Nashville's Hispanic community gains political influence

Jude Ferrara/SouthComm

Fabian Bedne is a pleasant man, gracious and unassuming. He is married with two children and has a nice home in the suburbs. He has two dogs. He is active with his neighborhood association. 

Bedne co-founded Organicus LLC, a design company focused on residential work. He once worked with Hart Freeland Roberts, where he served as the firm’s project designer for two of Nashville’s more attractive contemporary structures of the past 10 years: the Nashville Fire Department administration building on Rutledge Hill and the nearby Howard Office Building. 

Talk to Bedne and it’s clear the man loves Nashville, the city he has called home for the past 16 years. He is grounded and gracious, community-minded and civic in spirit. He is handsome, well-rounded and has a cool name. 

More than all this, though, Fabian Bedne is in a position to make Music City history. 

A man of Argentinian descent whose native tongue is Spanish, Bedne is running for the Metro Council’s District 31 seat. If he wins — and he’ll have a strong shot of doing so — he will become the first Hispanic in the 47-year history of the city’s legislative body. 

No doubt, Bedne brings the proper political pedigree to deliver such a victory. He is a founding member and former president of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats and a member of the executive committee of the Davidson County Democratic Party. Until recently, Bedne served as a commissioner with the Davidson County Board of Zoning Appeals. 

If any Hispanic person is to claim victory in a district Metro Council race, it is Bedne. 

Just don’t mention the “Latino Factor” to him.

“It’s not what motivates me,” he said of the thought of serving as the Metro Council’s first Hispanic. He ran for the seat in 2007 and finished second to Parker Toler. “Latinos run for office because they are proud Americans.” 

But pride for country is one thing. Making Nashville history is a much different proposition. 

Until the Aug. 4 election date, Bedne — whether he wants to downplay the ramifications or not — will be in the middle of an enticing speculation: Is Nashville ready for a Hispanic Metro Council member? Is District 31? This is, of course, a city home to many people who think Hispanics “speak Mexican” and choose to live 10 to an apartment as if it’s some cultural preference and not the result of economic or other hardship.

“It has been the subject of debate and arguments, of constructive and destructive criticisms,” Yuri Cunza, executive director of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said of the city’s readiness to embrace an elected official from the nation’s most populous ethnic minority. “I think Nashville has been ready for a long time.” 

Of course, a “long time” is subjective when you consider that Music City’s Hispanic community remains, relatively speaking, in its infancy. The county’s overall Latino population of about 55,600 (according to 2009 U.S. Census Bureau estimates; 2010 numbers have not been finalized) is the state’s largest; Shelby County/Memphis, easily the state’s most populous county, has fewer — about 47,200 Hispanics. Davidson County, with a total population of approximately 636,000, is about 8.7 percent Latino. 

That’s all the more reason a focused and well-financed campaign by a dynamic Latino or Latina candidate could captivate an electorate ready for someone who is not the stereotypical born-and-raised-in-Davidson County candidate. Asked if he might announce his own candidacy in the next few weeks, Cunza paused, then noted that a number of people have urged him to run for an
at-large seat. 

“What I’m hearing is it’s sometimes strategically more helpful to wait,” Cunza said, indicating he wants to see who is running before making a decision. 

Were Cunza to join Bedne, it would mark the first council race in Metro’s 48-year history to feature Hispanics running for both a district and countywide seat. (Brady Banks has announced his candidacy for District 31 and, if elected, would make his own Metro history by becoming the council’s first rep with a master’s of divinity degree from Harvard University.) 

Mario Ramos, an immigration attorney and one of the local Latino community’s most media-friendly members, said any Hispanic candidate — current or future — will “need help from” non-Hispanic voters. 

“You can’t just run as an Hispanic candidate,” said Ramos, who serves as chair of the executive committee of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber and whose father was from Colombia. “You have to appeal to everyone.”

To understand the Hispanic political culture in Nashville — modest though it has been — it is first worth noting two key points, one directly related to the city and the other not. 

As late as 1990, Davidson County had little Latino population of note. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show the county’s 510,700 people included only about 4,800 Latinos. 

“Remember when Mayor [Phil] Bredesen in 1999 acknowledged the growth of the Hispanic population?” asked Cristina O. Allen, who’s of Mexican descent and has lived in Nashville since 1988. Allen is the host of ¿Que Pasa, Nashville? on WTVF-Channel 5 Plus. “This was a big deal. Not many people were aware of this growth except those like myself that have lived here for quite some time.” 

