Latinos and The Nation's Future Edited by Henry G. Cisneros and John Rosales

Edited by Henry G.
Cisneros
with John Rosales
Arte Pblico Press Houston, Texas
This volume is made possible through grants from the Freddie Mac Corporation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Exemplar Program, a program of Americans for the Arts in collaboration with the LarsonAllen Public Services Group, funded by the Ford Foundation. Recovering the past, creating the future Arte Pblico Press University of Houston 452 Cullen Performance Hall Houston, Texas 77204-2004
Cover design by Giovanni Mora
Cisneros, Henry G. Latinos and the Nations Future / edited by Henry G. Cisneros with John Rosales. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 978-1-55885-542-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Hispanic AmericansSocial conditions. 2. Hispanic Americans Cultural assimilation. 3. Hispanic AmericansEthnic identity. 4. United StatesEthnic relations. I. Cisneros, Henry. II. Rosales, John, 1956E184.S75L3678 2008 305.89'68073dc22 2008044343 CIP The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. 2009 by Arte Pblico Press Printed in the United States of America
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DEDICATION
To Mary Alice Cisneros, Celina Trevio Rosales, and our families, without their support this book project would not have happened.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Janet Murgua
xi Henry G. Cisneros and John Rosales xiii
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
LATINO VISIONS: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

ONE
Part ONE
Henry G. Cisneros An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future Nicols Kanellos The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background Ral Yzaguirre Liberty and Justice for All: Civil Rights in the Years Ahead Tamar Jacoby Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way
TWO
15
THREE
27
FOUR
41
LATINOS AND THE LARGER SOCIETY

FIVE
Part TWO
Harry P. Pachon Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview
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57
SIX
Ada M. lvarez Latino Small Business: A Big Present, A Bigger Future Sarita E. Brown Making the Next Generation Our Greatest Resource Joe Garca La Gran Oportunidad / Up for Grabs / The Hispanic Opportunity Lionel Sosa Politics and the Latino Future: A Republican Dream Sergio Muoz Bata Latino Progress and U.S. Foreign Policy
71 83
SEVEN
EIGHT
101 115 125
NINE
TEN
RAW NUMBERS AND THEIR IMPACT

ELEVEN
Part THREE
Leobardo F. Estrada The Raw Numbers: Population Projections and the Power of Hispanic Demographic Change Roberto Suro Latino Numbers and Social Trends: Implications for the Future Elena V. Rios A First-Order Need: Improving the Health of the Nations Latinos Sal N. Ramrez, Jr. Housing the Nations Latinos: An Overview
149
TWELVE
155
THIRTEEN
167 181
FOURTEEN
FINAL THOUGHTS
FIFTEEN
Part FOUR
Ernesto Corts On the Power of Education and Community Action Nicols Kanellos Toward a New American Dream
195 207
SIXTEEN
APPENDICES I.
Tables, Charts, and Maps Chapter Notes and Bibliography 213 231
II.
FOREWORD
Janet Murgua
One of the most cherished institutions in any place large or small is the public library. Beyond lending books, libraries are often where children acquire a love of reading and help with their schoolwork, and where many people have their only Internet access; they serve as the meeting spaces for numerous community activities and organizations. Libraries are so central to the life of a community that it is easy to forget that the idea of a public library is barely a century old. With the goal of ensuring that anyone who wanted to learn could have the means to educate themselves, the steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie built nearly two thousand libraries at the turn of the last century. Thousands of communities followed suit. But this massive public-private venture also had another purpose, explicitly stated by Carnegie: to establish the means for immigrant self-education, enlightenment, and the study of democracy and English. Public libraries, along with the public school system and the Progressive Movements Settlement Houses, were among a series of initiatives undertaken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to integrate millions of recently arrived immigrants into American society. By every measure, they were an astonishing success. Yet our country hasnt undertaken anything even remotely comparable since then. Henry Cisneros Latinos and the Nations Future makes a comxi
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Janet Murgua
pelling case that such initiatives are needed today and that they are in the best interest of all Americans, not just Hispanic immigrants themselves. Despite the lack of deliberate integration initiatives, todays immigrants are assimilating remarkably well. Immigrants and their children are learning English faster than ever, and the number of people applying for citizenship is breaking records throughout the country. Challenges remain, however, that affect not just immigrants but all Hispanics. Latinos continue to be the most undereducated group at all levels. They are overrepresented in low-wage, dead-end jobs without benefits and underrepresented in high-wage occupations. Given the exponential growth of the Hispanic community, these challenges put our entire countrys future at risk. It doesnt need to be. A century ago, naysayers wrongly predicted that immigrants would never become loyal Americans or succeed economically. But immigrants went on to defend our country through two world wars and to fuel massive economic prosperity as they vaulted into the middle class. Latinos have all the raw materials of our immigrant ancestorsa strong work ethic; a set of values deeply rooted in faith, family, and country; and an unbreakable optimism. Cisneros and his coauthors make the point that the fate of the country and that of Hispanics are inextricably linked. In other words, one essential way to maintain our status as the greatest nation on the face of the earth lies in opening the door to the American Dream to the current generation of immigrants. It follows that an investment in immigrants today is an investment in Americas future. I could not agree more. Just like the public library, the fruits of whatever we do today will be enjoyed by all Americans in the years to come.
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Henry G. Cisneros and John Rosales
In February 2007, a group of Latino scholars, writers, and leaders in a variety of fields came together at our invitation to engage in a series of discussions about the Latino present and future in the United States. The motivating factor in our invitation was the need to explore the meaning of an extraordinary development in our nations history, that is the dynamic and, in recent years, explosive growth of the Latino presence in all aspects of American life. Today, American Latinos are the fastest growing and youngest population segment, generating fast-growing levels of economic attainment, moving into positions of leadership in all sectors of society, and making rich contributions to the cultural life of the nation. This phenomenon has been called the Hispanization of the United States. It is a mistaken concept assumed to mean that the United States will become a Hispanic nation. Instead, we believe that the Latino presence in the nations future will be so pervasive that it will be one of the defining differences between the nation as we know it today and as it will change over the next twenty-five years. Latinos and the Nations Future is organized to help Americans of all ethnic groups in all parts of the nation understand the Hispanization of the United States. It makes the point that the scale of population change is large and reaches every part of the country, to states and regions far beyond traditional Latino settlement patterns. It asserts that the youthful character of the Latino populaxiii
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tion, with its propensity for work and its ambitions to succeed, is a powerful engine of potential strength for the United States and an advantage when compared to the demographic trajectories of population decline in Japan, France, Italy, Germany, and other northern industrial nations. The central message of this book is that this phenomenon of Latino potential is of such scale that it is no longer a side-bar interest; it is now a basic shaping force of the American future. Therefore, we advise that it is in the nations interest to undertake the full integration of this population, to harness its market growth, to develop its educational potential, to engage its community-building energies, and to transform it into the backbone of the next American middle class. These are things Latinos are working hard to accomplish on their own, but as in the case of every other rising group in the American saga, the United States must be open to that prospect in its policies and attitudes and must do so in modern ways that reflect the particular realities of our time. The contributors establish the scale of Latino growth, anticipate what it will mean over a timeframe of twenty-five years, and offer concrete suggestions for how Latinos themselves and American institutions must work together for progress. Whether it be as the swing vote in an election in a particular state, or as the dormant ethnic contingent in baseballAmericas National Pastimeor as progenitors of the countrys most popular food condiment (salsa), it is abundantly clear that Latino influence is pervasive and growing more so with each passing year. All this despite the harsh impact of the recent so-called immigration debate (more on this subject in Chapter Four). Although the writers herein were given a common mission, concluding wherever possible with a look to the future, it is important to note that each one speaks with his or her own voice with no editorial attempt to homogenize the text. There are a variety of tones and styles here, but a singular passion throughout to convey a Latino point of view on issues of both Latino and universal consequence. We arranged the chapters rather loosely in categories. Part One consists of material with a broad historical perspective. Part Two places a variety of Latino experiences in the context of the larger society. Part Three deals with hard facts, raw numbers and their impact on areas including housing and health care, which are largely driven by numbers. A final Part Four offers provocative meditations of the most crucial of all our considerationsthe nature of education in a society in transition and the potential of an entirely new structure of the American polity in the twenty-first century and beyond. A few more introductory points are warranted. Throughout this book the words Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably, just as they are often
By Way of Introduction and Acknowledgment
xv
used in that manner in daily discourse in the nation. To be sure, each name has its history, its own nuances, and each is preferred in specific parts of the nation by persons of particular age groups or of various political leanings. But for the purposes of this book they are used interchangeably according to the preference of each chapter author. It is also important to clarify that even though the rapid pace of Latino growth seems to define the Latino emergence as a recent event, in fact Latinos have been a force in North American life since Spaniards first explored the New World. The Spanish city of St. Augustine in Florida for example, is the oldest European settlement in North America. Spanish commercial, military, and mission outposts defined the early maps of the nation and grew into the modern cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, El Paso, San Antonio, and many others. And Hispanic heroes, such as David Farragut, were major contributors to the cause of independence in the American Revolution. Over the centuries, Mexican Americans have helped build the American Southwest, Puerto Ricans have contributed to the vitality of New York, Cuban Americans have helped propel Florida into an engine of world trade, and Central and South Americans have added to the nations workforce and professional reservoir. The point is that this is not a book about newcomers to the American scene. These are people whose ancestors helped build America and who today have the capacity to do much more. All Americans should know that. It is also important to note that Latino educational, political, and economic gains in recent decades are the result of prodigious efforts by foresighted and courageous leaders and organizations that often fought through crucial discrimination and backbreaking poverty. The gains did not come automatically as the population grew or with the passage of time. They were not easily tendered or assured. The prospects Latinos enjoy today were hard-earned by pioneering individuals and the civil rights organizations they created. Individual leaders have inspired the national Latino community by their personal courage. Others have risen to positions of national leadership; and still others have created organizations to unify the community for action. Csar Chvez, organizer of the United Farm Workers Union, and Dr. Antonia Pantoja, a Puerto Rican icon and founder of ASPIRA, stand out as voices of conscience and inspiration. Breakthrough elected leaders such as Sen. Dennis Chavez of New Mexico in the 1940s, Congressmen Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, and Edward Roybal of California in the 1960s proved the electoral power of Latino communities to send leaders to positions of national importance. Organizations were breathed into life by Willie Velsquez, the Southwest Voter Registration
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and Education Project; Juan Andrade, the National Hispanic Leadership Institute; Ral Yzaguirre, the National Council of La Raza; Dolores Huerta, Community Services Organization and United Farm Workers Union; Jorge Mas, the Cuban National Forum; and Dr. Hector P. Garca, the American G.I. Forum. Within their spheres of action, the organizations such leaders created and others have changed the conditions in which Latinos live today and have created prospects of immense promise. For example, the legal arguments and litigation successes of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund have altered prejudicial laws and generated court judgments against unfair election practices. Over the years they have helped create single-member electoral districts to increase Latino representation, forced states to construct equitable school finance systems, and successfully attacked discrimination in employment and housing. As a result Latinos across the nation can live, work, and seek education on a more level field, with many of the vestiges of overtly unfair and purposely devised barriers having been dismantled. The League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest of the Latino civil rights organizations and continues to be one of the largest and most active. It first organized opposition to discrimination against Latinos in the school systems of Texas after World War II and today mobilizes its national base of community leaders in support of small business expansion, fairness in employment, and educational programs. Voter registration and participation by Latinos in elections have undergone massive and consistent increases over the last three decades, in great measure attributable to the intensive, street-level outreach campaigns of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project in the Southwest and the National Hispanic Leadership Institute in the Northeast and Midwest. Latinos today represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce, the most rapidly increasing segment of the middle class, and a growing entrepreneurial group of small business owners. Pushing this momentum along are the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility (HACR), and the New America Alliance. They recognize that the economic advances of emerging populations have been essential to political and social progress in the nations history and they have undertaken effective initiatives to enhance business ownership and to expand participation in corporate governance and in the financial system. The on-going efforts of individual leaders and organizations such as these have established a new base for Latino progress going forward. Advocacy, unity, legal intervention, electoral strategies, education, mobilization of civic energies,
By Way of Introduction and Acknowledgment
xvii
entrepreneurial developmentthese are the tried and true instruments of integration into American society. They are an implicit recognition that progress for an emerging population does not arrive on its own, as if inevitable; it requires people to express their hopes and work to make them real. Such progress also requires a larger society that understands the nations interests and is willing to act on them. We believe, the American national interest is best served by tapping the human energies and unleashing the diverse capabilities of Americas Latinos. Thus the message of this book is that the stakes for America are immense, the opportunities are historic, and the time to act is now. Latinos and the Nations Future would not have been possible without the help and support of many hands. First, we would like to thank the Freddie Mac Corporation for having enough faith in this project to fund the symposium that initiated the birth of this book. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation also understood our mission and what we were trying to accomplish. The staff at Freddie Mac and Kellogg gave selflessly of their time and shared the same passion so that this work would be as accurate and stimulating as possible. Next, we thank the fifteen contributors who gave so much time, thought, and talent to the mission. For practical support, we must thank Marc Jaffe for his fresh insight and deft editing during the early, critical stages of the project. He helped us to focus on the human aspects as well as narrative and grammatical proprieties in each chapter. Sergio Bendixen, Cathleen Farrell, Stephenie Overman, Simon Rosenberg, and Steve Taylor were also part of the editing team who brought considerable experience and talent to this endeavor. Their meticulous research lifted the manuscript to new heights. Great thanks to Nora Clark, Sylvia Arce-Garcia, Choco Meza, Jessica Muoz, Gloria Paniagua-Rodriguez, and Yvette Solitaire, for their administrative support and organizational skills. They stuck with this two-year project through thick and thin.
Part ONE Latino Visions: Past, Present, and Future
ONE AN OVERVIEW LATINOS AND THE NATIONS FUTURE

Henry G. Cisneros
I have borrowed the title of this volume to set the theme for the following chapter, which enlarges upon and develops the concept that the Law of Large Numbers, as it applies to the Latino population of the United States, must and will result in extraordinary changes in our society as a whole. At the same time there must and will be extraordinary changes in the Latino community as well. I come to these conclusions after half a lifetime in public service and private business, largely in the public interest. I have been a big-city major (San Antonio, Texas, in the 1980s) and held a cabinet office under Bill Clinton. After leaving Washington in 1997, I became president and COO of Univision Communications, currently the fifth most-watched TV network in the nation. I now serve as Executive Chairman of a group of companies dedicated to working with leading homebuilders in the construction of homes priced within the range of average families. Further, I retain more than a rooting interest in the nations political process.
n order for the United States as a country to continue its advance in this century, it will be necessary for the American Latino community within it to advance far beyond its present condition. Such a statement may seem overly dramatic and even false. Those who doubt its validity could counter that the forward progress of the United States is not dependent on any single segment of its population and certainly not on a minority group that has been one of the
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nations poorest and most undereducated at the very time of the nations greatest prosperity and overall strength. But while that counterargument might have historically been true, it is true no longer. The central thesis of this book is that the Latino population is now so large, its trajectory of growth so rapid, its contrast in relative age to that of the general population so stark, that it will not be possible for the United States to advance without substantial, and so far unimagined, gains in the economic, educational, and productive attributes of the nations Latino community. This thesis requires Americans to achieve an unprecedented awareness, that is to see the relationship between the general population and Latinos in new ways, revealing an interwoven future demanding action as well as understanding. What do we mean by Americas advance? I use the term advance to mean the continuance of the nations historic path of growth, progress, and greatness. These are generalizations, but are broadly understood to be the large-scale descriptions of nations, identifying eras, defining periods of excellence. Over the last two hundred years and certainly over the last century, the United States has led the world in growth, has embodied the ethic of progress, and has measured up to a millennial standard of greatness that compares favorably with the legendary nation-states of world history. National greatness might be seen as a convergence of economic dominance, scientific prowess, cultural influence, educational opportunity, broad political consensus, demographic vigor, military strength, and leadership projection. Certainly since the early 1900s, the United States has evolved as the nation in the world in which such forces have come together to produce achievements in every field of human endeavor and to demonstrate a path toward similar achievements for other nations. A relevant question is how long such greatness can be sustained. It was common at the end of the 1990s to reflect on the American Century. Does that phrase suggest a period of leadership as brief as a century? Do complex geopolitical forces and the speed of global power shifts conspire to limit the period in which the United States can harness its strength to make life better for its people and for the world? Will the United States share the experience of decline of Old Europe, for example, or of Great Britain over the last century? Do global forces push China or India forward so rapidly as to eclipse the American Era? The answers to these questions bear greatly on the quality of life for all Americans and will also be determined in part by whether the most rapidly growing population group in the nation, the American Latino community, contributes to the economic energy, technological creativity, and social cohesion of the country or whether Latinos continue as an undereducated, underproductive, and alienated mass in the American polity. Conversely, the answers to these questions
An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future
determine whether the American nation feels strong enough and confident enough to keep open the doors to opportunity, to keep in place the ladders of upward mobility, to publicly invest in the individual ambitions for self-improvement by which Latinos can do their part for America in the current and future global competition. The interwoven character of these questions drives the overarching argument of this book and can be subdivided as follows: American Latinos are now such a large percentage of the nations population that the scale of their presence will inevitably shape the American future in important ways. The relative youthfulness of Latino families represents a distinct asset for the United States as other populations within this country and in other nations grow older and decline as workforce participants. American Latinos increasingly see themselves as responsible for a significant part of the future of the United States, thus adding purpose to a Latino agenda of self-improvement that will help build the national future in which Latinos themselves have such a massive stake. All Americans can welcome the prospect of a nation that continues its trajectory of growth, progress, and greatness in part by sustaining its ideals of an inclusive society that invests in preparing the next generation of Americans, including American Latinos, to meet all challenges. Each of these assertions bears more careful consideration.
THE SCALE OF THE LATINO PRESENCE

First, Latinos are such a rapidly growing part of the population that they will increasingly influence every measure of national performance. The Census Bureaus mid-range estimates for 2050 assert that the nations Latino population will grow by 63 million people or a stunning 48 percent of total U.S. growth, and that Latinos will constitute 25 percent of the U.S. population in 2050. That dramatic increase is principally a result of two demographic realities. Latinos are younger as a population than any other major group in the nation and Latino families are larger. That relative youthfulness in combination with the second attribute, larger families whose children will in the period between now and 2050 form their own families, drives the rate of Latino growth. The crucial fact is that these numbers are not reversible by such measures as closing the border
Henry G. Cisneros
to immigrants. These projections are the simple demographic trajectory of people already living in the United States. These numbers are already inevitable. As explored in more detail in following chapters, statistics for the last several years demonstrate that the projections for 2050 are not exaggerated. But the key point is that the Hispanic population is becoming so large that the future of the country will in many important areas be significantly determined by how Latinos progress. The laws of large numbers dramatically assure that Latinos will move the national averages in almost every measurable category of American life: economics, social indicators, and educational attainment. In a regrettably negative example, for instance, in California the underperformance of Latino students registers on that states education statistics, helping to push the state down to forty-fifth among fifty in attainment levels. The same pattern of scale and effect will be more and more evident across the nation.
LATINO YOUTHFULNESS AS AN AMERICAN ASSET

