Tonight Is Castros’ Night – The Young Latino Takes The DNC Stage

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

Stages don’t get much bigger than this, spotlights don’t get any brighter. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is scheduled to  speak tonight, at television prime time, to the largest crowd he’s ever addressed – the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. He’ll be introduced by his twin brother Joaquin, a candidate and presumed shoe-in for U.S. Congress, representing the 20th District of Texas. They say there’s a fraternal conspiracy that exists between twins that only they understand. If this is true, then I’m sure that the passing glance when one leaves the podium as the other takes it will be dripping with meaning.

It’s been a long and storied road for the Castro twins and the Mayor intends to tell part of that story from the DNC podium. His mother Rosie, a chicana activist from the Raza Unida movement, will be in attendance. But her stay at the week-long Charlotte political circus that has engulfed her boys won’t be a long one. She arrived the evening prior to the her son’s speech and will leave the morning after – I’m told she’s got babysitting duties back home, looking after Julian’s daughter Karina. This is a Latino family, after all, and familia comes first.

But for a day it’ll all be about her boys, the big stage and the spotlight.

Two weeks before the convention we spoke to Mayor Castro in his office in San Antonio about the political implications of the speech, for him personally, for Latinos in general and for the election in November.

Victor: This speech is going to put a spotlight on you and your career. Are you ready for it?

Victor: The President has many critics in the Latino community,  people who point to the record number of deportations and families torn apart because of them in the past three and a half years. They say that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals directive is a political appeasement, a wash for the Latino community. How will you approach this in your speech?

Victor: I’m sure there were many reasons why you were chosen to deliver the DNC keynote address, but an important reason had to have been the vital role of the Latino vote in this election. How much is the Obama campaign looking to you to fire-up the Latino electorate and get Latino voters to the polls?

For years there’s been a community-wide debate among Latinos about the lack of, or even need for, a national Latino leader. It seems that national politics and national media are always looking for that one spokesperson to represent minority communities. Are you becoming the national Latino go-to spokesperson?

Castro’s speech is scheduled for Tuesday September 4, 9pm EST. You can watch the keynote speech LIVE here: