Latino Youth Face "Apathy and lack of Leadership"

College students unite and exchange ideas during a Conference

By Mitzi Macias, Washington Hispanic
July 14, 2006
Translation provided by Claudia Montelongo

Apathy and the lack of leadership are two fundamental problems that Latino youth face in the United States. This is the conclusion that more than 1,000 students came to from 48 states and a total of 250 colleges during the second annual student conference “Campus Progress” which occurred on Wednesday July 12 at the nation’s capital. The two day conference included a speech by Senator Barack Obama, who was the key note speaker and presentations by Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum; John Podesta, president of Center for American Progress, and other.

Ángela Guzmán, a communications student at John Hopkins University in Maryland, was one of the participants and like the rest of her peers is conscious of the need to generate more leadership among youth in order to see true change.

“We know that the main problem in the immigrant community is the approval of just immigration reform policies, but what are we doing? There are many Latino students which can exercise their right to vote and we need to ensure they are registering and participating. We should make our rights count by voting” The purpose of the conference is to inform and influence students about the changes which can be accomplished in society with progressive ideals, while promoting activism and leadership.

Gilberto Torres Vela, a science student at George Mason University, thinks that the difference between being a conservative and a progressive is the way in which you look at the world “where we are all in the same boat.”

“The conservative is more elitist and for example worries more about investing in the military rather than to provide equal access to education for everyone,” explained Torres Vela.

This is why he considers this type of gatherings where students who share the same ideals and interests can come together as important; at the same time students can feel supported by an institution such as the Center for American Progress.

“There is this great apathy that exists among young Latino students to participate in the political system. This is because many of us come from countries where faith has been lost in politicians, but we need to integrate ourselves into the political life of the country in order to achieve true social change,” said Gilberto Torres Vela.

Torres Vela, of Mexican origin, indicated that it would be interesting if the colleges in the metropolitan area worked in an integrated manner to realize a continuation of the conference to promote activism and leadership among students through a more local approach.

“It’s interesting to identify who we are, where we are and what we’re working on. If we network and work together we can accomplish many of our goals.”