It’s that time, again: time to kick back and have a listen to the Hispanic Caucus’ most recent podcast episodes from May. We’ve been having terrific discussions with several notable guests, including: a UNICEF advocate who specializes in communicating with Congress, one of the nation’s most visible union bosses fighting for public schools and their workers, a Latina congressional candidate in the Peach State, and a former F-16 jet pilot now fighting for Hispanic representation in the military’s most senior ranks. All of these guests provided us with great reasons for us to vote from abroad, and after listening to them, we’re sure you’ll agree!
All of our podcast episodes can be found here: https://www.democratsabroad.org/hc_podcasts
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May 24, 2019
One of the lesser-talked about issues of our time is the serious lack of Hispanic representation in the upper-most ranks of the United States Armed Forces, such as generals and admirals. Among those fighting to raise awareness of this issue is Edward Cabrera, president of the Hispanic Veterans Leadership Alliance (https://www.casabagroup.net/). "Eddie" is a former U.S. Air Force aviator who's now trying to educate both the public and federal lawmakers on this important issue. With an April 17th letter to the Defense Department backed by a May 7th letter from Congress, Eddie and his Alliance have been busy in 2019 in not only pointing out the problems with Hispanics being absent from senior officer positions, but he's also been proposing strategies to key officials to increase Hispanic representation in these role-model and mission-critical positions.
As someone who previously flew F-16 fighter jets and other combat-ready aircraft in addition to continuing to serve our country by working as a NASA programs manager, members of the DA Hispanic Caucus and the DA Military and Veteran Family Caucus were grateful that Eddie joined our podcast to spread his important messaging. As Eddie mentions on the podcast, Americans living abroad can help the cause in doing a take-action item by contacting your members of Congress - ¡Escúchalo ya!
May 17, 2019
From immigrating to the U.S. as a young child to finishing law school to being elected as the first Latina in the state legislature, Brenda López Romero now aspires to be the next congresswoman representing the 7th Congressional District of Georgia. The Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus had a great discussion with Rep. López Romero in learning more about why she's running and what her platform issues are.
As a fully-bilingual lawmaker, we definitely appreciated López Romero speaking directly to GA-7 voters living abroad and to our Spanish-speaking caucus members. Please feel free to share this podcast episode with any and all Americans who vote in Georgia's 7th district! "No podemos mejorar como estado, no podemos mejorar como país, sin tener buenos trabajos y desarrollo económico." - Brenda López Romero Sus comentarios en español comienzan a las 27:20 en la conversación. (Rep. López Romero’s Spanish-language remarks begin at 27:20 into the conversation.)
May 11, 2019
Sadly, even in twenty-first century America, the horrible and illegal practice of human trafficking exists. Joining us on this episode brought to you by the Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus was special guest Alejandra Colmenero (https://www.cllaro.org/staff/), a Denver-based expert in communicating this issue and other critically-important issues affecting children to the nation's top policymakers: members of Congress.
Alejandra's experience as a leader on UNICEF's Congressional Action Team has led her to use her passion for activism to train dozens of others in how to approach lawmakers to support policies that make the world a far better place, especially for children. She also touched on why all Americans abroad should cast their votes from wherever they are in the world, because, as Alejandra rightly mentions, American citizens have a democratic voice and they should exercise their right to vote. Have a listen to this highly educated, passionate, and bilingual #StrongLatina to hear what she has to say on combating human trafficking and improving communications with lawmakers through effective citizen activism.
May 10, 2019
How is the United States currently doing as far as public education goes? How much is the current administration supporting teachers? Is there any connection to voting from abroad and supporting education policies to improve America's schools? And is anyone paying attention to schools in Puerto Rico? To answer these questions and more, we turn to an expert.
Among the titans of those advocating for sound education policy and representing workers in the education industry is none other than Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. It's no secret Randi is widely admired by America's teachers, those (and allies of those) who push for sensible education reforms, the LGBT community, people of color, Democratic elected officials, parents, and so many more. The Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus was very fortunate to have Randi speak with us on the current direction of U.S. education under the Trump Administration.