Sobremesa: A Conversation with Al Kauffman, a front row view of Latino civil rights

Who is Al Kauffman?

If you’re not from Texas, or a student of U.S. Latino civil rights, that’s a valid question. I was at one of those fundraising rubber chicken dinners recently where Al was referred to as an icon of Latino civil rights. I wasn’t sitting near him, but I’m sure he cringed at that. He’s self effacing, he’d much rather talk about the news of the day, his  role as a law professor at St. Mary’s University or about his family – when we met for this podcast he was preparing to spend some time with his sons in Colorado.

But here’s the thing about Al Kauffman – it would be wrong to say he’s had a front row seat to some of the most important Latino civil rights battles. That’s becasue Kaufmann was in the ring, fighting the good fight for Latino access to education, collaborating on voting right issues, going toe-to-toe in court with those who would relegate U.S. Latinos to a second class status.

Al and I go back a few decades. I was the one lucky to have the front row seat. I was a reporter at the Univision affiliate in San Antonio, actually before Univision was invented. For me, it was school, and work at the same time. Some of the names Al recalled in our talk – Willie Velasquez, Jose Garza , Rolando Rios, Joaquin Avila, George Korbel, Judge Carlos Cadena, Senator Joe Bernal – these were the guys are, in my mind, the icons of Latino civil rights. Of course, Al Kauffman is among them.

We met in his office at St. Mary’s University. It’s exactly what you’d expect – lots of books, a student coming in with a question about legal procedure, and a well stocked coffee maker. He made me a cup of decaf, and we settled in for a winding, wide ranging conversation about the hay-day of Latino civil rights in San Antonio, about voting rights, immigration, growing up in Galveston and so much more.

Here then, our conversation.