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ARTICLES POSTED MAY 1998
Go back to page 1... What Is Proposition 227?, (posted 5/19/98) Proposition 227 is on California's June 2nd Ballot.The title of the initiative is misleading: "English for the Children." It sounds as if it would improve children's education. In fact, If passed, Prop. 227 would require that, within 60 days, all California public schools stop all their programs, and institute an untested program. 227 would outlaw existing language development and academic programs that work. 227 would throw California's schools into chaos. OPPONENTS: There are over 200 opponents of Prop. 227. They include: The White House, the California PTA, civil rights and educational research organizations, and over 100 school districts and school boards. THE SHORT OF 227:
THE LONG OF 227: 227 outlaws existing successful language learning programs. Bilingual education is not the only program that would disappear under 227. Programs teaching primarily in English would also end (e.g., ESL, English Language Development, Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) because 227 states that all English learners must go into its one-size-fits-all program. Deaf Education may also be affected because it's a form of bilingual education (American Sign Language/English). Also, teachers, aides or volunteers in bilingual, ESL, ELD and other academic programs for English learners often use students' first languages to develop cognitively demanding concepts or to ensure comprehension of the English language curriculum. These are research-based ways of teaching English learners. Under 227, teachers would be sued personally if they used a word of a foreign language in the classroom. Teachers couldn't use the best ways they know of educating students. Teachers and administrators would be held personally liable if they refused to comply by speaking one word of a foreign language in the classroom. Teachers & districts would be required to purposely deliver a third-rate education-to purposely contribute to educational inequities. 227 would place all English learners, regardless of age, into the same type of classroom. 5 year olds who should learn number concepts would be jumbled in with 12 year olds who should learn pre-algebra. The teacher would be charged with teaching these students English in 180 days without ever using students' first languages. 227 does not require that academics be taught during that first school year in 227's program. 227 gives this approach a fictitious title:"Sheltered English Immersion." Sheltered English Immersion is not an existing strategy for teaching English learners. This title mixes two strategies. "Sheltered instruction in English" is used to teach academics to students who have some understanding of English. English Immersion is an approach that doesn't offer any support to children. It has been dubbed "submersion," "sink or swim." Submersion was outlawed in 1967 by then-Governor Reagan for its failure to teach English learners. Submersion has been condemned by the Federal Government. Submersion, "sink or swim," is really what 227 would legalize. After 180 days in this experimental "Sheltered English Immersion" class, students would be deemed proficient in academic English at their grade level, and they would be placed in a regular English-only classroom to sink or swim with no further support. Teachers would no longer need special training to teach these students. Only "a good working knowledge of English" (Article 2, 306, b). So trained (previously credentialed) teachers couldn't use their skills to teach students well, and new teachers wouldn't need the special credentials that are necessary now to teach English learners. In Addition, NO ONE can learn enough of a foreign language in 180 days to perform academically on par with peers who are native speakers. No research supports this 227 contention. English learners would not be the only ones to suffer in this environment. Since teachers could not use the best ways we have of teaching second language learners, they will be busy figuring out how to teach while managing the severe restrictions of 227. Meanwhile, native-English speakers would have to compete with the English learners for the teachers' attention. Everyone would lose. And no one could be held accountable because the proposition does not discuss accountability. Under 227 there would be no local control of schools. School boards, school districts and parents would be prohibited from providing programs tailored to their student populations. Parental waivers from 227 are a sham. Article 3 (on parental exceptions) is there so 227 can survive a court challenge. But the probability of getting 20 kids in the same school and at the same grade level to satisfy all the conditions of the waiver are virtually nil. (This sounds confusing because it is-just try reading Article 3). 227 appropriates $50m yearly for 10 years from the General Education Fund for "parents or other members of the community who PLEDGE to provide personal English language tutoring to California school children..." (Article 4). This money is currently being used to provide services for all children through existing programs. It would be diverted for individuals who "pledge" to help, under this 227 program that does not yet exist. There is no accountability written into 227 to ensure that this money be well-spent. California is already #49 in per-pupil-spending. 227 would already cause a fiscal crisis by causing a loss of Federal funding that goes to states which provide research-based education for English learners. Additional loss of $500m would be catastrophic for our schools and students. 227 would be nearly impossible to overturn. We would require 2/3 vote of each house and the Governor's signature in order to anul 227 (Article 8). Furthermore, 227 contains a "severability" clause (Article 6), which would require a court challenge to target each article one at a time. It would be a lengthy, expensive process: "If any part ... of this statute (is) found to be in conflict with federal law... or the California State Constitution, the statute shall be implemented to the maximum extent that federal law (and State law)... permit. Any provision held invalid wshall be severed from the remaining portions of this statute." SOME MISCONCEPTIONS IN PRO-227 PROPAGANDA: "Children can learn academic English in 180 days". Researchers world-wide agree that it takes at least 2 years for second language learners to perform at the same level as peers who are native speakers. Researchers world-wide agree that it could take 180 days for children to learn "playground English," yet they stress that this is very different from the knowledge that students need in order to manipulate difficult ideas at grade level in the 2nd language. *California's English learners have failed in schools BECAUSE of bilingual education. Only 30% of English learners are in bilingual programs in California. 70% receive their instruction in English only. 50% are in classrooms that tailor English academic instruction to English learners (e.g. English as a Second Language). 20% are in English submersion (227-style) classrooms. Since the great majority of English learners are in English-only classrooms, bilingual education is clearly not the cause for these students' educational difficulties. "Bilingual Education does not teach English." Bilingual education teaches English. -BI-lingual education, by definition, entails the use of two languages to teach academic content. In the U.S., one of those languages is always English. There is exhaustive international research documenting the strengths of bilingual education for teaching second language learners. Furthermore, international research consistently finds that students who participate in academic learning in two languages have higher academic achievement than students who learn academics in one language only. These findings have been replicated in the U.S., Canada, and in several European countries with children of different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. For more information see the NCBE and OBEMLA websites (Q&A sections). As you've probably guessed by now, I say VOTE NO ON 227 on June 2nd, and tell all your friends! It's too rigid, too confusing, and will likely wreak havoc on our children. But don't take my word for it. EDUCATE YOURSELF, and at least read the fine print, asking yourself-Is this really what I want for OUR children? If you think my description is an exaggeration, and would like to get the information from the horse's mouth, visit the official 227 website, http://www.onenation.org. You will see that this description accurately summarizes 227. Be sure to visit one of the opposing websites to have pro and con information. For ways of contributing to the NO on 227 statewide campaign, to have your organization/corporation endorse the No on 227 campaign, or for a list of opponents, see the Citizens for an Educated America website: http://www.noonunz.org For more information from researchers, visit http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jwcrawford/, and http://www.smartnation.org Policy by Anecdote, New York Times May 19, 1998 (posted 5/19/98)
SAN FRANCISCO-The debate over Proposition 227, the California ballot initiative on bilingual education, is not about education. It is about language, politics and, ultimately, race. Supporters of the measure, which would replace bilingual education and related programs with a one-year immersion course in English, are not talking about educational theory or the most recent research. What seems more important to many of them is how their cousin, next-door neighbor or grandmother learned English without the help of any bilingual program. I have tried to imagine applying the "grandmother theory" in another educational context. I imagine what it would have been like if my parents had stormed into my elementary school classroom, where I was learning math using the blocks, beans and graphs of the "new math," and argued that my grandfather had learned math from drills. My parents, however, never staged such a scene (though my grandfather was known for his excellent addition). They wanted me to be taught using the most advanced educational theory, one that would ultimately not just show me how to add, but also prepare me for advanced calculus. As a former bilingual teacher in the Los Angeles area, I have plenty of my own anecdotes. I could tell you about a classroom full of students who turned the skills they had learned in Spanish into an ability to succeed academically in English. But I don't believe that my personal experience gives me the right to substitute anecdote for fact. Apparently, many supporters of Proposition 227 do not feel the same way. Some of them say that all California students with limited English skills are in bilingual classes and none of them are learning any English. In fact, according to a study by researchers at the University of California at Davis, fewer than a third of such students are in any program that uses one word of their native language. If the Proposition 227 debate were really about education, it might be settled by appointing a blue-ribbon panel to analyze the most recent research and make recommendations. Such a panel would find that students not proficient in English who had been in well-designed bilingual programs scored higher on tests of English reading than such students educated in English-only