And helped to oust Russell Pearce, Arizona Senate President, in a recall election that energized the Latino Vote. Heartbreaking stories of youngsters that work 12 hours a day canvassing for Obama, but can not vote. And can not pay the high tuition that Arizona has to exclude Latinos from entering the Universities or Colleges.
Phoenix New Times
SB 1070 Fuels a Movement of New Voters
By Monica Alonzo
July 05, 2012
SB 1070 Fuels a Movement of New Voters
Some excerpts of a very long article ( several pages ) :
On a hot evening in June, a petite young woman with long, black hair briskly walks a decade-old Avondale neighborhood lined with stucco homes, cradling a clipboard.
It's after dinnertime, but a stubborn summer sun stretches out the day, providing plenty of light as she approaches the doors. Some families are settling in for the night; the faint sounds of televisions emit from living rooms. Others are washing cars or doing yard work.
Adriana consults a map that pinpoints homes of targeted registered voters, then rings bell after bell, explaining she is a student volunteer sharing information about Democratic candidates running for election — Richard Carmona, who wants a seat in the U.S. Senate; Congressman Raul Grijalva, who is up for re-election; and Paul Penzone, who hopes to unseat Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Most people are receptive to the Latina, who can deliver her message in fluent Spanish or English. One man asks how he can volunteer. One woman says she's busy but asks for Adriana's phone number so she can get more information the next day.
Others grumble disinterestedly and quickly shut their doors.
Adriana walks on through the streets of this working-class neighborhood, where political and racial demographics cross both party and color lines.
She is not alone. Adriana is a member of Team Awesome, a group with dozens of community organizers. She and other students, campaign volunteers, and political organizers working Arizona — street by street and door by door — have a goal beyond educating would-be voters about candidates. Or getting people to register to vote.
They desperately want to change Arizona's anti-Latino landscape — one radical politician at a time.
And they're doing it. Last year, they made history by bumping voter turnout nearly 400 percent in West and Central Phoenix and being part of the team that forced out Russell Pearce, the state Senate president behind Arizona's anti-immigrant laws.
Engaged Latinos are taking the movement state- and nationwide. Their numbers are growing, but it won't be easy.
"Immigration can get sticky," Adriana says, peering down the street for the next house number. "And it's such a complicated issue, you can't talk about it for just a couple minutes at the door. But everyone cares about their tax money."
She focuses on a candidate's leadership qualities, fiscal policies, and accountability. She plans to spend many hours in the summer heat and on the phone cultivating support for Carmona, Penzone, and Grijalva. The Obama campaign is capitalizing on the political energy among Latinos, and hoping to make typically Republican-leaning Arizona more competitive come November.
But on Election Day, Adriana will not be casting a vote for any of these candidates, Obama included. Or anyone else, for that matter.
Adriana, 20, is an undocumented immigrant. She isn't eligible to vote.
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