Last week, Oiste - the Statewide Latino Political Organization - gave me its Si Se Puede Award in recognition of our work with the Commonwealth Seminar.
Si Se Puede (Yes We Can) is powerful expression, and although the Obama campaign used it last year for its Latino outreach, for me the phrase will always be linked to the struggle of the United Farm Workers.
As I was unpacking boxes last month, I found this picture of my father, Manuel Barrera, and brother Alonzo marching in Austin, Texas with the farmworkers, together with a donkey that had "Huelga" (Strike) painted on its side. Their sign asked for "Justicia y Dignidad" and made the radical request of a $1.25 per hour minimum wage for farm laborers.
My father, Manuel Barrera, created the spark of my own interest in engaging the world. He was barely literate, spoke broken English and only made it through 3rd grade but he served his country proudly in the United States Army during the Pacific campaigns of World War II. When he returned from war, he joined thousands of other Mexican-American veterans in forming the GI Forum, led by civil rights pioneer Dr. Hector P. Garcia, and one of their first campaigns focused on ending segregated burials for servicemen.
My oldest brother Manuel, Jr. remembers going door to door with my father trying to get neighbors to pay their poll tax, and his political involvements included helping Latino candidates break into West Oso school district politics. My brother George now serves on that same school board.
One of my own earliest political memories is of going to the Corpus Christi, Texas airport with my father to see presidential candidate George McGovern give a campaign speech. Even into this 80s, my father would listen to his favorite Spanish-language talk show host Vicente Carranza and get agitated about the issues of the day.
My father taught me that phrase: Si Se Puede. History moves forward because of the work of quiet heroes who no one ever hears about but who stand up and that act on their values. And who become the role models for future generations.
Thank you to Oiste for their recognition of the work of the Commonwealth Seminar toward opening the doors of the State House to diverse leaders seeking their rightful place in Massachusetts politics.
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