{"id":5058371,"date":"2020-09-29T14:13:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malatinonews.com\/?p=5050837"},"modified":"2020-09-29T14:13:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:13:13","slug":"eva-castillo-is-helping-people-take-a-stand-for-what-they-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2020\/09\/29\/eva-castillo-is-helping-people-take-a-stand-for-what-they-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Eva Castillo is helping people take a stand for what they value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The positive test rate for coronavirus in Massachusetts has fluctuated under 1% for the last month and, for the most part; preventive measures seem to be working. Still, residents planning to vote in person in the upcoming November election are concerned about safety measures at the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Easton, early voting will be offered for two weeks starting Oct. 17 at the town offices. Precautions will be in place due to COVID-19 including a greeter to screen voters, a limit on five voters in the building at a time, and social distancing and mask requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing voters guidelines to stay safe while exercising their constitutional right is key to keeping them healthy and safe, but that can be a problem if the information isn’t being made available in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Eva Castillo,\u00a0director of the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), leading translating guidance, and even accompanying voters who are less fluent in English to the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New Hampshire, where Castillo resides, the Secretary of State\u2019s office\u00a0has told<\/a>\u00a0members of the public<\/a>\u00a0to turn to official sources<\/a>\u00a0for the most reliable guidance on how to vote. But there\u2019s a problem \u2013 the information is only available in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt falls upon our shoulders to do the work of the Secretary of State, to tell you the truth,\u201d Castillo tells<\/a> NHPR. \u201cWe do have a great network of people that work in the community, but if we do not do it ourselves, then these people will not even vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castillo knows well the challenges immigrants face. She settled in Manchester in the 1980s. In an interview<\/a> with Roads & Kingdoms, she recalled, \u201cPeople would say, \u201cWow. I hear an accent. Where are you from?\u201d And I\u2019d say, \u201cVenezuela.\u201d \u201cWhere is Venezuela?\u201d They didn\u2019t even know where Venezuela was on a map. And I said, \u201cSouth America.\u201d \u201cOh, but you\u2019re white.\u201d And I used to tell my husband, \u201cAnd we are the third-world country?\u201d It was so funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A state legislator once told her that she had come \u201cto pollute the blood of New Hampshire. \u201cHere (United States), they group you, and they make us behave as one. I went straight, just by crossing a border, from being a member of the privileged minority to being a member of the unprivileged minority. So within two weeks, I said, \u201cThis stings, but so be it. I\u2019m not going to change it.\u201d I\u2019m always very practical, so I said I\u2019m going to work to make sure that we rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castillo has been working with documented and undocumented immigrants as they transition to life in the Granite State since joining MIRA in 2007. When she first moved to New Hampshire, she worked at the New England Farm Workers Council, and later at the Latin American Center in Manchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the people that are suffering the most, because these are the faces of the undocumented, although I know undocumented Canadians and Europeans who come right under our noses and nobody pays attention to them,\u201d Castillo said at a forum on the national immigration debate. \u201cThey only mess with the brown people and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about how President Donald Trump\u2019s prejudiced rhetoric about undocumented people, she said, \u201cI always say we cannot blame Trump for racism because racism was there before. But he made it acceptable. So people that were racists didn\u2019t express it because there was no culture to express it. Now they\u2019re emboldened and happy to throw it in your face. And every time you talk about diversity, people react viscerally, badly. Like you\u2019re taking something away from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A record 32 million Hispanics \u2013 Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote (13.3% of all eligible voters) the largest, nonwhite racial or ethnic electorate<\/a> in the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are roughly 847,000 Hispanics \u2013 Latinos in Massachusetts, 452,000 are eligible to vote. The latest polls have Joe Biden over Trump by as much as 60% of the vote. Hillary Clinton won Massachusetts with 60.98% of the vote, while Trump received 33.34% of the vote in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castillo isn\u2019t concerned who Hispanics \u2013 Latinos vote for; just concerned about them voting. \u201cI don\u2019t tell them who to vote for. I don\u2019t do party politics, because I\u2019m not about that. I don\u2019t want to manipulate people\u201d, she said. \u201cGo vote.\u201d It\u2019s important to voice your opinion. If you\u2019re not active politically then you have no right to complain. If you did not put your voice there, how do you expect to be listened to?\u201d, she continued. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The positive test rate for coronavirus in Massachusetts has fluctuated under 1% for the last month and, for the most 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