programs, according to a study last year by Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia Collier, professors at George Mason University. In fact, the panel would find that students in the most effec= tive bilingual models score better on English reading tests even than native English speakers. The panel members might recommend that more resources be put into the types of bilingual programs that have proved most successful. They would then analyze Proposition 227 and note that it is in complete opposition to what most educators believe about language development. They would point out that research shows that though many students learn "schoolyard" English in a year or less, most students take about four years to acquire the vocabulary needed to learn abstract academic concepts. The panel members might add that putting children of varying ages in the same immersion class, as Proposition 227 allows, would force teachers to teach to the lowest common denominator. And they might suggest that inflexibly imposing an untested theory on an entire generati= on of students is irresponsible. Should the California initiative pass, it is possible that its supporters will get what they want: a quick fix through which some students will learn enough basic English to perform minimum-wage jobs. But what most teachers and parents of non-English-speaking students want is the same thing my parents wanted for me-the chance to experience the best in educational practice and to prepare for college. Educating children is about developing the very best programs, based on sound research. It's not about your grandmother.Abigail Trillin, a lawyer for Legal Services for Children, taught in a third-grade bilingual class in Los Angeles County from 1990 to 1992. Ad War Strengthens Ethnic Stereotypes, (posted 5/19/98)
At a time when the sales of fast-food products are exploding, going overboard in trying to influence consumer choices between tacos and burgers isn't just au courant, it is positively de rigueur. But too often, the undertaking also can be declasse. A recent column of mine warned that the current Taco Bell ad campaign that invests a Mexican breed of dog with human characteristics - most pointedly, the ability to speak Spanish - may lead down a slippery slope. Not long after, another fast-food chain proved the point. Taco Bell's $60 million Dinkie the Spanish-speaking Chihuahua advertising blitz has been followed by the Jack-in-the-Box hamburger chain's own commercials con Chihuahua. In trying to become the top dog of their industry, such competitors have ignored the social, demographic and political realities of different regions of the country - not to mention making dog meat of the common standards of social decency. In one recent commercial, the Jack-in-the-Box character berates a Dinkie-the-Chihuahua look-alike. Jack concludes the reprimand by contemptuously asking, "Who's been eating beans?" The problem is, dogs don't eat beans; people do. Beans are a staple in Mexico and the Caribbean. Jack-in-the-Box may have meant to insult Taco Bell or the Chihuahua, but it is impossible to believe the hamburger chain didn't know it was running the risk of insulting Hispanics. As for el Dinkie, Taco Bell now has added a new linguistic twist. Instead of Spanish, he speaks English with a very thick Hispanic accent. At a time when California is struggling with how best to ensure that 1.4 million immigrant children, many of them Hispanic, are being mainstreamed into an English-speaking society, how does the "humorous" use of a mass medium to highlight - however inadvertently - a group's problems with English figure to help them? Making fun of heavily accented English could open the door to prejudice and discrimination. So juicy are the stakes in the fast-food wars that even Burger King has entered the bull ring. But to its credit, <I>El Rey de los Burgers has shown restraint. Its commercial shows the making of a hamburger, to the accompaniment of the exciting Spanish-language music of the Gypsy Kings. Years ago, the Frito-Lay Co., now a subsidiary of Pepsico - as is Taco Bell - shot itself in the foot by launching a commercial based on a character known as the Frito Bandito, or Bandido, replete with moustache, pistols and bandoliers across the chest. Hispanic protests ensued. The commercials were pulled. Like bad pennies, denigrating ethnic commercials keep turning up. Advertising and the gamut of marketing decisions never should be made in a vacuum. Decision makers at corporate headquarters have a responsibility to heed the real world around them and not just the make-believe worlds their pitchmen create. Bilingual education politics in California is one example of the social context they must consider. But how appropriate are over-the-line ethnic commercials at a time when - as happened a few years ago - a fraternity at Southern Methodist University held what it perceived as hilarious "illegal alien parties"? Or the news just a few weeks ago that the members of a sorority at Baylor University in Waco dressed in festive Hispanic costumes and feigned pregnancy by stuffing pillows in the front of their dresses to mock high birthrates among young Hispanic women? Or even, for that matter, the next-to-last Seinfeld plot that featured the burning of the Puerto Rican flag and a portrayal of Puerto Ricans in New York as a nuisance? Language, immigration, birthrates and, yes, even Puerto Rican nationalism in New York - those issues all merit legitimate discussion. But the indifference and complicity of advertisers to the outright contempt and mockery in the popular culture for an ethnic group only compounds the insensitivity and cultivates divisiveness. The ethnic-specific canine-ization of Taco Bell and Jack-in-the-Box is superficially cute but profoundly misguided. Obsessed with standing out from the rest of the pack - but utterly detached from the moorings of history, current events and social sensitivity - the commercials aren't ready for prime time. Sadly, in the case of Jack-in-the-Box, they're not even housebroken. Richard Estrada is an associate editor of The Dallas Morning News editorial page. Fact Sheet On High School Dropouts, (posted 5/19/98) One cannot blame bilingual education for the high dropout rate of Latino students. 1. A dropout is defined as someone between 16 and 24 who has not graduated high school, and is not in school. This includes young adults who came to the US to work, not to go to school. One-third of Latino dropouts fall in this category. 2. Not all Hispanic youngsters are limited English proficient. In California, less than half of Hispanic students are classified as limited English proficient. 3. Of those who are limited in English, not all are in bilingual education: In California, about 30% are in bilingual education programs, another 20% are in programs with "informal" first language help, and 21% receive no special instructional services at all. 4. Third, well-designed bilingual programs produce better academic English, which suggests that bilingual education is part of the cure, not the disease. 5. When one takes "background" factors into consideration, i.e. socioeconomic status, print in the home, family factors (e.g. single parent vs. two parent families) and recency of immigration, differences between Hispanics and majority children in dropout rate are reduced a great deal and often disappear in research studies. 6. In a controlled study, it was reported that children in bilingual education dropped out less than similar children in non-bilingual programs. It should also be noted that 40% of all Chicano children live in poverty in the US, compared to 15% of non-Hispanic whites. Poor children have far fewer books in the home, in their school libraries, and in the public libraries in their neighborhoods, and go to schools that are often poorly funded, among other problems. Also, 45% have parents who have completed high school, compared to 81% of parents of non-Hispanic white students. When one asks male Hispanic dropouts why they dropped out, only 4% claim it was due to poor performance in school (compared to 8% of non-Hispanic whites), while 38% give economic reasons (compared to 22% of non-Hispanic white students).
Sources 1. Dropout defined: McMillen, M., Kaufman, P. and Klein, S. 1997. Dropout Rates in the United States: 1995. Washington: US Dept of Education. NCES 97-473. 2. Not all LEP, not all in bilingual education: Han, M., Baker, D., and Rodriguez, C. 1997. A Profile of Policies and Practices for Limited English Proficient Students: Screening Methods, Program Support, and Teacher Training. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, NCES 97-472. Snyder, T. and Hoffman, D. 1966. Digest of Educational Statistics.Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Statistics, US Department of Education. 3. Well-designed programs: Krashen, 1996. Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education: Culver City, CA: Language Education Associations. Greene, 1998. A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of bilingual education. Clarement, CA: The Tomas Rivera Center. 4. Background factors: Pirog, M. and Magee, C. 1997. High school completion: The influence of schools, families, and adolescent parenting. Social Science Quarterly 78: 710-724; Rumberger, R. 1983. Dropping out of high school: The influence of race, sex, and family background. American Educational Research Journal 20 (2): 199-220; Rumberger, R. 1991. Chicano dropouts: A review of research and policy issues. In R. Valencia (Ed.) Chicano School Failure and Success. New York: Falmer Press; Rumberger, R. 1995. Dropping out of middle school: A multilevel analysis of students and schools. American Educational Research Journal 32 (3): 583-625; White, M. and Kaufman, G. 1997. Language usage, social capital, and school completion among immigrants and native-born ethnic groups. Social Science Quarterly 78 (2): 385-398. 5. Poverty: Rumberger, 1991. 6. Reasons for dropping out: Rumberger, 1983. 7. Controlled study: Curiel, H., Rosenthal, J. and Richek, H. 1986. Impacts of bilingual education on secondary school grades, attendence, retentions, and drop-out. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 7: 247-259. A CHANCE FOR FAMILIES ON WELFARE TO MOVE OUT OF POVERTY, (posted 5/18/98) The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (S.1882) is expected to come before the U.S. Senate soon. