Bienvenidos a La Voz Newspaper. As you can see from our cover, we are wondering along with everybody else, who is going to pick the fruit and vegetables if farm workers decide not to show up for work because of the stepped up enforcement of
immigration laws.
Yes, one can argue that Pedro is not suppose to be in the United States because he doesn’t have papers. But if no one but Pedro is willing to cut lettuce or move the irrigation pipes used to water the fields, who is going to do it? The same goes for la raza who work in the meat packing factories in Kansas. Who do people think are going to clean up of the neighborhoods in Los Angeles where fires have wiped out thousands of houses? Who is going to rebuild those neighborhoods? The next time one goes to MacDonald’s and orders a Quarter-Pounder combo and the voice on the other end of the speaker reveals her Spanish accent, don’t be surprised if that’s the last time you hear it. . . for a short while.
La mera verdad es que nosotros aquí estamos y tal vez si nos vamos – but we will be back. Fifty five years ago there were about 5 million Mexicans living in the United States, today that number, according to the Pew Hispanic Research Center is
closer to 37.2 million! Y como dice la banda Los Tigres del Norte, no matter how you cut it, nosotros somos más Americanos que el Anglo-Saxon! Who do they (You know who I am referring to) think has built this country? Who do they think keeps everything running? Despite the hatred, bad treatment and disdain Mexicans have had to endure over the years, we will continue to stand the test of time. That’s all we got. Como dicia Cesar Chavez, hay más tiempo que vida.
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Copyright 2025 by Alfredo Santos and La Voz newspaper. To read the complete February issue of La Voz visit: http://www.lavoznewspapers.com