Second, the youthfulness and rapid growth of Latinos can be major assets to the United States, fueling the growth of markets, staffing the workforce, supporting financial systems such as Social Security, and revitalizing communities. These positive dynamics stand in dramatic contrast to the alarming demographic problems of other industrial nations, such as Japan, Italy, France, and Germany. Japanese population analysts announced in October 2006 that Japan has begun declining in population. The implications for every sector of Japanese society are profound, including its free enterprise markets, which have historically required the growth of a nations domestic population in order to function profitably. Europe is the most rapidly aging region in the world. Several northern European nations have measured the lowest birth rates ever recorded. Cultural mores have resulted in birth rates that are only two-thirds the rates needed for population replacement. Many European nations lack experience with the integration of immigrants. The challenges for these nations will be immense and their population problems are almost certain to pose serious dilemmas for the United States as well. The scenario in which Americas staunchest traditional allies are weakened by failing internal systems, staffing problems for their armed forces, divisive political strife, and uncertain international politics as they respond to large internal populations of alienated foreign workers, should be worrisome to U.S. national security planners. Some parts of the United States may confront variations on this theme, as the non-Hispanic white population declines or ages in place. The Census Bureau
reports that between 2000 and 2007, the white non-Hispanic population declined in sixteen states and the white non-Hispanic population under age 15 declined in forty-two states. By contrast, many of the states and cities that grew did so principally because of the influx and internal growth of Latino populations. The point is that whatever other challenges the United States faces, and there are many, the stagnation of population decline, the contracting effects of shrinking markets, and the constraints of unavailable workers need not be the national pattern. Latinos represent youthful energy, the hunger of ambition, willingness to work, and family and community striving for a better life.
LATINO ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR A DECISIVE PART IN THE AMERICAN FUTURE
Third, these traits can be converted into a much more powerful and contributory force if they result in Latino acceptance of self-determined responsibility, not only for the Latino communitys destiny, but for a decisive part in the future of America itself. It is in every Americans interest that the United States remain a first-class country for centuries to come. That is a demanding task in a time when other nations, such as the Pacific Rim powerhouses, are surging to the forefront. The currency of competition is robust trade, creative services, quality products to sell, rigorous education at all levels, excellence in scientific research, efficient infrastructure, and skilled leadership. Can these instruments of sophisticated global competition credibly be mentioned in the same paragraph as the ambitions of one of Americas poorest populations, with the most underperforming students, with the highest dropout rates? The answer is that they are linked because the Latino population already accounts for half of Americas growth, with larger numbers to come. It is hard to imagine an American future of robust competitiveness if a population that is growing to one-quarter of its people remains in its present state of underperformance. A first step is Latino acceptance of a major role in building the national future. The Latino motive for activism and advocacy must shift from asking Americas help for Latinos out of fairness, justice, or humanitarian instincts, to an agenda of reinforcing our capacity to help build the nation in which we have such a stake. That requires an unabashed commitment to the quality of public education, to higher education, to entrepreneurship, to income and wealth strategies, to political advocacy, and leadership development. From reinforced
Henry G. Cisneros
capacities comes the reality of Latinos as the youthful backbone of an America that remains energetic, ambitious, vigorous, productive, and cohesive. An important element of this strategy must encompass Latino immigrantsincluding the ten million or more who are undocumented. They must contribute to the American future on the level that an advanced economy requires. That means integration into American society. For those who are documented it means learning English; assisting in their childrens education, establishing the paths by which the next generation does better financially; moving to build wealth, including home ownership; becoming involved in community life; preparing for citizenship; and learning the cultural underpinnings of the American way of life. For those who are undocumented and working productively, as soon as a workable guest worker program is enacted, integration should proceed in measured steps: proving adherence to the nations legal framework, learning English, becoming financially responsible, and, over time, earning a path to citizenship. Latinos are now ready to accept responsibility for helping build the American future. They have already proven this in military service. Significantly, they work hard in jobs that others will not do. Their strong family ethic involves seeking a better life for their children and encouraging ambition and achievement. They understand sacrificing today for a chance at a better future. Many have consciously chosen to come here because they know it is a better life for their families than in any other country. They have made courageous decisions and risked dangers, which most Americans never have to think about, much less act upon, in order to be here. Americas Latinos, with understanding from American society, can and will do their part to sustain Americas growth, progress, and greatness.
A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO INVEST IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF AMERICANS

Finally, American society can choose this outcome for the nation by accepting a straightforward proposition: Americans must be open to the prospect that the nations best days are yet ahead and remain open to the prospect that a truly inclusive society, with talent unleashed, with faith in education, can reach new heights. During the 1950s, even as American industry was the colossus of the world, it was the nations progressive instincts that spurred the expansion of the middle class, which in turn supported breakthrough accomplishments in science, medicine, and community-building. That middle class was expanded after World War II by the G.I. Bill for higher education, by the commitment to home ownership, and by the floor under incomes represented by the minimum wage.
Those same instincts supported the drive for a more just society, which emanated from the Civil Rights movement, the womens movement, and the environmental movement. Now Latinos must ask American society to reinvigorate its progressive instincts, to tirelessly keep open the path to the middle class, to invest in public schools, to improve access to higher education, to invest in the infrastructure of commerce and trade, and to sustain the American belief in a future even greater than its past.
THE AMERICAN IDEA AND LATINO INTEGRATION

If our nation is to commit to invest in a future in which Latinos are a major force, there is a challenge to be faced, one that involves the pace and degree of assimilation by Latinos into American society. The degree to which Latinos can actually participate fully in the American futureas workers, as citizens, as leaderswill depend upon their mastery of the nuances of the American way of lifeas well as upon acceptance of Latinos by non-Hispanic Americans at all levelsas a population intent on integration into American society. In recent years bitter controversies have arisen over what integration actually means. Some have criticized the traditional model of assimilation as insufficiently respectful of Latino culture and requiring too many concessions of heritage, identity, and subordination to the dominant American culture. People who hold that view have tended to support a concept they label acculturation, which describes a process of relating to American culture as needed to function, but doing so on an equal plane with Latino culture. In this formulation, assimilation is an outmoded idea and acculturation is a concept more in keeping with respect for pan-national ideas that celebrate the rights of individuals, as against the rigidities wrought by the sovereignty concerns of nations. Among the adherents of assimilation are persons who fear that anything less than full assimilation by Latinos will result in an unmanageable American society, with enclaves of Latinos who never learn English, who transform areas of the United States into mini-versions of their home countries, and who feel little attachment, respect, or obligation to the United States, its laws and cultural norms. Some who hold this view, including respected scholars such as Professor Samuel Huntington, fear that the eventual result will be Quebec-style separatist scenarios in sections of the American Southwest. They cite the writings of radical Latino poets and polemicists who yearn for the Latino homeland of Aztln as evidence of such separatist ambitions on the part of Latinos. In fact, no serious Latino leader harbors any such ambitions. No matter the levels of frustration bred by the slow pace of progress on matters of education
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or economics, credible Latino leaders recognize that the best chance of generating opportunity for the national Latino community is within the American social, political, and enterprise systems. There remains, however, the dilemma of the degree of integration. My own sense is that the debate as it is framed today presents a false choice. Clearly to get ahead in American society, Latinos must master English, understand and observe the American legal framework, develop financial literacy, prepare for workplace success, and master the nuances of societal customs and practices, such as guiding children through education. But we are fortunate that God gave human beings brains that do not require that one sphere of knowledge must be displaced in order to accommodate another. Therefore it is possible to learn English without having to forget Spanish, to adopt American societal practices in the workplace without having to denigrate sacred traditions, and to commit to American legal and financial regulations without rejecting heartfelt obligations to family and community. Human beings are pushed by circumstances to be adaptable, to be resilient sponges, to acquire the street smarts it takes to get ahead in an environment of opportunity, and Latinos have proven they can do it over the years. Add to that the immensity of the pull, the attraction of the unique package that is the American environment of opportunitythe magnetic prospect of incomes, ownership, self-improvement, ambition, rewards for sacrifice, security, legal due process, respected rightsand the forces for integration into American society are strong. Ironically, the flaw in the arguments of Professor Huntington and others who fear Latino separatism is that they are insufficiently respectful of the strength of American culture to create an irresistible magnet for full integration. I believe the interests of the American Latino community and the nation itself are best served by the process of integration followed by immigrant groups throughout American history. In deference to Professor Huntington, there are some aspects of the Latino story that make it different from other immigrant histories. One major difference is that many Latinos were well established in places before those locales were part of the United States. In that sense, because the nation came to them, not the other way around, they are not immigrants at all. The tens of millions of people involved over a three-hundred-year history, the fact of a two-thousand-mile border with Mexico and the nations to the South beyond, and the concentration of Latinos in cities and states where they dominate politically and economicallythose factors are often cited as the reason that the traditional process of integration will not work. I do not agree. The push of Latino ambitions combined with the pull of American culture together create a powerful opportunity to integrate forty million Latinos in the United States
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including native born, immigrant, and undocumented; including heritages from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Central and South America; living in every state of the United Statesand to generate one of the most contributory, productive, and fortuitous developments for America in the new century. The process of integration cannot be left to chance or to gradual and uneven absorption over a long span of time. It requires English proficiency in order to enhance the ability to function in the workplace and in society. Beyond the mechanics of legalization, naturalization, and citizenship, integration means a working knowledge of American institutions, history, and values. It involves the quest for self-improvement, including personal education and investing in children. Integration into the American economic system requires being able to use financial services for banking, savings, insurance, home ownership, and preparing for retirement. Integration should also inform decisions about job opportunities, health care options, and entrepreneurial possibilities. And integration into the life of civic participation should include paying taxes, voting and volunteering in school and community activities. Integration into American life requires the intense personal commitments of motivated people. A group of Latino leaders has offered a framework to achieve levels of integration beyond the legal thresholds of legalization and citizenship. That framework includes a fifteen-year life plan for Latinos and other immigrants: Within 15 years: I will be English proficient but will feel free to retain my native language. I will be self-sufficient, not dependent on government. I will work to have a family health plan, a savings account, and a retirement plan. I will save to own my own home. My children will be on the road to college. I will have created an environment where my children will have the ability to achieve their highest potential. I will participate in civic, community, or religious activities. I will be an American citizen or well on my way to becoming one. I will carry my home country in my heart but my lifes work will be in the United States. I will own a piece of the American Dream. Even as discrimination against individuals begins to recede as a result of efforts such as those just described, the cultural stereotyping of Latinos as a group may make belief in a decisive role for Latinos in shaping the future of the nation difficult for many Americans to accept. For many Americans, the indigenous ori-
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Henry G. Cisneros
gins, national histories, economic failures, and tortured religious past of Latin America belie the concept that American Latinos can be trusted with major responsibilities for the future of the United States. To those who harbor such misgivings, I would argue once again that the point is moot, because sheer numbers and demographics assure that Latinos will have a decisive role. The question now before us is whether that Latino population will be large and undereducated, underproductive, under-compensated, alienated, and a divisive force on the American scene. Or will it be large and educated, creative, prosperous, and an energetic part of the American story? The answer lies in the extent and rapidity of investment in education and in the Latino progression to the middle class: It is not hyperbole to say that the United States can shape its own destiny by the middle years of this century by the extent to which it addresses these choices. It is not hyperbole, but it is also not an easy message to absorb or to accept as a basis for action. It is in some ways a very hard message. But hard realities decide the fate of nations. This message is about the ebb and flow of massive forces in our own backyard not unlike those that confront other nations around the worldthe movement of people, of goods, of capital, the demographics of age, and the various phases in the stages of economic life. The forces that confront the United States with respect to Latinos are far more manageable and much more latent with positive potential than those confronting other nations. In that respect we are blessed. A friend of mine visited Germany some months ago and in a late dinner conversation about Europes cultural tensions concerning immigration, his German host observed: You Americans are fortunate, your newcomers are so much like you. That might come as a surprise to heartland Americans who are unnerved by the sudden presence of Spanish in the workplace, in the increasing numbers of dark-skinned children in their local schools, or in the Spanish-language masses offered at the nearby parish church. But in the important ways, Americans most numerous newcomers, the Latinos, are truly much like the Americans who built the nation. I have always been most inspired, indeed moved to tears, by the people who strive, who work hard for something they care deeply about. The strivers are the people who work, who apply themselves, who sacrifice, who discipline themselves, and who play by the rules. Sometimes they strive because they want something for themselves such as an economic advancement, a promotion, a material good, or an honor. Sometimes it is because they love otherssuch as their childrenand want something better for those they love: a home, an education, or a career success. Americas Latinos are on the whole a community of strivers. They understand that striving is at the core of American culture. It is not that people do not strive in their home countries or that many do not achieve, but
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Latinos in America believe that the difference here is that it is possible for every person to advance. The cultures of many other nations are more class-bound, fatalistic, blocked, rigid, prejudiced, or unfair. The American Dream is the right to strive with the best chance in the world of being rewarded for it. That American Dream is not foolproof, but Latinos understand that here, if you strive you have a fair chance of success, if not for you, then for someone you love who comes behind you. That Latino striving, encouraged by a nation that has always understood the power of striving, is the basis for a hopeful America whose best days are still ahead.
TWO THE LATINO PRESENCE SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Nicols Kanellos
Nicols Kanellos, Ph.D., is an award-winning scholar, the first Brown Foundation Professor of Spanish at the University of Houston, and the founder and publisher of Arte Pblico Press, the nations oldest Hispanic publishing house. Dr. Kanellos is the author of many books and articles on Hispanic literature and history and is widely known as the initiator and director of the prestigious national research program, Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. In this essay, Dr. Kanellos recounts the five-century-long presence of Hispanics in what is now the United States and the important Hispanic contributions to both American values and American society and lifestyles. A particular and refreshing focus is on Latinos and the labor movement and the development of the characteristic Latino working-class culture.
he story of Latinos in the United States begins slowly and, over the centuries since the early 1500s, gathers a momentum and pervasiveness that continues to this day. Yet this story, essential as it is to any understanding of the full sweep of American history, has been all but submerged in an educational process focused on an Anglo-Saxon heritage. However, with a population of one in four Americans of Latino blood and background now on the horizon, it is a story that can no longer be ignored.
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Nicols Kanellos
People we call Hispanics or Latinosterms deriving from hispanoamericano and latinoamericanoare U.S. residents whose family roots were put down in Hispanic America. While Latino is often used interchangeably with Hispanic, the nineteenth-century concept of Latin America from which Latino derives, broadly referred to the peoples emerging from Spain, Portugal, and Frances colonies, whereas Hispanoamrica referred solely to the Spanish-speaking peoples formerly residing in the Spanish colonies. In common usage today, both terms refer to the U.S. residents of diverse racial and historical backgrounds in the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas, including the United States. The vast majority of them are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban origin, and the presence of their ancestors in North America predates the arrival of English colonists. In fact, Western civilization was introduced to North America and the lands that eventually would belong to the United States first by Hispanics. Many of the institutions and values that have become identified as American were first introduced by Hispanic peoples Spaniards, Hispanicized Africans and Amerindians, mestizos (mixed bloods), and mulattoesduring the exploration and settlement of these lands. Not only were advanced technologies, such as those essential to ranching, farming, and mining, introduced by the Hispanics, but also all of the values and perspectives inherent in Western intellectual culture. The Spanish and their mixed-breed children continued to blend Western culture with that of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the peoples imported from Africa for five hundred years. Spanish-speaking people, not the English-speakers, first introduced and furthered European-style literacy and literate culture, not only in the Southern Hemisphere, but also in what would become the continental United States. The first introduction of a written European language into an area now the mainland United States, was accomplished in Florida by Juan Ponce de Len in 1513 with his travel diaries. The de Len exploration marks the beginning of the establishment of civil, military, and ecclesiastical records that would eventually become commonplace in what is now the Hispanic South and Southwest United States. Written culture not only facilitated the keeping of records of conquest and colonization, the maintaining of correspondence, and the planting of rudiments of commerce and standardized social organization, but it also gave birth to the first written descriptions and studies of the fauna and flora of these lands new to the Europeans and mestizos. Such a culture also made possible the writing of laws for colonial governance and commercial exploitation, and for writing and maintaining a historyan official story and traditionof Hispanic life in these lands. All of the institutionsschools, universities, libraries, state, county and municipal archives, the courts, and many othersforming the basis of todays
The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background
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advanced social organization, science, and technology, and which so firmly rely on literate culture, were first introduced to North America by Hispanics. The first schools in what would become the continental U.S.A. were established by 1600 in Spanish Catholic missions in what are today Florida, Georgia, and New Mexico. Actually, the first elementary school established in the Americas was opened in Santo Domingo in 1505 for children of the Spanish conquerors. From then on, elementary schools were included in convents, where children were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Later, the mission system in the Americas functioned to instruct the children of Amerindians and mestizos. The first school in an area that would become part of the United States was established in 1513: the Escuela de Gramtica (Grammar School) in Puerto Rico, which was opened at the Cathedral of San Juan by Bishop Alonso Manso.1 The first attempts at creating public schools took place in what is now Texas and California. As elsewhere in the Spanish colonies, education was offered in the missions. It was not only important for the children of the settlers to learn to read, write, and master arithmetic, but also, the mission education system most importantly fostered the religious conversion and acculturation of the Amerindians, as well as their development into a laboring class that received food, clothing, and protection in exchange for their servitude.2 The building of the first European-style towns and cities, the first ports for commerce, the first European-bred livestock, the first ranching, the first mining, the first roads and highways, the first civil engineering, and the introduction of other technologies from Europe should be credited to the Spaniards and their mixed-blood descendants. Many important agricultural products were first introduced by Hispanics: wheat, cotton, wine grapes; the breeding and tending of livestock. The missions throughout the Southwest and Southas well as in all of New Spainwere the basis for a European-style social organization, the education of the natives, the creation of a self-supporting economic base through the development of local industry and the laying down of foundations that would eventually become a network of towns, cities, and commerce. Thus, many areas in the southern and southwestern United States still bear the Spanish names given by their founders, have their cities laid out in the grids created by those colonizers, have paved highways over the roads and paths blazed by these colonists, and even derive the regions livelihood from industries introduced or developed by the early Hispanics. Hispanics established the bases for the agriculture and mining industries that would especially dominate the economies of the southwestern United States. By 1600, the Spanish settlers along the Rio Grande Valley had introduced the plow and beasts of burden to the Pueblo Indians and thus revolution-
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Nicols Kanellos
ized agricultural technology that would endure for centuries in the region. They also introduced irrigation and new craft techniques, such as those involved in carpentry and blacksmithing, and a new profit-driven economy.3 In 1610, the first irrigation canals and irrigation systems north of the Rio Grande were built in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Spanish, Indian, and mestizo colonizers. They dug two acequias madres (main ditches) on each side of the small river that passed through the center of the town they were establishing. The Spanish had strict codes and plans for the construction of irrigation systems for the towns they were founding in the arid Southwest; such systems were constructed often in advance of the building of the forts, houses, and churches. The undertaking was quite often massive, calling for the digging, dredging, transportation of materials, and feeding of humans and animals. This was the case in the founding of Albuquerque in 1706, San Antonio in 1731, and Los Angeles in 1781. The canals of San Antonio were so well planned, and lined with stone and masonry that many of them are still functioning.4 In fact, the foundation laid for farming and agriculture in the eighteenth century has resulted in the California, Texas, and Florida we know today, the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world. Freight hauling by mule and wagon train was another of the commercial activities of the early Hispanic settlers in the Southwest. When the business subsided with the introduction of the railroads, some of the same entrepreneurs made the transition to hauling freight and people by wagon and stagecoach to secondary and outlying communities. While Hispanics followed trails blazed and used by Amerindians for centuries, they pioneered most of the techniques and opened most of the trails that would later be used for trade and communication during the U.S. territorial and early statehood periods. In fact, some of todays major highways run along trade routes pioneered by Hispanics and Mexicans.5 With the founding of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1610, many Spanish laws governing all facets of life were introduced to what would become the culture of the Southwest. Foremost among those laws were those concerning water and its management, and many would pass into the legal codes of the United States, first through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican-American War, then through the constitutions of the newly formed states in the Southwest. In the Spanish and Mexican judicial systems, the rights of the community weighed more heavily than those of the individual with respect to the precious resource of water in this arid land. In fact, the water in Spanish and Mexican towns and cities was held in trust for the benefit of the entire communitya water right still codified today. For example, the City of Los Angeles, which inherited these rights, was able to obtain a favorable ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court over a water dispute with landowners of the San Fernando Val-
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ley. The court ruled that the city had prior claim to all waters originating within the watershed of the Los Angeles River; thus, the court asserted that pueblo rights took precedence over the common law rights of the landowners.6 At the time of its establishment as a republic and later when it became a state of the Union, Texas in particular held on to many laws from the Hispanic tradition, especially those regarding family law, land, and property. In 1839, Texas adopted the first Homestead Law in an area that would become part of the United States; the principle of protecting certain pieces of personal property from creditors has its roots in Castilian practices that date to the thirteenth century and passed into Texas state law from the HispanoMexican legal codes.7 This made it possible for a debtor to protect the principal residence of the family from seizure by creditors; it also protected other basic items, such as clothing and implements of trade needed for the debtor to make a living.8 In 1840, the Texas legislature adopted the HispanoMexican system of a single court rather than continuing the dual courts system (courts of law and courts of equity) of Anglo-American law. Under the Hispanic system, all issues could be considered simultaneously rather than divided between two jurisdictions. Thus, the Republic of Texas became the first English-speaking country to adopt a permanent and full unitary system of justice.9 Also in 1840, the Texas legislature adopted from the Hispanic legal system the principle that a person must be sued in the locale in which he resides, for his convenience. These two principles ultimately passed into Texas state law.10 That same legislative session of the Republic of Texas adopted and subsequently passed on to the state legal code the Spanish legal concept of community property. Husband and wife were to share equally in the profits and fruits of their marriage. Under Anglo-American law, however, property belonged exclusively to the husband, and on the death of her spouse, the wife was protected only by a life-interest in one-third of the lands of her deceased spouse. The previously Hispanic provinces of Texas and Louisiana were the first to protect wives through common-law statutes. Today, community property law is prevalent in states that have an Hispanic heritageTexas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California. It has also been pointed out by historians that even the right to file a joint income tax return derives from the Spanish principle.11 Numerous other principles of Spanish family law were incorporated into the legal code of Texas in 1841. They covered the rights of partners in marriage as well as the adoption of children. Included among these principles was the protection of the rights of parties in a common-law relationship. Furthermore, children of such marriages, even if proven invalid later, were considered legiti-
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Nicols Kanellos
mate, and a fair division of the profits of marriage had to result. This legitimacy of such children is still part of Texas family law today.12 This very brief exposition of the Hispanic patrimony that is also part of the heritage of all of the peoples of the United States, indicates the level and extent of cultural riches that the United States inherited when it expanded its southern and western borders and when it broadened its sphere of political and economic interests to include the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. The culture brought by each Hispanic included within the new borders, or with each Hispanic immigrant, was the product of centuries of development. Even before the United States was founded, such a cultural heritage had therefore predetermined many fundamental aspects of lifeeconomic, artistic, or spiritualas we know it today in the American Republic.
LABORTHE DOMINANT FORCE IN U.S. LATINO SOCIETY