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) will offer an amendment to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act to allow states to count some post-secondary education as a means of fulfilling the work requirements under the 1996 federal welfare law. His amendment would give states the flexibility to allow up to two years of post-secondary or vocational education. It would also make it possible for more adults to participate in vocational education by not counting teen parents who are completing high school as part of a limited proportion of the caseload who are allowed to take vocational education courses. (Teens would continue to be required to attend high school or its equivalent.) The current law only allows one year of vocational education to be counted as fulfilling the federal work requirement, with only a small number of adults eligible. Other forms of post-secondary education (college, for instance) don't count under current law unless the individual is working at least 20 hours of work a week in addition to the course requirements. Children whose parents have little education are at extreme risk of poverty. About two-thirds (64 percent) of mothers who have not finished high school live in poverty with their children (1994 Census Bureau data). For each advance in educational attainment, more families escape poverty. Twenty-eight percent of mothers with 1-3 years of post-secondary education are poor, dropping to only 10.5 percent in poverty who have graduated from a four-year college. Senator Wellstone's amendment increases the chance that at least some parents will be able to get the skills and credentials they need to find an above-poverty job. CALL YOUR SENATORS! Ask them to vote for Senator Wellstone's Higher/Vocational Education amendment to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (S. 1882) (also thank its co-sponsors, Senators Wendell Ford (D-KY), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Richard Durbin (D-IL). The Higher Education Act is likely to come up as soon as the week of May 18. Save the E-Rate, (posted 5/18/98) On February 8, 1996, President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law. Under the new law, universal service (which had previously been designed to guarantee affordable phone access to consumers) was expanded to include an "E-Rate" (education rate) for schools and libraries. As part of the E-Rate, telecommunication carriers now must offer their lowest rates to elementary and secondary schools and to public libraries. In addition, schools and libraries will receive 20-90% discounts for telecommunication services, internet access, and internal connections. The deepest discounts are available to the least well-off schools and libraries (those with the highest proportions of students eligible for the federal school lunch program), and schools and libraries in rural areas. An annual cap of $2.25 billion is set on the universal service fund to reimburse telecommunication providers. Rules for the new E-Rate were established by the FCC in May of 1997. The program began on January 1, 1998 with $625 million available for E-Rate discounts. Beginning on July 1, 1998, collections for the E-Rate are expected to increase for the year. To date, more than 30,000 schools and libraries have applied. While everyone can agree that up-to-date technology and internet access is critical to the education of our children, it appears that some local companies now want to pull the plug on this new program. A number of long distance companies appear to want to profit off schools rather than lend a hand to educate our future leaders. The telecommunication industry is flooding the FCC with requests to limit services and essentially gut the program. You can help save the E-Rate program for schools and libraries by using your internet browser to find http://congress.nw.dc.us/e-rate to access the "Save the E-Rate Campaign" automated e-mail action center. >From there, you can send a message to Congress, the FCC, and telecommunication companies in support of the E-Rate program. Act now-the telecommunication industry is, and they are powerful!!! Pass this alert along to others who may share our concern about the education of America's children. Hispanics' Don't Exist, Special Report U.S. News 5/11/98, (posted 5/18/98) U.S. News 5/11/98 SPECIAL REPORT http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980511/11hisp.htm Hispanics' don't exist The fast-growing U.S. ethnic group isn't an ethnic group at all. It's a mishmash of many different groups. Herewith, a guide to the nation's 17 major Latino subcultures BY LINDA ROBINSON The growing proportion of Hispanics in the U.S. population constitutes one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in American history. The number of Hispanics is increasing almost four times as fast as the rest of the population, and they are expected to surpass African-Americans as the largest minority group by 2005. It's projected that nearly 1 of every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by the year 2050, up from 1 in 9 today. Yet other Americans often have no clear idea of just who these 29 million people are. One reason is that the label Hispanic obscures the enormous diversity among people who come (or whose forebears came) from two dozen countries and whose ancestry ranges from pure Spanish to mixtures of Spanish blood with Native American, African, German, and Italian, to name a few hybrids. While most are bound by a common language, Spanish, many Hispanic-Americans speak only English. This diversity helps explain why Hispanics' political clout remains disproportionately slight. Hispanics even disagree on what they want to be called; most identify themselves by original nationality, while others prefer the term Latino. A common Latino subculture doesn't really exist in the United States. True, there are some pockets of pan-Hispanic melding in major cities, and occasional alliances are struck on specific issues; with time, the differences may merge into a shared Latino identity. But for the present, it makes more sense to speak of Hispanics not as one ethnic group but as many. Mexicans are the largest, at 63 percent of the total Hispanic population, yet even they vary by region and experience. How many Hispanic subcultures exist in the United States today? Ethnologists are bound to differ on this question, but U.S. News puts the number at 17. We have taken into account the largest communities as well as the smaller (yet, in our unscientific judgment, most culturally distinct) ones. What follows is an overview and taxonomy of the 17 major Latino subcultures in the United States, listed by geographic region.
CALIFORNIANS Hispanics represent 30 percent of the population in California today and by 2020 are projected to outnumber non-Hispanic whites there. Many Latinos, of course, migrated to California back when it was still a part of Mexico. But more than 80 percent of Southern California's Hispanics came after 1970. In 1996, newly naturalized Latinos voted at higher rates than the general population. The galvanizing event was 1994's passage of Proposition 187, which sought to end school and health services for illegal immigrants. (A federal judge has blocked implementation of Prop. 187; the matter is expected to be appealed up to the Supreme Court.) 1. Immigrant Mexicans. Newcomers to Los Angeles traditionally settle in enclaves like East L.A., but in the past decade they've also poured into low-income black areas like South Central and Compton as well as Huntington Park, a formerly Anglo neighborhood that had become a ghost town. "Ahora es Mxico," says a man standing with his son at the corner of Florence and Pacific while his wife buys tamales and chicken in mole from a huge takeout store. "None of this was here when I came 15 years ago," he says, nodding at the Spanish-named car dealerships, shoe stores, bridal shops, and supermarkets stretching for blocks. 2. Middle-class Mexicans. Many Mexican-Americans in California have moved up the socioeconomic ladder, sometimes in a single generation. Overall, two thirds of Latinos in the United States live above the poverty line; half of Southern California's native Latino families, and one third of those from abroad, are middle class. New arrivals often hold two jobs, leveraging themselves or their children into such middle-income occupations as police officer, manager, and executive secretary. They have migrated from traditional ports of entry to more-prosperous neighborhoods and suburbs like San Gabriel and Montebello. There, Mexican-Americans buy three- and four-bedroom tract houses next door to Asians. Farther east, in Hacienda Heights, Mexican-American families' yards are bigger, the driveways parked with BMWs and Jeep Cherokees. 3. Barrio dwellers. Many Mexicans move up and out, but a growing number of second- and third-generation kids are getting trapped in ghettos. Boyle Heights' housing projects are the largest west of the Mississippi; 60 gangs with 10,000 members ("homeboys") run rampant over 16 square miles of urban wasteland. . 4. Central Americans of Pico Union. As tough as life may be in the Mexican barrios, it's even grimmer in Pico Union, a gang-ridden section of L.A. just east of MacArthur Park that serves as the principal U.S. port of entry for Central Americans, the fastest-growing segment of L.A.'s population. Nearby Koreatown is also now predominantly Central American. Greater L.A. is home to half of all the Salvadorans and Guatemalans who live in the United States. Even though 97 percent of U.S. Central Americans are working, incomes in Pico Union commonly range from $5,000 to $10,000. Everyone works, kids and parents. Most parents have less than a sixth-grade education; their children who work full time risk remaining at society's lower rungs. Still, two thirds of the families manage to stay above the poverty line, running little markets and shops along Eighth Street.
TEJANOS Texas Mexicans argue with their California brethren over whose culture is more authentically Mexican-American. What's certain is the two groups couldn't be more different. In contrast to the majority of "Californios" who are recent arrivals, many Tejanos have been here for generations. They've brewed a cowboy culture that's equal parts Texas and Mexico. Tejano music, a widely popular blend of country and ranchera, epitomizes the hybrid. Tex-Mex conservatism on issues from abortion to immigration shocks California Mexicans. 5. South Texans. The most Mexican part of the United States is the lower Rio Grande Valley. In Laredo and Brownsville, Mexicans form 80 to 95 percent of the population. Their roots go back to the 1700s, giving them a strong sense of belonging. Hidalgo County, one of the nation's poorest, is also a cradle of Mexican culture and scholarship. Like California, Texas was the scene of bitter battles over job and school discrimination in the 1970s, but anti-immigrant sentiment is far less virulent here. Many Anglos speak Spanish, and intermarriage is common. 6. Houston Mexicans. In Houston, Latinos are still a minority. Anglos make up 41 percent of the population and hold most positions of political and economic power. But Hispanics-mostly Mexicans, but also a growing number of Central Americans-have grown from 18 to 28 percent since 1980. (The remaining 31 percent of Houston is mostly African-American and Asian.) Houston's Mexican-Americans are mostly working-class residents of ethnic enclaves even though 56 percent of them are U.S.-born. "South Texans who go to see their relatives in Houston feel sorry for the barrio dwellers' quality of life," says Joel Huerta of the University of Texas's Center for Mexican American Studies. 7. Texas Guatemalans. Houston's urban sprawl could not be more foreign to the Mayan Indians of Guatemala, who grew up in the rural highlands speaking their native Indian language. Because they have little chance of upward mobility in their own highly race- and class-conscious country, the Mayas have joined Houston's Central American working class. These short, full-blooded Indians tend to keep to themselves in their southwest Houston enclave-they have their own soccer leagues and Pentecostal churches-but they did join with African-American residents of one area they colonized, Stella Link, to form crime-watch groups and youth programs. In his new book, Strangers Among Us: How Latino Immigration Is Transforming America, journalist Roberto Suro recounts the trail of Guatemalans to Randall's, an upscale supermarket chain that ended up hiring 1,000 Mayas.
