In the city of Macondo in Garcia Marquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, generations of the Buendia Clan live trapped in a mythical town of mirrors that reflect the changing world in and around them yet keeps them stuck in the same place ignored by the world outside their imagination.

Latino political leadership in New Jersey feels the same way; always evolving to the times yet forever neglected by the political world around us where pundits choose to repeat one familiar story of power that describes influence in one simple way— in the quid-pro-quo of transactional politics.

Latinos are 20% of the NJ Population, with the youngest workforce, a well-established and fast growing entrepreneurial class, the largest growing population of kids in the public education system, a large percentage of college bound Latino youth, and a new electorate who wants actions on key issues and investment in our priorities.  Yet, if you look at NJ’s political leadership landscape, you would think we Latinos are just a small minority who doesn’t register enough interest by political pundits to even highlight our leaders and their victories on the Sunday political talk shows.

We do have great political leaders like Sen. Menendez and our Latino elected officials in the State Senate and Legislature. Their accomplishments are part of our pride and joy as they are leading important policy initiatives for all NJ. But who are those coming behind them demanding political action for our community?

We have many great grassroots leaders, but for the most part their efforts get ignored because in Blue NJ, political pundits assume Latinos will vote Blue, and as long as we don’t have options other than the machine Democrats on the ballot to vote for, we will never really change the balance of power. Hey, we even lose Latino seats in the Legislature (D-36) and no one thinks that is a problem we should have an opinion about.

As stated by a recent Washington Post article, political leaders and media pundits who ignore the growing clout of the Latino electorate are basically committing “political malpractice.” Numbers are destiny and I would argue that as the growing electorate of the future, what Latino young voters think, who their leaders are, and what those new leaders need should matter to all politicians.

For some, politics is a Machiavellian game of power accumulation. But as a good friend told me recently, for our generation who has been called to once again to fight back racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-immigrant rhetoric against our children, politics is about leveraging power to bring forth policies to help our community survive. We don’t measure our success on our titles or positions in government, but by how many lives we are able to impact with our activism for policies that change lives.  This struggle for survival of our most vulnerable has brought forth the acknowledgement that in the era of Trump, our power comes from organizing our community to defend itself.

The recent victory on Driver’s Licenses is my case in point. This historic victory was brought to you by a handful of grassroots leaders and Latino organizations who for 15 years did not let the issue die. They built power by organizing thousands of people who were directly impacted to stand up and tell their personal stories; they built coalitions with diverse groups of people around common progressive values; they expanded power by building alliances with African Americans on common issues and ultimately held the Democratic party accountable to act on the side of justice.

By doing so, these leaders and organizations redefined what it takes to build influence and power in NJ politics. Leaving them out of the narrative of achievement on this great progressive legislative victory for NJ immigrants would indeed be an act of “political malpractice.”

Since history is written by the victorious ones, I am here to claim my space as a witness to history who as an active member of the #LetsDriveNJ progressive coalition, spent countless days supporting these young leaders. I shared with them, when they sought it, my knowledge and experience in labor and progressive politics. I leveraged my relationships with Mayors and Legislators to move people, but ultimately, I encouraged them to drive the narrative and by doing so I learned that they were taking their que from their members’ willingness to fight and be heard.

These leaders are bold, fearless and unapologetic about who they are; documented or undocumented, young and old, gay or straight, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Afro-Caribbean, Mexican, Central American, South American or American born in our urban cities.

Their version of leadership is not determined by how large they paycheck is or how much access they have to elected officials or party leaders. Unlike the Buendia Clan in Macondo, their reality represents a brand-new vision of power unchained by the baggage of unmet expectations and broken promises of generations before us.

So, in an effort to pay homage to their fearless leadership, click here for my version of Latino grassroots leadership “End of the Year Review.” Like any list, this is my subjective view and I don’t know everyone. So, please add to the comments and always, always, ask for our leaders to be recognized for the hard work they do to make NJ a better place to live for everyone.

Happy New Year to All. May we indeed build a more inclusive New Jersey in 2020 together.

Si Se Puede!

Dr. Patricia Campos Medina is a labor and progressive political leader. Opinions expressed in this column are strictly her own. You can follow her on Twitter @PCamposMedina