The development of the United States as a cultural, economic, and political power owes much to its Hispanic background. But it was the story of labor and the social and political patterns established by both the U.S. government and business vis--vis the Hispanic world that helped to determine the evolution of that power within U.S. borders. The nineteenth century ideology of Manifest Destiny did much to justify U.S. expansion westward and southward and its acquisition of former Hispanic lands. This was accompanied by an often-violent displacement of Hispanic occupants as well as their gradual proletarization in an effort to develop those lands and the resources they contained. Further, the growth of U.S. industrialization from the late nineteenth century on and the increasing need for manpower led to the incorporation of workers via immigration from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to operate the industrial machine and to perform as service workers. In addition, U.S. political intervention in Latin America also encouraged an unending stream of refugees to U.S. shores. Economic and political decisions made by the U.S. government, bending to the will of leading industrial and agribusiness interests, determined the character of the Hispanic population drawn to and nurtured within U.S. borders from the late nineteenth century to the present. Today more than 70 percent of Hispanics in the United States belong to the working class. This working-class background and identity account for many of the major contributions of Hispanics throughout U.S. society, whether as laborers in the factories and fields, professional athletes, artists, and entertainers, or even as members of the armed forces. Thus, the important story of the world of
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Hispanic labor and the labor movement itself as a social and political force demands the more detailed examination that follows. From the late nineteenth century, Hispanic workers have struggled for a living wage, humane treatment, and health benefits, organizing themselves quite often for the type of working conditions that we take for granted today. Juan Gmez in 1883 led cowboys in a strike in the Panhandle of Texas. Lucy Gonzlez Parsons spent fifty years organizing and publishing, beginning with the Haymarket Square riots of 1886. Luisa Capetillo organized tobacco workers and pioneered feminism at the turn of the century in Puerto Rico, Tampa, and New York. Santiago Yglesias Pantn established Puerto Ricos first labor union in 1899. Cigar rollers in Tampa went out on strike in 1899, 1901, 1910, 1920, and 1931. The powerful story of Hispanics in American labor is one of struggle against oppression and of blazing paths to new forms of activism. Though Hispanic leadership in protecting the rights of miners in the Southwest and steelworkers in the Midwest can be charted as forging some of the essential rights and benefits for all workers in the United States, the best-known and longest struggle for the human rights and working conditions of working people has been that of agricultural labor. The history of U.S. agribusiness is also the history of exploitation of Hispanic labor and the resistance by Hispanics to that exploitation, especially in California, Texas, and Florida. Among the landmarks in labor history was the first strike won against the California agricultural industry in Oxnard led by the first farmworker union, the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA) in 1903. For the first time in history two distinct ethnic groups banded together to protest unfair and racist labor practices by the contractors and the association of farmers and refiners of sugar beets. They overcame linguistic and cultural barriers, organizing more than 90 percent of the workers in the industry to win a decent wage. Because of the success of the JMLA, other labor unions began to rethink their policy against organizing nonwhite and farm labor. Even so, it is widely believed that to this date most farm work is not unionized or protected by existing laws because of racism and discrimination, not only among the growers, but also among the major U.S. unions. The table grape industry, which would be embattled for decades, experienced its first strike in 1922, when a Mexican Independence Day celebration in Fresno turned into a union organizing effort. This initiative failed, but paved the way for later, more massive efforts, such as that in 1927 in southern California to organize and consolidate some twenty Mexican agricultural and industrial unions under the banner of the Confederacin de Uniones Obreras Mexicanas
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Nicols Kanellos
(Federation of Mexican Worker UnionsCUOM). By May 1929, the federation had some three thousand members, organized in twenty locals. The first strike called by the union in the Imperial Valley was broken by arrests and deportations. Two years later, the union struck again by surprise, and the growers were forced to settle.13 Perhaps one of the most famous events in Hispanic labor history was the El Monte berry strike of 1933, the largest agricultural strike thus far. Led by the Mexican Farm Labor Union, an affiliate of the CUOM, the striking workers called for a minimum wage of twenty-five cents an hour. The strike spread from Los Angeles County to Orange County, and the union grew rapidly. Small increases in wages were won, and the union became the largest and most active agricultural union in California. In 1935, for instance, the union was responsible for six of the eighteen strikes in California agriculture and was also effective in winning concessions without striking. In 1936, it was a leader in establishing the Federation of Agricultural Workers Union of America. With the ravages of the Depression and surplus labor, as well as disputes with the AFLCIO, the union waned by the late 1930s.14 Much more organizing and striking took place throughout the 1930s, extending to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1933, Mexican and MexicanAmerican workers in Texas organized one of the broadest unions in the history of Hispanic labor, the Asociacin de Jornaleros (Journeymens Association), which represented everything from hat makers to agricultural workers; but the unions diversity was a problem as well as an achievement. Texas Rangers harassed and arrested leaders in the onion fields of Laredo in 1934, and the union died shortly thereafter.15 Finally, in 1938 major labor unions began to open their doors to Hispanic minorities. In that year, Luisa Moreno, a Guatemalan immigrant who had been educated in U.S. schools, became the first vice president of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). Moreno had broad experience in organizing Hispanics: tobacco workers in Florida, factory workers in New York City, cotton pickers in Texas, and sugar beet workers in Colorado. Out of this experience, she developed an idea of organizing a national congress of Hispanic workers, which she was able to accomplish under the auspices of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and with many other union organizers, especially women. The national congress, El Congreso Nacional del Pueblo de Habla Hispana, was held in Los Angeles in April 1939, bringing together for the first time in history Cubans and Spaniards from Florida, Puerto Ricans from New York, and Mexican Americans from the Southwest. The result of the convention and the organization of the congress itself was that Spanish-speaking people in the United States began to realize that they consti-
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tuted a national minority whose civil and labor rights were violated consistently across the country. Another important result of the convention was a highlighting of the role of Hispanic women, who had been leaders in organizing the congress and the convention. Not only were a high percentage of Hispanic women working outside of the home, but they were also leaders in the labor struggle.16 World War II led to the demise of the congress, when the organization restricted its civil rights protests in order to support the war effort; it also lost numerous members to enlistment in the armed services. Although the organization attempted a revival after the war, McCarthyism and political persecution led to leaders, such as Moreno, going into voluntary exile rather than being grilled by the House Un-American Activities Committee, or being deported. After the war, a Mexican guest-worker program instituted in 1939 was continued by Congress after extensive agribusiness lobbying; the importation of workers undercut many efforts to unionize the resident agricultural workers. Nevertheless, union organizer Ernesto Galarza published an expos of the abuses in his Bracero program in Strangers in Our Fields (1956), which spurred the AFL-CIO to begin supporting unionization of farmworkers and bring about Congresss termination of the program in 1964. The stage was now set for the most important farm labor movement in the history of the United States.17 Two trained community organizers, Csar Chvez and Dolores Huerta, founded the United Farmworkers Organizing Committee in Delano, California in 1962. With the Bracero program defunct, the fledgling union in 1965 joined Filipino grape strikers and formed the United Farm Workers (UFW); through more than a decade of struggle it became the largest union of agricultural workers, creating national boycotts, court cases, and legislative action in California. From table grapes, the labor actions spread to lettuce and other crops and eventually won concessions and contracts on wages, working conditions, safe use of pesticides, and the right to unionize and strike. As a result, in 1975, the California legislature passed the California Labor Relations Act, which provided secret ballot union elections for farmworkers. Over the years, Huerta became the most successful contract negotiator, lobbyist, and one of the most important fund-raisers for the union. Chvez, on the other hand, employed pacifist tactics, hunger strikes and spiritual crusades, and enlisted and received the support of national politicians, the Catholic Conference of Bishops and, eventually, big organized labor.12 When Chvez died in 1993, he was mourned as a national hero. In 1994, President Bill Clinton bestowed the United States Medal of Freedom upon him posthumously. Today the union is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
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Nicols Kanellos
Leadership in many unions today is in the hands of Hispanics, as more and more the percentage of Hispanics in labor increases and Hispanics learn to organize within the larger Anglo-American culture. In 1989, for example, Dennis Rivera was elected president of the 1199 National Health and Human Services Employee Union, which had a membership at that time of some 117,000 workers, primarily residing in New York and New Jersey. That same year, Mara Elena Durazo became the first woman to head a major union in the city of Los Angeles: the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 11, a union of some thirteen thousand that at that time had 70 percent Hispanic membership. In 1995, Linda Chvez Thompson became the highest-ranking Hispanic in the history of the CIO, when she assumed the position of executive vice president of the combined AFL-CIO. She had served as national vice president and executive council member since 1993. Once again, the leadership of Hispanic women in labor has been significant.
TRANSFORMING MAINSTREAM CULTURE

