Is Democratic Convention Keynote Speaker Julian Castro the Next Obama? (Good Gawd)

Daily Beast ^ | August 1, 2012 | Eleanor Clift

[C19fan]

When Julian Castro, the San Antonio mayor, was announced Tuesday as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, the most common reaction among Democrats was “Who?”

The first Latino ever tapped for the high-profile primetime address, 37-year-old Castro is the youngest mayor of a top-50 American city. Serving a second term after a 2011 reelection with 82.9 percent of the vote, the Stanford and Harvard Law graduate’s biography lists a number of accolades that make it clear he’s an up-and-comer. He made Time magazine’s list of “40 under 40,” and his life story is the embodiment of what we think of as the striving American. The son of a single mother, Castro and his twin brother, Joaquin, who also has a stellar résumé and is running for Congress in Texas, strike the same chords that Barack Obama did when he was selected to keynote the Democratic convention in 2004—that America is a land of opportunity where merit and hard work are rewarded.

[C19fan]

The Mayor of LA Antonio Villaraigosa will be chairing the Dem convention but I do not think that entails any prime time speech just lots of time banging a gavel for CSPAN viewers.

[AlexisHeavyMetal1981]

Better learn how to pronounce “Latino” right now. It’s not how you remember. Latino is pronounced “Lah” - followed by a very soft “t,” then followed quickly with a very loud “EEE!” — then a soft “no.”

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Got it covered, Duck. My family’s heritage on both sides comes through “MEH-hee-coh”. Yup. I married a white girl, and she learned how to say “TAH-coh” right away.

[kcvl]

Castro is the son of Jesse Guzman and Rosie Castro

Castro’s interest in public service developed at a young age from watching his parents’ involvement in political campaigns and civic causes.

His father, a retired teacher from the Edgewood Independent School District, and his mother, a community activist

[kcvl]

Castro is the son of Rosie Castro— leader of the Chicano political movement that sought equal rights for Hispanics.

The Chicano Movement encompassed a broad cross section of issues—from restoration of land grants, to farm workers’ rights, to enhanced education, to voting and political rights, as well as emerging awareness of collective history. Socially, the Chicano Movement addressed what it perceived to be negative ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans in mass media and the American consciousness.