By Valentina Humphrey -
The United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) claims to be a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes education, civic engagement, and leadership development. Every year they hold a conference where they address about 6000 young Latinos to recognize and embrace Hispanic leadership in the country.
This year’s conference was held at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago, from November 18th to the 20th. Workshops, presentations, and discussion panels were scheduled throughout the week to discuss important issues of interest to the Latino community.
During an event titled “Why does the Latino vote mean for the 2016 election?” panelists Adrian Pantoja, Alida M. Garcia, and moderator Maria Hinojosa discussed the efforts needed to turn red states into blue states through the Latino vote, and prompted the audience to “vote for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders,” pushing a clearly biased agenda.
It was interesting to witness that none of the Republican candidates of Hispanic descent were ever mentioned during this event (Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz would have been the obvious choices). It was only after I, as an attendee, asked a question about Senator Rubio that the panelists addressed his candidacy.
I directed my questions to the panel, but moderator Maria Hinojosa became confrontational and chose not to answer. Hinojosa assumed that asking questions about the USHLI’s partisan agenda and Marco Rubio’s candidacy, could only mean that the attendee worked or volunteered for his campaign–which was not the case.The audio recorded during the event shows how the panelist quickly removed the microphone from the attendee and continued with their own agenda in an effort to derail the audience from the topic.
It is important to note that this conference is held under the pretenses that this is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, organization receiving a benefit from taxpayers. As such, the USHLI carries the responsibility to ensure that the views presented during the discussions are, indeed, unbiased and nonpartisan.
A biased rhetoric pushes an agenda that has the power to influence thousands of people, most of which are being misinformed and misguided under the promise of gaining a benefit in exchange for their support in the upcoming elections. Many of these attendees are undocumented immigrants in the process of adjusting their legal status in the country, and after they participate in workshops, conferences, and dinners, they are prompted to support the Democratic party, if not through voter’s registration, through group membership and affiliation.
The information gathered by the USHLI during the registration process includes: email, physical address, phone number, voter’s registration number, occupation, political affiliation, level of education, income, and immigration status in the country. Attendees volunteer this information by filling out these questionnaires without hesitation. This approach is carefully crafted by USHLI organizers in order to engage young people seeking to obtain a legitimate benefit.
It is disappointing to unveil such political agenda from an organization that has claimed to promote education and leadership in the Latino community in a nonpartisan manner. A partisan agenda can, potentially, change the outcome of a presidential election, which is why it is important to be accurate and truthful, and to to bring these issues to light in order to keep people accountable.
A 13 minute video records a key part of the discussion – with an emphasis on turning red states into blue states:
Valentina Humphrey is a Criminologist, writer, and concerned citizen actively involved in the community, seeking to promote fairness and accountability.