Against this background of conflict-filled but progressive labor history, it is clear that Hispanic working-class culture has influenced the United States today through a deep transformation of U.S. worldview and sensibility as well as in many superficial, obvious ways. Hispanic popular culture at times seems to be everywhere, from the background music of innumerable television commercials to Mexican food as the most popular ethnic food, and salsa the most popular condiment, to the transformation of pop music through Latin rhythms and the addition of Latin percussion instruments. Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera have become famous fashion designers, Jennifer Lpez one of the sexiest movie stars and Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, two of the most popular male singers. But in the next decades, the sheer number of Hispanics residing in and immigrating to the United States augurs an even greater transformation of the Protestant-Anglo-American identity of the country. With Hispanics forecast to become a majority in the most populous and powerful states of California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas by mid century, Hispanic demographics, buying power, political-party affiliation, linguistic preferences, bicultural identity all have potential to transform the very national identity of the United States in the world of tomorrow. As noted at the outset of this essay, the Hispanic roots of American civilization run deep and have accounted for much of what we call American. Today we are living in another period of great Hispanic cultural infusion into American society and identity. It has been children of working-class immigrants who have perhaps best articulated this by merging the experience of their parents into
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American literature, as in the example of Pulitzer-Prize winner Oscar Hijuelos, MacArthur Fellow Sandra Cisneros, and best-selling author Victor Villaseor. Hispanics, with their cultural contributions, add to and transform the American Dream, even though, unlike most other immigrant groups, they are unwilling to renounce their Hispanic culture and their ties to the rest of the Spanishspeaking world so that the waves of Hispanic immigration to the United States have been met at times with resistance from nativists who raise the specter of a foreign culture overwhelming the supposed Anglo base of American culture. Most nativists, from the nineteenth-century Know-Nothing Party to respected intellectuals, such as Samuel Huntington, currently a professor at Harvard, decry the loss of a mythic America of racial purity, and linguistic and cultural homogeneity. Their alarmism at times has resulted in racial persecution, exclusionary immigration laws, and wholesale deportations, but they have never been successful in fully closing this countrys borders nor in filtering out the diverse cultural infusions that have made the United States great. In fact, one of the major Hispanic contributions to American society in this era of globalization is the ability to commune with and serve as mediators with the rest of the hemisphere. It is a singular ability, in a country that has often been officially isolationist and a cultural imperialist, to understand other cultures, to see the United States from the double perspective of insider as well as outsider. Latinos have the potential to become the brokers for transnational and transcultural business, education, media, entertainment, sport, arts, etc. This vision is not exclusionary. Non-Latinos who overcome any prejudices and short-sightedness have the same potential, once they become bilingual and bicultural and learn to operate within Latino cultures at home and abroad. Latino success will be measured in how many non-Latinos become part of this new national/transnational dynamic.
THREE LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE YEARS AHEAD
Ral Yzaguirre
Ral Yzaguirre documents here the centuries-long, but little-known, struggle of Hispanic peoples against the seemingly innate racism embedded in American history and culture. An awareness of the depth and breadth of this struggle, which persists even now, well into the twenty-first century, is essential to our understanding of the Latino community in the United States. There is no one more qualified to tell this story than Yzaguirre, whose civil rights career began when he organized the American G.I. Forum Juniors at the tender age of fifteen. In 1964 he founded the National Organization for Mexican American Services and ten years later went on to lead NCLR, the widely known National Council of La Raza. After thirty years he stepped down from this post to become the Executive Director of the Center for Community Development and Civil Rights at Arizona State University in 2005.
recious little has been written about the civil rights struggle of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latinos. And it is largely unknown even to otherwise well-informed decision makers, much less the average politically sophisticated citizen. Nor is this legacy sufficiently known to the descendants of those brave men and women who endured so much pain over the last 160 years.
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Part of the reason that Hispanic civil rights history has been so neglected is the fact that Americans are loath to accept a reality that, historically, Latinos first became citizens of the United States not by choice, but by conquest. And like our Native American brethren, Hispanic Americans needed to be defined as somehow deserving nothing better than the wholesale theft of their lands. Stealing from fellow human beings was sinful, but confiscating property from beings who were scarce more than apes was conveniently justifiable. Actually, the Hispanophobia embedded in American history and literature began even before the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The wars between England and Spain, which lasted for literally a hundred years, fostered a deep hatred of Spain and anything Hispanic. But the British did not rely solely on military and/or diplomatic means to further their interests. They developed a sophisticated campaign to demean and discredit the very character of Latinos; this campaign became known as the Black Legend. The existence of that conspiracy has been well known and well documented. Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719, is considered to be the first modern novel in English and author Daniel Defoe, through his protagonist, rails against the Spanish.
. . . Spaniards in all their barbarities practiced in America, and where they destroyed millions of these people, who . . . were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people . . . as if the kingdom of Spain were particularly eminent for the product of a race of men who were without principles of tenderness, or the common bowels of pity to the miserable, which is reckoned to be a mark of generous temper in the mind.
The English colonists who settled in North America brought with them complex anti-Spanish views, more than simple anti-Catholicism. They believed that the Spanish government was corrupt and decadent and that the Spaniards were greedy, treacherous, and lazy. Rather than seek liberty and better lives as did the English, the Spaniards who came to the New World were portrayed as grasping adventurers living in idleness on the sweat of enslaved indigenous peoples. The Black Legend remained alive for Anglo Americans as they encountered Spanish-speakers in the West and Southwest. In addition, Anglo Americans abhorred the racial mixture creating the Mexican mestizo, whom they considered had inherited the worst qualities of Spaniards and Indians.1 One only has to consider what has been taught to schoolchildren about the founding of the New World. We learn that an Italian led three Spanish ships to a landfall on an island in the Caribbean in 1492. The next thing we learn is that a British colony is formed at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. What happened in the
Liberty and Justice for All: Civil Rights in the Years Ahead
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intervening 115 years? Did the world stand still at the very moment that Europe, led by intrepid Spanish explorers, found the means to transverse the globe? In fact, the whole North and South American continents were explored, from Valdez, Alaska, to the southern tip of Argentina and from the Florida Keys to the Hudson River, by incredibly bold men and women. Indeed, two-thirds of what is now the United States was first claimed by the Conquistadores. To be sure, these soldiers oppressed the indigenous peoples. But unlike most Anglo pioneers, the Spanish settlers envisioned a space and a role, however subservient, for American Indians. Their goal was to save souls as well as to pillage property. The Catholic soldier/settler had a different mind-set toward Indians and later on, African slaves. While it is true that what we now call Latin America imported more slaves than the Protestant colonies to the north, two events changed the outcomes for English America as opposed to Spanish America. The first was an edict by the Roman Catholic Pope declaring that both Native Americans and African slaves had human souls. To enslave or to purposely destroy these people was a serious sin, one that could mean everlasting damnation. The second and perhaps more important event was the appearance of St. Mary in the form of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico to an Indian peasant, Juan Diego. Everything about the Virgin of Guadalupe had meaning for Mexican Indians and for most indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. Her shawl covered with stars; her sash, which connoted a recent birth; the way she held her hands in prayer and in submissiveness to a higher being; her distinctively Indian features; and the very place itself, which was steeped in symbolism for the heretofore recalcitrant natives. The miracle, some would say the myth, of the Virgin of Guadalupe had an enormous impact on the relationship between the white European Spaniards and the brown-skinned conquered people. The New World Catholic Church began to incorporate native symbolism into its rituals and millions of formerly rebellious Indian warriors were incorporated into what became know as La Raza Csmica, the cosmic people, a race of all the races, as African slaves began to mix their blood with both whites and browns. The concept of La Raza evolved over time and was made more concrete by philosopher Jos Vasconcelos in the twentieth century. It represented two themes that began to define the worldview of Latinos. First, there was the concept, and indeed the pride, of being descendants of several races. This phenomenon was called mestizaje, the intertwining of blood. The second was the idea of an encounter of languages and culture that began in Spain with the melding
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of Christians, Muslims, and Jews and further evolved as the Europeans began to assimilate some of the indigenous cultures in the Western Hemisphere. Thus Latin America does not celebrate Columbus Day as the date of the socalled discovery of America, but rather, as the beginning of the encounter of cultures and the birth of a new people: La Raza Csmica. We Latinos celebrate El Da de La Raza on October 12. The term La Raza can be best translated as the new Latino people of the New World. By the early 1800s, Spain began to lose control of its New World colonies, the most treasured of which was Mexico. By 1821, Mexico had in fact gained independence from Spain, but its war-weary forces were weak and stretched dangerously thin. Troubles began in Texas, then a part of Mexico, when the Anglo settlers themselves began to agitate for independence. Modern historians now acknowledge the fact that it was not a desire for freedom driving the Anglo settlers, who had promised to be loyal to the Mexican government, learn Spanish, become Catholic, and obey Mexican laws, but greed for land and other sources of potential wealth. The one law that most angered the settlers, who came mainly from southern states, was the prohibition of slavery. Steven F. Austin makes it very clear in his writings that his fellow settlers should have the freedom to own slavesan oxymoron that Austin failed to grasp. Many myths surround the Texas Revolution and the subsequent MexicanAmerican War of 18461848. It is clear, however, that President Polk, a great believer in the United States self-serving agenda of Manifest Destiny, deliberately provoked a war with a weaker, newly formed nation for the express purpose of territorial expansion. (Abraham Lincoln, it should be mentioned, then a Congressman, eloquently and in great detail demolished all the arguments that Polk offered as a rationalization for this war of conquest.) Mexican-origin landowners in what used to be the northern half of the Mexican nation became American citizens overnight. It was estimated, by historian Carey McWilliams in 1959, that there were 75,000 Spanish-speaking people living in the Southwest at the end of the Mexican-American War: 60,000 in New Mexico, 7,500 in California, 5,000 in Texas, 1,000 or so in Arizona, and 1,500 in Colorado.2 Contemporary historians suggest that those estimates are conservative. Believing in the rights guaranteed under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the overwhelming majority of these now conquered people decided to remain in their own homes in communities predating, in many instances, the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States. Mexicans who stayed in the Southwest after 1848 became at the least, second-class citizens and, at the worst, victims of overt racism. Only in New Mexico did Hispanos have suffi-
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cient numbers to even attempt to protect their rights. The influx of Americans into California, Texas, and Arizona made inevitable the loss of political power and the inability to obtain equal protection of the law. Mexicans became a despised minority unable to realize justice in a system that operated on two levels: one for Mexicans and the other for Anglos.3 In my home state of Texas, the influx of Anglos outnumbered Mexicans by a ratio of six to one in the ten years following independence from Mexico. Tejanos lost their lands through force and intimidation and hacendados saw their properties disappear through endless and costly litigation of ownership based on Spanish or Mexican land grants. The most notorious enforcers of Anglo hegemony were the Texas Rangers. Officially founded to fight Indians, los rinches were regarded by Texas Mexicans as the regions Ku Klux Klan for their indiscriminate violence against Mexicans. They terrorized the Mexican and Mexican-American population well into the twentieth century and could do so without legal repercussions.4 I would assert that the Latino civil rights struggle began as the oppression stated, in the middle of the nineteenth century. Men, such as Juan Segun, who fought with the Texans against the Mexican army and who briefly was elected mayor of San Antonio, quickly began to feel the sting of Anglo oppression. Anglo historians would label them as bandits, but brave men like Cheno Cortinez in Texas, Elfago Cabeza de Baca in New Mexico, and Joaqun Murrieta in California were fighting against bigotry in the only way they could. Fifty years later, the Hearst newspapers began a campaign against Spanish efforts to maintain control of remaining colonies in the Caribbean. Significantly, the native rebels did not ask for an American invasion, but in 1898 the United States declared war on Spain. The pretext was that an American battleship, the USS Maine, was torpedoed in the Bay of Havana by the Spaniards, killing 266 American crew members. Putting aside the issue of a provocative act of a warship invading a sovereign nation and therefore inviting a reaction, there was no proof that the explosion was executed by either the Spanish or their allies. Recent deepwater explorations of the wreckage of the USS Maine, using new technology, reveal that in all probability the explosion was the result of a malfunction of machinery deep within the ship. The American naval forces quickly defeated the once proud but now obsolete Spanish navy. Again, huge land holdings previously belonging to a former ally during the American Revolution became American colonial possessions. Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and other islands were now part of a worldwide American empire; an empire populated in the main by Spanish-speaking people. The long-range effects of the Spanish-American War still reverberate
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more than a century later. The Philippines achieved independence only after World War II. After granting independence in 1929, Cuba was not free of U.S. influence until the revolution of 1959. Puerto Rico was a territory until 1952 when it was designated a commonwealth in which Puerto Ricans became American citizens, allowing their immigration and service in the military. Puerto Ricans vote for their own governor and legislature, but not for president or a voting member of Congress. Interestingly, all three of these former territories still are hosts to U.S. military installations.5 The important point to be made is that Hispanics, much like the American Indians, became a conquered people in their own land. Governing elites who have attained power must do a number of things to maintain it. They must rewrite history. They must subtly but effectively demean the conquered population and project their own lofty status as a natural consequence of something like a divinely mandated manifest destiny or innate cultural superiority. More importantly they must build institutions to enforce these norms. Also, in the American context, they must control the masses while pretending to practice democracynot an easy task. These elites became very inventive. Through voting impediments, such as a poll tax, a literacy test requirement, gerrymandered districts, and, of course, the time-tested methods of intimidation, violence, and loss of employment, political bosses achieved a formidable level of control. And the most effective tool they mastered was the removal from memory of the most egregious acts of injustice. Few Americans know about the recently documented Race War in Texas that began in 1915 and ended with perhaps as many as five thousand Mexican Americans murdered by the Texas Rangers and their vigilantes. In the heated 20072008 immigration debate, few Americans are aware that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, as many as a half a million Americans of Mexican descent were illegally deported or coerced to flee by the U.S. government. In its quest to increase its body count, the Immigration Service focused its efforts where the largest concentrations of Mexicans were found. Deportation figures wove a sinister web across the United States. Between August 1933 and May 1934, New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburg, St. Louis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Salt Lake City contributed 326 Mexican nationals to the deportation dragnet. Any city in California or the Southwest could be picked at random, and not one would be found in which Mexicans had not been picked up and subjected to illegal search and seizure.6 A stringent deportation campaign was launched in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Reportedly, hundreds of illegal entrants were deported daily. During 1929, more than 17,600 Mexicans were deported from the area.7
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With no support from the organized labor movement, Latinos organized workers in the fields of California, in the mines of Arizona and New Mexico, and in the pecan orchards of Texas. And each one of these events represents a heroic struggle never depicted by the media (with the notable exception of the film, Salt of the Earth, produced secretly by blacklisted Hollywood talent during the 1950s.) With no support from major university law schools, foundations, or private philanthropists, Hispanics took civil rights to the highest courts and won legal battles long before the 1954 Supreme Case, Brown vs. Board of Education. On the eve of World War II, our fathers and mothers, ten thousand strong, marched in San Antonio for school finance reform and against segregation at a time when few, if any, religious institutions were championing our cause. With no help from the organized resettlement infrastructure for new immigrants in the East Coast and the Midwest, Latinos organized a loose federation of hundreds of self-help organizations known as los Mutualistas throughout the Southwest and Midwest. These were mutual aid societies that provided services ranging from innocuous cultural festivities to hard and hazardous political organizing. In the barrios of New York, our youth took on leadership roles and revolted against prejudice and poverty in the Puerto Rican community under the banner of the Young Lords; and they did it without the support of any private philanthropy. The average American, and even the highly educated strata, knows almost nothing about our civil rights struggle, a movement rich in dramatrue stories that restore ones faith in the human spirit, American stories that enrich all of us. To understand the Latino civil rights history and its present reality, one must understand, among other things, the incredible failure of the usual American sources of support for minority struggles. This lack of support resulted in a scarcity of Latino institutions. The mutalista movement valiantly struggled to survive, and remnants of that legacy are still with us. But with the possible exception of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which will celebrate its 80th birthday next year, all of our national Latino organizations are relatively young. Until fairly recently, they were managed in the main by volunteers and received meager support from the government, corporate America, or the large foundations. Perhaps the most egregious neglect of Hispanics results from a pattern of discrimination by the federal government itself. For over fifty years, Latino leaders have been banging on the doors of opportunity for Hispanic employment. Hispanics have been for over fifty years the only underrepresented minority in the government bureaucracy. Besides the loss of jobs and income, the consequence of this institutionalized prejudice is a significant lack of equity in the
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distribution of federal funds. Latinos are underserved by almost all federal programs in sheer dollars and even more in quality. In other words, the percentage of dollars in all but a handful of federal programs that are used to serve Hispanics is less than their percentage of the eligible population. It is clear that if we are not at the table where decisions are made, we get the scraps. The same can be said of organized philanthropy and corporate largess. About 2 percent of the dollars foundations give to charities goes to Latino causes or needs. Corporate America is usually not required to offer detailed data to make an empirical comparison, but the evidence available suggests that it may be just as deficient. If we are not present in the corporate suites, we do not get the attention we deserve. With all their shortcomings, the national Latino civil rights groups represent our best hope for real progress. They outlive a charismatic leader, they give credibility and authority to, one hopes, talented individuals, they perpetuate an institutional memory that in turn begets a seasoned culture and wiser decisions, and they offer a framework for consensus building. When properly governed, they hold leaders accountable. And these entities build assets. All of these traits will enable Latino civil rights to be efficient and effective. Perhaps nobody understood this reality more than Dr. Antonia Pantoja, for example, who almost single-handedly organized an entire infrastructure for the Puerto Rican community. Her most profound contribution to the Puerto Rican community in the United States began in 1958 when she joined a group of young professionals in creating the Puerto Rican Forum, Inc. that paved the way for the establishment of ASPIRA in 1961. The ASPIRA Association, Inc. is the only national nonprofit organization devoted solely to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Latino youth. ASPIRA takes its name from the Spanish verb aspirar, to aspire. ASPIRA was Dr. Pantojas dream, but it was not the only organization she help build for the Puerto Rican community. In 1996, Dr. Pantoja received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed upon civilians by the U.S. government. She became one of only four Puerto Rican recipients of the award. The pattern of neglect just described is not necessarily all related to bias or to some nefarious plot by a secret cell of Latino-hating bigots. A good part of the neglect comes from the fact that the government and private institutions move by the numbers, i.e., by the demographic data that is or was available to them. And quite frankly, we still live in a society that believes that only the black/white paradigm is real resulting in a lack of data on Latinos. While we have made enormous progress with the Census Bureau, we still have a long way to go. Much of the data collection infrastructure resides at the state level, where we have made little
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progress. The private sector also collects important data. Simply put, if Hispanics are invisible in terms of numbers, our numbers will not count. A good example of the practical impact of data collection was in the allocation of franchising opportunities. Through coalitions such as the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), we were finally able to convince some companies that function through the allocation of franchises, dealerships, or distributorships, to collect and share with us their data on the performance of these entrepreneurs by race and ethnicity. It turned out that these companies were not granting opportunities to Latinos at rates nearly commensurate with either our numbers nor with our share of the market. We sensed that the company executives were only going to make token efforts to meet some unidentified minority quota and out of that minority quota, we would not be at the head of the line. But when we examined the data, not just of one company, but every single one that would share data with us, we found a universal pattern: Latino entrepreneurs on average outperformed every other ethnic or racial group. Often Latinos were given geographic locations where previous operators had failed miserably, but our Latino fellow citizens turned these opportunities into profitable ventures. Armed with this data, we realized that institutional and individual biases can override the profit motive. In other words, given the proven facts, corporate America should be fighting for their share of Latino entrepreneurs, yet they neglect talent that would increase their bottom line. Recent data also shows some contradictory facts of life. For example, when agencies use testers to gauge bias in employment or housing, Latinos face more or at least as much discrimination as African Americans. By testers, I am referring to trained research personnel of different ethnicities and races who pose as job applicants or potential home buyers. In an employment scenario, for example, three young men presented equivalent qualifications to several employers. The results were that the Caucasian applicants received the most job offers, the African American applicants received significantly fewer job offers, but the Latinos received the fewest. Yet when asked if they have been the victims of discrimination, Hispanics are prone to deny that reality. Therefore, there is a disparity between the projected level of job or housing discrimination and the number of formal complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The consequences of this phenomenon are both negative and positive. Anecdotal evidence suggests that while job entry is problematic because the victim is usually unaware of the bias, the failure to be promoted at the same rate as fellow workers is more obvious. Latinos all too often describe how they are instructed to train junior white employ-
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ees so that later on these young workers can be their bosses. Yet we do not complain. Prejudiced employers are aware of this tendency and continue the practice of using vague non-job-related traits such as an accent, aggressiveness, outgoing personality, etc., as a rationalization for bypassing the Latino employee. Workers, home buyers, and renters are inherently disadvantaged in terms of ascertaining when unlawful discrimination occurs. Combine that fact with the Latino reticence to report acts of discrimination, and you begin to realize why antidiscrimination laws do not serve us well. More importantly, the EEOC/Bush Administration policy to focus and/or limit enforcement primarily to individual complaints has the intended result of undoing the promise of a bias-free society. Effective tools, such as using testers and comparing hiring and promotion numbers of protected populations with the available workforce, have been rejected precisely because they were holding violators accountable. In short, the current policy of limiting enforcement strategies to individual complaints or to the courts has a negative impact on all minorities, but the policy is particularly injurious to Latinos. However, this tendency is also a positive trait. Hispanics do not feel nor will they accept the disempowering label of a victim. We are positive about our own future and about our country. I tried to begin the conversation about our community and about our agenda several years ago on the occasion of recognition at the Hispanic Congressional Caucus Dinner. Here are my thoughts; I believe them to be still relevant.
Every day we are exposed to the fact that Latinos are now this nations largest minority, and numbers do have meaning and consequences. One consequence will inevitably be an increase in political and economic power. But if we are to be effective and united, we must define what our common agenda is, what we stand for. This task will not be accomplished in one night nor perhaps in even one generation, but let us be bold enough to begin tonight. For there are those who see us only as supplicants and not as decision makers, as consumers and not as producers, as lawbreakers and not as law enforcers, as tax expenditures and not as tax contributors. Stereotypes about our community abound, but invisibility is even more pervasive. For most Americans, Hispanics are a dimly blurred and often contradictory image. Tonight we celebrate the growing political power of our community. But it is appropriate to ask: Power to do what?
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I believe that we seek power to help this nation fulfill its destiny; to live up to its ideals and to go beyond the sometimes-narrow definition of what it means to be an American. I believe that we as Latinos are not only about demanding our rights, but also about fully preparing to shoulder our responsibilities. We want to build a nation where people are judged by their actions and not by their accents. We believe that being pro-family means caring as much for children who are born as some would profess that they care about the unborn. We believe in freedom of religion and freedom from religion. We believe in a nation that promotes democracy at home and abroad; a nation that promotes democracy as a moral value and not as a slogan. In the past, we rejected dictatorships of the right in Chile and today we equally reject dictatorships of the left in Cuba. We want to live in a hemisphere where every country has free, transparent, multiparty elections. We believe in universal human rights, not just selective human rights. We are equally pained by human rights violations that involve Mayan Indians in Mexico and Guatemala, of children in the favelas of Brazil, and of the people on the island of Vieques. We call for the end of the abuse of aboriginal peoples in the Amazon through the destruction of their jungle homes, and we denounce the human rights violations of the Cuban dissidents. We believe that civil rights are the birthright of every American and not the exclusive domain of any group or either gender. Justice is not for just us. We believe that as a sovereign nation, we have the right to protect our borders, to decide who has the right to enter our country and, also, the conditions that govern immigration into our nation. But we also believe that as a nation of immigrants and as a humane people we must choose policies that honor our history with our neighbors. Above all, we recognize the shared humanity that we have with those who risk their lives for freedom and opportunity. We believe in the sanctity of the heritage of language and culture and we treasure these gifts. We reject the false dichotomy between preserving our language and becoming first-class Americans. But cherishing our ancestral languages and cultures does not mean rejecting our common language of English. We believe in more language competency, not less, and we believe that we will become more relevant in the world when we learn to view the globe through the prisms of other languages. And when it comes to language, more is better.
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We believe in the work ethic, patriotism, the importance of families, the free enterprise system, and the value of faith; we believe in these things and we not only pay verbal homage to them, we live them day in and day out. Above all, we have an unshakable belief that this nations best days are ahead of us; this nation will continue to rise and Latinos will continue to ascend and I submit that there is a direct correlation between these realities.
There is a body of thought, some of which is expressed in these chapters, that essentially posits the notion that, in effect, there will not be a Latino civil rights struggle in the future. This theory predicts a future for Hispanics that mirrors the white ethnic experience of groups such as Irish Americans and Italian Americans. The notion is that like these later arriving immigrant groups, Latinos will have gone through a period of discrimination followed by gains in political and economic power and eventual assimilation into American society. The prediction suggests that elements of the given ethnic groups culture and language will seep into mainstream culture and we all get to celebrate St. Patricks and Columbus Day and perhaps now Cinco de Mayo. The myth of a melting pot and the symbolism of E Pluribus Unum gets reinforced through the Americanization of Latinos as well as the Latinization of America. There is much evidence to support this future scenario. Most of us have heard the truism that salsa outsells catsup8 and that nachos outsell hot dogs at the baseball park. According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport in 2006 almost one-third of professional baseball players are Hispanic. By the second generation, almost all Latinos are speaking English, as well they should.9 All the facts suggest some degree of integration into American society. Moreover, unlike other oppressed groups, Latinos do not feel victimized even though they are arguably the most discriminated segment of American society, according to most empirical indicators. Paradoxically, Hispanics are more optimistic about their own and Americas future than most other Americans. These facts all point to an assimilation scenario that has the force of history repeating itself. If this is our future, then the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund will go the same way the Molly McGuires went; they will become quaint and romantic icons of a bygone age relegated to the dustbin of history.
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Except for the implied loss of language, culture, and values, this scenario has much going for it. No one would rejoice more than Latino civil rights activists should the need for such organizations cease to exist. Maybe it soon will come to pass. But I do not think so. Why? Well, for one thing, Hispanics are not just recent immigrants and the dubious legacy of conquest suggests that we may have much in common with our Native American brothers and sisters minus their casinos. Historically, it has taken two or so generations for new Americans to be accepted into American society. We have been here for 500 years. It is important to get our terms defined. If by Americanization we mean learning English, treasuring the political values communicated in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, cherishing and living out the values of free enterprise, family and faith, defending our nation in war, and the separation of church and stateif that is the definition of Americanization, then Latinos have moved way beyond that threshold. But if we mean an Americanization that relegates us to second-class status, that demands that we obliterate Spanish from this land, that asks us to acquiesce to discrimination, that pressures us to give up our values and good manners, that obliges us to Anglicize not only our given names but our surnames, that insists on distorting our history, that continues to ignore us in the media that kind of Americanizationthat definition of Assimilation or Americanization we will reject and our civil rights struggle will continue. Our fellow Americans have not shown their allegiance to American values lately, or, more accurately, a minority of Americans has silenced the majority of Americans in the debate over immigration. The hate, the venom, and the xenophobic intolerance that has characterized that debate has poisoned relations between Hispanics and the body politic for generations to come. A more tolerant America would be advantageous in evolving healthy and trusting relationships between Latinos and non-Latinos. But our greatest challenge is not what Anglos and other non-Latinos do or not do; the future of our civil rights struggle depends on us. Power, rights, inclusion, social and economic equality will not be forthcoming without action and perseverance. Today we function politically under the identity umbrella of Latinos and/or Hispanics. While we do not take umbrage at being labeled as such, we really feel more comfortable being Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, or some other Latin American designation. Our children are
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more at ease being self-identified as Latino or Hispanic. There is a cultural fusion evolving before our eyes that we are only now beginning to notice. Self-identity is very powerful. It is the key to our eventual success. When the day comes when Latinos see no tension between being Hispanic and being totally American and when other Americans truly feel enriched by the prevalence of Latinos in the workplace, the neighborhood, and in the White House, then and only then can we say good-bye to the Latino civil rights movement. That day will not come to pass during our lifetime. Maybe our grandchildren will see it.
FOUR BECOMING AMERICANTHE LATINO WAY

Tamar Jacoby
The most pressing issue before the Latino community, currently and for the foreseeable future, is that of immigration and U.S. government immigration policy reform. Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of Immigrationworks USA, a national federation working to advance immigration reform, offers her insights into this highly controversial, seemingly intractable issue. In the following pages she opens the door to a fuller understanding of what immigration means for Latinos and for American society in general. Mrs. Jacoby is a nationally known journalist and author, a former senior writer for Newsweek, and deputy editor of The New York Times op-ed page. In 2004, she was appointed by the president to serve on the advisory board of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
he soon-to-be citizens and their families waited nervously in the hall outside the New York City courtroom where the naturalization ceremony was about to take place. They came from many countriestoo many, even, to count. And each had his or her own personal reasons for wanting to take this legal leap. Some had decided to do so as soon as they were able, just five years after their arrival in the United States. Some had waited fifteen years, some twenty or more. A fewremarkably fewcited the practical advantages of citizenship, such as ease of travel on a U.S. passport or in sponsoring rela-
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tives to join them in this country. Others talked about how they wanted to enjoy the full array of American rights, most importantly the right to vote. But many people, of different ages and nationalities, gave an answer something like that given by Jorge Vargas.* Born in Mexico, here in the United States for seventeen years, the 35-year-old short-order cook said simply that he felt it was time. Until recently, his wife Mara explained, he just hadnt seen himself as an American. Neither man nor wife were sure what exactly had changed, or why. But something had happened. And so a few years ago, they started the processthe form, the fees, the fingerprinting, the classes, the testthat was now about to culminate in this solemn ceremony. Neither Jorge nor Mara showed much emotion, but it wasnt hard to tell that this was an important day for them. Once again, after all the years of living and working in the United States and starting a family, they were crossing a critical boundary. From now on, however fully at home they felt or didnt feel, they were going to be able to say they were officially American citizens.
THE SUBJECTIVE SIDE OF AMERICANIZATION

