Stand up for Barack Obama, because he's standing up for you.
Hola, ¿qué tal? My name is Mark Kraft. Some of you may know me from my work as LiveJournal's first Business Manager, back in the early days before it became a big dotcom. I'm also the guy who developed the idea for LiveJournal's communities, so it's always a pleasure posting in them, because they're such an important part of so many people's lives.
Over the past several years since moving on from LJ, I have become increasingly involved in journalism and activism, especially within my wonderfully diverse community in the Silicon Valley, where Mexican-Americans and latinos have built an increasingly affluent and influential community alongside those of other immigrants from around the world, such as Vietnamese, Indians, Chinese, and Koreans, creating the products and technologies that help improve our future.
At the same time, I grew up in the rural farmland south of Silicon Valley, near Gilroy and San Martin, and lived alongside strawberry and garlic fields, and mushroom farms, cared for by poor immigrant laborers. My mother had to work early in the morning, so she'd drop me off at Mrs. Seros, a strict but kind grandmother who looked out after me and her grandkids, fixing us fresh tortillas and scrambled eggs with mugs of hot chocolate, getting us on the bus for school together. She lived in a tiny, very crowded house compared to ours, and her grandchildren wore hand-me-downs that Mrs. Seros would oftentimes have to sew up holes in, but they were lucky compared to so many others who usually lived alongside the fields in shacks, and who often had to travel up and down the Pacific coast as the seasons changed, following the jobs. Their lives were a world apart, and unfortunately, their hardships were largely hidden away, seperate from the rest of us.
Politically, I think that a country should look out after its people and can be judged by how it treats its least fortunate. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the US have oftentimes not been much better at caring for its people than the Republicans. However, I think that things are changing. More specifically, I think that *we*, the younger generation, are going to bring about a huge change in this country, because of how we grew up and what we believe in. We grew up with friends who were rich, poor, black, white, latino, asian, etc.. and though we sometimes had our differences, we learned to get along. We were taught that it was wrong to discriminate, that poverty was something that should be fought against, that everyone deserved a chance to succeed, and that we should embrace and appreciate both our similarities and our differences, and share, not fear, each other's cultures.
We were taught all these things, and yet we can see that the reality around us conflicts against what we were taught and what we believe in. Our generation is change. It can see through the cynicism and manipulation that tries to divide us, and can see that what is needed is truth, honesty, integrity, and mutual respect. We need to heal divisions, bring hope where there is cynicism, truth where there is manipulation. We need to sweep away the ugliness, the racism, the lack of compassion, the hopelessness, and the neglect of the past, and bring about real, meaningful, fundamental change.
That's why I support Barack Obama for President. He "gets it". He's lived it. He understands... and he's a brilliant leader who is capable of not only creating laws designed to help fix problems that effect our nation, but also one that doesn't tolerate injustice, and who knows how to go about creating change in the right way.
He *knows* that corporations have too much power in Washington, and that the people have too little. He believes that governments should create laws not in back rooms, but in the open, where the people of the world can see what our leaders are doing and hold them personally accountable.
This is vital if we want real immigration reform... a working system where hardworking Mexicans who want to help their families won't have to be exploited by profiteers or left to die in the desert just because they wanted to come to the United States in order to find work to support their families.
Passing immigration reform won't be easy. It will require not only fighting corporate interests, but also fighting those politicians who exploit the economic fears and racism of some voters in order to gain their support. Barack Obama's approach is not only shine a light on the process of how decisions are made, and not only to appeal to Democrats, independents, and Republicans, but also to reach out to the people of the United States, encouraging them to make it clear to their politicians that they want real solutions, and not a failed system of undocumented laborers, sometimes dying to get into the United States, and all-too-often being exploited or suffering in silence once they get here.
Barack Obama knows the United States *needs* proud Mexican workers to help our economy. Workers who should be able to come to our country to work with their heads held high. He also knows that those who are already here in the United States need to have the work they have done respected and honored with a path to citizenship, while still allowing those who have done the right thing by going through the complex and time consuming process of becoming a citizen to be at the front of the line. And yes, he knows that it's too hard and too time-consuming for all applicants to become citizens... and he wants to fix that too.