CHICAGO LATINOS Latinos followed Irish, Polish, and other European immigrants to this city of ethnic neighborhoods. Only Los Angeles and New York have larger Hispanic populations than Chicago, which is projected to be 27 percent Hispanic in the year 2000. And Chicago's mix of Hispanic subgroups is more diverse than that of L.A. or New York. Among U.S. cities, Chicago ranks second in the number of Puerto Ricans, fourth in the number of Mexicans, and third in the number of Ecuadorans. Guatemalans and Cubans are also here in force. 8. Chicago Mexicans. The first of Chicago's nearly 600,000 Mexicans arrived to work on the railroad just after the turn of the century; more came to man steel mills during World War II. "Chicago's weather is so harsh that the only reason Latinos come here is jobs," says Rob Paral, research director of the Latino Institute. Chicago has absorbed the steady influx fairly well: Its manufacturing base remains strong and unemployment is low. Its Latinos mirror the national profile in that 60 percent are native-born and two thirds lack high school diplomas. But only one fourth are poor. (The national rate is 31 percent.) The commercial heart of Mexican Chicago, 26th Street, generates more tax revenue than any other retail strip except tony Michigan Avenue. It's lined with hundreds of stores like La Villita Dry Cleaner, a piata shop, Nuevo Len restaurant-but has just one Walgreen's. 9. Chicago Puerto Ricans. Two giant, steel Puerto Rican flags fly over Division Avenue by Roberto Clemente High School. They were erected to stake out the turf of Paseo Boricua, a strip of 80 mom and pop businesses, and the Puerto Rican-owned Banco Popular, the largest Hispanic-owned bank in the United States. Sitting in his sister's bakery across from the AIDS education center he founded, community leader Jose Lopez says that urban renewal plans are pushing Puerto Ricans into suburban ghettos instead of helping them prosper. He launched the flag project as part of his drive to bolster Puerto Rican pride and identity. One of the great paradoxes of puertorriqueos is that while they have the benefit of being born U.S. citizens, they have fared worse economically than any other Hispanic group. They have the highest rates of poverty (38 percent), unemployment (11.2 percent), and households headed by single females (41 percent).
Miamians Miami is the one major city in the United States where Hispanics dominate numerically, politically, and economically. They make up about 60 percent of the population, a meteoric rise from only 5 percent in 1960. Miami is seen as a Cuban city, but other immigrants who have poured in since 1980 now make up 40 percent of Hispanics living here. 10. Cubans. Success stories are not hard to find among Miami's 1 million Cubans. Of the 80 Latinos in the United States worth $25 million or more (according to a recent survey in Hispanic Business magazine), 32 are of Cuban origin. Singer Gloria Estefan, the late exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa, and a handful of Miami builders made last year's list. Roberto Goizueta, the late head of Coca-Cola, topped it. U.S.-born Cubans have the highest incomes of any Hispanic subgroup, and over two thirds of them live in Florida. For this influx of talented and successful immigrants, America has Fidel Castro to thank. The first wave of Cuban immigrants in the 1960s, following Castro's Communist takeover of Cuba, doubled their incomes in three years: Four thousand were doctors, and most had good educations. They started restaurants; clothing, furniture, and cigar businesses; and drive-up storefronts dispensing strong, sweet caf cubano. They built subdivisions sprawling into the Everglades and provided jobs for tens of thousands of later, poorer Cuban immigrants. Alone among Hispanic subgroups, Cubans were warmly welcomed by the U.S. government throughout the cold war: They received financial assistance and, until 1995, automatic legal residency. As of 1990, 55 percent of Cubans had graduated from high school, and 20 percent held white-collar jobs. But one third do not speak English well or at all; many of them are older Cubans with little incentive to learn the language in a Spanish-speaking city. 11. Nicaraguans. During the 1980s, U.S.-backed rebel leaders plotted to overthrow Nicaragua's Communist government from offices near Miami's airport. As the war dragged on, young Nicaraguans came here to evade the military draft. After the Communists finally lost power in 1990, some 75,000 Nicaraguans remained in the United States. Congress recently granted them the right to stay, so many may eventually become U.S. citizens. Nicaraguan exiles were embraced by Cubans who sympathized with their flight from communism; they settled in Cuban areas like Hialeah and East Little Havana and found work in Cuban-owned businesses. Unlike Miami's Cubans, though, the Nicaraguan immigrants are mostly poor, rural folk, averaging 26 years of age and nine years of schooling. More than half don't speak English well or at all, and their median income of $9,000 in 1990 was the second lowest of all ethnic groups in Miami. (The lowest-ranked group was the 20,000 Hondurans who moved to Miami when the Nicaraguan war unsettled their country.) 12. South Americans. Miami's Hispanic upper crust is not just Cuban; it also includes Colombians, Peruvians, and other South Americans. These wealthy immigrants began coming to Miami when their countries' economies plunged into crisis in the 1980s. Business and professional people fled with their money, buying houses in Kendall, a Miami suburb, and condos in waterfront high-rises. They number well over 100,000.
NEOYORQUINOS Puerto Ricans used to represent the vast majority of New York's Hispanics; now they are roughly half. Immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Cuba have swelled the metropolitan area's multiethnic mix to 3.6 million Latinos. 13. Puerto Ricans. During the 1950s, the decade when West Side Story came to Broadway, New York was home to 80 percent of all Puerto Ricans in the United States. Cheap, frequent flights ferried the islanders back and forth. One million immigrated to New York after World War II, forming the backbone of the city's manufacturing work force. By the 1960s, Puerto Ricans also owned some 4,000 businesses. Many were in Spanish Harlem, which was dotted with restaurants serving chicken asopao and pasteles, the Puerto Rican version of tamales made with green bananas. In the 1970s Puerto Ricans' American experience turned sour: Newer immigrants began displacing them, and then the industrial base of New York withered away. Unemployed Puerto Ricans headed back home, only to return to New York when they couldn't find jobs there either. In New York, they saw their median family income drop below that of African-Americans, which was rising. "Compared to the black community, our resources are so much weaker," says Angelo Falcn, director of the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy. "We don't have their church leaders or their colleges. We don't have a solid middle class." 14. Dominicans. Washington Heights is the expatriate capital of Dominicans, who now represent almost 10 percent of all Latinos in the New York area. They came to this rundown tip of upper Manhattan, named it Quisqueya-the Native American name for the Dominican Republic-and immediately went into business. They opened neighborhood stores called bodegas all over the city, and drove cabs that competed with yellow taxis. Some Dominicans also tapped their location by the George Washington Bridge to set up a huge drug distribution network serving the Atlantic Coast. Despite all this entrepreneurial activity and Dominicans' comparatively high median income ($10,000 to $15,000), their unemployment rate is 53 percent; 14 percent are on welfare; and 42 percent don't speak English well. New York's Dominicans have fared nearly as badly as Puerto Ricans, in part because they are overwhelmingly first-generation immigrants without high school degrees. They too suffer from a revolving-door syndrome that has kept them from putting down roots. Community leaders have yet to solve Quisqueya's many problems: discrimination against the mostly black and mulatto Dominicans, poor police relations (the 1992 killing of a Dominican immigrant sparked riots), drug-fueled crime, and high rents. 15. Colombians. Colombians have won the economic success that has eluded most Hispanics, but they're dogged by a stereotype that all Colombians are drug traffickers. Most are in fact legitimate businesspeople and successful professionals; yet to avoid stigma, some say they are from another country. New York is their principal U.S. destination, followed by Miami. Only 40 percent are U.S. citizens, although the number is increasing because Colombia now allows dual citizenship. Two thirds of Colombians have jobs, and their median income is close to that of non-Hispanic whites. One fifth of Colombian families earn $50,000 or more, in keeping with their reputation as South America's best entrepreneurs. But arrests of major Colombian traffickers and grisly murders in their Queens enclave of Jackson Heights have cemented a negative image in the public's mind.
ELSEWHERE IN THE U.S. 16. New Mexico's Hispanos. Northern New Mexico is home to the nation's most unusual and least-known group of Hispanics. They are descendants of the original Spanish conquistadors and as such belong to the oldest European culture within U.S. borders. In the valleys of Rio Arriba they farm ribbonlike plots bequeathed to their ancestors by the Spanish crown; live in ancient adobe homes; and cook pork in red chile sauce in outdoor ovens. A proud, poor people, they call themselves Hispanos to emphasize that they are not immigrants from Latin America. The Spanish they speak is a dialect from the time of Coronado, and the holidays they celebrate are Spanish ones commemorating events like the 1692 reconquest of New Mexico and the conquest of the Moors. A dwindling Catholic sect called the Penitentes practices self-flagellation in their ancestors' moradas, or temples. Another subgroup are descendants of marranos, Spanish Jews who fled the Inquisition and continued to observe Jewish rites secretly. Centuries of subdividing their farmland have forced young Hispanos to seek seasonal work elsewhere or to move away entirely. Unemployment hovers around 20 percent and welfare dependence is high. 17. Migrant workers. For decades, the demand for temporary farmhands has sent Hispanics all over the United States. The migrant farmhands still travel from crop to crop, living in camps straight out of a Steinbeck novel, but farm mechanization has reduced their numbers to about 70,000 for the Midwest harvest. Meanwhile, a second stream of Mexicans is being drawn to work in chicken- and beef-packing plants in places like Dodge City, Kan., where 4,000 Hispanics have arrived since 1990. In Maine, hundreds of Mexicans work on egg farms in Turner (pop. 5,000), which now has a bilingual school program. Siler City, N.C., had 200 Hispanics in 1990. Today, half its 6,000 residents are Hispanic, and the town has three churches offering services in Spanish and four Latin American grocery stores. Sisters, we have a problem, says Gloria Borger William Ginsburg defends liberty, a client_and a strategy U.S. Census Bureau: Track population projections for Hispanic-Americans and other minority groups. National Council of La Raza: The 30-year-old nonprofit seeks to improve life for Hispanic-Americans.
