With elections around the corner, María Teresa Kumar, President & CEO of Voto Latino, joins host Antonio Tijerino in unpacking the power of the Latino vote.
With elections around the corner, Emmy-nominated political and voting rights activist, María Teresa Kumar, joins host Antonio Tijerino in unpacking the power of the Latino vote. As the Co-Founder and current President & CEO of Voto Latino, María Teresa shares her backstory and takes a long look at the misconceptions and impact we can have as Latinos when we vote.
To learn more about the work of Voto Latino and how you can get involved, or how to become a registered voter - check out our resources below.
RESOURCES:
-Learn More About Voto Latino: Click Here
-Become a Registered Voter in 15 seconds with Voto Latino's VoterPal App - all you need is your license and a smartphone. Download the app today.
Que Tal! I'm Antonio Tijerino, host of the Fritanga Podcast by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation supported by TikTok.
With elections right around the corner. I am looking forward to exploring the power of the Latino vote con mi gran amiga, and a huge source of inspiration and leadership for me María Teresa Kumar.
As an Emmy-nominated political and voting rights activist that you can watch on news shows providing powerful perspectives, María Teresa has dedicated her career to advocating for inclusive political participation. In 2004, she co-founded a national nonprofit with actress Rosario Dawson called Voto Latino, which to this day uses media and technology to encourage younger generations of Latinx voters to be civically engaged.
In fact, under her leadership, Voto Latino has registered over a quarter of a million voters to date. And I joked once that she and her wonderful husband Raj had kids just so she could register more young voters.
I've always said that an effective leader's most valuable currency is hope, and that's what Maria Teresa does. She gives hope to young Latinx voters and even viejos like me to have a voice in our nation's issues that affect our lives. She provides hope for social change, which as she says, starts at the ballot box. During this episode, we'll dive into María Teresa's backstory, her Colombian heritage, her path to starting the organization, and take a long look at misconceptions and even the greater impact we can have as Latinos when we vote today and in the future.
To learn more about the work of Voto Latino and how you can get involved or how to become a registered voter, visit the link in our description.
Now, prepare to be inspired by an authentic leader in America. Maria Teresa Kumar.
END OF INTRO
Antonio Tijerino: Maria Teresa Kumar, I, um, have been such a fan of your work, but also appreciate it. I send you texts once in a while. They're like, You comfort me. They're beautiful. Knowing that you are in this lucha and leading this lucha, truly leading this lucha and leading me and so many others and inspiring us every single day. It's always great when your friends inspire you and you admire them - that’s a privilege to be in that position, to have friends like you, but talk to me about that moment when it started talk about how Voto Latino started and that, hueco that you were filling by doing it.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Oh, Tony. So I can't start without saying that you have been an immense friend and counselor and your leadership and the impact that you have on the community is. Generational. You focus on the youngest that oftentimes are ignored, who don't have a vote quite yet, but who are going to change this country and the work that you're doing, you're making sure that they're gonna change the country for the better.
So I, I feel incredibly privileged to be here and to have known you as long as we have, We will not say how many years , but, but I'll, I'll, you know, I'll hint at Vote Tina's 18 years young, uh, . Uh, but no, I have to say, you know, And what I appreciate so much about you is you are an innovator and entrepreneur.
And I knocked on your door not knowing you and said, Hey, I have this idea. And you're like, Yes, . And you were one of two people in Washington to take my call. So forever in your debt to at least, you know, you bought me coffee and you were kind enough to say it's not bad idea. So thank you.
Antonio Tijerino: No, I said it was a great idea.
In fact, I remember talking to you and then going back and telling a friend of mine, I was like, I just met somebody that's got my hustle, my creativity, except is 10 times smarter and more strategic. So look out for Voto latino.
Maria Teresa Kumar: The only difference between you and I, I wear heels, . Cause you're amazing. You're also very, You are, you are.
You may, I don't know, but
no. But really I think that.
The premise of Voto Latino was very simple. Uh, it was very similar, I think, to why you dedicate your, your life to elevating young Americans that happen to be Latino. And it was because young people in the Latino community are at the forefront of everything this country has to offer.
