Norma Martinez

This week on Fronteras: 

•  Across the U.S., the Latino high school dropout rate is lower than it’s ever been.
•  Reparations and restoration of a stolen totem pole located at the University of New Mexico.
•  Cultural appropriation or appreciation?  The story behind the writings of Amado Muro.

Amado Muro was a writer who told the stories of the downtrodden and forgotten.  He is considered by some a great Mexican writer, despite the fact that Amado Muro was a white man from Cleveland – Chester Seltzer.  He married a Mexican woman and adopted her name, Amada Muro, as a pseudonym.  A newspaperman, Chester frequently traveled the U.S. and Mexico to live with the people whose lives he recreated on paper. 

Robert Seltzer is Chester Seltzer’s son.  His book, “Amado Muro and Me:  A Tale of Honesty and Deception” shares his memories as a 10-year-old of his father.    He says his father’s preferred mode of travel during his outings was freight train. 

Amado Muro was a writer who told the stories of the downtrodden and forgotten.  He is considered by some a great Mexican writer, despite the fact that Amado Muro was a white man from Cleveland – Chester Seltzer.  He married a Mexican woman and adopted her name, Amada Muro, as a pseudonym.  A newspaperman, Chester frequently traveled the U.S. and Mexico to live with the people whose lives he recreated on paper. 

Robert Seltzer is Chester Seltzer’s son.  His book, “Amado Muro and Me:  A Tale of Honesty and Deception” shares his memories as a 10-year-old of his father.    He says his father’s preferred mode of travel during his outings was freight train. 

INTRO:  A voting registration campaign is underway for Hispanic Heritage Month.  It’s being driven by the Texas Victory Project – an organization that advocates for the working poor – and other local and national organizations.   The goal is to register 1000 voters statewide to increase turnout in the 2018 primary and general election.  TPR’s Norma Martinez had a chance to talk with Claudia Sanchez and Arnoldo Alonzo – political director and state director of the Texas Victory Project – about their efforts. 

This week on Fronteras: 

•  A major push to register Hispanics to vote finds many  of them struggle to make ends meet in their everyday lives.
•  Border Land Act would protect owners from Trump Administration land grabs for border wall.
•  President Trump’s decision to lower the number of refugees welcomed in the U.S. threatens the viability of resettlement agencies.
•  A major toymaker wants to cash in on a pricey Hispanic rite of passage with the Quinceañera Barbie.