Tomás Alberto Ávila

Rhode Island Latino Political Empowerment Tomás Alberto Ávila

Rhode Island Latino Political Empowerment captures the turning point of the Rhode Island and the Nation previously dormant potential Latino politics into reality starting in 1996, when the Hispanic vote astounded political experts with both its explosive growth and its unpredictability. More than 5 million Latinos went to the polls that year, an astounding 20 percent increase over 1992. In Rhode the growing participation sprang in reaction to proposals in Congress to deny benefits to immigrants. Latinos also rallied against the Rhode Island congressional candidacy of former Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino Jr., whose campaign featured a call for English as an official national language.