Jewish, Latino lawmakers build bridges at roundtable

That was the impression left by a July 11 Jewish-Latino Roundtable held on Capitol Hill, under the sponsorship of B'nai B'rith International and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, with the backing of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Moderated by veteran broadcaster Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," the event drew House members Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Martin Frost (D-Texas), Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas).

The eight lawmakers expressed hope about building bridges between their often similar, sometimes disparate communities.

"There are many problems we can work extremely well on together: problems of the inner cities, problems of racial hatred," said Gilman. He expressed the hope that this would be the first of many such encounters.

Both Latino and Jewish panelists voiced their support for foreign aid, an area of common ground.

Speaking about aid to Israel, Berman commented, "You cannot sustain a one-country foreign aid policy." He noted that the Jewish community has long fought for foreign assistance across the board.

"I admire the Jewish community having an impact on Israel," said Rodriguez. "I look forward to our community having an impact on [aid to] Latin America," he continued, adding, "We're not there yet."

Representing one of the nation's poorest districts, Rodriguez said, means that local economic problems occupy much of his time.

Menendez affirmed his own support for U.S. aid to Israel, but sensed a backlash among his constituents on the overall distribution of aid.

"We are increasingly facing a clamor in our community about, 'What are you doing for Latin America?'" he said.

Gutierrez, who represents a heavily Puerto Rican Chicago district, talked about challenging anti-Semitic remarks by his constituents.

He also remarked on the strength of Jewish political leadership. Jews, who constitute a mere 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, hold political office in disproportionately high numbers. "I look at this and want to learn, because we [Latinos] are underrepresented," he said.

That kind of experience sharing was a goal of the roundtable as well as a summit of Jewish and Latino organizations slated for March, said organizer Dina Siegel-Vann.

"The Latino community has become visible, strong and active...Here's a community that is interested in education, in preserving identity, in youth having pride in its heritage, in fostering leadership and involvement," she said. "Since the Jewish community has experience in that and we've gone through a process, we feel that it is incumbent on us to help other groups."

In turn, said Siegel-Vann, B'nai B'rith's director of Latin American affairs, Jews need to appreciate the ethnic diversity that surrounds them.

A former leader of Mexico's leading Jewish group, Tribuna Israelita, she noted that U.S. Latinos alone hail from 22 countries, many of which have their own Jewish communities.