Editorial:
As editor of a small news-paper I have the privilege of wearing many hats; at the same time there are two primary responsibilities, the first is to write the weekly editorial, touching on the relevant issues of the day.
The second and equally, if not more important, we have to publish the paper which means we have to generate income, pay the bills, and manage the office.
Balancing the two primary roles can be difficult at times, but one that we relish and are thankful for. We are thankful that we have been able to do this now for the past 35 years. To tell you the truth these past couple of years we questioned ourselves, if we would be able to continue in the face of the economic downturn. In the end though, we have persevered.
This past year the editorial pages had been dominated by the elections. The election process began early in the year well ahead of the primaries and continued through to the general election. Our goal was to provide our readers with information, the tools, to make decisions in their best interest. We knew that many would not agree with our choices and we appreciate that, our focus is to generate conversation and discussion. We offer our pages for political discussion and dissenting opinion. We hope that our readers will take advantage of this in the new year.
At the end of the day though it is at the ballot box where the voice of our community is heard and their choice for leadership is determined, which we respect. The good news is that Hispanics are voting in greater numbers and are having an impact.
While the elections were a dominate topic, the gorilla in the room was immigration. From the beginning of the year when President Obama ignored the immigration issue during his State of the Union message to Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration dominated the talk when it came to Hispanic issues.
The immigration issue is an important issue at several levels, but immigration does not keep us up at night with worry. What keep us up at night are the worries about our job, pay raises or lack of, the stack of bills, taxes, the children’s education, the mortgage payment and/or foreclosure possibilities. These issues and more were foremost in our lives, but it was the immigration issue that dominated the conversation when it came to Hispanics.
For Hispanics immigration was a top issue in that it gave us a perspective on how the Hispanic community in general was viewed by the Anglo public. In cities such as Escondido it was the driving motivation behind the elections voting for a tough anti-Hispanic, anti-immigration agenda. These same attitudes played out across the nation, highlighted in Arizona and with the rejection of the DREAM Act just this month.
In our editorials we brought our perspective to all these issues.
The highlight of the year was the continued growth of the Hispanic community which was reflected at the polls as more and more Hispanics came out and made their voices heard. In San Diego, in the state, and across the nation the Hispanic vote played a key role. Throughout the year, in years past, and in the new year we have beat the drum about community involvement in the political process, this means not only voting but volunteering, walking precincts, donating money, running for office.
America is a great country in that it allows the opportunity for change, for self determination, and for growth both spiritually but economically but to achieve this it takes community involvement, political involvement, and most importantly it takes a voting community to bring about change.
It has been our privilege to bring to you our readers the stories, the opinions, commentaries, and to share with you our editorials for 35 years and we thank you for this. As we have always said the only reason, the driving force behind La Prensa San Diego has been the readers of the paper and we look forward to the New Year as we continue to bring the news as we see it “through our brown eyes.”