They have the drive, the ambition, but they are also strapped with the responsibility of their families. They're navigating America oftentimes for their families, and oftentimes they're not seen as equal. And with the expectations that they have so high within their family nucleus and then oftentimes not getting the support that they need at school. It is a divorce of their possibility. And so I focused on young Latinos quite frankly because I was a young Latino once. And I remember being nine years old and having to navigate the doctor's office for my grandmother. And I remember being so stressed out because I wasn't sure if I had the language to translate from English her medication, and what would happen if I gave her the wrong dosage, like all of these trappings, right. And I share the story because my son, who is now eight years old, he was 12 months and I was in the emergency room here in DC at gw, and I heard a little voice, a young little Latina doing the exact same thing for her mother.
Antonio Tijerino: Jeez.
Maria Teresa Kumar: And this was over 30 years ago, right? Like nothing had changed. And that is why I think we dedicate our work because we recognize that the future's born and we're not, we're supposed to be at a country to recognize their power. And how do you make sure that you change that? I deeply believe that the fastest way you make that change is massive voter participation.
And where does that power lie? Among young Latinos disproportionately. when you and I first had the conversation back 18 years ago, we Voto Latino had registered, you know, very proudly, but very modestly, 2,400 voters. When we went into lockdown in March of 2020, voter Latino had registered 80,000 voters.
We finished the pandemic. Having registered 650,000 voters just in eight battleground states, and we mobilized 3.7 million low propensity voters. Why? Because as of August of 2020, 45% of Latinos who were registered to vote had not received a conversation or a contact from either party. Shame on them. Because you know who was the essential worker? Who kept our economy going, who suffered the brunt of so many things- it was the parents of the children, of the young people that I'm trying to reach, and they sacrificed so much because they didn't have an option. And this whole label of essential workers always kind of puts me up, , and it gives me rise because Essential for who?
Mm-hmm. . We were not able to demonstrate more disparity socioeconomically among demographic. Then who was at the front lines, making sure that we can get fed while at the same time not receiving the respect nor the trappings, nor the ability to make the best decision for their families
Antonio Tijerino: without the benefit of being home. I mean, five, that's what I'm saying. Six Latinos, like you said, had had to go to work,
Maria Teresa Kumar: had to go to work to benefit all of
Antonio Tijerino: us sitting around at at kitchen table, right. You're exactly right.
Maria Teresa Kumar: And so what motivates me is that we are 2003 Latinos themselves. We became the largest demographic, but we didn't come of voting age as the second largest demographic until four years ago.
Antonio Tijerino: Really?
Maria Teresa Kumar: 2018. That's when we officially, Why? Because for the last two decades, the United States economy has grown in large part because of the birth of Latinos. Yeah. So for the last two decades, Latinos have been responsible 52% of the population, boom. The United. And when people say, Well, "they're immigrants." No, we're children of immigrants and we're proud children of immigrants because our parents encompass what patriotism is. They are dreamers and their investment happened to be us.
Antonio Tijerino: Now this is something that I always get asked and people make a point out of this. Mm-hmm. is why focus on youth when they don't vote? I know that's gotta make you crazy when you hear that, because that is your purpose. So talk to us a little bit about how you're able to motivate and galvanize this voting block
Maria Teresa Kumar: yeah. I mean it's, it's the chicken and the egg, it's like, well, they don't vote, so we're not gonna invest in them. That's, Well, you're not, we're not, Well, we're not gonna invest in them because they're not gonna vote.
Right? Like so. So I will share with you, you know, we always have this piece, but I will tell you in the last two election cycles, young people of every ethnicity has actually increased their voting prowe by 23%. That's huge. In the Latino community, when you actually break down who voted for whom?
Seven out of 10 Latinos voted for Biden if they were under the age of 29. Because they believe that climate change is real and something has to be done about it. They believe that we need to reform our gun laws. They believe in a woman's agency. They believe that no one should judge who you get married to. And at the end of the day, they also want some immigration relief. That's why they voted. And they also believe that they're stuck with student loans that's preventing them to continue their next life of whether they wanna become homeowners and all of these trappings. That's what the generation of Americans who happen to be Latino, they are the blueprint of America's future.
Voto Latino will be very proudly with and very hard convinced people to invest in us. In 2020, when the traditional organization shattered, we took the stop gap and we were able to register those 650,000 folks. 57% of them were first time voters. That's not small. Geez. That's an appetite for change.
In Georgia, I'll give you an example. In Georgia voter Latino registered and turned out 23,000 folks. 11,000 of them were first time voters. Biden win by 12,000. And the same thing in Arizona. In Arizona, we registered and turned out 32,000, 19,000 were first time voters, young people Biden won by 12,000 votes. And we did it in Nevada, we did it in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
When people say, Well, where is the Latino vote? I said, The only reason we're even having this conversations on climate change and we're on agency, uh, of for women's rights and is because Latinos organized back when we were in high school and college. Around Proposition 180 7. Yeah. And switched California back.
