Julian Castro Uses Race to Ask for Campaign Donations

Julian Castro recently sent out an email asking for financial support. Nothing new about that, all candidates are doing it, but this time he compares himself to the Latino's who grew up like him and the way Trump criticizes them. And how it's one thing how the President insults him and his family. And then he attacks the establishment rules that cuts candidates like him from the running. Then he asks for a $5 donation before midnight and "help me be a fighting voice for us." He even went on to say that the President said someone from an immigrant family could never represent this country.

Yes, his grandmother was an immigrant, many Tex-Mex (Texas - Mexican) Americans came by way of immigrants, it doesn't make Julian unique in any way. He was not an immigrant raised poorly in the "barrio". He does a disservice to compare himself to those type of struggles.

I have yet to confirm, but I have heard Trump say quite a few disparaging words about immigrants, but I don't think I've heard or found anywhere that he said someone from an immigrant family could never represent this country.

Who is he talking about when he makes himself the "victim" of the establishment? There were about two dozen people running for office, eventually some will have to drop out of the race because they don't have the funding, which means they also don't have the following to support them staying in. It's not a victim issue, it's a candidate's personal issue of not being considered a strong enough candidate to get the support to stay in the race. No one wants to give up the fight, especially when they feel they are the better candidate, but to make yourself a "victim" of the establishment. You are already making excuses. Other candidates dropped out because they understood this, they didn't pander for support as a victim of the establishment.

And to ask for a donation to be a fighting voice for "us" is clearly a plea to the Latino. We have a President in the White House who praises the whites and talks down the other races, more so the blacks and latinos. Why would a Presidential candidate want to single out a race for donations? It's just plain divisive.

Julian Castro talks proudly about his mother, being a single mom and how she worked hard and that he grew up in the barrio, which is hard to believe that he grew up in the "barrio" and compares himself to how immigrants grew up. The truth is while his mom was a single mother who never married; she was an amazing women with tremendous political drive.

Maria del Rosario Castro attended the University of Our Lady of the Lake, where she earned a Spanish degree in 1971, before the twins were born. She was educated and very involved in the national as well as local politics. Staring in 1964, when she became a volunteer for the LBJ Presidential campaign and became a cofounder of La Raza Unida; a chicano political group of the 1960's and 1970's. She also served as a member of the Mexican American Unity Council.

Eventually, Rosie Castro would earn a masters degree in Public administration from University of Texas San Antonio. She would go on to work at Palo Alto College where she was the Dean of Student Affairs, until her retirement.

Rosie's aspirations lead her to run for a seat on the City Council board, an election that she lost, but she didn't let that get her down, she continued her aggressive stance in Latino politics. In June of 1975, when the twins were about a year old, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Rosie Castro and two others. The lawsuit was to eliminate the signature on the back of the ballots because Latinos were targeted for their voting practices.

Rosie's involvement with the twins political career has never been more relevant than when she met with Lionel Sosa, an advertising company owner that came to own Sosa and Associates. Lionel Sosa, learned early on that Latinos had to be targeted differently because there were factors such as those that were immigrants, those that were born in the United States and lived in various regions, to those that had been in the United States for several years. He became so go at it that since 1984, when he was hired for $20 million by the Reagan-Bush re-election campaign to target Republican latino voters, he's been a main source for Republicans for advertising to target Mexican/Hispanic/Latinos.

Lionel Sosa, was a Republican living among the Mexican population of San Antonio's west side and Rosie knew he could help her advance her son's political careers. Rosie Castro and Lionel Sosa would be the people who would set the course of Julian and Joaquin's political careers.

Jesse Guzman and Rosie Castro were together until the boys were 7 years old according to some sources, others say 8. Nevertheless, he was a part of their developmental years and so to listen to and read from the Castro boys as though their mother was the only one in their lives is rather deceptive.

In reality, by the time they were born and their father left, they had both parents. Both with college educations, so for them to go on about the "barrio" scenario, one might have to question how much of it is true and how much of it is fact. Because they did not grow up like the immigrants in the barrio. They grew up like a blue collar working family.

They also continued to have their father in their lives even after their parents split up and to make the father out to be someone who mostly abandoned them to be raised alone by their mother is also somewhat deceptive in itself.

Jesse Guzman, has mostly kept quiet about his relationship with the twins and Rosie Castro.

Just before Julian and Joaquin Castro left for Harvard, they gave an interview to the local San Antonio paper. They said "We do not consider the office of Governor or U.S. Senator an impossibility."

This was two young men, preparing for a career in law and were already talking about politics instead of a career in law. As the boys were heading home from Harvard during break and after their mother had already met with Lionel Sosa, they too paid Lionel Sosa a visit. They were interested in the in's and out's of politics and who they needed to get to know to get ahead.

While both the Castro brothers have succeeded in politics. Julian who comes off as slightly arrogant rather than confident has pushed harder and past his brother Joaquin in politics.

Former staffers have mentioned that both the brothers are very protective of each other and put in plain english, could be considered hot heads.

When Julian speaks, he looks uncomfortable and awkward. Joaquin is the more genuine in appearance and more comfortable in crowds.

The Castro boys were not taught to speak Spanish, by their mother, who had a degree in Spanish. However, in 2009, Julian hired a tutor to teach him spanish so that he could appeal to the latino voters. When questioned about the fact that he didn't speak Spanish, Julian's response was to blame the political mainstream media for making it an issue.

The Latino community has the right to know the truth about their candidate so they can make an informed decision and to some, especially those that don't speak English, it is important to know if their candidate will understand them and their needs. During the 1st Democratic Presidential Candidate debate, Beto O'Rourke spoke fluently in Spanish about several issues. Cory Booker also spoke about the issues in Spanish. Julian Castro, introduced himself in Spanish and sounded like a student reading from his Spanish 101 workbook

In 2018, like many Presidential candidates, Julian wrote a book, An Unlikely Journey: Waking up from my American dream; but only sold about 5000 copies.

Politics has been good for Julian Castro and his brother Joaquin. Julian is worth about $500K.

Julian and Joaquin have worked hard for their political careers. And their story of growing up poor doesn't mesh with the facts of history. When you piece all the information out there about the Castro boys, you find that they started planning a political career before they even got out of high school. It was for political power from day one.

Julian Castro graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1992. Where he was an avid tennis player, he played basketball and football as well. A nice upper end blue collar community; where my relatives lived as well. Thomas Jefferson High School was the place to get one of the best educations.

This school cost over $1million dollars in 1938, today's value would be about $22 million.

This school produced many accomplished individuals.

• Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole
• Major General Alfred Valenzuela
• 2 Nobel Prize winners
• Former Nasa Deputy Director, Aaron Cohen
• Former Texas State Senator, Leticia Van De Putte
• Federal Judge, John H Wood
• Former San Antonio Mayor, Ed Garza
• Republican political figure, John W. Goode
• United States House of Representatives, Joaquin Castro
• US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Former Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro

And the list goes on.

College and political achievements

• Stanford University, political science. Julian who is for affirmative action, believes that affirmative actions helped him get into Stanford
• Interned for President Clinton
• Harvard Law School
• Started his own law firm with Joaquin, 2005
• Youngest City Council member for San Antonio, Texas
• Elected Mayor of San Antonio
• Cabinet member under Barack Obama, Housing and Urban Development Secretary
• Campaigned with Hillary Clinton, 2016; rumored to have been on Hillary's list of Vice President choices.