The fourty-four million Latinos living in the United States today know every possible variation on the theme of being American.1 The majority, roughly 60 percent, were born here some, albeit a fairly small number, the descendents of settlers who arrived before the Mayflower. Those born abroad have been trickling in for over a century, but the overwhelming majority arrived within the last thirty years. (The 1980 census counted only fifteen million Hispanics in the United States.) Among the newcomers, close to half are here legally. Roughly half of themone-quarter of the totalhave become citizens. Another quarter are eligible to naturalize but havent. Nearly nine million have no papers. Meanwhile, more than 800,000 new Latino immigrants, many of them unauthorized, arrive every year, some determined to stay, some strictly temporary. And all of these are only the technical, legal variations on the theme of nationality. Within each of these groupsnative- and foreign born, documented and undocumented, citizen and short-time sojournerthere are many different ways of feeling somewhat at home in America, or somewhat a stranger. Taken together, its a picture of changea work in progress. How many of those now living between two worlds will decide to settle? Will they put down deep roots or none at all? How many who stay will eventually, like Jorge Vargas, decide to make it official? And most important, what will happen to their childrenhow American will they feel? As a group, Latinos are so diversethe
*
This isnt his real nameand Mara is not his wifes real name.
Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way
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newly arrived unauthorized worker so different from the comfortable fourthgeneration nativeit almost makes no sense to talk about them as a single entity. But just how American they feel does matters, and will matter more and more in the future as their numbers grow. Not only that, the flow over the border will continue, for economic reasons, no matter what Congress does about immigration policy. And this continuing influx will only sharpen the question, making it easier for many to remain transitional, living in the United States yet in a realm apart, caught between the Old World and the New. There are, of course, many different ways to calculate success in America. Most of the essays in this book examine the more tangible, objective measures: education, income, poverty, wealth, home ownership, and business-creation. And many social scientists treat the subjective aspect as an afterthought. Some have made the case that immigrant incorporationwhat most sociologists call assimilationproceeds in stages, with the feeling of fully belonging coming relatively late in the game. Another way to think of this, borrowing a metaphor from psychologist Albert Maslow, is to imagine a hierarchy of needs. Immigrants arriving in a new place first need shelter, then a job, then with time, the language and a better joband only eventually a sense of feeling fully at home, not to mention loyalty or allegiance. When seen in this way, belonging is arguably a luxuryfor some an appealing culmination, but not necessary for everyone and not necessarily linked to any other kinds of success. But what if that sense of belonging is just as important as any form of success, perhaps even pivotal? Historyand comparisons with other countries suggests that it may be. Americas success as a nation of immigrants has always depended on the newcomers investment in the United States, both physical and psychological. This is evident in the way past immigrants worked and put down roots and built things, not only for themselves but also for the communities in which they settled. Transients and sojourners dont invest or build in that way. And indeed, Europes experience with immigration shows that newcomers who believe their stay will be only temporary dont do particularly well by any measure. There are many reasons for thismany reasons why, for example, the Turks in Germany, originally admitted in the 1950s as guest workers, are still an impoverished class apart, not nearly as successful as most American immigrants. But part of the reason is that they dont feel they belong in Germany. They dont feel that opportunities are open to them, dont believe their efforts will be repaid with success, and dont see the point in sacrificing in the hope that their children can lead better lives. A metaphor that may help explain the difference between the European and U.S. immigrant experience is the idea of playing on a team. Players insecure
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about their place in the group, who dont feel trusted and arent sure they have a stake in the outcome, are going to play very differently from those who feel part of the team. So in fact, a sense of belonging, or the potential of belonging, may be key to other kinds of immigrant absorption, including how hard one works or studies and how quickly one moves up. It is also, plainly, the key to the social cohesion of the host country. How can a modern nation hope to hold together if some large number of those who live and work there do not feel and are not seen as truly part of the society? Many people today think we are headed in that direction, both in the United States and elsewhere. They imagine a future of guest worker programs and what academics call transnationalism, where instead of settling in one place, foreign workers will live permanently between two countries. But its hard to see how that would work in the United States, hard to imagine an American future where millions of U.S. residents dont put down roots, or build for the years to come, or feel its their place to take responsibility for what happens in their neighborhoods.
ABSORPTIONLANGUAGE AS THE FIRST GIANT STEP

So just how are Latino immigrants and their children faring on these more subjective dimensions of absorption? Or, to go back to our original question, just how American do they feel, and are they becoming more American? This isnt easy to get at. Its hard to measure how people feel about anything in a scientifically reliable way. Still, there is an array of things we can quantifyobjective changes such as language acquisition and political participationthat contribute to a sense of belonging. And then there are related measuresfor example, how newcomers values changethat offer collateral evidence. Nothing is more central to becoming American or succeeding here than the ability to use Englishultimately to speak, read, and write it. Current evidence shows that while progress is sometimes slow, Latino families are learning English. True, many immigrants who arrive as adults have trouble learning a new language, and its particularly hard for many of todays Latino newcomers, most of whom have little more than an elementary school education. According to the 2000 census, twenty-five million adults living in the United States speak Spanish at home, and some fourteen million of them are unable to speak English well. But the fact is that adult immigrants always have difficulty with a new language, here in the United States and in other countries. And today as in the past, it is their children who generally make the transition from the old tongue to the new. A full 85 percent of the children in U.S. Spanish-speaking homes speak English well or very well. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, though over two-thirds of the first generation is Spanish-dominant, by the time the second
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generation has grown to adulthood, almost all are bilingual or English-dominant. And by the third generation, a full three-quarters speak no Spanish. This evidence can be confirmed anecdotally by a visit to any immigrant neighborhood, even the poorest and most isolated Latino enclaves. In restaurants and shops and on the streets, adults are invariably speaking Spanish. But many of the children, even very small siblings in families of Spanish-speaking adults, can be heard speaking English among themselves. Children pick up English from TV and other forms of popular culture even if they dont learn much in school. And their parents understand beyond any doubt that learning English is the key to their childrens future. In the extensive recent study of Latino opinion, the Latino National Survey asked, How important do you think it is that everyone in the United States learn English, 99 percent of respondents answered important or very important. And 96 percent understand that its the critical element of what it means to be fully American in the eyes of other Americans. Among more educated newcomers, even adults eventually master the language. Among those who arrived in the 1980s, for example, nearly 75 percent of high school graduates and 85 percent of college graduates say they are fluent. Its no accident that national magazines like Hispanic Business and Latina are published in English. And even Hispanic marketers, particularly those plying more sophisticated wares, are turning increasingly away from Spanish to Spanish-flavored English ads. What will the linguistic future look like? It too will surely be a mixed picture. The continuing influx of new Latino immigrants, many of them unskilled and with little education, will continue to pose challenges. Like any beginners joining a class of more advanced students, they will hold down the average gradethe apparent progressof Latinos as a group. And to the degree that newcomers cluster together in large Spanish-speaking enclaves, incentives to learn English could be undermined. At the same time, the more Spanish there is in the air, the more it will alarm many native-born Americans. Bilingualism will also surely grow. Even as they learn English, many in the second generation and even some in the third hold on to the language of their parents and grandparents. But arguably this is a good thing and it need not mean America is becoming a bilingual nation. English will always be the language of success. And according to the Pew Hispanic Center, even those who call themselves bilingual tend to prefer English for almost every kind of activity, either at work (overwhelmingly), at home (two-thirds), in learning about the news (over 80 percent), or even when reading instructional manuals. In other words, assuming current trends continue, those born here will virtually all speak English, and
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despite the increased Spanish in the air, most will be considerably more comfortable using English. Will popular culture include more Spanish? Will more and more of the native-born know a little Spanish? Undoubtedly, but is there anything wrong with that?
OFFICIALLY AMERICANAND ACTING ON IT

After learning English, a second critical measure of belonging and becoming fully American is the step Jorge and Mara Vargas tookbecoming U.S. citizens. Naturalization is important in itself: as the Vargases showed, arguably the most telling indicator of how connected people feel. And it is also the key to future participation in the American body politic. As with language acquisition, immigration naysayers make an alarmist case about Latino naturalization rates, which tend to be low compared to those of other groups. In 2001, two-thirds of Asian immigrants living in the United States had become citizens, while only about half of Latinos had, and only 34 percent of Mexicans. Meanwhile, as with language, the continuing influx of Latino newcomers inevitably drags down the groups overall naturalization average. Many immigrant workers, particularly the young ones, cycle back and forth between the United States and their home countries. Even legal newcomers arent eligible to naturalize until they have lived in the United States for five years and as in the Vargases caseit often takes considerably longer. And, until and unless the U.S. Congress overhauls the immigration code, some nine million undocumented Latinos will be barred from becoming citizens. Still, for all the fears, the reality of Latino naturalization is also encouraging. Like other newcomers, most eligible Latino immigrants eventually become U.S. citizens. Among those who arrived before 1980, 50 percent of Mexicans and nearly two-thirds of all Latinos have completed the process. And rates have gone up substantially in the past decade, more than doubling, even for Mexicans. As with other American immigrant groups today and in the past, if one stays, one eventually joins, eventually graduating from sojourner to member. And for many Latino newcomers, naturalization is a critical tipping point. Not only is it the moment when many begin to say we rather than they and feel their fates are intertwined with Americas, it also tends to spur other steps, including investing in ones economic future. According to a recent study published by the Merage Foundation, for example, the children of Mexican-born mothers who have become citizens are twice as likely to graduate from college as those born to women who have not naturalized. Most important, naturalization is the gateway to political participation, the third critical measure of how emotionally integrated todays Latinos are in
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America.2 Its not a simple progression. Not all Latino citizens vote or even follow politics, and some noncitizens participate avidly. (Remember the huge immigrant rallies, described in more detail elsewhere in this volume, that filled the streets of most American cities in the spring of 2006.) But as with naturalization, so with politics. By most conventional measures, Latinos participate less actively than other Americans, black or white. Whether the activity is voting, protesting, contributing to political campaigns, contributing to charity, joining organizations, or simply being involved in their childrens schools, Latinos tend to do less of it. For nearly two decades now, the Hispanic vote has been regarded as the sleeping giant of American politics. Before every election, pundits predict that this time it will awake and determine the outcome. And 2008 was no exception. In 2004, roughly six in ten adult Latino citizens were registered to vote, and 47 percent turned out at the pollsfigures close to 10 percent below the rates for African-Americans and 20 percent behind whites. Meanwhile, no more than half of Latino adults tend to participate in other common forms of civic engagement such as giving to charity and joining organizations, while fewer than 10 percent take part in more focused activities such as contributing to a political campaign or seeking to influence policy. Still, this lagging participation shows signs of changing. When asked by the Latino National Survey if they were interested in politics, 20 percent said very, 30 percent not at all, with everyone else, roughly half, somewhere lukewarmly in the middle. Yet, interestingly, when asked whether they thought people like them have a say in what the government does, close to 60 percent said they feel they have some influence, with only three in 10 saying they have none. Whats more, Latino political participation looks significantly different when compared with other relative newcomers rather than settled blacks and whites. Indeed, recent national elections, Latino registration and voting has been on a par with that of Asian-Americans and if anything is slightly higher. And there was a sharp up-tick in Latino voting in the 2008 primaries: in California, their share of the Democratic electorate nearly doubled, and in several statesCalifornia, Texas, and New Mexicothey represented more than 30 percent of Democratic voters. These upward trends will surely continue in the future as the Latino share of the population grows and more and more Latinos become citizens. Both naturalization rates and political participation depend significantly on the political context. When American politics seem hostile to immigrants or immigration, Latinos rush to become citizens. This happened in California in the mid-1990s in the wake of the debate over Proposition 187, the ballot measure denying government benefits to unauthorized immigrants, and in 2007 in the wake of the Sen-
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ate battle over immigration reform. Newcomers also respond to encouragement, to naturalization drives and to any up-tick in help from organizations that facilitate the legal process. The 2008 campaign season brought an unprecedented push of that kind, including an array of get-out-the-vote campaings. And nothing would do more to spur Latino naturalization than immigration reform of the kind considered by Congress in 2006 and 2007. As is, there are thought to be some four to five million Latinos eligible to naturalize who have not done so. An immigration overhaul that included legalization for undocumented immigrants would likely increase that number to more than twelve million. Some skeptics argue that there is a cultural component to the Hispanic political participation gap: Latinos come from countries where government was rarely to be trusted and politics did not usually get one very far. Still, strikingly, some 70 percent of U.S. Latinos say they trust the governmentfar more than in any Latin American country. And certainly recent historythe 2006 rallies and the 2008 primariesseemed to suggest the potential for change. There is a fast growing sense among Latinos that they have a stake in America and that, on immigration as well as other issues, they have every right to make their voices heard.
WHATS IN A NAMEAND THE VALUES THAT GIVE IT MEANING

What do Latinos say when asked if they feel fully American? As with most opinion surveys, it depends how the question is posed. When the Latino National Survey asked, How strongly do you think of yourself as American, nearly two-thirds said somewhat strongly or very strongly, with only 15 percent saying not at all. Significantly larger percentages felt strongly Latino or Hispanic (85 percent) and strongly connected to their countries of origin (87 percent). And when asked which of these three affiliations meant more to them, only one in six answered American. But perhaps this is not surprising. After all, the overwhelming majority of Latinos are foreign born or only a generation removed from the Old Country, and most Americans today identify, at least nostalgically, with their immigrant origins. Whats more, Latinos self-descriptions change dramatically with time. When the Pew Hispanic Center asked a set of similar questions about identity and broke the answers down by the length of time immigrant families had been in the United States, it found that while most freshly arrived newcomers (68 percent) tag themselves first with the flag of their home country, for most thirdgeneration Latinos (57 percent), the term that came to mind first was American. Meanwhile, beneath the labels, which have only limited significance in any context, Latino immigrants values change dramatically the longer they live in the United States. The Pew Hispanic Center posed a battery of questions about
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values to first-, second-, and third-generation Latinos and found quantum leaps on everything from abortion and homosexuality to racial tolerance and the importance of the individual compared to the group. On social issues, answers shift about 15 percentage points from the first generation to the third: Nearly half of the first generation thinks divorce is unacceptable, for example, while twothirds of their grandchildren have made their peace with it. And by the third generation, Latino answers on social issues line up almost exactly with that of other Americans. But even more eye-catching are the changing views of immigrant families about American ideals and of what it takes to be successful in America. Are you willing to work long hours at the expense of your personal life? The overwhelming majority of the recently arrived and those still new enough in the United States to be Spanish-dominant say no. But nearly half of the English-dominant say yesright in line with non-Latino Americans. What about planning for the future? Is it helpful, or does it make more sense to trust to fate since you cant control the future anyway? Nearly 60 percent of the newly arrived say, trust to fate. But three-quarters of those who had been here long enough to become English-dominant feel they can plan for and influence the future. This is a remarkable shift on a deep-seated value and again an answer right in line with that of non-Latino Americans. The Latino National Survey found similar American attitudes among a wide range of U.S. Latinos. Nine in ten, for example, believe that all people have the same rights, an attitude that hardly prevails in most of Latin America. On some issues, Latinos values do not change no matter how long they have lived in the United States. First-generation or third, Spanish- or Englishdominant, all put considerably more value on family life than other Americans do, thinking relatives are more important than friends, for example, and that elderly parents should live with their adult children. But over all, what is startling in both the Latino National Survey and the Pew Hispanic Centers study of Latino attitudes is how much living in America transforms newcomers. What changes is not just the language they speak and how they organize their lives, but also their fundamental values, such as whether they put more store in fate or free will. Such a belief, once it changes, will affect how one approaches every aspect of ones lifea shift indeed at the heart of the difference between Americas entrepreneurial opportunity society and the hidebound, hierarchical worlds most Latino immigrants have left behind.
THE LAST STEPWHEN THE BOUNDARIES DISAPPEAR

But not even these changes, dramatic as they are, quite take the measure of how deeply many Latinos are sinking roots in America. The ultimate measure, the
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ultimate form of assimilation, is intermarriage. And Latino intermarriage rates are nothing short of breathtaking. Freshly arrived newcomersfirst-generation immigrantsrarely marry outside the group. But their offspring do: nearly a third of second-generation Latinos and 57 percent in the third generation and higher marry a non-Latino. (To understand how remarkable this is, compare it to black and white intermarriage rates: under 10 percent for U.S.-born blacks and whites.) As a consequence of this intermingling, there are now some two million children living in mixed Hispanic/non-Hispanic households, with many millions more sure to come. The good news is that these mixed families tend to be prosperous and well educatedmore so than unmixed Latino families and closer to the norms for non-Latino whites. The wild card for the future is how these children categorize themselves. Two-thirds consider themselves Hispanic or Latino and identify themselves that way when asked by the Census Bureau. But one-third do not, identifying themselves simply as white or black or some other race. And this trend will have far-reaching consequences, not just for the official number of Latinos in America, but also for the way we as a nation think about ethnic and racial identitycategories that are growing more fluid with every passing year. Social scientists predict that intermarriage will become more and more common in the future. There are many reasons for this: everything from changing social normsmore acceptance of mixed couplesto continuing high levels of immigration, to sheer momentum. Half of all mixed-race or mixedethnicity children do what their parents didmarry someone from another group. And the consequences promise to transform our society. By 2100, according to one estimate, a full one-third of the U.S. population will consist of mixed-origin Americans. This means not just mixed-Hispanic, but mixed-Asian, mixed white, mixed black, and more, to the point that, before long, the ingredients of the mix will hardly matter.
A MATTER OF CHOICEUP TO A POINT

How does all of this add up, and what does it mean for the future? It is a picture of dramatic change, both for individuals and for society. But it does not mean that individuals do not have a choice. They do. Jorge Vargas, whose story opened this essay, didnt have to become a citizen. Millions of other people just like him do not follow his path. His children may or may not feel strongly American. And they may or may not marry other Latinos. The American tradition of the melting pot has, by definition, rarely if ever insisted on complete conformity, and it certainly does not do so today. At its best, in earlier eras, that tradition asked immigrants to balance their national and ethnic origins with what it meant to be American.
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One way to think of this is as a balancing of cultural identity and civic identity. Traditionally in the United States, the first is more personal and particular, inherited or at least flavored by ones place of origin, while the second is more neutral or universal, that is, the ideas and ideals we share as Americans. At other times, for individual immigrants, the two are in conflict. At other times, immigrants and the mainstream are at odds, newcomers stressing one side of the equation, the native-born focused on the other. And at still other times, both newcomers and the native-born put more store by one side of the balance today, for example, on cultural identity and difference. But rarely in America have we lost balance completely. And when we have, we have self-corrected, usually fairly quickly. Another way to think of this is as a balance between private and public life. In private, at home, on the weekend, and in their neighborhoods, immigrants to the United States have generally been free to do as they please and be as ethnic as they liked. But when in the public spherein the workplace and concerning government and under the lawthe rules were supposed to apply neutrally to all, and people were expected to put group affiliations behind them. Of course, America hasnt always lived up to this ideal. American history, like any nations, includes dark stretches of hypocrisy and worse. Still, over time, the norm has been fairly consistent. We value or at least tolerate differenceits at the heart, after all, of what has made the country great. But in the end, we have traditionally held that what we have in common is more important than our differences, and we ask newcomers, including todays Latinos, to buy into that understanding. So far, as a group, Latinos seem generally comfortable with this balance. Once again, the story of Jorge Vargas is telling. He is a man not exactly rushing to be American, but one who seems to be getting there gradually, at his own pace. Other data in this chapter paint the same picture. Whether the measure is language acquisition, naturalization rates, political involvement, self-identification, shifting values, or intermarriage, Latinos are sometimes slow to participate or approach U.S. norms. But most of the trends point clearly in that direction. This isnt always a good thing. More assimilated Latinos get divorced as often as mainstream Americans, more readily and much more often than newly arrived Latinos. Still, for better and worse, the trajectory is clear. For most Latino newcomers, Americanization is proceeding apace. Not only that, but todays Latino immigrants also score well on a final test of assimilation: loyalty to the new nation. Even more than other changes, this is a matter of choice. We as a nation do not demand that sojourners join our body politic or sign up as official Americans. But once they haveonce they decide to naturalizewe ask them to commit wholeheartedly to our political ideals and
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to side with us against them when necessary, including, sometimes, taking up arms. And Latinos do so in great numbers. According to the Pew Hispanic Center research, Latino representation in the U.S. armed forces exceeds the rate one would expect given their percentage of the population and their education and income levels.
IMAGININGAND CREATINGA SHARED FUTURE