No. And neither is the country as a result. Yeah. You're welcome. .
Antonio Tijerino: Well, this brings me to something that's very interesting that I feel people are getting wrong. Both sides are getting wrong that diversity within the Latino community, I know it's in terms of the political leanings in terms of priorities. How do you deal with that as you're pushing? Cuz this isn't a monolithic, we're just reaching out to young people.
Maria Teresa Kumar: No, it's, So I will share with you that, first of all, when people say that Latinos are not monolithic, that are, they're absolutely right. However, what our findings have seen is that you could be a Colombian that is being raised in Georgia and you can be a Puerto Rican being raised in Georgia.
When you walk out there, the majority of the folks treat you as if you are Latino. They can't distinguish the two. The only place I think that you feel safe being your heritage is a place like Florida. And that is because you have a multicultural group of Latinos that have, propped up really amazing industry and had made their voice known in Florida in a way that we don't see actually in other places.
Perhaps San Antonio, right? But it's very, it's very remarkable what's happened there. And when I say that voting matters that it changes, Florida's the only place where they haven't done coordinated anti-immigration legislation because Latinos have had a history of voting in Florida. Now, DeSantis is trying to change that, right?
Mm-hmm. , and I may not espouse, you know, the proclivities of the Floridian Latino, but they've been able to demonstrate when you participate. They let you aspire to be something more than what your ethnicity may be. And Florida's also interesting, the only state where young Latinos will never, ever surpass older voters. In Texas, Latinos are 23% of the population.
Antonio Tijerino: Oh, say that again.
Maria Teresa Kumar: So young Latinos will never, ever surpass older voters in Florida.
Antonio Tijerino: I just wanted to underline that.
Maria Teresa Kumar: So when people say what happened to Florida, I said, Well, they're older and conservative, and as a result you're going to have older conservative. Sadly, they're also inundated with disinformation, and that disinformation, there's no one overseeing it in a way that would actually get them to see the say the right things or see the right things and, but that's another conversation for another Fritanga .
Antonio Tijerino: So talk to me about the research that you're doing, I think is low key, so important. That needs to really be pushed out because it allows all of our organizations to be able to, be better at reaching these communities.
Mm-hmm. , can you talk about some of those findings, including what the priorities are for young Latinos? Cause I've seen the priorities for older Latinos, but I think it's important to get ahead of this and I'd rather, I'd rather hear what a 16 year old than a 60 year old thinks.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Yeah.
Well, I mean, I think first of all, the.
What again, when people say that Latinos are not a monolith, it's not that they're wrong, but it has everything to do with, you know, it's that question of nature versus nurture. Mm-hmm. , I was politicized under Pete Wilson and my cousins who grew up in Miami. We are, we do not see the world in a very, in the same way.
Mm-hmm. , yet we both came, I had our roots in Columbia. Right, Right. So it's just a matter of like, what is the, what is the local politicians and policies that are impacting your family, and that's how you galvanize folks. One of the things that we're finding though, in that is that you do see these threads of commonality in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Why? Sadly, they have really anti-immigrant, robust MAGA Republicans saying that the reason that people may not be getting the jobs they want or the resources they want is because of the immigrant next door. That creates for a really hostile environment.
So our job at Voto Latino is to be on the pulse of what young people care about. And convince them that their participation matters. I like to say that the media likes to put us in tropes, right? That we're highly conservative because of our religion. You just haven't taken the time to get to know us because when we go into the field and find that 68% of Latinos, regardless of party, Believe that a woman should have a right to choose that it's her, a private issue, that it should be between her and God and her physician.
That tells you something. Now, if I just pull young women and young men, that number Sky rockets almost to 80%. That's huge. Ask them of where they are when it comes to environmental, uh, climate change in crisis. Latinos, we don't have to tell them. They're either working in the fields or seeing it on their water bill or live impacted or breathing it in.
I mean, they, we don't have to convince them. They know. But what we need to do is educate them on how you change policy. And the best way to do it, the easiest way to do it is to register. The second way is to volunteer. And the third, and this is what we really need to do in the Latino community, is build a bench of talent to change the trajectory of this country.