Among Young Of Immigrants, Outlook Rises, (posted 5/14/98) By Celia W. Dugger THE NEW YORK TIMES A multiyear survey that is the largest ever of the children of immigrants who now account for almost 1 in 5 American children found that they overwhelmingly prefer English to their parents' native tongues and have higher grades and steeply lower school dropout rates than other American children. While a majority of those surveyed, adolescents who were of predominantly Hispanic, Asian and black descent, said they had personally experienced discrimination, and even larger majority of them said they still believed that the United States was the best country in the world to live in. The lead researchers on the study describe these findings as reassuring indications that the children of immigrants are unlikely to form a new multi-ethnic underclass, as some experts fear, cut off from the mainstream by academic failure and an inability to speak English. But the researchers also say it is still an open question how well these young people will do in college and the job market, a caution shared by other experts. The researchers said the survey brought into sharp relief the extraordinary diversity of the children of immigrants, not only by national origin, but also by social class. It reaches from the young of Chinese and Indian couples from highly educated, upper-middle-class backgrounds to Mexicans and Dominicans from the humblest origins. "What can certainly be predicted now is that the destinies of these youth will diverge," said Prof. Ruben G. Rumbaut, a sociologist at Michigan State University. "Some will go up, and some will go down." The survey, which shows that the children of immigrants outperform their American peers and that those from more advantaged backgrounds do better than poorer children, will inevitably become fodder for the larger debate about the nation's immigration policy. Supporters of the current high levels of immigration will cite the achievements of these young people, while critics may find reinforcement for their view that national policy should be titled to favor more highly skilled and educated immigrants. The research team, led by Professor Rumbaut and Prof. Alejandro Portes, a sociologist at Princeton University, first interviewed 5,200 youngsters in Southern California and South Florida in 1992 when the youths were in the eighth or ninth grades and tracked down 82 percent of them for a second interview in 1995 and 1996 when most were high school seniors. This fall, another team of sociologists will begin a large-scale survey of the grown children of immigrants in New York City and its suburbs, focusing on adults 18 to 32 years old, rather than adolescents. The number of children who are either immigrants or the American-born offspring of immigrants grew to 13.7 million last year, from 8 million in 1990, making them the fastest growing segment of Americans under the age of 18, according to a new analysis of census data by Professor Rumbaut. The $1 million survey of the children of immigrants was financed by the Russell Sage, Andrew W. Mellon, Spencer and National Science Foundations. The researchers provided their findings to the New York Times. Among the most striking findings of the bicoastal survey of children from San Diego and Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in South Florida have to do with the contentious issue of language. While 9 out 10 of the youths surveyed spoke a language other than English at home, almost the same proportion, 88 percent, preferred English by the end of high school. Professor Rumbaut wrote, "The findings suggest that the linguistic outcomes for the third generation- the grandchildren of the current wave of immigrants will be no different than what has been the age-old pattern in American history: the grandchildren may learn a few foreign words and phrases as a quaint vestige of their ancestry, but they will most likely grow up speaking English only." And the professor also pointed to the ascendancy of English as evidence of the irrelevance of a California ballot initiative that could end bilingual education, which has been depicted as an impediment to the acquisition of English. "English is triumphing with breathtaking rapidity," he said. The study presents a generally upbeat portrayal of the children of immigrants as ambitious, hopeful and resilient in the face of discrimination. In San Diego, the children of immigrants had better grades than their American peers in every grade. The gap narrowed over time, largely because the poorly performing children of immigrants were more likely to stay in school than their peers who were not the children of immigrants, the researchers say. In south Florida, the school districts were unable to provide the researchers with grade point averages for the district as a whole. But when the researchers analyzed how the children of immigrants were faring by national origin, they found that levels of scholastic success diverged sharply. Generally, the children whose immigrant parents had better educations and jobs and who came from stable, two-parent families were predictably more successful, with a few startling exceptions. The children of Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean parents had the highest grade point averages, A's and B's. English-speaking West Indians had lower grades, C's and C+'s. Latin American and Haitian youths performed poorest, with averages that were slightly higher or lower than a C. But a few groups defied what would have been expected, based on their socioeconomic status. The children of Southeast Asian refugees, who came from the most impoverished backgrounds and whose parents were among the least educated, were also among the least likely to drop out of school and had above-average grades. They did it by studying for longer hours and watching less television than many of the other children of immigrants, the study found. And the children of Cuban immigrants, who were from average to above-average socioeconomic backgrounds, had the highest dropout rates and among the lowest grades (an average of C or C+), the survey reported. The Cuban children, who belonged to the dominant group in metropolitan Miami, faced less discrimination than any other group in the survey, the researchers said. The Children of Cubans did worse academically than the children of Mexicans, who are one of the poorest immigrant groups in the United States and by far the largest immigrant group. The findings about Cubans were among the survey's most startling to Professors Rumbaut and Portes and their colleague, Lisandro Perez, director of the Cuban Research Center at Florida International University. All three are Cuban immigrants themselves. Professor Portes had hypothesized that Cuban youths would use their economically powerful ethnic enclave as a springboard to higher education and the middle class, much as Eastern European Jews did in an earlier wave of immigration. He said that the new survey data showed that while some Cuban youths, especially those in private schools, were continuing on an upwardly mobile path, the one in public schools were facing more difficulties. And Professor Perez said that for some "the enclave may not be a springboard, but a cushy net that means you don't have to depend exclusively on education for a job." "It may be that Cubans are right, and will do better going to work at an uncle's factory in Hialeah," he said. "We're not certain how it will translate economically." The survey also found some intriguing changes in the way the children of immigrants identified themselves, possibly reflecting their altered relationship to the rest of American society or perhaps just adolescent rebelliousness. When the youths were first interviewed, more than half labeled themselves as hyphenated Americans or as plain Americans. That sounded like old-fashioned assimilation, and it might have been expected that, three years later, even more of the youths would have chosen an American identity. But the results of the second interview, conducted in the months after California's passage of Proposition 187, the initiative that called for restricting social and educational benefits to illegal immigrants, turned those expectations on their head. Only a third of the youths in Southern California picked an American identity the second time around, while almost half identified themselves by their national identity, especially youths of Mexican and Filipino descent, who belong to the two largest immigrant groups in the United States. The researchers interpreted the change as part of a backlash among these youths against what they perceived as immigrant bashing that surfaced in the campaign for Proposition 187. In South Florida the pattern was different, but equally striking. The proportion identifying themselves by some kind of American label dropped to about a third, while the share who chose ethnic identities like Hispanic or black doubled to 38 percent, mainly among Latin Americans and Jamaicans. The more militant, nationalistic identities assumed by Mexicans and Filipinos in California, and the minority identities chosen in Florida, Professor, Rumbaut wrote, reflected the youths' rising awareness "of the ethnic and racial categories in which they were persistently classified by mainstream society." In one of the more troubling findings of the study, the researchers said, the young people who identified themselves by ethnic categories like Chicano or Latino in junior high had lower grades and somewhat higher dropout rates than the other children studied. This finding, they said, lends support to analysts who have suggested that children of immigrants who come to identify with American minorities may take on "oppositional" identities and see doing well in school as "acting white." SMITHSONIAN APPOINTS REFUGIO I. ROCHIN AS DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR LATINO INITIATIVES, (posted 5/12/98) Smithsonian Institution News May 11, 1998 Media only: Hamlet Paoletti (202) 357-2627 ext. 114 Refugio ("Will") I. Rochin, director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University and a professor at MSU, has been appointed the first director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives. Rochin was selected by a search committee that considered nearly 80 applicants from around the nation. The appointment was announced today (May 11) by Smithsonian Secretary I. Michael Heyman. "We welcome Dr. Rochin as a new voice in the Smithsonian community," said Secretary Heyman. "His scholarly work as well as his leadership in research and policy issues affecting Latinos are the qualities we were looking for in the director of our new center. We look forward to working with him and his staff in creating in the nation's capital a major center for Latino studies, with research, curatorial and educational programs focusing on Latino history and culture". Rochin, 56, will begin work at the Smithsonian in early August. As director of the Center for Latino Initiatives, Rochin will oversee a variety of projects at the Smithsonian designed to increase awareness of the role and contributions of Latinos to the history and culture of the United States. Projects will include exhibitions, programs, collections and studies. "I have worked within, and researched, Latino communities for more than 30 years," said Rochin. "I look forward to joining Secretary Heyman, Under Secretary Newman, Provost O'Connor, and the wonderful staff of the Smithsonian in establishing the center as a national entity. Our aim is to bring to the Smithsonian the best representations of Latino history and culture, and inspire a positive awareness of Latinos in the United