Yesterday my day began with a meeting to transition the Oregon Community Health Workers Association into its own independent, self determining organization of its own. To serve as a vital, needed voice for Community Health Workers in Oregon. Then a phone call with one of our Legislative Champions to introduce a placeholder bill to ensure that 20,000 undocumented children have the access to health care they need and deserve. Followed by the signing ceremony by Governor Kitzhaber and the First Lady Sharon Kitzhaber where we celebrated the many contributions made by the 500,000.0 Latinos in Oregon. My day ended with a meeting at the Governors Mansion where Kendall Clawson was kind enough to bring us together to thank all those who serve on commissions and boards like the Commission on Hispanic Affairs which I have the privilege of chairing. I share this with you because it was a humbling day. The eight year old Mexican child who resides in me, who last lived in an abandoned adobe bodega in Mexico, experiences a kind of dissonance of place and time. This confused child always asks: What right do you have to be here? And I have to still this voice. In these moments of doubt, I have to remember that we are here to ask for, to ensure that all of our communities have the same equal, unabridged access to opportunity. I am impressed by the Governor, by Kendall Clawson and Dani Ledezma who are working diligently to make sure that this house, the peoples house more accurately reflects the beautiful, changing face of Oregon. And on this rainy morning in Oregon, I am humbled and grateful.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:11:28 +0000
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