Whether they vote or not, Latinos are poised to play a pivotal role in midterm elections
Along Bright Avenue in Whittier, Calif., wedged between a hair salon and tutoring business, is the home and interior design store Amanda Alvarado toiled and sweated years over many years to afford.
Alvarado grew up in Boyle Heights, a working-class barrio where luxuries are few and far between. But even before he hit adolescence, her mother, a Mexican immigrant, taught her a lesson money could not buy.
Belia Lagunas became an American citizen. Politically active, she traveled to Sacramento to push for sound barriers along Interstate 5 that were parallel to the Eastside neighborhood. The most enduring political lesson Lagunas passed on to her children might have been the simplest.
"As soon as she became a