States. Our challenges are immense, as the Latino population grows not only in size but in its diversity. I look forward to converting our challenges into opportunities for all Latinos." Rochin has taught agricultural economics, sociology, and Chicano and Latino studies at Michigan State University and the University of California at Davis. At Michigan State, he has been professor of agricultural economics with a focus on labor and communities, and professor of sociology with a focus on race and ethnicity. At UC-Davis, where he is now professor emeritus, Rochin co-founded the Chicano Studies Program and served as its director three times, most recently from 1989 to 1992. He also chaired the graduate program of Community Development at Davis and systemwide committees of the Academic Senate of the University of California, leading the university's Affirmative Action Committee. Rochin also served as assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs. Rochin was named director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at MSU in 1994. The institute is a leading Latino research center affiliated with Midwest Consortium for Latino Research and the inter-University Program for Latino Research. It focuses on social-historical Latino issues and has established Latino databases and electronic outreach programs to Latino communities. While at the institute, Rochin founded the Rural Latino Studies Network. His own research at MSU has focused on Mexican-American entrepreneurs in the Southwest, the rural poor, and immigration and settlement in the Midwest. Before joining the UC staff in Davis, Rochin was program officer at the Ford Foundation's rural development program in Colombia from 1973 to 1975, and program assistant in the Ford Foundation's agricultural development programs in Pakistan and Bangladesh from 1969 to 1971, during the "Green Revolution." One of the earliest Peace Corps Volunteers, Rochin worked with farm workers in Colombia from 1962 to 1964. Rochin earned his doctorate in agricultural economics at Michigan State (1971); his master's degree in communications, also at MSU (1969); and another master's in agricultural economics and anthropology at the University of Arizona (1967). He earned his bachelor's in economics at the University of California, Berkeley (1966). Rochin has written numerous articles, edited several books, and contributed to many publications. Among his recent publications are: Immigration and Ethnic Communities: A Focus on Latinos (editor, 1996, published by Michigan State University with the Julian Samora Research Institute); Towards a New Chicana/o History (co-editor with Dennis N. Valdes, scheduled to be published in 1998 by Michigan State University Press); and Rural Latinos: Cross National Perspectives (co-editor with Victor Garcia, Lourdes Gouveia and Jose Rivera, scheduled to be published in 1999 by the Julian Samora Research Institute with University Press). Rochin is a member of the Board of Economists of Hispanic Business Inc., and serves on the boards of directors of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research and the Midwest Consortium for Latino Research; he also is a member of the Advisory Committee on Latino Employment of the National Council of La Raza. In 1997, he was appointed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to the National Board of Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics, representing the social sciences. Rochin was active in the farm worker's movement in California, under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, and in the campaign for the creation of Chicano studies. Born in Colton, Calif., Rochin "grew up Chicano" in Carlsbad, Calif., where his parents started several food-related small businesses. He and his wife Linda, have four children and one grandchild. SEARCH COMMITTEE The Smithsonian search committee worked under the direction of Provost Dennis O'Connor. The committee members were: Juan Flores, professor, Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, New York; Nely Galan, president, GaLAn Entertainment. Venice, Calif.; Esther Novak, president, Vanguard Communitcations, New York; Mimi Quintnilla, vice president, Witte Museum of History and Science, San Antonio, Texas; Ricardo Romo, vice provost, The University of Texas at Austin; Joseph Tulchin, director, Latin American Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.; Rex Ellis, director, Smithsonian Center for Museum Studies; Robert Fri, director, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History; and Francisco Dallmeier, director, Smithsonian's Man in the Biosphere biological diversity program. The Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives was established by the Institution's Board of Regents in May 1997. It will be located in the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the "Castle" on the National Mall in Washington. Survey Finds Hispanics Optimistic About Direction of the Country and Their Futures; Hispanics Say Democrats Represent Their Views LOS ANGELES -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- April 22, 1998 -- (posted 5/11/98) Republican Candidates Who Court Hispanics Win High Approval Ratings In what may be the first major bipartisan poll of registered Hispanic voters in major markets nationwide, Hispanics in the United States reveal strong optimism about their futures and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, express confidence that the country is on the right track. Democratic pollster Mark Penn and Republican pollster Mike Deaver authored the survey for Univision Communications Inc. (NYSE:UNV) a nonpartisan television-broadcasting company. The results of the study will be presented at "The Power of the Hispanic Vote," a conference sponsored by Univision at the ANA Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 23. Outpacing the positive attitudes of the country as a whole, the majority of Hispanics express satisfaction with both the economy (68 percent vs. 60 percent for the country as a whole, according to previously published polls) and their personal economic situations (78 percent). They also give a strong vote of confidence to President Clinton (82 percent job approval) and say they intend to vote in the 1998 election (94 percent). More Hispanics feel that the Democratic Party reaches out to them (47 percent) and represents their views (62 percent). Many Hispanics feel the Republican Party ignores them (41 percent). However, they also identify with traditionally Republican issues, such as crime and violence (most important to 17 percent), the weakening of traditional family values (most important to 16 percent) and the quest for economic opportunity (most important to 11 percent). The study reveals high approval numbers for Republicans who have aggressively courted Hispanics, such as Texas Governor George W. Bush (81 percent) and Illinois Governor Jim Edgar (66 percent). By contrast, California Governor Pete Wilson, who has aggressively fought illegal immigration, has an approval rating of 26 percent. The findings suggest that Republicans can make inroads to Hispanics in time for the 1998 elections but must reach out to them. Other Highlights of the Poll:
Penn, president of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and co-author of the survey, said that the findings demonstrate the growing importance of Hispanics in the American political process. "Hispanics provide a crucial swing vote in some of the nation's biggest states. Our findings about their optimism and confidence regarding their future reveal a clear opportunity for political candidates to broaden their base of support." Added Michael K. Deaver, Edelman Worldwide vice chairman and former deputy chief-of-staff to President Reagan: "Despite Hispanics' overwhelmingly bright outlook, these numbers clearly show that both parties need to work for their votes. I don't think Hispanics are predestined to vote for any particular party, but each party must show that they care about issues important to Hispanics." Penn and Deaver will present the full results of the poll at "The Power of the Hispanic Vote" conference to be hosted by Univision on April 23. For more information on the conference, call Scott Roskowski at 212/455-5266. The Univision poll of 750 respondents of Hispanic origin in seven major U.S. media markets was conducted between April 5 and 18, by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Univision Communications is the leading Spanish-language television broadcaster in the United States. Its operations include the Univision Network, the most popular Spanish-language broadcast network in the United States; the Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 13 full-power and eight low-power television stations, including full-power stations in 12 of the top 15 Hispanic markets; and Galavision, the most-watched Spanish-language cable network in the country. Covering 92 percent of all U.S. Hispanic households through its owned-and-operated stations, 27 broadcast affiliates and 832 cable affiliates, Univision airs 20 of the top 20 national programs as ranked by Nielsen Hispanic Television Index. Univision will broadcast all 64 games of the 1998 World Cup. A New Employee-Relations Lesson: Spanish 101 for California Managers, The Wall Street Journal (California edition), April 22, 1998, (posted 5/11/98) By SHEILA MUTO Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal These days, instead of asking workers, "Hablan ingles?" (Do you speak English?), managers at a growing number of California companies are telling their employees, "Hablo espanol" (I speak Spanish). Many companies, of course, have long offered English instruction to immigrant workers as a way to help them become more productive and advance through their careers. Now, though, an increasing number of businesses seem to be taking a different-and, some believe, more efficient-tack: They are teaching supervisors how to speak the native tongue of their employees. In most cases, that's Spanish. "It's more cost-effective ... to train a dozen supervisors on how to communicate with 300 Spanish-speaking workers than to train 300 workers in English as a second language," says Robert Vincelette, director of the Workplace Learning Resource Center at Merced College. Bridging the Gap Exactly how many companies are now teaching supervisors Spanish or another foreign language isn't clear. Elaine Gaertner, director of contract education for the California Community Colleges Economic Development Network, says the bulk of the corporate training she sees is still dedicated to teaching English to nonmanagers. But the alternative approach does appear to be gaining steam, she says. "Bridging the language gap is becoming more and more important" for supervisors, Ms. Gaertner says. Earlier this month, about a half-dozen ranch supervisors at Modesto-based E&J Gallo Winery Inc. began taking a Spanish course to help them better manage their Latino field workers. In July, instructors from Berlitz International Inc. are set to teach Spanish to managers at the Roseville office of Phoenix-based residential builder Del Webb Corp. And Tri Valley Growers, a 530-member cooperative based in San Ramon that processes and markets fruits and vegetables, completed its fifth Spanish-as-a-second-language course last month. "It gives supervisors the means to tell workers simple things like you need to have a hard hat," says Mary Anne Parker, a training manager at Tri Valley, which has 8,000 mostly Latino seasonal workers. Over the past five years, Tri Valley has seen a drop in the number of work-related injuries and gains in productivity and quality-developments that Ms. Parker attributes in