Is it Racism, Discrimination, or Plain Ignorance?

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz

32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York

Tel. 718-991-3161

Is it Racism, Discrimination, or Plain Ignorance?

You should know that the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll, led by their Director, Maurice Carroll, is getting away with something no one else could have gotten away with in New York City in 2013.

You should know that Quinnipiac’s Maurice Carroll has been conducting periodic polling about New York City’s candidates by likely Democratic voters, and lo and behold, his most recent results include statistics for voters who are men, voters who are women, White voters, and Black voters.

How can it be that millions of Hispanic and Asian New Yorkers are not included in Mr. Carroll’s polls? When they call likely voters, how can it be that they never call Asians or Hispanics?

This latest Quinnipiac poll shows that NO Hispanic and NO Asian has been counted. http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/nyc/nyc09032013_efbna.pdf/

I’m no expert in demographics, so I checked the most recent US Census and found that the breakdown of New Yorkers is: 44% White, 28.6% Hispanic, 25.5% Black, and 12.7% Asian. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3651000.html

The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and its Director Maurice Carroll are purposely ignoring a very large and growing population of New Yorkers. They are sending a very ugly but very clear message to New York’s Hispanic and Asian communities: “You are nothing, we are getting away with it, and nobody cares.”

My dear readers, I have to ask: What has happened to El Diario la Prensa and its famous motto, El Campeón de los Hispanos - “the Champion of the Hispanics”? What has happened to our elected officials who remain silent while likely Hispanic and Asian voters remain ignored? What has happened to the candidates themselves who probably pay better attention to these polling results and are deliberately silent about the exclusion of Hispanics and Asians?

How can anyone think this is fine just days after we finished celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech? These polling results are saying to the whole world that counting Hispanics and Asians in New York City in 2013 is unimportant.

This is a complete disgrace. There are no pickets, no demonstrations, nothing.

If we allow this to happen and we stand by in silence, before we know it we will be thrown back to those times when we will be “those people” and we will be ignored by everyone.

After so many years of fighting and protesting and claiming that we are something, what have we really achieved?

The results of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute results for New York City’s 2013 Democratic Mayoral Primary Race have been touted by all of the major media, all ignoring the fact that these polls did not include Hispanics and Asians.

Of course, we are all expected to be faithful Democrats and to help get out the vote for people who seem all too comfortable ignoring the steady undercurrent of discrimination and racism that remains in our society.

This is New York State Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.