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The first video involves encouraging young people to register to
vote. Pérez even draws some high school students into the
presentation, which can best be described as informal and on
their level. Pérez even colors his presentation with a little
slang and Spanglish to remain relevant.
The video was shot in a local art studio. Pérez hopes to feature
a different local Latino artist in each monthly presentation.
The whole idea is to give local and regional Latinos “a voice,”
by making the videos interactive and inviting feedback from
viewers on future episodes, topics, even naming the YouTube
series.
The idea came to Pérez during his involvement with the Latino
Youth Forum, a spinoff of the Hispanic Strategic Alliance.
The project involved neighborhood canvassing, community
meetings, and other outreach efforts.
“Hearing from the folks talking in the neighborhood, especially
the young people, about having some sort of an outlet to
communicate with other Latino communities and others in
general,” he explained. “It’s just a way to promote what we’re
thinking, what we’re feeling, and making it fun and informing
people about different issues.”
The long-time neighborhood activist pointed out that protestors
of the Arab Spring movement in the Middle East
communicated via social media, such as Facebook, to
gather, demonstrate, and demand change in their countries, such
as in Libya and Egypt. In the U.S., the Occupy Wall Street
demonstrations communicate in much the same fashion.
“It’s just another new venue for doing what people want to see
and hear,” said Pérez. “It’s a good vehicle for finding out what
Latinos are thinking and feeling. I’m excited about it.”
Pérez described the first YouTube effort as “real rough” and
“experimental.” The video series is as yet unnamed, even though
he joked that a friend calls it “Ramon’s Rant.” Pérez is asking
for suggestions, then may put it to a viewer vote with the top
two or three ideas.
“I just need to get it out there and get it started, force me to
do the next one,” he said, chuckling. “So hopefully, in the next
month-and-a-half I’ll have the next one ready and hear the input
from those who do watch it and care to respond to it and give me
input. The idea is to invite them to be a part of it—help
develop it, to be on it, to say what they want to say.”
The idea comes at an opportune time: at the onset of the 2012
presidential campaign, as well as the unrest involved with the
Occupy Movement across the country. With so much economic and
political turmoil, Latinos will want to get involved and have
their say. Many political pundits even believe the Latino
community will decide who will become the next president, if
they show up at the polls in large enough numbers.
With that in mind, Pérez demonstrated with the help of two teens
how quick and easy it has become to register to vote—at a local
library, the bureau of motor vehicles, and other locations.
“We just need to get ourselves in those places,” Pérez said.
“Read about them, learn about them, then have something fun,
creative, provocative, whatever—to say about it, respond to it.
Maybe this is the vehicle to do that. I want to give them a
format and a forum to do that.”
Traditional neighborhood organizing involves good old-fashioned,
grass-roots, face-to-face contact. But Pérez attended a recent
conference where social media and other forms of communication
are becoming the new strategy to reach a wider audience with a
message.
“There is new technology, new resources that have actually been
out there for a while—a lot of us are just now catching up with
it and realizing it’s a very powerful tool,” he said. “A lot of
people are starting to get hip to it, including me.”
The United North organizer stated the key to making the
project work is to keep it open-ended and interactive, so that
people discover its relevance and respond.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a whole lot of
good, bad, and ugly,” Pérez said with a laugh. “I’m excited
about it.”
The “Ramon Show” YouTube video can be accessed at this link:
http://youtu.be/aSlEKIC4o7U.
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