Good morning. I’m Gustavo Arellano, a Metro columnist for The Times, which means I’m allowed to express opinions. Like:
The American Southwest is cool.
But before I get into that, here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Caminos del Southwest: A road trip through Latino America
Turquoise and silver. Tucson and Colorado. Mountains and deserts. And chiles — so many chiles.
The Southwest has many iconic features, but I was in search of none of these when I hit the road this August.
I was on the lookout for Latinos.
Simple enough, right? Latinos have lived in the Southwest for more than 425 years. We are a plurality of the population yet still seen with suspicion by too many. But I was seeking them for a reason — the reason this year: the 2024 presidential election.
I found story after story of the Latinos I know: resilient, independent and focused on fixing what’s in front of them instead of being too concerned with the White House rat race.
and saw the Biden administration finishing off the 30-foot border wall that the Trump administration started. , which has long sent Mexican Americans to Southern California who went on to impact L.A. politics. dedicated to the victims of the 2019 Walmart massacre, the deadliest attack against Latinos in modern U.S. history.
Drove all across New Mexico . To Antonito, Colo., . Checked in with . Hung out with . Didn’t eat , but I did stop to smell .
Why, I even did a . And !
Curious why Latino voters aren’t a political monolith? Its all about rancho libertarianism
Here in California, we’ve long told the story of how Proposition 187, , inspired a generation of Latinos to favor the Democratic Party and thus turn us bluer than the waters of Lake Tahoe. , Latino voters have tired of Democrats using the specter of GOP anti-immigrant policies to scare them into sticking with them.
That partly explains the gains that Trump has made among Latino voters since 2020. But my trip also reinforced my belief in rancho libertarianism, to describe Mexican American voters who aren’t fully liberal or conservative and embrace individualism while still working to better their community.
I found distaste for Trump among the people I spoke to but little enthusiasm for Harris, either.
What Voltaire has to do with Latinos in the ’24 elections
Latinos I talked to weren’t in a doom spiral like too many Americans: They were too busy fighting for and defending their lives and communities, especially against far-away bureaucrats who only think of them come election time. This approach to America at this point in time reminded me of the idea underpinning Voltaire’s finale to his classic satire, “Candide”: Humans need to take care of what’s in front of us instead of obsess too much about the rest of the world.
“I want people to hear the local voice and apply that to the local condition,” Michael Montaño , “versus applying everything to the national narrative.” Montaño, with his cousin, owns the legendary Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino.
If only more people thought like him. Anyways, , and don’t forget to cultivate your garden — mine needs some watering. Howzabout yours?
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Today’s great photo is from Times staff photographer Brian van der Brug.
A crowd watches as movers transport pieces of the Space Shuttle Inspiration, a full-scale mock-up of a space shuttle, along Bellflower Boulevard on Thursday in Downey. until its new home at Downey’s expanded Columbia Memorial Space Center is completed, slated for early 2026.
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