Almost 30 years ago, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Illinois) awoke in his alive allowance in the average of the night alone to apprehend it was engulfed in flames. Someone had befuddled a Molotov cocktail through his window, and it was all he could do to retrieve his wife and accouchement from the bashful abode he'd managed to buy in Chicago's Bucktown adjacency and blitz them to safety. Although badge investigations never apparent the crime, Gutiérrez believes a annoyed appointment with Democratic political agents alive adjoin the acclamation of Chicago's aboriginal African-American mayor, Harold Washington, had something to do with it. "I can't say that the Democratic Party apparatus beatific that Molotov cocktail through my alive allowance window," he says now. "I can alone acquaint you that firebomb or no firebomb, we were traveling to continue. I said, 'You apperceive what, I'm gonna bifold down.'"
The Molotov cocktail adventure opens Gutiérrez's memoir, Still Dreaming: My Journey From the Barrio to Capitol Hill, out now. The book describes Gutiérrez's acceleration from abjection in burghal Chicago to become one of America's a lot of stridently accelerating Latino politicians, advocating for clearing reform; the rights of workers, consumers and veterans; and freedom for his affiliated home, Puerto Rico. While it is abounding with idiosyncrasies, Gutiérrez's adventure is emblematic of abreast American Latinos: bilingual, bicultural, artery acute and appreciative of it. He's a built-in insubordinate alive aural the system.
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"I ambition a had a nickel for every time I had to address 'I will not allocution in class' on the blackboard in brand school," says Gutiérrez, 59, calling from his appointment in Washington. "Some humans are built-in talkers, and I wrote this book as admitting you were accepting a chat with me." Fully abreast in Spanglish, Gutiérrez switches from Chicago artery approach to island Spanish calmly because of his family's move aback to Puerto Rico while he was still in top school. While the alteration was a little awkward – island locals were quick to alarm him a "gringo" because of his amiss Spanish – he abstruse something important about himself there.
"Chicago is a actual absolute town, and if you're from the barrio you don't accommodated Puerto Rican professionals," says Gutierrez. "On the island I saw these politicians accomplish ablaze speeches. The next affair you know, I was enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico, agitation adjoin the Vietnam War and allotment of the ability movement with a Puerto Rican banderole sewn on to my jeans."
Gutiérrez confused aback to Chicago afterwards academy and collection a cab for three years, a accomplishment he acclimated both to hone his allowance of gab and accession funds for his run adjoin able bounden Chicago committeeman Dan Rostenkowski in 1984. Although he absent that race, he won as an administrator two years later, in allotment because he batten Spanish during a agitation adjoin addition Latino applicant who batten alone in English. Gutiérrez has represented his Chicago commune in some anatomy anytime aback by accepting a attenuate Puerto Rican applicant who was able to accretion the adherence of a Mexican-dominant commune electorate.
"It was simple accepting their votes, because, look, what did they address about Puerto Ricans in the 1950s? We were bringing diseases. We were advancing to get abundance and accept babies," says Gutiérrez. "If you attending at how [Arizona sheriff Joe] Arpaio and the added xenophobics allege about immigrants today, is that any altered than the analysis my mom and dad got?" The account aswell recounts an adventure in 1996 if a Capitol aegis abettor approached Gutiérrez on the Capitol steps, banned to accept he was a U.S. Representative, told him his ID was affected and told him to "go aback area you appear from."
Gutiérrez's acumen about the accord Latinos feel about clearing ameliorate explains a able accuracy about the role Latinos play in civic politics. Admitting the actuality that Puerto Ricans accept had U.S. citizenship aback 1917, Gutiérrez says he's consistently accepted the plight of the undocumented. "It's the aforementioned way with a lot of U.S.-born Latinos," says Gutiérrez. "Last November, every auger in America woke up and said what? Latinos are powerful, and they just whupped the Republicans into appearance because they're anti-immigrant. Latinos did this because Arizona's Proposition 1070 isn't just adjoin immigrants – it angers all Latinos."
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The endure 70 or so pages of Still Dreaming feature Gutiérrez's pointed criticism of Admiral Obama, who abundantly aghast him by not acting bound on clearing reform, as he had promised during his 2008 campaign. The close book account the acerbic exchanges amid the admiral and Gutiérrez – who says he was the aboriginal Latino baton to abutment Obama during his close primary activity with Hillary Clinton – is the book's highlight.
Despite their differences, Gutiérrez says he continues to abutment the president. "Obama said in 2009, 'I'm traveling to do it,'" says Gutiérrez. "Four years later, it didn't get done. What we had was aberrant massive deportations – and we took the admiral on, because we capital to accomplish him a bigger president. He assuredly listened and chock-full the deportations of the Dreamers. But he didn't yield that activity after us aboriginal authoritative a bright absolute appeal of him. Once he did, I campaigned for him in 2012."
Gutiérrez is still alive in advocating for a band-aid to Puerto Rico's non-territorial – or colonial – status. A adept foe of the pro-statehood movement, which has able Republican ties, Gutiérrez favors a built-in assemblage on the island to accede "an broadcast accord amid the U.S. and Puerto Rico that may be abbreviate of independence." And, as a affiliate of the Abode Select Committee on Intelligence, he feels the revelations of NSA bigmouth Edward Snowden accept led to a all-important chat about "how our government collects information."
And admitting a contempo New York Times article that appropriate clearing ameliorate will be de-prioritized because of a new debt-ceiling crisis and contest in Syria, Gutiérrez refuses to accept the hype. "This month, we're calling for the immigrant association to angle up in 40 cities," says Gutiérrez, who has been arrested alfresco the White Abode in acts of civilian defiance a amount of times. "Look, this is a civilian rights movement. We're never traveling to blow until we get justice. History is on our side. We are traveling to win this."
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