In the '90s, Bill Clinton led the United States through a time of economic growth, driven, in part, by the rapid growth of technology jobs that started around the mid-'70s and that really took off with the growth of the Internet. As a result, many Americans found a better life and better jobs. However, the Clintons also oversaw policies that led to many of those jobs being exported overseas. Barack Obama realizes that we need to reverse this trend, while still staying competitive in the global marketplace.
He wants Mexicans who have worked and studied hard know that they're welcome to work in the United States or become a US citizen, and he knows that much more needs to be done to see to it that Mexican workers have greater possibilities and more access to jobs not only in the fields, factories, kitchens, and hotels of the United States, but also in the offices, the data centers, and the engineering departments, not only helping build the United States' high-tech future, but also helping to bring that kind of a future back to the people of Mexico, helping improve the lives of all Mexicans.
These are things that Barack Obama truely "gets". He understands technology and what it takes to help it expand, thrive, and empower ordinary people in a way that many other politicians don't. He understands that the old solutions aren't enough anymore, and that they aren't appropriate to where either the US or Mexico needs to go in the future.
Throughout this election, Barack Obama has always made it clear that he was an underdog, fighting against a very powerful establishment, while lacking the kind of long-established political machine that some of the other candidates have had. I think he'd be the first to admit that he's been at a disadvantage up until now at getting his message out to Mexican-Americans and Latinos, in part because he has had to build his grassroots campaign from the ground up, and because he has been so busy fighting for victories throughout the rest of the United States, where Mexican-Americans and Latinos are less represented.
But there's always been one thing that Barack Obama has had on his side. The people. A huge army of volunteers and supporters who have stepped up to contribute their time and their money on a level that no other candidate could match. Throughout the country, we've fought the existing political machine's advantages to a draw, but our army of supporters and volunteers are starting to turn the tide. A few weeks ago, we were down nationally by about twenty percent. Now we're down by a handful, and each day there is a real sense that the gap is closing. The big question is, can we close it in time.
I believe we can.
Barack Obama's campaign has made some really impressive -- and in some ways, unprecidented -- efforts since his victory in South Carolina. In California, thousands of grassroots Barack Obama supporters are reaching out on an unprecidented scale.
We also have some brave politicians who have come forward to help us, like Ted Kennedy, who just spoke to the Latino community of the entire country the other day on Piolín por la mañana, letting Latinos know that only two senators marched for immigrant rights on May 1, 2006... Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama. We also have the former Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry coming to California to help the campaign. He's speaking tomorrow at San Jose's Mexican Heritage Plaza, reaching out to the community in the run-up to Super Tuesday.
We can now announce that the Obama campaign has more volunteers in California than any Democratic primary campaign in this state's history, ever. Last week, we were trailing in California by over 20%. Today, the race is too close to call, and many are saying that it looks like an Obama upset is likely. I know that we're fired up here... motivated because we believe in Barack Obama and his message of reaching out to people, inspiring hope, and encouraging them to get onboard and to stand up for their communities. As Barack Obama has always said from the beginning, this race isn't about him. It's about us.
That is why I am writing this. I want to reach out to LiveJournal's Mexican community -- both north and south of the border -- and invite all of you to not just vote for Obama if you can, but to step forward and offer to volunteer, right now, to care about this election, and to spread the news to your friends, your families, and your neighbors that a change is coming. A fundamental, revolutionary change where we, as a people, will be finally given a fighting chance to repair the divisions between our countries and our communities that have been broken for so long.
A change is coming, and you are that change, if you choose to be.
I don't care if you live in Mexico, in the United States, or anywhere else. There is something that all of you can do to help, if only to spread the word online within the Latino community that a change is coming.
Please leave a comment if you are interested in helping Barack Obama spread his message of hope, so that we can get others to stand up too, for their families, their communities, and their future.
