Of dead white guys, am i right? like washington, jefferson, lincoln. well, guess what. latinos have been here every step of the way. [upbeat latin-tinged music] in fact, latinx heroes have fought in every war for the united states for centuries. this goes all the way back to the revolutionary war. american forces got major financial contributions from cuba, and they also got help from the spanish forces led by a young venezuelan commander named francisco de miranda. and then during the civil war, more than 20,000 hispanics served. almost half of them were mexican-american, and that was only 13 years after the mexican-american war. now where s the monument for that? huh? huh? huh? now, today, nearly 20% of the u.s. population is latin, and our numbers are growing. our voting power is growing too, and about one in ten votes are being cast by latinos, and yet we still make up less than 2% of our elected officials, but the good news is, we do have some prominent figures, like alexandria oc
that s why maria teresa kumar and rosario dawson founded voto latino with one mission in mind, to get more latinx voters to the ballot box, and it s working. since launching in 2004, voto latino has registered over a million new voters and spearheaded campaigns to fight unfair redistricting and voter suppression. - so you re here to shake it up a little bit? - i want to try to shake it up a little bit. shake it up a little bit. you re you ve been shaking it up forever. how many years has that been? - oh, my gosh. i like to say we re 18 years young. - yeah, yeah, that s amazing. i mean, longevity in this game is everything. - well, and this is what folks don t realize is that every 30 seconds a latino turns 18 years old. and so when people. - voter. - voter. - and that s for folks you know, and people say, well, why do you do what you do? well, if we deeply believe that latinos are part of america, well, citizenship is, voting is. - do we not vote? - you know, john, one of the bigg
You re an owner. setting up the future for the ones you love. that s the value of ownership. setting up the future for the ones you love. [upbeat latin-tinged music] - as i make my way around d.c., latinx history can be hard to find, but if you know where to look, there are hidden gems, places like monte placer, or mount pleasant on the city s northwest side. for decades, starting in the 60s, this neighborhood was home to tons of black and latinx folks. think of it as an unofficial embassy of culture. it was all here, businesses, shops, art, and poetry. - what does it feel like inside? what color is this latin dude? how does he do what he does? - salvadorian poet and activist quique avilés has been a fixture in this community for years. - i came here in 1980 fleeing the war in el salvador that was being supported by the united states.
That the white community doesn t allow us. - exactly. - yeah. - there was a lot of poetry that was used in the performances, you know? because most of us were writers. there were a lot of people here that were former hippies, and we would go to the demonstrations, to the concerts. - but it wasn t all good. there were language barriers, high unemployment, unaffordable and overcrowded housing, and one night in 1991 the cops shot a latinx man, and no one was held accountable, so it was no surprise when it all exploded. there was an incident, a riot that happened here. can you tell me a little bit about that? - yeah, in 1991, cinco de mayo, a guy gets drunk and belligerent in a joint over here, you know, and they call the police. - the trouble started when police shot a man they say failed to follow their order to drop a knife. some witnesses say the man was in handcuffs when he was shot. - but that time,
You have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you re still at risk .which if ignored could bring you here. .may put you in one of those. .or even worse. too much? that s the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com [upbeat music] - linking up with ritchie torres was so inspiring, but how do we get more latinx leaders like him into office? one important step is getting out the vote. right now, latinos are the second-largest voter block in the united states, but only half of all eligible voters of any color actually vote.