Hispanic is a cultural or ethnic — and not racial — designation. The common tie is the Spanish language. (The word “Latino” includes Portuguese speakers.) Most Latinos practice Roman Catholicism. Though Davidson County’s dominant Latino group in terms of sheer numbers are those of Mexican origin, many of Nashville’s politically connected Hispanic power players have no ties to Mexico.

About a third of the people from the Hispanic community interviewed for this story were born in the United States, but none was born in Nashville, and a fairly significant percentage of local Hispanic movers and shakers work in Nashville but live outside Davidson County — particularly in Williamson County. As well, local Latinos with political clout are overwhelmingly highly educated and hold white-collar jobs. 

Why so few Hispanics ran for Metro Council seats in 1999, 2003 and 2007 — the three elections during which Davidson County has boasted a sizable and growing Latino population — could be attributed to “a generational thing,” according to Ana Escobar, who has served on a number of governmental boards and commissions, including the Metro Planning Commission and Davidson County Election Commission. 

“A lot of us are first-generation,” said Escobar, whose background is Colombian. “We’ve been busy trying to make a good living.” 

Escobar, who will serve as 2012 president of Davidson County Democratic Women, wonders whether these U.S.-born Hispanics living and working in Nashville have been largely disinterested in politics.

“Maybe the next generation will say, ‘Hey, I saw my mom or dad [run or serve],’ ” she said. “Politics, to some extent, comes from watching your parents participate.”

But participation might yield modest returns, at least in the immediate future, according to Loraine Segovia-Paz, editor and publisher of La Noticia newspaper.

“It will take about another five years to prepare more leaders that will be active in the political arena,” she said.

Escobar noted the evolution would be long-term.

“I really think it’s going to be a 20- to 30-year process,” she said of a Nashville that will offer noticeable Latino political influence. “The second generation will have to prove itself.”

To an extent, the current generation of Nashville’s politically influential Hispanics has already made a positive contribution, sitting on various Metro boards, committees and commissions.

In addition to Escobar, there is Raul Regalado, the president and CEO of the Nashville International Airport Authority, who sits on a Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization committee; Renata Soto, who previously served on the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Immigrants and Refugees; and Allen, who once served on the Metropolitan Education Access Commission. 

In the past, Vanderbilt professor William Luis and attorneys Dennis Nunez and Maria Salas served on the board of the Metro Human Relations Commission. 

Jose Gonzalez, a professor at Belmont University and a co-founder with Soto of the locally based social services agency Conexion Americas, said Nashville could benefit not only from having a Hispanic council member but — even more so — having a member of the city’s growing international community. 

“There are ‘high-profile’ Hispanics that would find the question of country of origin a bit misplaced, as they are American citizens who were born and raised in the United States,” said Gonzalez, who was born in Mexico City. “They are Americans before anything else, even if their parents or grandparents may have come from a Latin American country.

“So perhaps a more appropriate question,” he added, “is whether Nashville is ready for someone that represents the growing immigrant population.”

Soto, whose country of origin is Costa Rica, said political influence would stem from “civic engagement” and the nurturing of grassroots leaders in schools, congregations and nonprofit organizations. Conexion Americas plays a major role in such, she added. 

“Our board of directors and our Hispanic Advisory Council both serve as ways to nurture emerging leaders in the Latino community, and we are optimistic that our Parents as Partners program in [Metro Nashville Public Schools] will cultivate future Latino school board members.”

It’s that type broad-based civic participation that can lead to political power.

Cecilia Melo-Romie, a Williamson County resident, is perhaps the Nashville area’s most active Hispanic volunteer. Melo-Romie, who has a Chilean background, has collaborated with Franklin’s fire department (on the placement or replacement of smog detectors in the city’s low-income neighborhoods), police department (involving child safety passenger seats) and public works department (for water conservation and recycling).

“I feel I have a responsibility to give back to the community where I live by volunteering my time in the unification of the diverse population where I reside,” Melo-Romie said.

Segovia-Paz, the La Noticia editor, said Nashvillians are ready to see more Hispanics in positions of government authority. She echoed Melo-Romie’s words. 

“As U.S. citizens, it is our civic duty to actively participate in the affairs of the city — [to] not just expect that someone else has to make the changes but be part of the process,” Segovia-Paz said. 

Gregg Ramos is perhaps the Nashville area’s most professionally connected Latino. If he lived in Davidson County and entertained political aspirations, Ramos could likely capture an at-large Metro Council seat. An attorney with North, Pursell, Ramos & Jameson PLC and a Brentwood resident, Ramos is engaging, connected and knowledgeable on myriad issues facing the city. He is likely the de facto leader of the city’s largest Latino group: Mexican-Americans. 