Can we stand together? Can we win together? Can we fix what is broken and bring our people together?
SÍ, SE PUEDE!
Over the past several years since moving on from LJ, I have become increasingly involved in journalism and activism, especially within my wonderfully diverse community in the Silicon Valley, where Mexican-Americans and latinos have built an increasingly affluent and influential community alongside those of other immigrants from around the world, such as Vietnamese, Indians, Chinese, and Koreans, creating the products and technologies that help improve our future.
At the same time, I grew up in the rural farmland south of Silicon Valley, near Gilroy and San Martin, and lived alongside strawberry and garlic fields, and mushroom farms, cared for by poor immigrant laborers. My mother had to work early in the morning, so she'd drop me off at Mrs. Seros, a strict but kind grandmother who looked out after me and her grandkids, fixing us fresh tortillas and scrambled eggs with mugs of hot chocolate, getting us on the bus for school together. She lived in a tiny, very crowded house compared to ours, and her grandchildren wore hand-me-downs that Mrs. Seros would oftentimes have to sew up holes in, but they were lucky compared to so many others who usually lived alongside the fields in shacks, and who often had to travel up and down the Pacific coast as the seasons changed, following the jobs. Their lives were a world apart, and unfortunately, their hardships were largely hidden away, seperate from the rest of us.
Politically, I think that a country should look out after its people and can be judged by how it treats its least fortunate. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the US have oftentimes not been much better at caring for its people than the Republicans. However, I think that things are changing. More specifically, I think that *we*, the younger generation, are going to bring about a huge change in this country, because of how we grew up and what we believe in. We grew up with friends who were rich, poor, black, white, latino, asian, etc.. and though we sometimes had our differences, we learned to get along. We were taught that it was wrong to discriminate, that poverty was something that should be fought against, that everyone deserved a chance to succeed, and that we should embrace and appreciate both our similarities and our differences, and share, not fear, each other's cultures.
We were taught all these things, and yet we can see that the reality around us conflicts against what we were taught and what we believe in. Our generation is change. It can see through the cynicism and manipulation that tries to divide us, and can see that what is needed is truth, honesty, integrity, and mutual respect. We need to heal divisions, bring hope where there is cynicism, truth where there is manipulation. We need to sweep away the ugliness, the racism, the lack of compassion, the hopelessness, and the neglect of the past, and bring about real, meaningful, fundamental change.
That's why I support Barack Obama for President. He "gets it". He's lived it. He understands... and he's a brilliant leader who is capable of not only creating laws designed to help fix problems that effect our nation, but also one that doesn't tolerate injustice, and who knows how to go about creating change in the right way.
He *knows* that corporations have too much power in Washington, and that the people have too little. He believes that governments should create laws not in back rooms, but in the open, where the people of the world can see what our leaders are doing and hold them personally accountable.
This is vital if we want real immigration reform... a working system where hardworking Mexicans who want to help their families won't have to be exploited by profiteers or left to die in the desert just because they wanted to come to the United States in order to find work to support their families.
Passing immigration reform won't be easy. It will require not only fighting corporate interests, but also fighting those politicians who exploit the economic fears and racism of some voters in order to gain their support. Barack Obama's approach is not only shine a light on the process of how decisions are made, and not only to appeal to Democrats, independents, and Republicans, but also to reach out to the people of the United States, encouraging them to make it clear to their politicians that they want real solutions, and not a failed system of undocumented laborers, sometimes dying to get into the United States, and all-too-often being exploited or suffering in silence once they get here.
Barack Obama knows the United States *needs* proud Mexican workers to help our economy. Workers who should be able to come to our country to work with their heads held high. He also knows that those who are already here in the United States need to have the work they have done respected and honored with a path to citizenship, while still allowing those who have done the right thing by going through the complex and time consuming process of becoming a citizen to be at the front of the line. And yes, he knows that it's too hard and too time-consuming for all applicants to become citizens... and he wants to fix that too.