Still, for all the good news, the future is far from assured. Latino Americans are a people in flux, a group not just in transition but still poised, potentially, to go in many different directions, some up, some down, some more successful, some less so. And while we want to, and must, continue to allow immigrants to choose their destinies, if too many make the wrong choices, the nation as a whole will end up in trouble. The future depends not just on the newcomers and their children, but also on the United States as a nation and what we do to help Latinos help themselves. This cant be a matter of coercionwe cant and shouldnt try to force anyone to speak English or to throw their and their childrens lots in with that of the United States. Far more effective, we must inspire, even seduce new arrivals with the power of American ideals and our widely envied way of life. Its a task for all Americans, newcomer and native-born, government, business, and civil society. But together we must find a multitude of new ways to help those newly arriving Latinos (and others) who wish to become full-fledged Americans. The list of what is needed is extensive and it is just as urgent, maybe more so, as what we do to help newcomers make progress on more tangible dimensions of Americanization, such as financial literacy and home ownership. We need to provide more and better English instruction, both for children and for adults. (In some big cities, there are currently several dozen people waiting, often for years, for a seat in an adult English class.) We need to be doing more to encourage and celebrate citizenship. (In the early twentieth century, we used to welcome newly naturalized Americans with fireworks, parades, and lofty speeches, among other honors.) We need to find new ways to fill in for institutions, such as settlement houses and political partiesinstitutions that once helped socialize immigrants and drew them into the affairs of their adopted cities, but that have now disappeared or abandoned the role they once played for newcomers. Whats more, unlike banking or buying a home, when it comes to encouraging a sense of belonging, services alone wont be enough. We as a nation must also create a climate in which newcomers want to join and participate in American society. This should start with a respectful invitation. We ought to make clear that we welcome newcomers and hope that those who stay will put down
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roots. We need to make a better case for belongingneed to showcase the benefits and highlight the stakes and help the hesitant like Jorge Vargas understand why its worthwhile to become citizens. We need to find better ways to talk about our shared future, emphasizing inclusion as much as diversity and reminding new Americans that what we all have in common is more important than our differences. And when it comes to politics, we need to help immigrants see that their voices matter, and we need to find ways to do so that go beyond self-serving partisan recruitment. All of this will strike some Americans as intrusive. Others will find it unduly nationalistic. And others still, perhaps a majority, will see it as an afterthought or a luxury, far less important than, say, helping immigrants move up on the job or getting their kids through college. But here again the data is revealing. One of the most interesting findings of the Latino National Survey is that Latino citizens were three times more likely than noncitizen Latino to think education was a critical issue and something the nation should be spending more on. As citizens, they feel invested here, with a full stake in the American futurean attitude sure to work out better for them and for the communities where they settle. What will Latino America look like in 2050? Surely, it will still be a mixed picture. There will be pockets like Springdale, Arkansas and Crawford, Georgia: places teeming with new arrivals, men and women here to work and helping to sustain the U.S. economy, but unsure whether they will stay and still living more or less as their parents lived in rural Latin America. Other pockets will look like the older Latino neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles: more settled communities, mostly families, that have been here too long to uproot, but where people still live more or less in a parallel universein America but at an immigrant remove. And then there will be enclaves that hardly qualify as Latinothey will be that mixed. And Latinos will live prosperous, American lives as citizens, middle-class and better, full participants in the body politic and pillars of their community in those areasnot just of the Latino community, but of their cities and states and increasingly on the national stage. What kind of pockets will be more prevalent? Current trends are promising. But that doesnt mean we can or should leave it to chance. Its up to us as a nation to determine the answer. Nothing less than our American future depends on getting it right.
Part TWO Latinos and the Larger Society
FIVE INCREASING HISPANIC MOBILITY INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS: AN OVERVIEW

Harry P. Pachon
The Latino community has all-too-often been misconceived as a monolithic population of low-paid, blue-collar workers, agricultural laborers, and indistinguishable links in the chain holding the service economy in place. Harry P. Pachon, Ph.D., opens our eyes here to the realities of the rapidly growing Latino middle class. With the important ingredient of a heterogeneous immigrant background, challenges are considerablethe need for a better education and more financial security among thesebut a successful Latino middle class is essential to the success of Americas traditional and historically significant middle-class culture. Pachon is a professor of public policy at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California (USC). He also directs the Toms Rivera Policy Institute and was one of the three cofounders of the NALEO Educational Fund. Pachon has coauthored three books and has over twenty scholarly articles on Hispanics published in the United States.
he United States has a long history of pride in itself as a middle-class society. Essential components of the American ethos include the national drive for an open and free economic system, allowing individual economic advancement, the absence of permanent social status based on heredity, the right of political equality, and the belief that individuals should enjoy the
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right to provide for their family through hard work and personal capability. Some historians trace this cultural tradition back to the American Revolution; other scholars establish its roots in the decades just before the Civil War. Historical origins aside, enshrining this component of the American Dream in peoples minds has helped ensure the nations political stability and has legitimized the free market system, drawing millions of immigrants to this nation in the past two centuries. It is a phenomenon that shows no sign of abating. Thus, the health and continued growth of the middle class is an important aspect of maintaining American culture. It is well within the capacity of our nation to advance this cultural idea by integrating newcomers, people who are eager to labor and integrate and realize middle-class status. In turn, hard work and belief in this ideal by continuous waves of immigrants will help strengthen and invigorate this country. Today, Hispanics1 attempting to realize this dream comprise the largest acknowledged ethnic minority group in the nation. Many in this country assume that the increasing presence of Hispanics is largely due to unauthorized immigration of Latino laborers and their immediate families. This viewwhether true or notis understandable given its prevalence in the media and in the recurring political dialogue on immigration. However, it is even more crucial to recognize and spotlight the fact that Hispanics constitute a rapidly growing segment of Americas middle class. Much of this increase is due to the upward economic mobility of Latino legal immigrants. Popular opinion has also not yet acknowledged that Hispanics have made up two of every five legal immigrants to the United States for the past four decades. Legal immigration has contributed to long-establishedin some cases centuries-oldHispanic communities in the Southwest, North, and Southeast United States. Undoubtedly, the flow of unauthorized Hispanic immigrantsa group estimated to total more than 10 to 12 millionalso augments the population. Interestingly, however, this number also indicates that unauthorized Hispanics actually constitute less than 25 percent of the 50 million Hispanics2 in the nation. Birth rates overall for Hispanic immigrantsregardless of their legal statusand their children are higher than the simple replacement rate of two children, ensuring increasing numbers of native-born Hispanic U.S. citizens. This amounts to the potential of an expanding U.S. citizen/Hispanic middle class, albeit at a slower growth rate than should be expected in a nation placing so much weight and worth on achieving middle-class status. This essay takes a step in delineating the major challenges confronted by an Hispanic community attempting to achieve the necessary economic mobility to progress into middle-class ranks. Our focus is on two major policy areas: educational capital and asset development through home ownership. To address these issues requires addressing what it means to be middle class and the char-
Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview
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acteristics of the Hispanic community that have an impact on its participation in the American economy.
THE CURRENT DILEMMA OF AMERICAS MIDDLE CLASS

Several emerging factors in the American economy complicate Hispanic mobility into U.S. societys middle class. For one, it is broadly acknowledged that the American middle class as a whole is facing major challenges in maintaining its traditional socioeconomic position.3 Globalization of the economy born of substantial political developments coupled with rapidly improving information and communication technologies have delivered on the promise of opening international markets to U.S. businesses. However, market globalization has not been a one-way street. Overseas labor competition in the new world economy has also driven down the pay of American workers. U.S. workers, particularly in the production of physical goods, compete against substantially cheaper yet equally efficient foreign labor.4 Trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA have apparently exacerbated the trend.5 This new economic reality has resulted in major industries, from the production of chocolate candies to the manufacturing of computer parts, outsourcing labor to overseas or Western Hemisphere labor siteswith a corresponding loss of these positions in the American labor market.6 The loss of U.S. jobs that provide the basis of middleclass living has been viewed by some as evolving our nation into a bimodal labor market, in which middle-income positions grow scarce while jobs abound at the two extremes of the labor force: in the service industries with corresponding lower wages and fewer chances of economic mobility, and in the information processing fields, where higher pay eases upward mobility but also requires more education.7 Another factor affecting analysis of an ethnic groups middle class is the characterization of the term itself. How do we define the American middle class? There is no widely accepted formula for a status affected both by income and occupation. Although income is the widely accepted determinant, some low-paying occupations still retain middle class status: clergy and public school teachers, for example. For this essay, a simple income measure, such as the Hispanic communitys position in median U.S. income range, while it does not suffice in giving a complete picture of the Latino middle class, will serve as a good beginning. Let us assume that middle-class status is delimited by an approximate annual income of $50,000 to $100,000. Although the lower end of this range may seem low, it is a conservative base point reflecting median household income in all American families.
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Figure 1 [see Appendix I, p. 215] highlights the household income of all white non-Hispanic families vis--vis Hispanic household income. As shown, there is a $25,000 gap between the two groups. However, separating native from foreign born Hispanics demonstrates a significantly reduced income gap between the former and white non-Hispanics. Higher income growth for this community, however, does not continue unabated. As one scholar points out, The children of immigrants catch up slowly. 8 In Figure 2, [see Appendix I, p. 215] Alejandro Portes, a noted sociologist, graphically points to the clear potential problem of expanding Hispanic multigenerational poverty. Briefly stated, he holds that, due to high immigration from Latin American countries with few employment opportunities and given the demand for lowwage labor in the United Statesa significant number of second-generation Hispanics (the children of immigrants), raised in resource-poor central cities, sites characterized by high crime rates, pandemic drug use, and poor schools, are negatively affected in their economic mobility opportunities.9 Despite these sobering perspectives, other experts have found reason for optimism, especially for native-born Latinos. As one expert puts it:
Future analyses need to acknowledge the diversity among Latinos. Relying on statistics that are substantially depressed by the low socioeconomic profile of recent Latino immigrants tend to exaggerate the extent to which native-born Latinos are economically disadvantaged and non-middle class.10
Further substantiating this point is Figure 3 [Appendix I, p. 216], which demonstrates that over 20 percent of Hispanics live in households earning more than the median household income of white non-Hispanics overall ($65,180) and a segment of Hispanic households (9%) also have incomes of over $100,000. The presence of the Hispanic middle class is a reality in American society, but adopting this perspective does not negate the undeniable issue of Hispanic poverty. The above income figures clearly show a significant income gap between Hispanics with low levels of educationparticularly foreign born and non-Hispanic whites. Other sources show 26 percent of Hispanics have zero net worth and the remaining an average net worth of $16,000, while the average white non-Hispanic household has a net worth of $88,000.11
THE COMPLEXITY OF THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY

Affluence cuts across acculturation, language, or life stage. This person could be an industrialist coming in from Argentina and landing his G4 in Miami. Or it could be the guy walking into the bank in paint-splattered overalls who wants to cash a $400 check. Or the guy who owns five body shops, or the woman who
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owns a string of beauty salons. They may not look or speak like the affluent, but they are. They may not have a college degree or an MBA, but their business needs are the same. They need access to capital. They need financial advice. They want to preserve and grow their wealth. They want to take care of their kids and provide for their education. They have all the same goals as everyone else, but this audience is not being well-served.12
So reads an excerpt from a 2007 report by the Toms Rivera Policy Institute. Clearly, there is not one homogenous Hispanic community. Having a nuanced view of individuals and recognizing that Latinos occupy low- and middleincome categories in significant numbers more closely reflects the heterogeneous socioeconomic status of the nearly fifty million Hispanics in the United States. Although two-thirds of the community is of Mexican descent, there are significant numbers of Central Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other South Americans present in the nation. The heterogeneity of Hispanic origins, particularly the Cuban Americans distinct encounters with government agencies and separate historical experience coming into the United States, also colors the socioeconomic status of Hispanic subgroups. Simply put, Latinos in small-town west Texas face different challenges to economic mobility than Latinos in Los Angeles or New York City. Latinos also are differentiated by their length of residence in the United States. There is a tendency to think of Hispanic immigrants as frozen in socioeconomic positions determined by their economic and educational situation at the time of their arrival here.13 Instead, significant differences in language ability and acculturation, based on length of residence and age of immigration have an impact on an individuals ability to move up the social ladder. Therefore, a Latino who enters this country at the age of four will be significantly more proficient in English after a decade than a Latino who arrives at the age of forty. Length of residence in the United States holds particular significance as a key to understanding the Hispanic community. This factor is compounded by the length of time necessary to achieve authorized status. The overall age of foreign born Hispanics is another significant variable in understanding the economic position of this community. The average age of a Latino is over thirteen years less than the average age of a non-Hispanic white (27.3 years versus 40.6 [see Figure 4, Appendix I, p. 216]. This is significant, as Figures 5-7 [see Appendix I, p. 216-217] illustrate, since most Americans peak period of financial expenditure is between 40 and 55 years old. Its safe to assume this age range also corresponds to the period of an individuals highest income. Bear in mind that length of authorized status for foreign born Hispanics also has an impact on an immigrants potential. As an example, considering both
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age and length of authorized status, the three million Latinos alone, who gained legal status in the 1990s as a result of the Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986, whose average age was 29, have not yet realized their full economic earning potential. A final factor contributing to the Latino communitys heterogeneity is the presence of mixed ethnicities among third-generation Hispanics; in other words, the grandchildren of Hispanic immigrants. Out-marriage rates, called exogamy by sociologists, reach 30 to 40 percent in the Hispanic community by the third generation.14 Exogamy rates illustrate the fact that the integration of Hispanics with larger America is occurring at a most fundamental level: the mixing of blood. Today, and more so in the coming years, many third-generation Hispanics may be distinguished only by surname or be otherwise indistinguishable. In the end, when attempting to explore Hispanic middle-class growth, it is helpful to be aware of wide variations of national origin, personal background, geographic locale, length of U.S. residence, age of immigration, and the presence of non-Hispanic surnames in the household. If it is in the nations interest for the public and private sectors to support middle-class growth of Latinos and promote worthy life opportunities for this burgeoning U.S. population, where should the effort begin? Given the variations in this community, is it possible to recommend one-size-fits-all policies to promote and uphold Hispanic movement into the middle class? Groundbreaking research on promoting economic mobility for low-income groups has been supported by the Ford Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation through works such as Assets for the Poor and Social Capital and Poor Communities. Policy briefs and reports by the Demos Foundation also are providing stimulating ideas for policy makers to consider. Since moderate- and low-income Hispanics share many characteristics of other moderate- and lowincome groups in American society, these works are of particular relevance in understanding general factors affecting Hispanic economic mobility. We will examine selected policy recommendations here, aspects of which have been illuminated in greater depth by policy research carried out by the Toms Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) in the past decade and those particularly relevant to Hispanic families. Simply stated, the following issues and recommendations are meant to be components of the overall mobility agenda, complementing it by fostering growth and economic mobility in the Hispanic community itself.
JOURNEY TO THE MIDDLE CLASS

What steps must be taken for minority households such as Hispanic families to move into the middle-income range? While there are a number of factors
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affecting income mobility, the acquisition of educational capital is undoubtedly the most common means of such movement [see Figure 8, Appendix I, p. 218]. There are, however, other factors present in assisting class mobility such as, for example, engaging in micro-enterprise formation; increasing employment income over time, or leveraging credit through participation in American financial institutions. Each of these factors does not have the widespread and rapid impact provided by increased educational achievement. So that, for instance, the rate and numbers of business formations has to be considered in the context of the high number of failed business formation efforts (regardless of the ethnic background of the entrepreneur); employment mobility linked to higher income is affected by the characteristics of the present U.S. labor market, which requires an advanced level of education for many higher-level salaried positions. Finally, participation in American financial institutions, such as full use of bank/credit union and credit card services, which reduce costs for financial transactionsestimated to be close to 70 percent in savings in comparison to check cashing outlets. Further, allowing credit histories to develop is difficult for many Hispanic immigrants to achieve due to lower levels of education and legalistic barriers. This latter point is all the more significant if one considers that the development of credit allows for income leveraging and asset development (primarily home purchasing) as well as the potential for wealth creation and transference of such wealth to future generations. Acquiring educational capital, therefore, is one of the major factors promoting occupational mobility in American society. A well-used statistic indicates that college graduates earn one million dollars more in a lifetime than peers who do not complete a secondary education.15 Clearly, if higher education levels are required to promote greater mobility in the American economy, then educational preparedness should be one of the highest priorities for Hispanic and other communities. As a starting point, it is important to examine the educational experiences currently afforded Hispanic children. To do this, it will be useful to consider what would constitute an ideal educational system for all children. A goal proposed by TRPI and adopted unanimously by the National Hispanic Conference of State Legislators (NHCSL) is unfortunately not enjoyed in contemporary American society by children of all backgrounds, races and ethnicities. However, imagine an educational system constructed to function in a proactive, responsive, and seamless way for all children in the United States:
Specifically, all children tend to be naturally curious, engaged with their environment, motivated, and excited about learning. With suitable early parenting
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and encouragement, cognitive enrichment, and healthy home and community environments, they will build on this framework in formal school settings. Once there, if they are provided with teachers with high expectations, proven educational tools and materials, challenging and competent instruction, and continuing encouragement by parents and family, they will rapidly acquire the basic skills and concepts of language expression and understanding, math, and science, and then move on to more detailed substantive knowledge in various disciplines and subjects. As they grow in educational attainment and achievement, and stay consistently engaged with schooling, children will expand their competencies and aspirations. They and their parents will become aware of opportunities and challenges beyond K-12, take the necessary steps to become qualified for this next level, and be encouraged and assisted in the process by teachers, counselors, and school leaders. College officials, in turn, will reach out to communities, families, and high school students and make them more aware of the need for opportunities in higher education. Students will aspire to enroll in those colleges and universities that maximize their long-term educational and career potential. While enrolled in college, they will be supported by systems of encouragement and guidance that will maintain them, and steer them to the next levels of education, as desired and appropriate. Those who are enrolled in community colleges will benefit from well-developed, smoothly functioning systems of transition with four-year colleges and universities. In fact, the entire pre-K to grade 18 system will work in an integrated manner, in function, if not structure.16
A gap exists between the ideal and actual educational prospects of Latino students, as well as an unsettling divide between real opportunities afforded Latino and other minorities, and non-Latino students. These educational gaps exist at all grade levels of education in the United States. From pre-kindergarten educational experiences to post-collegiate education, each substantive field has its own challenges and complexities. Not only is it imperative to move toward doing what is right and moral by equalizing educational opportunities for Hispanic children, but the long-term prospects for maintaining the economic vitality of this country are doubtful without encouraging the full economic potential of Latino and other minority youth. In this sense, the stakeholders in the educational policy arena go beyond traditional educational advocacy and communitybased organizations. Leading-edge companies, technology-based industry, and those organizations committed to a robust and participative political economy all are aligned around this issue. In truth, this issue should be of national concern to all Americans. There are cross-cutting issues and policy recommendations at play at all levels of the Hispanic educational progress. The two following basic policy recommendations serve as sketches of what should become the components of building educational capital at any level in the Hispanic community.
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CULTURE VERSUS COGNITION

The first of these recommendations is that the American educational system has to incorporate into its operational practices the understanding that many students hail from households with parents who have low levels of education, limited English proficiency, and experience only with other foreign educational systems, which differ significantly from the U.S. system. Close to half of all Hispanic adults are foreign born. Basic knowledge of Americas educational opportunities must be presented to immigrant parents in their native language and with an awareness of their educational backgrounds. Rather than shifting blame for Hispanic under-education to Latino culture, the system must understand that the lack of information, or cognition, may be a primary factor in Hispanic youth who are not achieving their full educational potential. For example, early childhood education (prekindergarten) does not exist in most Latin American countries, so the benefits of prekindergarten schooling must be explained in a straightforward manner. At the other end of the educational spectrum, preparation for college, the full benefits of a postsecondary education, and college financing must be explained to both parents and Hispanic youth. Studies by TRPI, for example, indicate that large numbers of Latino parents in major metropolitan areas have high aspirations for their childrens college education but difficulty understanding the path of college preparedness. Many Latino parents lack understanding about basic components of the U.S. system, such as the difference between a community college and a fouryear university, or between a college preparatory and a general secondary education curriculum, or the importance of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Other TRPI studies indicate that this lack of understanding extends to college financing options, making the already intimidating prospect of paying for college even more daunting.17 To this end, standard procedures in immigrant school districts should include but not be limited to: Bilingual parental education workshops on resources parents can provide children to enhance college preparedness Integration of the value of a collegiate education in middle and high school curriculum Teacher training on educating children with limited English ability Basic school informational materials offered in the students native home language College financing options explained at early points in secondary school
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If education is a key to protecting and improving economic mobility in American society, Latino civic leaders at all levels of government and the nonprofit sector should demand accountability for Latino educational performance from teachers, school administrators, and elected officials. It truly can be said that on the issue of promoting educational opportunity, Latino leaders should remember the famous quote attributed to English statesman Lord Palmerston, [We] have no permanent friends or allies, [we] only have permanent interests.
BUDGETING FOR EDUCATION: CRUCIAL RESOURCES

Along with a cultural approach to educational progress, it is important to state that even at a time of fiscal retrenchment, education budgets should be among the last considered for reductions by Hispanic civic leaders. State legislators and school board members in states below the national norm in per capita spending on education should become forceful advocates for bringing educational spending up to national levels. This recommendation does not underestimate the challenge and magnitude of the cost. For example, to bring just California, Florida, and Texas to the national average per capita state education spending would require each state to increase their education budget by two billion to three billion per year. Present fiscal circumstances do not bode well in the near term. A long-term strategy, however, should be developed and include a timetable for attaining funding parity. To this end, Blue Ribbon Commissions on alternate funding for state-supported education programs in locations with large Hispanic and other immigrant populations should be established.
LATINO ASSET DEVELOPMENT AND ASSET PROTECTION

