Our Time is now

 Thank you. It is a great honor to be the recipient of the Latino Spirit Award.

Regretfully, I am unable to join you at this time as I am currently engaging national media regarding the immigration issue and other hot button topics. A special thank you to Martha Escutia, Joe Coto and the Latino Caucus for this honor. I in turn congratulate you on your groundbreaking work.  

 “Greatness lies not so much in possessing strength as in making a wise and divine use of such strength.”  

  These are empowering times for our community. We’ve waited for this moment for quite some time. We have stepped up to the plate. We are demanding our seat at the table. We are commanding respect. Many times over we have helped build this country; in fact; we exemplify the American Dream.  The sleeping giant has not been the Latino community but an intolerant and paranoid America who have been in denial of Latinos and their contributions.  This immigrant movement has brought our communities out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Our community does not solely include caregivers, home builders, landscapers, and janitors; we are also Members of Congress, the Attorney General, entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, lawyers and astronauts. Our time is not tomorrow, our time is today. Our time is now.

Our time has come to define ourselves and present ourselves to the mainstream community.  It is time for us to expand our definition of what is to be an American.  Monday’s marches around the country have proven that we are united and that we are focused on comprehensive immigration reform, “hoy marchamos, mañana votamos”  This is a real grassroots, not an Astroturf,  movement.

We have the responsibility to stand together with our best and brightest leaders to take the lead.  I have a dream—yo tengo un sueño—que el espirito de Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Dolores Huerta and the late Marcos Antonio Firebaugh is blowing in the wind.  Their message is that a unified Latino community will reach new heights; that a galvanized Latino community will over come adversity; that the Latino community will not be ushered back into the shadows of American society.  The reality is that we are here, we’ve been here and we belong here.

I am grateful to the Caucus for this prestigious award. I am humbled by your selection and only wish that I could have been with you..  Our struggle is as relevant as it was a decade ago.  ¡Unidos, todo es possible!

Our time is now

Nuestro tiempo ha llegado.

Let’s not waste it.

Esai Morales