not like Martin Perez of the LLANJ, Governor Christie. I am a graduate of the NJ public school system, and unlike what you believe, our schools are not “failure factories” and as a proud first-generation graduate of one of New Jersey’s state universities, the public system has imparted me the critical thinking skills necessary to see right through this trip. I will not sell out my community and celebrate your sudden interest in my culture. As a consistent voter, I have a responsibility- and as an elected official, you are accountable.

If you want to truly help my community, you need to remember and meet our needs. The NJ DREAM Act was passed conditionally by you- after you vetoed the State Aid portion of the bill, in effect still maintaining education unaccessible. And we are not asking for handouts- most undocumented immigrants pay taxes without any hope of seeing any of it help them in real ways. We face a variety of barriers that have forces us to lag behind in education, socioeconomic status and health- areas of our lives that it is your responsibility to improve.  It’s time to stop hiding behind excuses, and address the issues of the community you have suddenly found interest in.

Looking at the statistics as they play out on the national level, we found that the largest Latino origin group in 40 out of 50 states was in fact the Mexican group. So Governor Christie, are you really thinking about New Jersey? Or are you looking at the national playing field? If so, don’t you think you should tell national voters that you funneled funds that should’ve gone to Sandy victims to high-end condo complexes instead? Or that you thought it would be okay to “teach a lesson” to a mayor who did not endorse you by closing off their town’s bridge and endangering lives by creating unnecessary chaos? Or how you conditionally vetoed State Aid for undocumented students who otherwise qualify for it? Or should we talk about the fact that you only hold town halls in specific areas of New Jersey, which happens to discriminate on various levels, and that you have yet to visit cities like Newark and Passaic?

In fact, you have yet to have a town hall with the Mexican community. You planned a meeting with Mexican business leaders in Princeton on August 18, but failed to invite any community or youth leaders. If you are looking to receive support from the Mexican community, you should invite community members- people who live in Mexican communities, who struggle with the same issues, who live the joys and sorrows of day-to-day life in New Jersey, to share their insight with you. I was able to attend this meeting, and I was not allowed to ask any questions, even though I was simply going to invite you, Governor Christie, to hold a town hall here in Passaic, the city with the largest concentration of Mexican and Mexican Americans in the whole East Coast and listen to our concerns, our problems and our ideas. If you ever do decide to run for President, perhaps you will be able to learn something about what the larger demographic of Mexican American voters are truly looking for: leadership, integrity and courage.  We will be waiting for a response from you, Governor, and hope that your interest in the community will manifest in this town hall.

Sincerely,

Stephanie, B.A.

Voter, organizer, student

#governor christie #nj #politics #mexico #mexican american #latina

[sincerelystephb]

mala onda que solo se sientan orgullos en Septiembre

#SoyMexicanoPorque sólo me siento orgulloso de serlo en septiembre!

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Oaxaca, Region de Tuxtepec by Oaxaqueño Hermano on Flickr.

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Tacos de carne al pastor

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collections that are raw as fuck ➝ imelda kartini 2013

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les dije que los dejaran jugar!!

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Three5Human

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[sincerelystephb]

If you consider yourself a “Real American” and rail against Coca-Cola for “butchering the National Anthem” by having it sung in multiple languages instead of just English “because ‘Murrica”, you’re a fucking idiot. 1. “America the Beautiful” is not our national anthem,…

[sincerelystephb]

Laying out and mocking up my next print. This edition is for Casa Latina Bakery in Berkeley. #dignidadrebelde #melaniecervantes #arte #chicana #chicanoart #pandulce #cafesito #conchas #loteria #corazon

[sincerelystephb]

and he still looking at her like she crazy.....