Yeah. Because if we have more talent running for office, and in the school boards. School boards, then we make a cha a difference.
Antonio Tijerino: So If you had to rank the issues going into the election reelections, what would you think they are? Because I'm seeing that immigration has not been as much of a priority unless someone then uses it as a political football. Right. And I was just at the border, and I can tell you that it is a bigger issue than it ever has been. Unless it pops up with one side attacking the other side for it, or one side being defensive or wimpy about it. Then you end up with the same situations, which what we've had for. Three, four presidents now.
Maria Teresa Kumar: So for, I mean, what's happening at the border is very different from our immigration situation here. Right, Of course. And so, but that's the problem, is that everything has gotten conflated. We have a border crisis based on refugees issues and based on American policy in Latin America.
We have to be very clear of why, why that is. So we do need to figure out how do we And policy here. And policy. Yeah. Well, that's why I'm like, no policy here in the United States, towards Latin America. So that's one. And so that's a, that's a very different issue, but we also have 16 million Americans who live in mixed status family.
Yeah. And their loved ones have been here not for two years on average. They've been here for 20 years. Yeah. They've propped up businesses. They're the ones that are making sure that our kids are getting an education cause they're paying into their taxes. And oftentimes that social security that the you yet you receive upon retirement, that's because a Latino put the money in.
That's right. And they're not gonna be able to retrieve it. So we need to have a very frank conversation that when people say they don't like undocumented immigration, there's no one that is not benefiting. The hypocrisy of our fellow Americans and saying that they are not benefiting if you're in the dry cleaner, getting your nails done, if you're eating anywhere, unless you're growing your own food, you are benefiting from labor or the HE healthcare industry, the health industry.
I mean, there's not one industry that is not touched by it. Yeah. And unless we have a frank conversation that the people that happened to be undocumented, because our systems and our laws and rules changed when we wanted it and demanded that labor. that a hundred years ago these folks would've been already American citizens.
Antonio Tijerino: And speaking of labor, Yeah. Right now there are two jobs for every unemployed American.
Maria Teresa Kumar: This is whats wild. So I just uh, I had a senate, uh, steering committee meeting, and this I did not know, but Senator Schumer shared that during the Obama, during the Obama years, there were 1.2 million immigrants that came to this country. Since Trump left Office 200,000, so that means when we talk about a labor shortage, we don't have the talent coming in to fill the jobs that you're talking about, and it's because people are scared and turned off. Mm-hmm. . It's not just the people at the border, but it's everywhere. We're losing out on physicians, on entrepreneurs down the list because people are afraid to come here and we don't have a system.
But what's always made America remarkable on the world stage is that we've attracted entrepreneurs. That are American by DNA because they believe that there's, this is the only country where they can make it. And you know what, we all benefit from that talent. Always. And you know when, when we ask about what are the things that, you know, what do Latinos care about in this country?
We care about making sure that we are respected and we have a sh fair shot at the American Dream. That supposedly should exist for everyone. That means my kids should be able to have an excellent education regardless of zip code because you are taking my taxes. Mm-hmm. , you're making sure that everybody else is getting, you know, like, and that's, and it's that level playing field, and it's not asking for something remarkable.
We're not asking for a handout. We're asking, let's actually achieve that document of equity that is in the constitution. Let's work towards that and then we can thrive collectively as Americans.
Antonio Tijerino: I, when you talk about your kids, it's, it's an interesting conversation. I'm gonna take a step back now into you and identity and all these other things because my kids are Latino, Filipino.
Mm-hmm. , your kids are,
are Latino, Jewish, Indian, . Yeah.
Which is the beauty from New Jersey. And I know you're wonderful husband. I've seen your beautiful kids. I know that a lot of the work with both Latino is also getting to the identity and mm-hmm. to be able to reach folks in an authentic way.
Yeah. Which is most effective. But let's take a step back to you and how you came up, um, in terms of being Colombian. And I know that you're, I know that you were very close to your father, and can you talk. Your experience. That of course is the experience that lends itself to what you're doing with Voto Latino and as a leader and as a representative that I see on Meet the Press and on all these different programs representing our community. Can you talk about what led to that?
Maria Teresa Kumar: So I think like most of us, and I think Tony, you would just share the same, you know, we become, we come to these careers as accidental advocates, right? Um, but it is our life experience that really realizes how do we bridge the chasms of information so that a generation of Americans that are often marginalized but who have hunger can make it?