“When I came to Nashville, I realized not everybody who is of Latino descent is from Mexico,” he said. “A lot of the Latinos here and who are prominent happen to be … very well-educated.” 

That might be part of the catch. Davidson County Hispanics with the best chances of winning a Metro Council seat tend to have white-collar jobs with long hours and good pay but that don’t necessarily lend themselves to a lifestyle that includes a demanding part-time council job. In contrast, and though there are many exceptions, numerous Metro Council members throughout the years have been self-employed, retired or worked conventional 40-hour-a-week jobs that allowed for some flexibility. The reality is that, for example, a Mexican-American retired plumber who lives in Woodbine is unlikely to run for a Metro Council seat — much less win if he did. 

Even more so, the city’s politically connected Hispanics often discretely downplay their ethnicity. They stress they are Americans first and Hispanic-Americans a very distant second.

“I’ve really tried to be part of non-Latino organizations that serve the [entire] community,” said Ramos, who was president of Catholic Charities of Tennessee in 2007 and 2008 and remains the only minority president in the history of the Nashville Bar Association. “[Being Hispanic] doesn’t define me,” he said. 

And if downplaying ethnicity is common, where does that leave the “legal status” factor in the discussion? 

John Lamb, editor of the website Hispanic Nashville, said eight out of every 10 Latinos in Tennessee are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.

“So right off the bat, the other two out of 10 are not going to be serving on local boards or in office due to immigration status,” said Lamb, who is not Hispanic but has lived in South America and attended Spanish-speaking churches in Nashville. “Immigration and citizenship status decreases the available pool of prospective candidates for civic involvement.” 

Even among the eight in 10, there might be resistance to legal immigrants serving before they are granted U.S. citizenship. Lamb points to Yuri Cunza as an example. A few years ago, then-Mayor Bill Purcell nominated Cunza to serve on a Metro commission, but Cunza withdrew his name from consideration due to backlash at the news that he was, at the time, a legal immigrant but not a U.S. citizen. (Cunza, of Peruvian descent, has since gained citizenship.)

And then there is Matt Kenigson. 

Born in Mexico City to parents of U.S. and Canadian heritage, Kenigson is a white Mexican with a nontraditional Hispanic background. He speaks fluent English and Spanish and moves easily within both Nashville’s Latino and white circles of influence. 

Though he lost a race for state House last fall to the well-established Beth Harwell, the up-and-coming Kenigson could bring some political clout in the future. He is bright, well-versed on education issues — among others — and considering a council run. Many would like to see him parlay the attention he got in his race with Harwell into an at-large candidacy. 

Of course, our politics will continue as a two-party system. In the Nashville area, Latinos look to Myrna Velasquez on the left and Raul Lopez on the right. 

Velasquez is president of Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats, while Lopez once served as vice chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party. Both are working toward building a base of voters who, eventually, might alter Metro’s political landscape forever. And both know the language of politics. 

“We need a Hispanic council [member] who not only represents Hispanic Nashvillians but also all Nashvillians,” said Lopez, who is of Cuban descent. “One that is a bridge builder not a wall builder. One that celebrates diversity without compromising the rich tradition of Music City. One that encourages assimilation, not segregation. One that doesn’t demand for preferential treatment but rather looks for ways for our community to give back to better all of Nashville.”

Velasquez said the time is right for a local Latino to run for office. 

“I would love to see my community grow and have representation, not only in the Metro Council, but in other offices as well,” said Velasquez, whose country of origin is El Salvador. 

No doubt, Nashville has always been a fairly welcoming community, and the Metro Council has a respectable history of offering some decent diversity. Since its founding in 1963, the council has featured 41 African-Americans and 34 women (out of 238). 

Whether Fabian Bedne adds a new chapter to council diversity is not certain. Ramos, who is supporting Bedne, said a Metro Council member with a “different perspective” is “sorely needed.” 

“I would love to see more diversity on the Metro Council,” Ramos said. “But it’s still important for any Latino running for office to not run as a Latino exclusively.” 

Bedne gets it. He resigned from the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals in late 2010 to run for the council, on which he said he could be “proactive on zoning issues.” 

“On the board, you are reactive,” he said. “I can actually try to find areas in the district that can be improved. I want to bring in developers to do sustainable and smart development.” 

Sounds like a prospective Metro Council member — who simply happens to have been born in Argentina and not Antioch.