The principal asset of the American middle class is home ownership. As one author so aptly says, Owning ones own home, even if in reality the bank is truly the owner, is fundamental to the . . . American Dream.18 Widespread home ownership has increased the assets that American families can draw on to start a business, pay for college, or fund retirement. Unfortunately, Latino home ownership lags a full twenty points behind white non-Hispanic rates. Granted, the overall rates of home ownership have increased in the past two decades for Latino families, but trailing so far behind remains a significant problem. If increasing the rate of Latino home ownership is essential to helping more individuals rise into the middle class, then efforts to that end are bound to benefit not only the growing Hispanic community, but also the country as a whole. The first step in attracting more Latinos into home ownership is to concede that the process is more time-intensive and complex than a simple two-step effort.
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Buying a home is a multistage process in which prospective home buyers must negotiate a various and unfamiliar set of players, from realtors to lending institutions and title and escrow companies. At each stage, the home buyer confronts qualitatively distinct issues, and individuals can face a variety of barriers along the way before closing a deal. Prospective home buyers of Latino origin encounter different kinds of barriers to home ownership depending on their own unique mix of characteristics.
The particular barriers encountered are determined by a set of factors including the information they bring to the home-buying experience. For immigrants who speak little English, it is a daunting task to acquire information on and about the process. Help from others is almost certainly required. This situation would be exacerbated among recent immigrants who are not yet well placed in established community networks.19
As a result, there are many potential pitfalls on the way to full information about the various aspects of the home-buying process, including but not limited to: Starting the process Attempting to qualify for a mortgage, e.g., uninformed or misinformed about eligibility Finding a real estate agent or broker Finding an appropriate house Making offers and negotiating a sale price While the first step may not be too difficult to launch, consider the second step of qualifying for a loan. According to one banks CEO:
Home ownership continues to be the preferred and most stable path to the middle class and its ability to build net worth. Under FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation), Latinos do not fare well. FICO scores applicants anywhere from 350 to 850, with 620 and below being the benchmark for an at risk applicant. FICO looks at how long the applicant has had credit, the type of credit, the number of applications for credit, the applicants payment history, and the amount owed in the application. This means that those who live in a cash economy and who are averse to accumulating revolving debtboth traits that are endemic to the Latino cultureare hardly a blip on the FICO radar.20
In this complex environment, three out of four Hispanic renters of Mexican heritage report being either somewhat or totally unfamiliar with how to qualify for a mortgage. In contrast, more than half the population studied in another TRPI studywho had either bought a home or were in the final steps of a purchase reported familiarity with how to qualify for a mortgage. Half of this group was
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actively engaged in home purchasing activity despite some unfamiliarity with the mortgage qualification process. Therefore, familiarity with how to qualify for a mortgage can influence the transition to home ownershipbut only in part. Unfamiliarity with how to qualify for a loan goes hand in hand with misinformation about other aspects of participation in American financial processes. TRPI research has found that prospective Latino home buyers either have no information or, even worse, misinformation. The following issues are recommended for informational programs in both the public and private sectors to better educate and inform Latino families about the intricacies of home buying. According to the TRPI study, the majority of Latino home buyers of Mexican origin did not know that banks and other lenders in the United States make mortgage loans to legal permanent residents who are non-U.S. citizens. Onehalf of those planning to buy did not believe it possible, or they were not sure. A full half of respondents who were home owners were not informed about this issue. Although TRPI data do not provide evidence of a direct relationship between misinformation and the potential transition to home ownership, such a high level of misinformation among Latino home buyers certainly indicates a barrier to home ownership. The current situation holds a unique opportunity for analysis and action for the public to get the facts straight. Poor understanding of the difference between the American financial systems and operations in a Hispanic country of origin also is present in sectors other than real estate. Highlighting the unfamiliarity with American financial issues is the concept of asset protection, or participation in the insurance industry. For example, three out of four Hispanics in California [see Figure 9, Appendix I, p. 218] own auto insurancea state requirementwhile less than half surveyed owned life or home owners insurance. This puts assets at risk as well as not providing income protection for spouses and children. Here again in these figures, the issues of length of residence, age, and generational status demonstrate large variations [see Figures 10-12, Appendix I, p. 219]. Roughly 10 percent of the respondents in this statewide study indicated that insurance was an unnecessary expense.21 Overall, the current situation points to a unique opportunity for analysis and future action in the public and private sectors.
IN CONCLUSION
Studies regarding public policies that promote economic mobility of Latinos into the middle class should consistently acknowledge and address issues of importance in Hispanic circles. Millions of Hispanics are foreign born with limited English-speaking ability. The need for bilingual services in the public and private sectors whenever programs to assist this community are created is evi-
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dent. This includes the distribution of bilingual financial, educational, and assetprotection information. Another aspect of the Hispanic communitys significant foreign born population demands attention. Foreign born status, in particular at a time of heated immigration rhetoric and anti-immigrant hostility, has far-reaching consequences in the Latino community. The presence of authorized as well as unauthorized immigrants in many Latino households raises the issue of whether household members will seek out financial institutions. Anxiety about jeopardizing legal status for legal permanent residents, individuals under temporary protected status, or individuals undergoing an adjustment of statuslet alone unauthorized immigrantsmay inhibit full participation in this countrys economic and education systems. Public controversy regarding the use of home countries matrcula consular by Hispanic immigrants for loan identification is a relevant example. The Latino middle class is a growing reality in the Hispanic community. The United States has a growing number of American-born Hispanics, and demographics point to a significant population increase of this group in the next decade. Informed public and private sector policies that recognize this countrys untapped potential in the faces of Hispanics can dramatically maximize the Latino middle class and reward those who are dedicated and hardworking with the reality of the American Dream, which ultimately will protect and improve the foundation on which America is built.
SIX LATINO SMALL BUSINESS A BIG PRESENT, A BIGGER FUTURE

Ada M. lvarez
Ada M. lvarez has been an award-winning journalist, a successful investment banker, and a high-ranking public official. A Harvard graduate (1971), Bill Clinton named her Administrator of the Small Business Administration, thus she became the first Hispanic woman to serve in a presidents cabinet. Ms. lvarez was the founding director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) and is currently a director on the board of Wal-Mart and the Union BanCal Corp/Union Bank of California, among others, and chairs the Latino Community Foundation. In this sharply focused essay, lvarez describes the overall status of Latino small business (offering examples along the way) and the nature of Latino entrepreneurship. Finally, she lays out convincing agendas for Latino micro businesses for strengthening Latino business and for growing Latino-owned businesses.
here are hundreds of thousands of Latino small business owners, Hispanic entrepreneurs with an appetite for growth. Their backgrounds are varied, their experiences distinct. They are all part of Americas economic success, each with a story to tell, a role to play. Yet there are very few serious studies of the Latino small business sector.
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This chapter aims to spark interest in research and analysis of Latino small businesses. It demonstrates the importance of Hispanic businesses to Americas economic competitiveness and it proposes a national Latino small business agenda for economic progress.
SMALL BUSINESS IS BIG BUSINESS

From colonial times to the present, small business has been a dynamic force in American life. However, the dominance of big business has often overshadowed the significance of small business. Furthermore, our love affair with the entrepreneur as a self-reliant individual, epitomizing the American spirit, has sometimes obscured the complexity underlying small business success. The time for underestimating the importance of small business is over. The numbers speak for themselves. In 2006 there were 26.8 million small businesses in the United States. According to the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) small firms: Represent 99.9 percent of all employer firms. Hire half of all private sector employees and pay more than 45 percent of the total U.S. private payroll. Create more than 50 percent of nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP). Supplied more than 22.8 percent of the total value of federal prime contracts in fiscal year 2006. Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs over the last decade. To put it simply, small business is big business in America.
THE U.S. HISPANIC SMALL BUSINESS ECONOMY

Within the vibrant sector of U.S. small businesses, Hispanic-owned businesses are among the fastest growing. A Census Bureau study, covering the period 1997 to 2002, found that Latino small businesses had grown at triple the national average for all small businesses. In 2002, Hispanics owned 1.6 million nonfarm businesses. They employed 1.5 million persons and generated $222 billion in business revenues. Hispanics constituted the largest minority business community and owned 6.6 percent of all U.S. firms. Census Bureau Director Louis Kincanon said, The growth we see in Hispanic-owned businesses illustrates the changing fabric of Americas business and industry. With Hispanic businesses among the fastest growing segments of
Latino Small Business: A Big Present, a Bigger Future
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our economy, this is a good indicator of how competitiveness is driving the American economy. There were 29,184 Hispanic firms with receipts of $1 million or more. There were 1,508 Hispanic firms with 100 employees or more, which accounted for $42 billion in gross receipts. More than 1.4 million Latino-owned businesses have no employees. These are the self-employed, the micro-businesses. Economist Barbara Robles observes that The data are suggestive and compelling: The growth engine for Hispanic business is occurring among the selfemployed and the micro-entrepreneur. If we were to assume that a continued modest growth rate of 30 percent has occurred between 2002 and 2007 for micro-entrepreneurs, our current Hispanic micro-business universe stands at 1.8 million and conceivably higher, given the increases in Hispanic population growth during the same time period.
STARTING SMALL
The worlds smallest and poorest entrepreneurs have not been without their champions in the twentieth century. Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus gained recognition by lending to the poor through his Bangladesh-originated Grameen Bank. Here in America, the most recognized micro-lender is ACCION USA, about 70 percent of whose borrowers are Latinos. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, ACCION USA received Fast Companys Social Capitalist Award for changing the world by using entrepreneurial genius to solve some of the most daunting social problems. Using a network of microfinance institutions, ACCION provides micro-loans to men and women who might not otherwise obtain financing. The average loan is about $6,000 though the size may vary from $500 to $50,000. The network has disbursed over $154 million in small business loans to more than 16,000 entrepreneurs in the United States. ACCIONs biggest success story to date is Anthony Ted Terrazas, the Hispanic Texas entrepreneur who turned a $10,000 loan from ACCION into a $25-million business. Terrazas formed TerraHealth to provide medical staffing, consulting and information technology to the military. As is the case with many minority businessmen and women, the biggest opportunities often take the form of federal contracts. In 2006 TerraHealth reported sales of more than $25 million, a growth rate of 8,000 percent. Hispanic Business magazine recognized Terrazas company as
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number one in its 2006 listing of the countrys 100 Fastest Growing Companies led by Hispanic entrepreneurs. Later in 2006, Terrazas announced TerraHealths participation as one of five teams in a $1.9 billion ten-year contract to provide medical staffing to the U.S. Air Force. Today TerraHealth is expanding beyond government contracts with a commercial services division and an international division. The combination of Terrazas talent and ambition, coupled with an initial micro-loan and eventual federal contracting opportunities, have catapulted him to major success. Stories like these inspire hope, and while Terrazas exceptional success may be atypical, success stories abound on a smaller scale. No wonder experts like Barbara Robles champion the self-employed as the growth engine for Hispanic business. Certainly, the extraordinary growth of TerraHealth, starting with a visionary businessman and a micro-loan, is a compelling example of the possibilities. Few can ignore the potential economic impact of millions of small business owners on the U.S. economy.
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS VS. ENTREPRENEURS

There are those who differentiate between small business owners and entrepreneurs. These experts contend that meaningful business growth is about wealth formation and job creation, not just self-employment. Its the entrepreneurs, they argue, who will ultimately shape this countrys future. In her book, Vision! Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the United States, author Mabel Tinjaca writes:
A penchant for growth defines successful entrepreneurs more than anything else, and is therefore a core competency. It differentiates small business owners from entrepreneurs . . . Growth is important because it translates into jobs and wealth. That, in turn, leads to community growth and revitalization, and is especially important for city leaders looking for economic solutions for neighborhoods at risk. Hence, investing in high-growth ventures can bring prosperity to areas in need of a booster shot.
That was precisely what Harvard MBA Eduardo Rallo had in mind when he got involved with Pacific Community Ventures (PCV), a community focused venture capital fund. Rallos goal has always been to do well and to do good: The goal at PCV is to create sustainable businesses that can provide returns. At the same time, we only invest in brick and mortar companies that create jobs. An example would be a chain of supermarkets in San Jose, California, called Su Vianda. The stores have two hundred employees and provide training for workers.
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Another example is Timbuk2. Rallo served as an active board member and key participant in the growth and sale of Timbuk2, known for its fashionable messenger bags. That company returned close to five times the initial investment and, according to Rallo, one million dollars went to forty blue-collar workers. Rallo is also chairman and cofounder of Resmex Group, Inc., which manages eight different restaurant concepts in the Bay Area and has over four hundred employees. In addition, three years ago he cofounded and now chairs Farmacias Remedios, a pharmacy chain focused on the Hispanic market where Rallo sees tremendous growth opportunities. Rallo typifies the new wave of Latino entrepreneurs whose core competency is growth, but who are still very much connected to their roots. Armed with education and confidence, they are not afraid to take risks. They recognize that smart risk-taking leads to greater rewards. What we are seeing is a shift in the mindset of Latino entrepreneurs.
SHIFTING THE MINDSET

In 2005 the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) issued a report entitled Realizing the New Agenda for Minority Business Development. Commissioned by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the report identified trends supporting or impeding the development of minority-owned businesses and outlined a series of recommendations. As if echoing Tinjacas words about growth, the reports research director James H. Lowry wrote: Only large, sustainable minority-owned businesses can create the jobs and wealth needed to invigorate both local and national economies. (. . .) Achieving continued progress therefore demands a new agenda with a focus on growing large and self-sustaining minority businesses. Lowry made the case that what was required for minority-owned businesses to move to the next level was a shift in the mindset. Small businesses need to think big in order to grow businesses of size. That requires openness to partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Small businesses have to take advantage of corporate supplier diversity programs and federal contracting opportunities. For Carlos Antonio Garcia, shifting his thinking has been a key to his outstanding success. This Columbia MBA is the founder and CEO of KIRA, a Miamibased military-facility construction, management, and maintenance firm. Garcia started out doing work for the Department of Energy but soon realized that the significant federal contracting opportunities were at the Department of Defense. Getting started wasnt easy. In 1987 his search for financing to start up the business met with failure. Twenty-three banks turned him down. Finally, he
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chose to finance himself. Garcia invested $2,000 and moved in with his sister to save rent. By 2006 KIRA was making revenues of $60 million. Adept at partnering with other contractors, Garcia joined with CH2M HILL to compete for an Air Force contract. In July, the U.S. Air Force awarded KIRA and its joint venture partner a $170-million contract to maintain the U.S. Air Force Academy for seven years. That same year, Garcia formed a venture capital unit to fund subcontractors, all owned by disabled veterans and disadvantaged individuals, that provide services in KIRAs industries. In addition to financing, Garcias goal is to provide contracting leads and advice on the government procurement process. For his accomplishments, Garcia was recognized as 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year by Hispanic Business magazine. His company has won dozens of awards, including recognition as one of the fastest growing inner-city companies in America by Inc. Magazine.
TRACKING GROWTH
Jesus Chavarria, longtime editor and publisher of Hispanic Business magazine publishes an issue every year that includes the 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. According to Chavarria, the list among other things, acts as a pipeline of middle-market businesses poised to become Hispanic Business 500 companies. Our historic editorial aim has been to identify and track the emerging U.S. Hispanic small business market, and both the fastest growing and largest company lists serve as critical indicators of the state of the U.S. Hispanic economy. If the latest research is any indication, Hispanic businesses are growing at a rapid pace. Recently, HispanTelligence, the research arm of Hispanic Business magazine, indicated that the number of Latino businesses was surging to more than three million in 2008. Revenues were greater than $389 billion. HispanTelligence touted this as a 91.3 percent increase since 2002, with sales growth expanding by 58.5 percent. The same report contained projections that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States would grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues growing 39 percent to more than $539 billion. By these measures, the U.S. Hispanic economy is moving in the right direction. This impressive growth has not been ignored by Americas largest lenders. In 1997 Wells Fargo launched Latino Business Services to support and build relationships with Latino business owners. Their lending goal was $5 billion over thirteen years. To date they have lent over $4 billion.
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LATINA ENTREPRENEURS: A DRIVING FORCE

An important element of this growth has been the rapid expansion of the Latina-owned business sector. When the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data, they discovered the following: From 1987 to 1999 the number of women-owned firms in the U.S. increased by 103 percent, growing employment by 320 percent and revenues by 436 percent. A bigger discovery was that over the same nine-year period, Latina-owned firms increased by 206 percent, growing employment by 487 percent, and revenues by 534 percent. The report concludes: Clearly, Latina-owned businesses are a growing and driving force in the nations economy. As an SBA administrator, I used the occasion of national Small Business Week to invite successful entrepreneurs to Washington D.C. to share their stories with others. In 1999 I asked Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, founder and CEO of Lulus Desserts, to speak to a national audience about her experience starting her business and the role played by SBA. As with so many entrepreneurs, Sobrino had an aha! moment that changed the course of her life. She was in a California supermarket looking for a ready-to-eat gelatin dessert that was very popular and available in Mexico. It was nowhere to be found. She traveled to Tijuana to purchase the ingredients and used her mothers recipe to prepare the dessert at home with her daughter. One thing led to another and soon Sobrino was preparing Lulus Desserts in her own kitchen, three hundred cups a day, to distribute to local markets. Having no credit with a bank, Sobrino invested every penny she had to take the company to the next level. This was back in 1982. Later, an SBA 504 loan helped her purchase her own building, buy equipment, and, with increased capacity, expand her employee base. Sobrino established the Lulus Dessert brand. Ready-to-eat gelatin desserts in a cup were new in this country until Sobrino put them on store shelves. Right now she is doing about $7 million in sales. She has developed products for Whole Foods. Today, Lulus Desserts can even be found at Wal-Mart stores. Sobrino has been sharing her story with audiences around the country, including at President George W. Bushs Economic Forum in Waco, Texas. In her first book, Thriving Latina Entrepreneurs in America, Sobrino not only tells of her experiences, but that of seven other outstanding Latinas as well.
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MAKE MINE A MILLON $ BUSINESS

Nell Merlino was in the room when the Make Mine a Million $ Business program was born. As she describes it, the idea was to build a community online of a million women who have declared their desire to build a million dollar business. From among those entering the competition, a group of women entrepreneurs would be selected. Women whose businesses had revenues of $200,000 or more would have the opportunity to win a free year of mentoring, marketing, and technology assistance, as well as a $50,000 line of credit from American Express. Among the winners of the competition were a number of outstanding Latinas, like Damaris Valero, founder and chief executive officer of Animus Entertainment. Her company produces lifestyle content for television and news media outlets. Valero said she entered the competition when she realized that her company needed to be organized for growth. When asked if she thought she would reach the million-dollar goal, Valero responded with confidence. She has already sold the companys award-winning gourmet health show, Romancing Your Palate, to a worldwide market. Another winner was Gina Stern. Stern, whose parents are of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, hails from the Bronx, New York. Her company, d-parture spa, has three full-service spas located in airport terminals in Orlando, Florida and Newark, New Jersey. Her business brought in $1.2 million in 2006, up from $950,000 the prior year. Stern has plans to take her company internationally. There is no doubt that Wells Fargo and American Express see a promising business opportunity in the Latino- and women-owned business community. Susan Sobott, president of OPEN from American Express and a founding partner of the Make Mine a Million $ Business program makes this prediction: One million women at one million dollars in revenues by 2010 means a possible four million new jobs and $700 billion to the U.S. economy. Latina women will be a part of that equation.
THE LAST MERITOCRACY

The 1990s, the so-called New Economy, have been characterized as a period that was color-blind and gender-blind, enabling women and minorities to make great strides. One expert has gone so far as to describe small business as the last meritocracy. The term evokes the romantic notion of the entrepreneur striking out on his or her own, and succeeding, without outside assistance. Certainly, successful small business owners bring tremendously hard work and energy to the task at hand. No doubt the booming economy of the 1990s created unprecedented opportunities. But to ignore the historic challenges faced by
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women and minorities in the business arena and the important role played by government to level the playing field, would be a distortion of history. The civil rights and womens rights movement of the late 1960s gave rise to the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974. Finally, women and minorities had a legal right to capital and credit. The Boston Consulting Group report included the following short history of minority business development: The 1960s. In the wake of the civil rights movement, minority business development emerged as national priority. Government contracting opportunities were reserved for minority businesses using set-asides. The 1970s. Federal, state, and local governments launched programs to provide minority small businesses with access to government purchasing opportunities and limited financing. Corporations developed similar procurement opportunities. The 1980s. Increases in set-aside programs prompted government contractors to develop more subcontracting opportunities for minority suppliers. Programs administered through the SBA and the U.S. Department of Commerces Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) improved the capabilities of minority suppliers. Opportunities also started arising for women-owned businesses. The 1990s. As government set-aside requirements were challenged, corporations assumed a leadership role in fostering the growth and development of minority-owned businesses. Minorities came under pressure to deliver higher quality and competitive prices. The 2000s. Pressure continues to dismantle set-aside programs. Corporations face intense global competition and tightening global supply chains. Minority-and women-owned businesses also face significant challenges. As recent history demonstrates, government and corporate America have played an important role in expanding opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses. While the growth of Hispanic-owned businesses has been impressive, it still lags significantly behind the Latino demographic presence. In the current economic environment, it is critically important that government continue to enhance its programs, while connecting small businesses to private sector opportunities. Corporate America should strengthen its supplier diversity programs, ensuring a meaningful participation by Latino-owned businesses.
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Wealth creation in the Latino community will lead to economic development. With more jobs and wealthier consumers, everyones interests are served.
A NATIONAL LATINO SMALL BUSINESS AGENDA