That's it. It's like, no, I, I started with Voto Latino. Cause I felt if we could only give people the roadmap Yeah. For political empowerment, we can change the country and it's happening. We helped change Voto Latino's first state that we went into was in Colorado, and then afterwards we went into Arizona, Nevada.
You know, and I listed the states, but it is, but is that agency. And what led me to the work, quite frankly, is that my mother, uh, came to this country because she married a man named Ed Peterson. I was one year old, but he's the only father I ever known. Yeah. And he was an amazing man. Sadly he got sick and so we ended up moving from Columbia, Bogota, Columbia, which is 11 million people to , get this, geyserville who was 300 , you can imagine. 300. And that was the census in 1977. You guys could do the math later, but, um, and I think the last census it was 700, right? And this is in Northern California wine country. My grandparents, they were not fancy people. They were grape growers. While my mother was, my, my father, Convalesced, he had encephalitis.
Um, they had not, didn't know what to do with a brown woman and a brown little girl. So they sent my mother to the fields to pick their grapes. . And you could imagine that dynamic of Thanksgiving when the other part of the family came together and my mom, her hands were black and you see the dirt under her fingernails and.
The rest of the family. It was, and you could just imagine. So as a little kid, I've always been in the business of translating like I've like culturally and ideas and all of that. And I think that that is what I see my role here in Voto Latino is like just culturally translating these two Americas with these two different experiences, but recognizing that I did not have the language of systemic racism and institutional bias until probably about 10 years ago, like long after I started Voto Latino. But that's what led me to here I am the first in my family to graduate from college, to work in congress, to get my master's from the Kennedy School. I had all the trappings of what, uh, immigrants, kids, parents dreams are.
And I emphasize that cuz oftentimes as immigrant kids, we do what our parents want us to do. Yeah. And then you have to find your own voice and like, that's not what I'm doing. And part of that journey I realized that my cousins who were younger than I, all the men, all the young men in my family were not doing okay.
I grew up in Sonoma, California that by definition should be a liberal bastion, but there was not young one young men in my family who did not get pulled over by the police or get tracked. And it was so vastly different from the women. Hmm. And these were good kids, and it was because the system was wronged.
They had identified Latinos and blanketed us as criminals before we even had a chance to grow up. If you go into the jails in Sonoma, the amount of brown people compared to the population size is important. Yeah. And so that is what, and you know, and we got really involved with, um, Obama's policing task force because it was really personal.
Yeah. We are never in the news about the devastation that happens when it comes to policing. And it's not that we don't believe in police, 68% of Latino, 70% of polices they trust, they, you know, they value policing. Yep. And they understand their role. But we also need to have that other conversation is that we're not always safe around the efforts.
Antonio Tijerino: Thank you for sharing all of that because that background is truly what informs your work now. Mm-hmm. and your empathy and your ability to reach people. Going back to when you were that little girl And that dichotomy of growing up in a family. With your mom and your dad and all the different sides, and that's what makes you so adept at going back and forth cuz you have been able to balance that exceedingly well in, in our community.
I feel as though we need to tell our own stories. We need to define ourselves as a community, but that definition needs to be broader and broader and broader, especially as there is a Maria Teresa Kumar as there is my kids. Mm-hmm. , and this whole generation that we are more and more mixed. Mm-hmm. and, but that's part of our story and a lot of times that identity is so personal and we have to listen, to how they feel about things in including the intersectionality.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Right. Well, and this is what's beautiful. You know, your kids have a little bit of everything. My kids have everything. Mm-hmm. , and everyone's like, Well, what are them? Like, they're quintessential America. Yeah, they are the Americans that are here, that are, that if we give them the resources, they can continue making sure that the country thrives and that we continue being leaders of democracy around the world.
That, that we are that beacon, but if we don't equip them with what they need, the failures ours and they bear the brunt of those failures.
Antonio Tijerino: So tell me the strategy as we're going forward and how can more organizations and, and companies and individuals help if you're laying it out into different segments? Because I want to be able to inform folks in terms of being able to help get the vote out and, being in your path so that you can support the great work of what the Latino in your leadership.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Thank you so much, Toni. I think first of all, you know, when people say, My child, my daughter is in fifth grade.
She is officially the beginning of the alpha generation. That alpha generation is majority minority. If we're gonna have an honest discussion of how we're ancestry today for her and her cohort tomorrow, we're failing. . And the reason we're failing is that if you were to look at every single echelon of power, whether we're talking about Silicon Valley, where, whether talking about Hollywood, whether we're talking about the capital that is just, a couple blocks away, those chambers of power do not accurately reflect a multicultural com America, that is in our kindergarten class right now.
