Last Saturday I got a call from my wife asking I’m buying beer which is the one you’re not boycotting? Yes, we have a long tradition of honoring boycotts plus a long list of products and companies we don’t patronize. I have friends who after all these years they still don’t buy grapes nor drink Coor’s beer.
I remember some years back when I was young and drinking more than my share of beer there was a song titled Love makes the World Go ‘round but in time I came to understand that Power is what makes the world go around, or so I used to tell my students. But then the follow-up question was, what kind of power is it and how or where do we get it?
If we’re talking in social or political terms the first thing to identify is the kind of more influential power in society, which is not a simple question, especially since we tend to play with words, slogans and concepts. For instance, we’ve all heard that power is in numbers, or education is power and what about political or economic power?
Well, If it’s a matter of numbers we should be happy to know that according to recently released Census figures in the State of Texas alone Latinx population increased by a 9 to1 ratio against Whites in 2019 and are expected to become the largest population group in Texas as early as 2022, . If that is the case, then all we need to do is organize La Raza and use the mighty power of numbers … well, good luck with that.
Regarding education, this has always been our parents’ and elders’ best advice to get ahead and we know it’s not wise to argue with them. So not to disappoint them we have increased our numbers in the schools in proportion to our population at the tone of a 24 percent increase in 2015 to a projected 42 percent by 2021 in higher education. One would think that such amount of brainpower should open all the doors we need in the corporate world to change the conditions of our fellow workers…. Sure, let’s all hold our breath together.
And what about our political power … here, we’re looking at a record 13.3% of eligible voters being Raza although that doesn’t necessarily mean they will all get out to register or show up to vote on election day and if they do, well …. you remember what happened last time….
So, why don’t we put all our pennies in our Economic power instead, because como dice el dicho, con dinero baila el perro and to prove it, our buying power was $1.539 trillion in 2018 but that’s not all, this figure is expected to grow nearly $400 billion more by 2023!
Indeed, Raza’s economic power is even large enough to fuel Mexico’s economy at a rate of $35.5 million per year.
Maybe it’s me but, for a population group that has been perpetually relegated to the working-class rungs, that sounds like a whole lot of change.
The question then is, if we were to put all this money together, what can we buy to our benefit. No, wait …. Let’s change that around, and ask, what if we (together) were not to buy something in particular.
After all Cesar Chavez said we only have two weapons to defend ourselves; Huelga and Boycott
In light of the recent #Goyaway call, Brother Enrique Morones at Gente Unida in San Diego is forming a broad boycott coalition to capitalize on our economic power. If you’re interested in joining, feel free to contact him directly at enrique@genteunida.net
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