Willie Velasquez: Your Vote Is Your Voice Summary

From watching the PBS documentary “Willie Velasquez: Your Vote is Your Voice,” we learned about the life of Willie Velasquez who was a huge advocate for Latino voting rights. During his time, many Latinos were kept out of the voting polls because of gerrymandering, or they stayed away from the polls simply because they were intimidated. Velasquez wanted to give them a sense of courage and empowerment, so he dedicated his time to encouraging Latinos to go out and vote, and even run for office. He would host voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns. Velasquez wanted Latinos to be active participants. He stressed the importance of voting and explained to people how powerful their votes could be. If Willie Velasquez were alive today, he

In chapter four of Russell J. Dalton’s “The Good Citizen,” he discusses different forms of political participation, including Internet participation. He acknowledges that the Internet has helped getting young people to participate. He states, “If we had more recent survey evidence, or especially a survey of young Americans, we would find new forms of online activism that didn’t exist a generation ago.” (63) Dalton informs us that young Americans do not vote as much as older Americans do, but that younger people are more active when it comes to Internet participation. Dalton pointed out that this is because the Internet “opens the door to participation by individuals who might not otherwise be active, such as young people.” (73) Social media has played a major role in shaping politics today. Social media allows people to express their own beliefs on social and political issues. As Dalton noted in his book, “it provides a new way for people to connect to others, to gather and share information, and to attempt to influence the political process.” (72) Social media can be used as a platform to encourage others to vote and I think that Velasquez would use social media in this way if he were still alive