In the '90s, Bill Clinton led the United States through a time of economic growth, driven, in part, by the rapid growth of technology jobs that started around the mid-'70s and that really took off with the growth of the Internet. As a result, many Americans found a better life and better jobs. However, the Clintons also oversaw policies that led to many of those jobs being exported overseas. Barack Obama realizes that we need to reverse this trend, while still staying competitive in the global marketplace.
He wants Mexicans who have worked and studied hard know that they're welcome to work in the United States or become a US citizen, and he knows that much more needs to be done to see to it that Mexican workers have greater possibilities and more access to jobs not only in the fields, factories, kitchens, and hotels of the United States, but also in the offices, the data centers, and the engineering departments, not only helping build the United States' high-tech future, but also helping to bring that kind of a future back to the people of Mexico, helping improve the lives of all Mexicans.
These are things that Barack Obama truely "gets". He understands technology and what it takes to help it expand, thrive, and empower ordinary people in a way that many other politicians don't. He understands that the old solutions aren't enough anymore, and that they aren't appropriate to where either the US or Mexico needs to go in the future.
Throughout this election, Barack Obama has always made it clear that he was an underdog, fighting against a very powerful establishment, while lacking the kind of long-established political machine that some of the other candidates have had. I think he'd be the first to admit that he's been at a disadvantage up until now at getting his message out to Mexican-Americans and Latinos, in part because he has had to build his grassroots campaign from the ground up, and because he has been so busy fighting for victories throughout the rest of the United States, where Mexican-Americans and Latinos are less represented.
But there's always been one thing that Barack Obama has had on his side. The people. A huge army of volunteers and supporters who have stepped up to contribute their time and their money on a level that no other candidate could match. Throughout the country, we've fought the existing political machine's advantages to a draw, but our army of supporters and volunteers are starting to turn the tide. A few weeks ago, we were down nationally by about twenty percent. Now we're down by a handful, and each day there is a real sense that the gap is closing. The big question is, can we close it in time.
I believe we can.
Barack Obama's campaign has made some really impressive -- and in some ways, unprecidented -- efforts since his victory in South Carolina. In California, thousands of grassroots Barack Obama supporters are reaching out on an unprecidented scale.
We also have some brave politicians who have come forward to help us, like Ted Kennedy, who just spoke to the Latino community of the entire country the other day on Piolín por la mañana, letting Latinos know that only two senators marched for immigrant rights on May 1, 2006... Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama. We also have the former Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry coming to California to help the campaign. He's speaking tomorrow at San Jose's Mexican Heritage Plaza, reaching out to the community in the run-up to Super Tuesday.
We can now announce that the Obama campaign has more volunteers in California than any Democratic primary campaign in this state's history, ever. Last week, we were trailing in California by over 20%. Today, the race is too close to call, and many are saying that it looks like an Obama upset is likely. I know that we're fired up here... motivated because we believe in Barack Obama and his message of reaching out to people, inspiring hope, and encouraging them to get onboard and to stand up for their communities. As Barack Obama has always said from the beginning, this race isn't about him. It's about us.
That is why I am writing this. I want to reach out to LiveJournal's Mexican community -- both north and south of the border -- and invite all of you to not just vote for Obama if you can, but to step forward and offer to volunteer, right now, to care about this election, and to spread the news to your friends, your families, and your neighbors that a change is coming. A fundamental, revolutionary change where we, as a people, will be finally given a fighting chance to repair the divisions between our countries and our communities that have been broken for so long.
A change is coming, and you are that change, if you choose to be.
I don't care if you live in Mexico, in the United States, or anywhere else. There is something that all of you can do to help, if only to spread the word online within the Latino community that a change is coming.
Please leave a comment if you are interested in helping Barack Obama spread his message of hope, so that we can get others to stand up too, for their families, their communities, and their future.
Can we stand together? Can we win together? Can we fix what is broken and bring our people together?
SÍ, SE PUEDE!
