Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
By: jesus gonzalez Posted Jun 22, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
There is a misunderstanding on the part of La Opinión. Engaging the Latino community in a candid dialogue about energy is not something to be discredited. Levanta Tu Voz is a program designed to listen to Latino voices, and invite them to express their perspective on energy policies and the impacts these laws will have on their lives. Until now, our voices have not been heard. They left us out when the governor announced his electric vehicle program, suggesting that if we don’t have the means to buy one we could take buses or bike to work. Last year, a group of us drove to Sacramento to attend the California Air Resources Board (CARB) public hearing on Governor Newsom’s proposal to ban gasoline-powered cars by 2035. We were not We were given the opportunity to give our full comments. I’m not an elected official, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a voice that should be heard.
Raise Your Voice gives us the opportunity to correct this injustice.
We all want clean air, but a flawed policy is still flawed no matter whose authors it is. It doesn’t matter who pushes the legislation if their plans only work for rich people and not for all Californians. Any law adopted in Sacramento must be based on common sense so that we can all be part of the solution.
The facts are irrefutable. The current short and rigid deadlines for electrification are policies that are beyond our capacity. The current deadlines are simply not possible. Latinos in California are the largest ethnic group in the state and sadly, California is also home to the highest poverty rate in the US Electric vehicles are purchased by the wealthiest communities in California. Most of us don’t live in those places. Even the editorial page notes the real problems of the current policy (cost of electric vehicles, insufficient charging stations, etc.).
In its first month, Levanta Tu Voz has spoken with hundreds of Latinos who have shared their concerns that these policies are not accessible or equitable to them. The current deadlines are moving too fast, too short and too expensive.
The website receives feedback from gardeners who are concerned about having to switch from their gas-powered tools to electric ones that are expensive and inefficient; from families experiencing blackouts who are concerned about what will happen when the power grid does not support high demand; from parents who are the sole breadwinners for their families wondering how they will pay for new electric vehicles or the machinery needed for their businesses; and renters who can’t afford California housing prices, let alone an all-electric future.
Where were their voices? Who invited you to share your stories when these policies were being debated? No one was asking our opinion.
Yes, WSPA created the program and sponsored ads that invited us to join the conversation. And they’ve been transparent about it. I thought La Opinión, which helps represent the Hispanic community, would be happy to finally be heard on this important issue, no matter who is helping us speak! Levanta Tu Voz has given us the opportunity to have our voices heard. I invite the editorial board of La Opinión to join us; and we’d love to sit down with legislators and CARB board members so they can better understand our deep concern.
Buses and bike lanes are not the answer. Personally, I believe that we can create a better climate, but only if we are all included. That is the simple concept of Raise Your Voice, one that we hope you will embrace.
Jesús González is a member of the board of directors of Si Se Puede and supports Levanta Tu Voz.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
La Opinión publishes this column in response to the editorial ‘Raise your voice is not what it pretends to be’ for considering this beneficial counterpoint for the debate on the energy issue in the state.