Yeah, We're not ready. And if we can recognize that that problem, that we're not ready, how do we catapult ourselves to that position? And that is going to be a civil society, multi-sector opportunity to ensure that we are training people, to be on board chairs, that we're training people, to be teachers. That we need a massive, almost like Marshall Plan for the United States in this moment.
That levels us up to be a thriving middle class. And it happens that I believe that the best way to do that as quickly as possible is by registering voters. Mm-hmm. that are young. Generation Z is larger than the baby boomers. Yeah. Right. And that's and millennial and the millennial generation is larger than together.
They're the largest generations that we're experiencing. And the alpha is even more every single year. Latinos turn 18 years old to attune of a million people. Yeah. So I'm proud that we registered 650,000 people in the last election, but I'm already behind. and we were able to do that and people say, Well, how many vote, How many folks can you register?
Vote Latino registers, And turns out a voter at $20 a pop, it's cheap. Our biggest challenge is that people don't wanna bet on democracy because I deeply believe that if you give people the agency to be able to register, to participate, we already know what that means. We got the Affordable Care Act when a multicultural group of Americans came out under Obama. Now we have the infrastructure plan, we have the child tax credit. We have the largest investment in climate change, not just for the United States, but for the world because we enfranchised a group of Americans to come out in the last couple of elections and they're paying attention.
Let us do more of that. You know, I have to say, we were so proud of our work in 2020, but getting people to pay attention now is, is remarkable. But democracy is on the line, and I don't say that lightly, but it's so many immigrants. Our families fled democracies that were really under the guise of something else.
Right. And it was from Nicaragua. Right. You know? Right. So I was like, so it's like we actually have history, not mythology, but history of why we're here. And we recognize that our opportunity to continue advancing the promise of America is our participation. So if folks want to. Donate to Voto Latino if they wanna create partnerships with Voto Latino, we are there.
Um, I'm, I'm second creative only to you when it comes to, because your partnerships are amazing. But, but we try to figure out how do we get people involved? And for us it's really talking to young people and they listen and they respect it because we meet them what they are. We recognize their leadership long before they turn 18.
And sometimes they get frustrated because they're like, What can I do? And then we're like, receipts. Like I was a Bell Grant re. Biden just passed a $10,000 debt relief for student loans. 20,000. If you have a Pell Grant recipient, 20,000 out of out of your loans for a young Latino, Yeah, that is game changing.
But that was available because the vote worked, and we need to make sure that people are voting.
Antonio Tijerino: No, that's absolutely in the power is in their hands. But we also need to do a better job of listening to them.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Yeah.
Antonio Tijerino: Not just them listening to us. And I know that you and I have always shared that
Maria Teresa Kumar: Yeah.
Antonio Tijerino: In everything we've done together, it was based on how do we listen to our community, have them give us guidance.
Mm-hmm. in terms of what to do. And a lot of times we're too busy talking to youth instead of actually knowing that. Yeah,
Maria Teresa Kumar: they, Well, the, I mean, I joke, you know, I'm aging out aina because everybody, , like everybody, they're like 20 years older than me, but it's just, I mean, younger than me. Uh, no, but, but they are, I, I mean, I, I can't emphasize enough when young people are at home in the Latino community navigating America for their families, there's a divorce when they go into the classroom and the teachers try to teach, teach them like children.
Yeah, they're not, And if you give them the power of agency to navigate, whether it's democracy or their studies or every, they're ambitious. They don't know how to do it. What they need is information, but trust them.
Antonio Tijerino: Trust is a big thing. It is a big thing. Yeah. So talk a little bit about that pipeline of voters. When you're talking about your daughter or my kids mm-hmm. , is there a thought in terms of what is the pipeline before you become 18? And that's gotta be important, that as much as people are being indoctrinated to go one way or the other mm-hmm. , that they need to at least, at least know that they have a responsibility by being born in this country or being privileged to become a citizen of this country. Um, and I'm always, I just have to take a step back too, because I've worked closely with your group. I'm always grateful to the undocumented students and young people that are working so hard. This, to me is a real tribute to what you're saying, that the power of the voter mm-hmm.
um, and that's where it lies because there are people that can't even vote. Right. But understand that by helping people, , the country's gonna move forward in the right direction. The change is possible even if you're undocumented. But can you talk about that pipeline?