part to the Spanish language classes. But another benefit of the classes, Ms. Parker says, is that it improves spirits. The employees get a lift from seeing their supervisors trying to "understand them," she explains, "and, in turn, the workers are more enthusiastic about practicing their English-language skills." Others have seen the same phenomenon. Having supervisors learn Spanish has "made a difference in morale," says Sally Bartley-Moss, director of personnel services at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert. The hotel has sent managers from its housekeeping and laundry departments to take a Spanish course customized for the hospitality industry by the nearby College of the Desert's Workplace Learning Resource Center. However, officials at the Marriott, Tri Valley and Gallo emphasize that offering Spanish-language classes to supervisors is only part of what they see as their training mission; all of them also still teach English to their Spanish-speaking workers-a move applauded by experts. Doing a 'Disservice' Indeed, Karen Stephenson, a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, fears that companies may be tempted to abandon teaching English to the rank and file in favor of teaching managers Spanish. "Companies do a disservice to their Spanish-speaking population if they can't give them English skills," she says. "If they don't speak English, they're left out of the loop, left out of the power structure." Companies "should be doing both," adds Bill Hauck, president of the California Business Roundtable, which comprises the chief executives of the state's biggest corporations. "It's not a bad idea to train supervisory personnel in Spanish since Hispanics are a major part of California's work force," he says. But the emphasis "should be training workers in English." Some companies are wrestling with the best way to proceed. Last month, at least one manager at Sacramento-based Pacific Coast Building Products Inc. was promoting the idea of teaching Spanish to supervisors because of, among other things, the rapid turnover among the highly seasonal work force at his division. But others feel that the best solution is to concentrate on teaching the workers English. Going One-on-One For Del Webb, the solution is clear. Last year, the company began teaching all its supervisors conversational Spanish to spur give-and-take with the contractors it employs, many of whom are Latino. Prior to the Spanish program, most contractors "didn't have much interaction with management," says Richard Espinoza, vice president of housing operations at Del Webb's retirement community in Palm Desert. But afterward, supervisors started to converse with the contractors "on a one-on-one basis." And while the goal was to improve communication, it also has had other advantages. "In a tight labor market," says Mr. Espinoza, who took the 120-hour Spanish course, "contractors will choose to come to work for us because we're showing we're making the effort." Hispanic Influx Strains Siler City, N.C., The Detroit News, April 21, 1998 Roger Winstead / Associated Press SILER CITY, N.C.-Bill Lail, a Chatham County Health Department worker, became an advocate for Latinos in much the same way Siler City became home to one of the largest Hispanic communities in North Carolina-by accident. In 1992, when Lail launched a program called Helping Families, most of his clients were African-American. "Then, almost overnight, they were mostly Hispanic," Lail says, a note of surprise still sounding in his voice. Siler City has experienced a wave of Hispanic immigration more dramatically than most other communities in North Carolina. Beckoned by jobs in poultry plants and other industries needing unskilled labor, Hispanics have poured into the town during the past five years, boosting its population from 5,000 to about 8,000, transforming its work force, its schools, its very feel. A town that for generations was black and white suddenly became almost 40 percent Hispanic. If any town had learned how to respond in a coordinated fashion to the profound demographic change sweeping the state, it would seem that Siler City would be the place. "Siler City should be a model for the rest of the state," Lail says. "But we're not." Just last year, the city hired its first bilingual police officer. The county's schools, medical facilities and other agencies are scrambling to find interpreters and otherwise accommodate their new residents. In 50 years, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts, the United States will be a very different place. Only about half the people will be non-Hispanic whites, down from about three-quarters today. The number of Hispanics will rise from one in 10 to one in four. So why aren't more towns, counties and states looking to the future? The answers lie in economics and, inevitably, politics. "Here's the rub: Immigration is by definition a federal issue, yet the counties and cities are where the immigrants end up," Lail says. Already battling budget cuts and greater responsibility for Medicaid and other programs, many local governments find the prospect of accommodating a new, Spanish-speaking population overwhelming. To county commissioner Tim Sutton, it is a most unwelcome burden. Sutton cites a dramatic increase in Latino school enrollment over the past four years to underscore his point that the immigrants are coming too fast and overwhelming the system. "It's an unnatural assemblage rate," he says. Last summer, Sutton proposed a resolution calling on the federal government to halt all immigration-legal and illegal-"until we can come to grips with the ones who are here already." The commission approved the resolution unanimously. Though Sutton knows he has no prayer of actually affecting immigration policy, he says the response on the street indicates that he touched a nerve. "My phone has literally rung off the hook with people congratulating me," Sutton says. Hispanic advocates say politicians such as Sutton have it all wrong. "I think we have some stereotype ideas about what the situation is," says Aura Camacho Maas, a member of the state Human Relations Commission and founder of the Latin American Resource Center in Raleigh. "I get the feeling that some people feel that by not providing the funding, people will go back to where they came from. That's just not going to happen. If it did, America would be empty." Rudy Acuna's legal war against war against UCSB ends quietly, SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1998 Rudy Acuqa sued the UC Board of Regents and UCSB after being turned down for a job in in the Chicano Studies Department in 1991 BY BARRY BORTNICK Rudy Acuna's multiyear legal war with UCSB has ended with a federal appellate court awarding the Chicano Studies professor an additional $375,000 in a fees. When coupled with prior legal bills and general damages awarded after Acuna's victory in 1995 discrimination trial, UCSB and the UC Board of Regents will have paid him $1.2 million. Acuna, who teaches at Cal State Northridge, estimated UCSB spent more than $2 million defending itself in court. "The big tragedy is that this is a case that have never gone to court," Acuna said Thursday in a telephone interview. "I would have settled for an apology and walked away from it. At my age, I did not want another fight but the people (at UCSB) were so arrogant that I felt I could not walk away." UCSB attorney, David Birnbaum, could not be reached for comment on the ruling made late last month. Acuna,65, sued the UC Board Regents and UCSB after being turned down for a job in the Chicano Studies Department in 199t Acuna claimed that a board of review rejected him because of his Mexican American heritage, his political views, and his age. Campus officials countered campus, saying Acuna lacked the scholarship skills and the high standards required for the position. Acuna sued to shed light on an internal review system that he felt was biased. The case bounced between local and federal courts for years. It went to trial in 1995 before US District Judge Audrey Collins. A jury awarded Acuna $326,000 in damages after determining he was the victim of age. discrimination. "This was a very complicated case," said Donald Crawford, UCSB's executive vice chancellor, after the jury had spoken, "We do not think any member of the faculty engaged in discrimination of any kind, We believe our hiring processes guard against this." Acuna felt otherwise and has since addressed his thoughts about the court system and the job selection proces in a newly published book. [Notre Dame U Press] The book, "Sometimes There Is No Other Side," explains "how the university system distorts reality and how they conduct the (job) reviews to justify their biases," Acuna said. Acuna took the book titlefrom a comment by famed broadcast journalist EdWARD R Morrow, who, according to Acuna reported on Nazi concentration camps in spite of objections of State DeparLment officials. The officials wanted Morrow to balance his reporting on the death camps by getting the German version of events. According to Acuna, Morrow declined with the simple statment that sometimes there is no other side." With the lengthy case now finally put to bed Acuna plans to help others to fight the system. With more than $200,000 from his damage award, he has set up a foundation to battle employment discrimination against latinos. The foundation is preparing to fund three cases, one involving a UC Berkeley English professor fighting for tenure. "I am very glad that it is over for me," Acuna said. "But for other people it is not over." Postal Service Recognizes Cinco de Mayo, Mi Gente News, (posted 5/5/98) By Larry J. Rodarte The Cinco de Mayo celebrations began early this year when a U.S. postage stamp commemorating the holiday was issued April 16. The brilliantly-colored stamp, designed by the first-time stamp artist Robert Rodridguez of Pasadena, California, captures the festive spirit of Cino de Mayo celebrations by featuring two contemporary dancers wearing traditionally styled costumes. Hooray! Hooray! The U.S. Postal service is finally giving some recognition to Mexican-Americans in this country. I say this because Cino de Mayo is the major Mexican holiday in these great states. Even though the 16th of September has greater significance in Mexican history, it is more widely celebrated in America. Let's take a brief look at how the holiday of the 5th of May has evolved. The Cino de Mayo celebrates the victory of Mexican troops over the French at the Battle of Puebla. On May 5th , 1862, General Ignacio Zaragoza led an estimated 5,000 ill-equipped Mestizo and Zapotec Indians into the battle which came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. The cry of "Viva el Cinco de Mayo!" inspired increasing numbers of Mexicans to come to the aid of their country during the years of 1863 to 1867. By the mid-20th Century, the celebration of Cino de Mayo changed its emphasis in Mexico and the U.S. In Mexico, the holiday was overshadowed by September 16, the day of Mexican Independence and in the United States it acquired a broader festival identity. In the mid-1960's, Cino de Mayo took on additional meaning by providing an opportunity for Mexican-Americans to express pride in their heritage. Nineteen years ago, Saginaw's La Union Civica Mexicana added a parade to their 5th of May celebration and their efforts have made Cino de Mayo the largest Latino fiesta in the city. Held at Ojibway Island on the closest Saturday to the 5th , the success of the event relies largely on the weather. Let's all pray for sunshine Saginaw! In March I was in Austin, Texas for the National Association for Hispanic Publishers