Word: mexican-american
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...member of the UFW, he defied antiriot acts, led boycotts and organized marches. He also antagonized Mexican-American politicians. "At that time," he says, "the UFW was considered unpopular with the Anglos." The problem was that because the non-Anglos were politically inactive, there was no pressure to pay attention to their cause. The solution was La Raza...
...Raza was, at its inception in 1968, a Mexican-American third party, formed "as a reaction to the Democratic party practice of herding Mexicans to the polls for nothing in return." When Velasquez chaired its first convention, "it was an authentic, real people's movement...
...success, as far as Velasquez was concerned, did the party in. It became unresponsive, radical, and too ambitious--"These guys thought they would have someone running for president"--and he left it soon after for another vehicle of Mexican-American political organization, the Voter Registration Board...
...Voter Registration Board, Velasquez boasts proudly of his group's first successful battle. As he flips through piles of documents, he rattles off some other accomplishments: Since 1977, the organization has filed 50 gerrymandering suits and has yet to lose one; between 1976 and 1979, the number of elected Mexican-American officials in Texas increased more than one-fourth; during the same period, voter registration jumped...
Velasquez' goal now is not numbers but results. California and Texas, both with substantial Mexican-American populations, control a substantial portion of the electoral votes for the presidency. Mexican-Americans in those states, Velasquez posits, have the potential to swing "the votes necessary to become president...