In a Mamiverse exclusive, First Lady Michelle Obama sat down to chat with six Latina moms to discuss their lives and the key issues impacting Hispanic families across the nation. Our roundtable was moderated by CNN analyst and Mamiverse contributing political editor, Maria Cardona. The livestream was filmed in Miami on July 10, 2012 and we are delighted to share this fascinating discussion with you here. Mamiverse contributors Monica Olivera, Shirley Rodriguez, Melanie Edwards, and Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack shared their unique experiences with the First Lady in a truly fascinating discussion that we are thrilled to share with you here. For more exclusive coverage on issues affecting your family, subscribe to our newsletter.
Yay! So proud of these ladies!
So moving to see you gals hanging with Michelle. Well done!
What a tremendous honor to meet with the First Lady of the United States. I am so proud of all of you and happy to say that I have 1 degree of separation from the White House! Seriously, congratulations!!
CONGRATULATIONS! Nicely done ladies!
How cool is that the First Lady sat down with all of you?.. Congratulations! I’m so Proud of you!, Thank you for voicing Latina Moms concerns about Education, Special Needs kids, Nutrition, Health Care and of course Traditions!
Awesome job and congratulations!
I am so proud of you, amigas!!! Congratulations!
So proud!! You guys did an excellent job!!! Felicidades y palante!!!
I have a question. Why did the host repeat the word “Latina” so many times?! It was distracting, especially the way she made the accent really thick. I doubt it was an accident, so what was the point? Do they think we’re Pavlov’s dogs? Don’t people get tired of being segregated into a little subgroup and spoken to as if they aren’t even Americans like everyone else?
What a wonderful conversation! You ladies did a fantastic job.
My hat off to Maria Cordona and an inspiring panel of Latinas for discussing our goals within education, health, and community service with the First Lady. It’s a great start and I hope more of these chats will occur to discuss these goals in greater detail and show how easily we can take part not just in shaping and improving our families’ lives, but our communities as well.
When the discussion touched on the importance of community service, I thought about the primaries when unfortunately our son was days shy of voting age, but was old enough to work the polls with me. We attended a 2-hour training on a Saturday morning, which my son didn’t fall asleep through and we got paid for it as well. The central message was– we are here to help you VOTE in any way we can. And on Tuesday we saw it in motion.
As I watched my son hand out ballots and cross out names on the voting lists, I thought of my grandmother, Nana Herminia, who sent me bus money from Tucson to Nogales, Arizona for Election Day. My father, a political hound, had died seven years before and my mother, who preferred her green card, didn’t vote, so the task fell to my grandmother.
She picked me up in her immaculate 1955 Chevy and instructed me that Raptis’s voted straight ticket. I remember the sound of her husky cigarette voice announcing to the early birds at the polls that her granddaughter, a university student, was here to vote for the very first time. I choked up as folks patted me on the back and shook my hand. I wished I’d thanked her, but at nineteen, it hadn’t cross my mind. So instead I’ll thank her by taking my son to vote this November.
Taking our kids along when we vote on any election day is wonderful, but this year do more! If your kid is sixteen or older they can work the polls. Check out http://votescount.com for more information on the many different ways you and your kids can help this ELECTION YEAR!
Liz, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. How wonderful that you have included your son in the election process. That is such a great way to help him understand the process and encourage him to participate in a process that is not only our right as American citizens, but also our responsibility as citizens in a democracy. And BRAVO to your grandmother who helped you to realize the importance of making your opinion and voice count.
And thank you for watching our chat with the First Lady. Our goal was to begin the conversation that we hope will continue across the country. Though we were given the impossible task of representing Latina moms, our comments reflected the issues that matter most to each one of us. And 30 minutes is certainly barely enough time to skim the surface! We’re thankful to the First Lady for being the first to really reach out to the Latino community in such an intimate way, and for being willing to start the conversation.
Con mucho cariño…
OK, I only made it up to minute 17, but with the economy in such bad shape, you guys are spending an inordinate amount of time discussing home cooking, table manners and family dinner. Are you kidding me?! What about jobs and the economy? Also, the woman who is an engineer needs help keeping her daughter interested un math and science? Come on. Was this scripted? In the future please discuss more substantial issues like jobs and the economy because none of these other goals will be realized unless people have decent jobs.Overall, the conversation was very slow.
I’m so proud of you women. Way to represent amigas! Way to go!!!
The issues covered in this discussion with Mrs. Obama are resonant to many Latina mothers, thank you for sharing your concerns with her and representing us Latina Mamis. I am very proud of you!
Latina mothers have the same concerns as all other American mothers and want an improved economy and good schools. One woman said that she home schooled her child because her local school was in a “failed district,” and everybody acted like that was just normal. Nobody even blinked. It was just like well, you need to learn how to work with your child at home. Yes, that’s true, but what about the failed school district? There were no answers for that one. Home school is not a substitute for an education unless the parent doing the teaching is well educated herself, which is a rarity. Otherwise that child will not be able to compete against children who are not only learning academics, but gaining much valued social skills.
And Ms. Cardona, Head Start programs will now have to compete for federal funding which another way of saying that the programs will be cut. That’s usually the first step towards privatization. The 1% want to make all education low quality and for profit, unless of course it’s their own children’s education. Obviously you think we’re too stupid to look this up ourselves.
Best part of the conversation: Michelle sharing that Barack has attended every single PTA meeting for his daughters. If he can make the time, so can every other parent.
Are you kidding me? The president has surrogates who can stand in for him when he has other things to do. Why do you think he can take all those vacation days just like his predecessor. Poor people who work in low wage jobs in factories, on farms, etc. do not have that luxury. If they miss work, they will be fired. Your comment was very insensitive and patronizing.
How about a conversation based on actual public policy and not on subjects more fitting for a social worker. Nobody here made the case as to why the president deserves a second term.
So many people are dying with stress and stress related diseases every day due to our bad financial crisis, no one talks about it. School are ready to be opened and no family can even shop for their kids and more. Wake up everyone, we are not going good and we are doing down if the economic crisis that we are enduring get better.
We as little people, no one really care for us – The president candidates are so worry about being in the public eyes and making each other look bad then caring for us that are in dying needs.
Dear “Redladee” I know lots of people who have “surrogates” that can stand in for them when they have other things to do, but don’t go to their PTA or childrens’ school updates. The fact that the President does means that he understands how important it is to have parents involved, no matter how busy the parents are. My husband is one of those “low wage earners” you talk about (as am I!), and we take our vacation hours to attend our meetings. Yes, I appreciate it and our kids appreciate it even more!
If you have vacation hours, then you’re not one of the low wage workers I’m talking about. Ther are a lot of people such as farm workers, miners, etc who don’t have vacation days and really can’t go to PTA meetings. it doesn’t mean they don’t care about their children’s education.I just thought it was so silly to imply that just becasue the President can go to a PTA meeting that every other parent can too, as if the President doesn’t have a huge staff to cover for him. Come on, get a clue…