conference. There I met Alice Orta, Hispanic Program Specialist for the San Antonio District U.S. Postal Service. Mrs. Orta proudly displayed a poster of the Cino de Mayo stamp at an exhibit booth. I told her I wanted the stamp on the May issue of Mi Gente. She was thrilled! Mrs. Orta informed me that any publicity was good for the stamp because Hispanics really need to get out and buy it. "If the Cino de Mayo stamp does well, then the postal service might commission a Hispanic postal series." Orta said. Wow! That would be great! Last year, the stamp of Padre Felix Varela was barely noticed. The only real recognition the Postal Service has given Latinos was 1988's Hispanic American tribute. Isn't a U.S. postage stamp a more fitting tribute to Hispanic culture than a Chihuahua saying "Yo quiero Taco Bell"? (Yes, I too, think Dinky is cute.) Guess what? The Mexican Postal Service is also commemorating the holiday with the issuance of a stamp based on the U.S. design. Joint first day issue ceremonies were held in San Antonio, TX and Mexico City. Postal Service Governor Tirso del Junco, M.D., representing the U.S. Postal Service at the ceremony in Mexico City said "The Postal Service is proud to continue its Holiday Celebrations series by celebrating Cino de Mayo. This stamp celebrates not just the victory of Mexican troops on May 5, 1862, but the victories Mexican-Americans have fought and won to make American history". Other stamps included in the Postal Service's Holiday Celebrations series honor Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Richard Porras, Vice President, Controller, U.S. Postal Service, and Armando Lepe Romero, Director of Administration for the Mexican Postal Service dedicated the U.S. stamp in a noon ceremony along the famed Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX. Internationally-renowned singers Vicki Carr and Emilio Navaira were also on hand. The 85 million Cino de Mayo stamps that have been printed are available nation wide. A first day issue of postmark will be offered as part of the festivities and will include both the U.S. and Mexican stamps and postmarks from the respective countries. This unique collectible is also available by calling 1 800 STAMP-24. So come on gente, let's flock to the post office and show our Latino pride by buying up the Cino de Mayo stamp. Use it for all your postal needs, from paying bills to sending letters to friends and family. Make sure your letters have the Cino de Mayo dancers in the upper right hand corner. When you purchase the stamp from the postal teller or the postal vending machine, stop, take a deep breath, count to three and yell out "Viva el Cino de Mayo!" Heck it's better than yelling "Viva Gorditas!" TEEN BIRTH RATES DOWN IN ALL STATES (posted 5/4/98)
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced today that, according to a new HHS report, the teen birth rate declined substantially nationwide from 1991 to 1996. Secretary Shalala announced the findings at a reception honoring the first anniversary of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. According to this new government report focusing solely on teenage childbearing, between 1991 and 1996, teen birth rates declined for white, black, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic women ages 15-19. The rate for black teens- until recently the highest-experienced the largest decline, down 21 percent from 1991 to 1996 to reach the lowest rate ever reported for blacks. The latest state-by-state data, from 1995, show that teen birth rates have declined in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among the states with the lowest rates - under 35 births per 1,000 teens-were Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, North Dakota, Maine, and Massachusetts. Areas with double that rate at 70 or more births per 1,000 women aged-15-19 included the District of Columbia followed by Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Nevada, Georgia and Alabama. "This report shows that our concerted effort to reduce teen pregnancy is succeeding," said Secretary Shalala. "The federal government, the private sector, parents and caregivers are all helping send the same message: Don't become a parent until you are truly ready to support a child." Shalala also noted the important work of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and its 1998 National Campaign Honorees, who are implementing innovative teen pregnancy prevention programs across the U.S. The Campaign was created in response to President Clinton's 1995 State of the Union challenge to "parents and leaders all across this country to join together in a national campaign against teen pregnancy to make a difference." The honorees were recognized in the categories of: building common ground, corporate leadership, effective programming, male involvement, media innovation, state leadership and teen leadership in preventing teen pregnancy. The new National Center For Health Statistics report, "Teenage Births in the United States: National and State Trends, 1990-96" brings together the latest and trend data to profile the teenage mother. It has teen birth rates for each state by race and Hispanic origin to help explain some of the differences across states. While the decline in the teenage birth rate varied among States, those with both high and low rates succeeded in achieving significant reductions between 1991 and 1995. The variation between states reflects, in part, national patterns by race and ethnicity. Each year in America, almost 500,000 teenagers give birth. The preliminary U.S. birth rate for teenagers in 1996 was 54.7 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years, down 4 percent from 1995 and 12 percent from 1991 when the rate was 62.1. These recent declines reverse the 24 percent rise in the teenage birth rate from 1986 to 1991. There has been success in lowering the birth rate for both young and older teens, with rates for those 15-17 years of age down 12 percent between 1991 and 1996 and the rate for those 18 and 19 down 8 percent. Still, teen birth rates are higher today than in the mid-1980s when the rate was at its lowest point, 50-53 births per thousand teens age 15-19. The national teen birth rate was at its highest in 1957, at 96 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19. However, most teenagers giving birth in the 1950s and for the next two decades were married while the vast majority of teenage mothers today are unmarried. Teenage mothers are much less likely than older women to receive timely prenatal care, are more likely to smoke and less likely to gain the recommended weight during their pregnancy, and more likely to have a low birthweight infant, as shown in the annual reports from NCHS' National Vital Statistics System. The new HHS report on teenage childbearing is the first in a new series of statistical summaries designed as an easy-to-read presentation of the key data and facts on critical public health issues. The National Center for Health Statistics is a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new report is available and can be downloaded from the NCHS Home Page on the Internet at http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww. Copies are also available from NCHS at (301) 436-8500. EL DRINKO DEL CINCO, COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS (posted 5/4/98) by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF MAY 1, 1998
In our home, we have a Corona beer poster that promotes "The Drinko for Cinco." While some view the ad campaign as celebrating the history of the United States' so-called fastest growing minority, others are sickened that this day has joined a list of holidays that have become poor excuses for three-day white sales-or in the case of Cinco de Mayo, a two-week-long shot of tequila. Much worse than commercialization is that people have been "marketized." Because of this process, communities no longer seem to exist. They have been converted into markets, and people's heritages have simply become marketing opportunities. As an example, earlier this year we received an announcement from a marketing firm. It read: "Jan. 28 is the start of Lunar New Year, the single-most important cultural celebration in the Asian-American Market." We also see this every January when corporate America stumbles over itself to capitalize on the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., while basically ignoring his true message of a living, human rights ethos for all humanity. At this level we are all dehumanized, identified by how much we buy or what we own. We are reduced to material beings, only as valuable as the objects we are able to purchase. In arguing for equity, people's value as a market often resonates with decision-makers more than their value as a people. It's "good business" to hire people of color, rather than just plain ethical. In this process, cultures become sanitized. In the case of Cinco de Mayo, what is celebrated is not what is historically significant to people, but what is valuable to corporations. That's why most people don't know that Cinco de Mayo was a battle against French imperialists. Nor do they seem to know that Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) is a time when most people throughout the Americas celebrate their independence from a colonial and tyrannical Spain not their ties or dependence to it. Apparently, the true meaning of these historical days is difficult to market. Perhaps this is just an extension of how the United States approaches the Americas, or the world for that matter. The recent Summit of the Americas in Chile was primarily assessed by how quickly the hemispheric trade agreement could unify the Americas as a market and facilitate a separate dumping ground for toxins and products banned in the United States. When people become markets, "free trade," at home and abroad, comes before fair trade, and profits come before dignity or human rights. For instance, the United States continues to equate democracy with market economies. Never mind that human-rights activists throughout Latin America are on right-wing death lists. In Guatemala, Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera was recently killed after exposing Guatemala's human rights violations. In U.S. ads that proliferate in communities of color, half-naked women don sombreros-especially during Cinco de Mayo-to sell us beer and hard liquor. Young women are objectified at low-rider car shows, many of them sponsored by alcohol and tobacco companies, and then we wonder why there's a high incidence of rape and domestic abuse in these communities. As noted before in this column, research has shown a correlation between sexualized liquor ads and violence against women. This is cause for alarm. These are the same corporations that also fund major civil rights organizations and whose advertising constitutes a significant economic base-the lifeblood-of minority media. Jane Delgado, director of the National Coalition for Spanish Speaking Health Organizations and a longtime critic of groups that accept alcohol and tobacco money, has long maintained that these corporations are buying silence. This is taking place at a time when tobacco companies are increasingly paying their multibillion-dollar legal settlements with the profits from cigarette addiction in communities of color and Third World nations. This May 5, don't have The Drinko for Cinco on us. And, "no queremos Taco Bell." COPYRIGHT 1998 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the antibook, The X in La Raza II. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-247-3888 or XColumn@aol.com
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