Maria Teresa Kumar: Yeah. So, so I have to share with you, one of the things that we created at both is this fun app called Voter Powell.
Apple, Uh,
Antonio Tijerino: Voter power.
Maria Teresa Kumar: Voter Pal, like your, Oh, that's awesome. Butter Powell. Uh, we created it back in 2018 and we put it into the field and the whole idea was there, unless there's automatic voter registration nationally, which I would encourage all of us to do, like, Oh, California. Yeah. Um, the best way to do voter registration is actually decentralize it from everyone and give it, put it in the hands of young people.
Right. So, uh, Apple actually named it one of the top political apps. And it's super easy if you download it, it takes a picture of the back of your driver's license, it prepopulates your form, and then it sends it to you. You print it, you sign it, and then we do the rest. We make sure you got, you know, where your voting booth is.
You, we know, you know what the candidates are and the issues are, we make sure you get a ride to the polls. If we partner with Lyft and Uber, you know, like we do all of it. We just need your help. And the fun thing is it decentralizes it. So if someone says, Well, I'm not 18 years old, or I'm undocumented, or I'm already registered, What else can I do?
Go register your friends. When we put it into the field, we thought the person would register three people. In fact, it was exponential. They registered an average of 10 people. Geez. And so again, my business is like, let's break the system and the best way to way to break the system.
You know, people like to say, Oh, the system is right. I said, No, no. The system works just as it should for the people who occupy the voting booth in the halls of Congress. That's exactly, You know what our job is, is to occupy. And the best way to occupy is I, We already know there's a lot hell, more of us than there are of them,
Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that voter pal. I am so gonna use it myself. Yeah, please. Um, but the fact that you can use it before you start voting, and I have a daughter who's 17 and is in, get into Mercedes Hands high school and she cannot wait. And I think she's Your mom's Taka, right? She is. So, um, I remember when she was born and, and I knew
her.
I got so excited. I was like, . Well, it was, well, it was a big challenge because I was like, I hope he doesn't think it's gonna, So my daughter's name is Lucy. I'm gonna say this. My mother wanted to know why she wasn't first, but there we go. Lucy, I, I blamed you. .
Antonio Tijerino: Um, well that's, that's fantastic to hear. You make me feel Optim optimistic about where we're going as a country.
I want to also just take a moment to thank you for representing. In the public eye. Um, I know I text you screenshots every time I see you. I meet the press and all these other programs because you are a voice for us and you're representing us in places that we normally aren't. so can you talk about that responsibility?
Because I've seen it, by the way. Mm-hmm. in terms of as you're. As your, um, position has grown, um, that I know that there's a burden that comes along with that. Um, can you talk about how that's changed in the, in, in doing this work for over 10 years?
Maria Teresa Kumar: Yeah. I think that that, I mean, I think always the challenge is that we're accidental advocacy, and I take that seriously.
Like, you know, people oftentimes says, Well, what's up with the Latino community? It's like, well, We're 63 million strong. I can't speak for all of us, , , but I can speak for my, my experience that mirrors so many of us. Part of it is wanting to make sure that it's not just the representation that, that, that I'm on air, but also strategically making sure that we're opening it up so that other people are also, So on occasion, for example, I will host a show. I make sure that there's always Latino representation. That's not talking just about immigration, but that's talking about national security. That's talking about election. That's right. That's talking. That's because the reason that we are in this back footed tension in the United States about around demographics is that median entertainment has done a terrible job of reflecting us and including us in the conversation accurately.
And oftentimes people say, Well, we need more Latinos and representation so we can see ourselves. We need also as a defense mechanism so people can leave us alone. Yeah. What the Cosby Show did was allow for Americans to see African American excellence, and if you look at studies of that representation in the African American community as a result of the Cosby Show, it allowed, um, white Americans to see successful people in different spaces, and it helped promote people of all stripes in the African American community. I often joke that the reason we have President Obama as a black president was because we first saw Morgan Friedman in the chair. Hmm. We need representation to communicate to the larger American public of who we are, so that we are accepted as individuals, not as a collective.
And so, Believe that that is part of our journey. And so the more that we can have these conversations, it's great that it's, you know, it that I'll be on a meet the press on an occasion, but it has to be more of us and we have to. So, and it has to be intentional so that people could understand our roots of our absolute differences of how we are culturally, but at the same time, the similar aspirations that we share for ourselves and for the country.
