El Foro Latino 2005 helps to lower barriers
¡Salud y Saludos!
Recently I had the chance to attend the 10th annual El Foro Latino.
The two-day conference put on by the Hispanic advocacy non-profit
El Pueblo has become a major event for both Hispanics and non-Hispanics
throughout the state.
 You may be familiar with El Pueblo from the annual ‘Fiesta del Pueblo.’
That festival now draws upwards of 60,000 people and has become the
largest Hispanic-themed festival in the state.
Foro, however, is a more intimate affair and is more tailored to
those in the community who either hope to learn more about the
culture, or for those directly advocating for this segment of the
community. For the first time this year, Foro organizers decided
to move a little further away from the Triangle – its traditional
venue up until now. Instead, about 600 people traveled to the Triad
to UNC-Greensboro to hear several powerful keynote speakers, attend
workshops covering a myriad of topics related to the growing Hispanic
population in North Carolina, and to come face-to-face with many
of these presenters during informal lunch and dinner gatherings
that were included as part of the event. All the workshops were
interpreted. I served as an interpreter for some of the presentations
to help bridge the language barrier. Overcoming this obstacle was
one of the goals of the organizers from the early planning phase.
This year’s event featured Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United
Farm Workers of America. He and his daughter Julie spoke of their
decades-long struggle for farm worker rights. They spoke of Cesar
Chavez, the legendary civil rights and labor leader who founded
the United Farm Workers. They often punctuated their own address
to utter Chavez’s popular phrase: “sí se puede (it can be
done).” Lorraine Lee, vice president of Chicanos por la Causa,
also gave an inspirational speech that had people on their feet.
She emphasized the need to help Hispanics across the state on humanitarian
grounds. She was vocal and shook the room with her booming voice.
There were also workshops covering Hispanic/African-American relations,
law enforcement concerns, non-profit start-ups, legislative analyses,
and many other topics.
Another special component of Foro involves youth from across the
state. El Pueblo holds a special Youth Foro that runs concurrently
with the regular adult conference. But throughout the weekend there
are times when the adults and kids can interact. The youngsters,
mostly teens, come from various youth groups affiliated with El Pueblo.
UNC-G dorm rooms served as their on-site motel. The youth are battling
all sorts of issues in their neighborhoods – from pressures to join
gangs, to the pressures of dropping out of school and start working.
During the day, the kids were treated to a wealth of educational
workshops planned just for them, along with sessions designed to
build leadership skills. As one of the adult youth leaders pointed
out, “Many people claim these are the future leaders of America;
in fact, they are today’s leaders of America!”
I am happy to see that there are still young people out there that
have a hopeful future. Now if we could only help tear down the barriers
that still get in the way of these kids’ path to success…things might
get even better.
Next story
|
Home