Mexican Consul Attaché Talk

This afternoon I went to a talk by Cynthia Prida-Bravo, the Mexican Consul Attaché in Raleigh, which was sponsored by the Latino Student Services Office. In addition to talking about her work at the consulate (and the Instituto de Mexicanos en el Exterior) she also specifically addressed the students about her own experience trying to figure out what to do with her life, particularly as a woman in a conservative Mexican family that expected her to get married and have children.

Moreover, I liked her discussion of migrants in the U.S. She said she had spoken to a Republican U.S. senator, who had said he hoped not to make the same policy mistakes that would have his children or grandchildren dealing with the same issues. She told him that wouldn't happen because of demography and that there weren't enough young people left in Mexico to emigrate in the same numbers. That of course is something I talk constantly about in my Politics of Latino Immigration class. It is oversimplified to say that demography means something never will happen because it isn't static. But more recognition of its effects are always welcome.