Antonio Tijerino: Well, in the meantime we have you and we know that you're always, uh, going to leave that door open, um, to get others in. So we appreciative of that. I am gonna close with my questions that about how culture comforts, and especially in these times mental health issues, we're dealing with huge covid that is still lingering.
We're dealing with an upcoming election that'll be consequential. All of the things that we're dealing. , can you tell us what song Oh gosh. Gives you comfort. And I, and I've shared moments with you and, and Carlos Vives so I know that, I know that, I know that, um, that you're a big fan of his, but what, maybe it's a song that you're, your mommy used to sing for you, your aita.
Uh, and then what? makes you feel comfort. Um, and also what movie that comes on or. TV show that when you just want to turn your mind off when Raj and the kids and everybody's asleep and you just want to turn and there's no one to that, you know that you've already registered the bazillion voters and you, Oh, I'm not doing
it.
They're doing themselves. Right. You're just
like, um, and, and you just wanna zone out. So what are, what are those comforting songs? Food and entertainment?
So if I wanna get this is I'm gonna go old school. So if I really am in like a feisty moved, it's en vogue for your mind. Ha, . Cause the rest will follow.
Now for folks. Cause I heard, listen to this, you've never heard of it. Go listen. You'll understand the video, the women, all of it. You'll, you'll get what I'm talking about. You've gotta see it on YouTube. You gotta see it. It is, uh, we're on TikTok. You can see it on TikTok, I'm sure. Somewhere. Right? TikTok?
Definitely. Um, and so, so yeah. But no, that's, that's if I'm being feisty, but I, my song, is my mother, when I, on Sundays, she would crank up Roberto Carlos. And put on the music and I would hide in the sheets cause I knew that I had to get out of that. Oh my Lord. Feel back the sheets and I'd have to go to work. Right. And it's anything from Roberto Carlos is so close because Remind of my, My too.
Yeah. You know, and it was an icon, but it was, those moments were. I would, first of all, it's the time that I would spend with my mom. Cause my mom was always working. Yeah. And it was the time that she and I, she's, that's how I learned how to dance was with those times when we were cleaning. And my biggest problem, and I'll tell you this, is that I love to dance.
I only learn to lead because my mother only knows so, so by myself. I'm amazing together. I'm like, I. Step all over you. ,
as we talked about, these are all things that make you the leader you are now. So anybody wants to dance with my esa, you'll be following , just like we follow over, which, terrible. No,
no, no.
It's terrible. Um, and then what was the last Oh, comfort food. My comfort food. I, I would say it is a combination of anything Japanese and Columbian coconut. And if you haven't had and Es Columbia, because you know, what they do is that they smash the p plantain, they dip it in garlic, water and salt, and then you re fry it.
So first of all, you have to be careful because it'll might burn you , but they turn out crispy and delicious. So
that, I'm so gonna get that. And, and what about the
latest? The latest, uh, I have two shows right now that are my latest, uh, I would say binge watching One is only murders in the. , which is fabulous and really well crafted, like it's brilliant humor, everything.
Selena Gomez, I mean. Be with Steve Martin, who's one of my favorite, actors and writers. If you've never read anything from Steve Martin, you have to, It's yeah. Perfect. And with, you know, with Martin Short, who I'm getting to know. And then with Selena Gomez, like, what a trio. But the other one I have to say too, and I think it's more, speaks to me as that 15 year old girl growing.
In California where my immigrant roots did not meld well with American girls. values for my mother is never have I ever, and it is a fabulous show that if you get, wanna get into again, these cultural rifts of what immigrant girls are experiencing and expectations of the household, the moment she steps outside is so different and.
It reminds me of growing up and I love, I can't get my husband to watch it. He's not interested in shows for tws. I love it because I just, it just resonates so well and it's, And it's always good TV and Miss Marvel, that's the other one. That
is so good. , that one. I agree with you. I agree with you on that one.
Maria Teresa, thank you for sitting down with me. Thank you for joining Fritanga and thank you for all you do in our community. You inspire so many of us, including me, and we need you continue the work and let's all try to do whatever we can to support Maria Teresa as she not only leads when she dances, but she.
In terms of making this country, I feel like I said
so much the right way. Yes, you be too comfortable. I disclose too much. Anyway, Tony,
thank you. Appreciate you. All right, thank you.
Thank you for your work.