Lationo Liniage, Leaders of Tomorrow

Julian Castro Mayor of San Antonio

The citizens of San Antonio, Texas are primarily of Latino decent. Their mayor, Julian Castro  exemplifies the politician of tomorrow. This 36-year old mayor did not look much different from those whom he addressed at a rally over a San Antonio school bond earlier this year where he asserted: "We have an obligation, in this year 2010, to ensure that a whole new generation of young people has the best facilities, the best opportunity, to succeed in our schools (...) We need this bond issue for the future of our young people."

    It is estimated that every 30 seconds, a Latino turns eighteen in America. This number is startling. To think I thought I was a minority Mexican 18-year-old woman of American society. I am pleased however, that this statistic is prompting officials to invest more money, time, and energy into brightening the future for the astounding number of Latino youth in our country. With the recent profiling that became an issue of topic in Arizona, it is imperative that the Latino youth of America be provided with good, strong leaders and role models such as Julian Castro. Apparently Castro comes from a family of political activists. When he was a child, his mother would bring him to the polls with her so that he could see the importance of voting and being an active citizen. I distinctly remember being young and going with my own mother to vote. My mother, who is a fair skinned Norwegian/Northern Italian woman, once asked for a sticker that said "ya vote" because she wanted to show me how cool it was that they were making them in Spanish. The woman working at the poll booth looked at her and asked her in an accusatory tone why on earth she would want a sticker in Spanish, and my mom vigorously replied "Because my husband and children are Mexican and proud of it!" To this day, I am proud of that sticker, and it was by my mother's example that I too want to be an active member in society, and a strong Latino woman. I hope to see more government officials like Castro. Who knows, perhaps someday I will be up there with him.

Source:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/12/132013036/latino-mayor-might-be-a-glimpse-of-things-to-come