There is no one-size-fits-all small business agenda that will benefit all Latino-owned businesses equally. An effective agenda has to factor in the great diversity of these firms. Hence, the needs of micro-businesses are quite different from those of midsized firms or from growth companies. Yet all of these businesses would benefit from expanded research, greater access to financial education, as well as increased access to capital and credit.
AN AGENDA FOR MICRO-BUSINESSES

Latino small business scholars Barbara Robles and Hctor Cordero-Guzmn are among those studying Latino entrepreneurial activity in the United States. They recommend a broader scope of research and policy that not only acknowledges the financial capital start-up and expansion needs of experienced Latino entrepreneurs, but one that also includes the self-employed Latino microentrepreneur. As follows: The government should collect data about the full range of Latino-owned businesses on a more frequent basis. Universities, think tanks, and foundations should conduct more extensive research about Latino-owned businesses. Public officials should play a leadership role in forming partnerships and coalitions of financial institutions, foundations, and community-based organizations to bring Latinos into the banking system and to build financial literacy. The government and financial institutions should support communitybased organizations that provide micro-loans, educational services, and access to mainstream financial institutions. Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and other business organizations should adopt an agenda that is supportive of Latino micro-businesses, connecting them to loans, expertise, training, mentoring, and the use of technology, including computers and the Internet.
AN AGENDA FOR STRENGTHENING LATINO-OWNED BUSINESSES

The government and financial institutions should educate Latino entrepreneurs on the full range of financing options available for sustainabili-
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ty and growth. Financial institutions stand to benefit from cultivating this expanding market through seminars and online programs. The SBA and its Small Business Development Centers should actively engage the Latino business community. They should collaborate with the Commerce Departments Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). The administration and Congress should restore funding to the SBA budget to enable it to fulfill its mission. SBA should be empowered to guarantee more loans, more rapidly. SBA should also play a bigger role in supporting micro-businesses and women-owned businesses.
AN AGENDA FOR GROWING LATINO-OWNED BUSINESSES

One of the biggest challenges facing small businesses is growth. As we have seen, there are many examples of success among Latino companies, but there is an ongoing need for policies and practices that promote size and scale. One area to target for growth is an increase of equity investments in Latino- and Latina-owned businesses. SBAs Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program should actively seek investments in Latino-owned businesses. The government and think tanks should conduct research into the funding activities of venture capitalists, angels and limited partnerships (pension funds, endowments, insurance funds) with respect to Latino businesses. Government, foundations, and the private sector should sponsor forums connecting Latino entrepreneurs with potential investors. The administration should direct MBDA to fully implement its Strategic Growth Policy by providing the necessary funding. That policy seeks to develop a more industry focused, data driven technical assistance approach to give minority business owners the tools essential for becoming first or second tier suppliers to corporate America and the Federal government . . . SBAs 8(a) minority business certification program should collaborate with MBDA for maximum effectiveness in implementing the policy. Corporate America must play an active role to foster Latino small business development; supplier diversity programs should provide meaningful opportunities for Latino-owned businesses. Latino businesses themselves must actively pursue strategies that will result in increased opportunities and growth.
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The time for action is now. We cannot wait until the year 2050 when the Hispanic population is expected to constitute one-fourth of the U.S. population. Investments in education, especially math and science, will benefit future generations of Americans. Proactive policies and practices to nurture small business growth will ensure that we maintain our competitiveness in the global marketplace. There is already every indication that Latino entrepreneurs are embarked on a growth trajectory. It is imperative that leaders from both the public and private sector act now to further accelerate this growth. The success of Latino-owned small businesses is an integral part of Americas continuing economic preeminence.
SEVEN MAKING THE NEXT GENERATION OUR GREATEST RESOURCE

Sarita E. Brown
Sarita E. Brown made an important discovery early in her career: In order to achieve a chosen goal, one must commit to it fully, then one must act on that commitment with energy and persistence. With this as a starting point, she discusses here in depth the issues facing Latinos in higher education in the United States, analyzing challenges, counting accomplishments, and suggesting opportunities for the future. Starting with her career at the University of Texas at Austin in the 1980s, Ms. Brown has dedicated her professional life at national educational institutions and the highest levels of government toward the implementation of effective strategies to raise academic achievement and opportunity for low-income and minority students. Moving to the not-for-profit sector, she started the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, and since 2004 has served as founding president of Excelencia in Education, an organization working to accelerate Latino success in higher education.
ne of the most important lessons in my life began with a brash response during a job interview at the University of Texas at Austin twenty-five years ago. The university wanted to address the embarrassingly low number of Latinos and African Americans in its masters and doctoral programs by hiring
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someone who would reach out to these groups and perhaps help build a program to increase their numbers. Being an activist undergraduate in minority student services and a brand-new UT bachelors degree holder, I was invited to apply for the job. In the course of the process I was interviewed by the charming graduate dean who asked why I believed the university had this problem. I bluntly told him that the university was guilty of selective stupidity. Taken aback but intrigued, he asked me what I meant. I pointed out that the university managed to secure rare artifacts, such as the Guttenberg library, and the national archives of several Latin American countries, from far corners of the world and build libraries and museums to put them on public display. I also noted that despite fierce competition, the university had built one of the nations top collegiate football teams. The point, I said, was when the university wanted to do something, it did it. The same could not be said, I added, about its commitment to enrolling minority students. He must have liked my response because I got the job. More importantly, together we started efforts that grew over the years to encompass over eighty graduate programs and hundreds of students, faculty members, and administrators andmost importantlyproduced results. By the time I left the university in 1993, UT-Austin was awarding more doctorates each year to Latinos than any university in the United States and was ranked twentieth nationally in the number of doctorates awarded to African Americans. There was no magic to this success. Instead, for the first time in its history, UT-Austin truly set out to attract Latinos and African Americans to its masters and doctoral programs, and it took deliberate actions to get there. The life lesson that began with my interview and has been confirmed every day since is this: First you must commit. As institutions or as a nation we cannot reach or advance underserved Americans without deliberate and intentional action. Ideas are important. Great speeches and stimulating books (such as this one) inspire and motivate. This is not enough. Decisive action, guided by clear goals, and sustained commitment, is required to capture the promise of tomorrow offered America by the sheer size and thriving raw talent of the Latino community. Today, based on my experience at UT-Austin, I find it difficult to reconcile what I know to be possible for Latinos and America with what I see throughout this country and in all sectors of education, and particularly in our colleges and universities. In other facets of American life the Latino culture is ubiquitous. Spanishlanguage television and radio stations abound, businesses market to Latino audiences, and Latino foods are as popular as apple pie. A fun fact I like to include in
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speeches comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Based on average consumption rates, Americans buy more salsa than ketchup and eat a tortilla a day. But while this cultural impact on the United States is undeniable, change has been much slower and harder in many other areas. Twenty-five years ago, I assumed the presence and the influence of Latinos would, in my lifetime, be felt in proportion to our population at all levels of the economy, government, and society in general. I saw the progress at UT-Austin, and thought it would spread and grow through all sectors. Many of my peers agreed. Unfortunately this has not happened. Worst of all is the slow progress in education, which is the key to individual opportunity and the fuel of national prosperity. Latino achievement in education, while only slightly below other groups in preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary grades, begins to plummet in middle school leading to Latino high school drop out rates, which have gone unimproved for decades. Consequently, we have lower enrollment and completion rates at institutions of higher education awarding associates, baccalaureate, masters, doctoral, and professional degrees. Despite these sober facts and our limited progress, I remain an optimist and commit my energies to working to design and implement the solutions to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. I expect to do this work in the company of others who share this commitment to pragmatic problem-solving and results. As we move in this direction, this nation must accept the fact, Latinos are here to stay. More than one-quarter of the population in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas is of Hispanic or Latino origin, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The bigger surprise is where else Latinos live: everywhere. The percentage of Latinos in non-border states, such as Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, now stands higher than 10 percent. Thus, Latino student success everywhere in this country is critical. We must invest in this generation of young people the same way we have invested in earlier generations of Americans.
MAKING THE CASE FOR INVESTING IN EDUCATION

If the United States is to remain competitive in todays global economy and to preserve its living standards, it will have to do better with all of its adults, but with Latinos in particular. More than half of the 17-year-olds in the United States lack the level of math required to be a production associate in an automobile plant.1 Approximately 90 percent of the high-growth occupations in this country require some postsecondary education or training, and the Bureau of
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Labor predicts that the number of jobs requiring science, engineering, or technical training will rise 24 percent between 2004 and 2014.2 These are not just the concerns of an activist; we have seen the same concerns echoed by a number of people and sources. A 2007 report, Tough Choices for Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, describes the change in this countrys competitive standing: Whereas for most of the 20th century the United States could take pride in having the best-educated workforce in the world, that is no longer true. . . . Thirty years ago, the United States could lay claim to having 30 percent of the worlds population of college students. Today that proportion has fallen to 14 percent and is continuing to fall.3 Thirty-five years ago, more than half of the science and engineering doctorates in the entire world were earned in the United States; the National Bureau of Economic Research expects that share to fall to 15 percent by the year 2010.4 Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, argues that the United States is losing ground compared with other countries:
The United States is not number one in the world anymore in higher education, in terms of proportion of people who go to college. We were flat for the whole decade, while England, France, Ireland, Spain, all had double digit increases. Why? Because they figured out that whoever succeeds in the development of human talent, whoever wins the educational sweepstakes, is going to have a huge advantage in the economic competition.5
It has been stated many times and in many places: for the United States to remain competitive, its population, including the increasing numbers of Latinos, must be not just educated, but well educated. Yet, direct investments in new tactics and proven strategies to capture and nurture Latino talent have not been implemented. Perhaps it is because U.S. leaders still have not come to grips with the demographic predictions and view Latinos at the periphery of our society rather than at its center. The nation must see Latinos for what we are: a vital portion of the American population, with cultural contributions that are becoming more deeply embedded in the American fabric every day. The future of the Latino community and that of the country as a whole are interwoven. In light of current educational attainment by Latinos, this shared future is more than an alarming bellwether. It is an outright call to action. The education of Latinos is particularly relevant because we are so young and will be in the workforce for decades to come; 37 percent of the more than
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40 million Latinos in this country are under the age of twenty.6 The toddlers of today will be college-age in 2020 when census projections indicate Latinos will represent 22 percent of the nations college-age population.7 If the level of higher educational attainment remains static for Latinos, what does it portend for our future? The answer is stark: Failure to fully develop this vast resource will mean the United States will enjoy less success in the world market. This harbinger is echoed by regional demographers. California is experiencing a tidal wave,8 with the number of college-age adults, primarily Latino, increasing by more than 900,000 between the years of 2000 and 2013.9 A 2005 University of California Berkeley report warned:
If the level of higher education enrollment stalls where it is now, the short-term savings of under-investing soon turns into a long-term cost. The state (California) faces a net loss of two dollars in the long run for every dollar it failed to spend in the short run, a potential loss of 1.5 billion dollars over the lifetime of the 2015 cohort of potential college entrants. . . . 10
A report prepared by Steve Murdock, then Texas demographer and currently director of the U.S. Census Bureau, profiling the state of Texas in the twentyfirst century, noted:
Texas will become less than one-half Anglo in the next few years and is likely to have a Hispanic majority. . . . This pattern suggests that the States future will be increasingly tied to its non-Anglo populations and that the way nonAnglo populations grow and change will largely determine the future of Texas.11
The implications are staggering: If we do not improve educational outcomes now, this country could experience a shortage of 12 million collegeeducated workers by the year 2020.12 The good news is there is time to act, but it must be now if we hope to capture the energies and talents of this burgeoning Latino population moving toward tomorrows workforce and society. Great strides are being made. The number of Latinos enrolled in postsecondary education climbed almost 25 percent between 2000 and 2004.13 Getting more Latinos to thrive at all levels of higher education is critical to Americas bright futureand a challenge that must become a higher priority as soon as possible given the overall low state of Latino achievement in higher education. This chapter looks at the obstacles and the strategies for getting us there and focuses on making a positive impact on undergraduate and graduate education.
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CURRENT CONDITION: UNACCEPTABLE

An important step toward raising the educational attainment of Latinos is to understand where we are today. The Nations Report Card, more formally known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), is a congressionally mandated task undertaken by the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate the condition of education in the United States. On the 2005 NAEP, 79 percent of white high school seniors scored at or above the basic level in reading, compared with 60 percent of Latinos.14 In math, 70 percent of white seniors scored at or above basic levels compared with only 40 percent of Latinos.15 In 20042005, only 33 percent of the Latino high school students who took the ACT college admission test demonstrated their readiness to handle the reading requirements for typical credit-bearing first-year college coursework.16 To mitigate the failure of K-12 schools (and students, families, and communities) to send graduates off ready for college, many postsecondary institutions mandate remedial classes. In the fall of 2000, 28 percent of entering freshmen were enrolled in at least one remedial class. The rate was 42 percent at public two-year institutions,17 where the majority of Latinos begin college. Students who take remedial courses rarely make up the lost learning. Seventy percent of high school seniors in the class of 1992 who took remedial reading in college failed to earn a postsecondary degree over the next 8.5-year period.18 Ideally, this countrys system of public education would produce greater numbers of college-ready graduates. Unfortunately, too many of our nations leaders see the current statistics as confirmation of the myth: Latinos do not value education. Few stereotypes have been more inaccurate and have had greater negative impact on how we develop educational policy and assess the performance of Latino students. Significant research19 polling data20 and focus groups21 repeatedly conclude that the majority of Latino families in this country believe a good education is key to personal success for their children and themselves. A recent study of firstgeneration college students found that over the last fifteen years, first-generation college students are now more likely to report than their peers with collegeeducated parents that the reason why they went to college was because their parents wanted them to go. While both groups reports of parental encouragement increased, the trend has more than doubled for first-generation college students since 1971.22 Still the myth continues. Perhaps accepting the myth makes it comfortable to see the concentration of Latino students in poor performing schools, those schools unwilling or unable to prepare students for college and careers.
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For those who reject the myth there is but one response. Consider your sphere of influence, identify the points of intervention within the educational system where you can make a positive difference, and get to work. Accepting this challenge was the catalyst for founding Excelencia in Education, a national nonprofit organization with the aim of accelerating Latino student success in higher education. By linking research, policy, and practice, Excelencia works to inform policymakers and institutional leaders and to promote policies and practices that support higher educational achievement for Latino students and all students. In 2004 we joined the ranks of other concerned organizations striving to unlock the immense potential of Latino students and helping to shape the countrys response to this potential source of human capital. We begin by looking at the state of higher education for Latinos and the highest level of achievement Latino doctoral degree holders.
ABSENCE OF LATINOS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IS A NATIONAL LIABILITY

At this moment of seismic demographic shifts in the country, one of my greatest concerns for the future of this country is the extremely low number of Latinos receiving doctoral and professional degrees. Nowhere is the shortage of Latinos with advanced degrees more evident than on the faculties of our colleges and universities. In 2003, a mere 4 percent of full-time professors in higher education were Latino.23 Latino faculty membersalready few and far betweenare graying fast. With so few Latinos pursuing advanced degrees, replacing them is problematic. Consider that in 200304, only 3 percent of all U.S. doctoral recipients24 and just 5 percent of all masters degree recipients in the United States were Latino.25 Our colleges and universities need the broadest possible representation of this nations population in order to prepare students for a future in the global community of ideas and its different people and multitude of perspectives. Proficient in helping students from all backgrounds thrive academically. Academia is supposed to prepare students for life: It may be unable to complete this mission if there are too few Latino faculty members in the classroom. Latinos in higher education is not solely a matter of numbers. The academic and intellectual interests of the faculty primarily drive the institutions curriculum and graduate research agendas. While it is an open question, declining numbers of Latinos on college faculties could prompt less rigorous research and fewer contributions to Latino-related studies, disciplines, and research in higher education. This potential risk comes as societys need for knowledge about this fast-growing, heterogeneous population is becoming increasingly impor-
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tant. Consider the following when calculating the liability for not addressing this challenge. In 2007, Ken Burns, the nationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker, sought to make the definitive documentary on World War II with no mention of the contributions of Latinos. This omission was glaring, given the extensive record of Latinos serving in defense of this country, particularly during World War II. Would this have happened if Mr. Burns had grown up in Texas and experienced firsthand the history of Felix Longoria, Medal of Honor recipient? After his death in combat, his wife was rejected by a funeral home in their hometown because they were Mexican American. In response Hector P. Garca, the founder of the American GI Forum and then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson joined forces to ensure Longoria was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. This episode is well known among U.S. Latino historians and is emblematic of Americas past treatment of Latino and other veterans of color. Less well known and equally important are the stories of Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and other Latino veterans who participated in the U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project led by journalism professor Maggie Rivas-Rodrguez. Because of her scholarship and willingness to assert a more thorough and thus accurate history of World War II we have better knowledge and the means to develop a deeper understanding of our nations past. In every discipline, Latino scholars shape the state of knowledge and produce important research. Amrico Paredes seminal work in the 1950s on the corrido, the Mexican folk ballad about Gregorio Cortez,26 led to pioneering scholarship in folklore and humanities and blazed a trail for generations of Latino and other scholars on the life experience of people living in La Frontera the culture along the U.S.-Mexico border. Todays students and policymakers alike are informed by scholars from varied academic disciplines, whose writings and research tell the story of the Latino community in America. In education, science, arts, and humanities, Latino scholars have created a foundation of knowledge and the basis of our current day understanding. Yet, given current Latino doctoral production, too many of these scholars are approaching the end of their careers worried about where the next generation of Latino scholars and educational leaders will come from. With so much at stake, and with a relatively small financial investment in new fellowships and in proven models such as Preparing Future Faculty,27 American higher education can address the issue and ensure that its strength grows with Latino talent and scholarship.
HOPE AMID OBSTACLES: A SNAPSHOT OF LATINO TRENDS

The need and challenge of representing Latinos in academia is made greater by the fact that the Latino population in this country is extremely heteroge-
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neous. Distinct cultural traditions characterize the numerous diverse ethnic groupsamong them Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, and many moreall broadly categorized as having Hispanic origins. Educational experiences, and socioeconomic levels vary greatly. Yet, discernable trends emerge. In the process of gathering data for a joint study, How Latino Students Pay for College, Excelencia in Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy found several general traits emerging that distinguish Latino college students from their counterparts. Latino students enrolled in higher education are: More likely the first in their families to attend college; More likely to live with their parents and commute to classes; More likely to enroll part-time and work off-campus; More likely to attend public two-year institutions; and Are more likely to need financial aid to do so.28 One-third of all Latino postsecondary students reside with their parents,29 a practice that adds familial demands and responsibilities to those of their education. The strong commitment to work and family does not stop Latinos from enrolling, even part-time, but it may help explain why so few enroll full-time, the Pew Hispanic Center observed.30 Approximately half of Latino undergraduates attend college on a part-time basis,31 trying to balance work and studies. Fry acknowledges this in his Pew Hispanic Center report. No matter what postsecondary course of study a college student is pursuing . . . part-time college enrollment is associated with a greater risk of racking up college credits with no degree to show for the effort.32 These trends represent the preferences and realities of a substantial proportion of Americas students. It is time for higher education systems to do more to respond effectively to these demands. By meeting the needs of Latino students, American colleges and universities would begin a process of adaptation that will help them better serve all students. An area ripe for intervention is that of providing financial support to students. Financial obstacles can be daunting. Forty-two percent of Latinos headed to college in 200304 with expected family contributions toward their tuition totaling $1,000 or less. Approximately 80 percent of Latinos applied for financial aid, with 63 percent of those applying receiving some assistance. But the average amount of aid awarded to Latinos was lower than that provided to other ethnic groups, a pattern that has existed for the past decade.33 While the number of Latinos enrolled in college is increasing, the amount of scholarship dollars
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offered by the private sector and government is not keeping pace with the growth in demand for financial assistance. Adding to the challenge, almost half of all Latino undergraduates are firstgeneration college students.34 They navigate the academic world without the benefit of their parents firsthand knowledge or guidance. Colleges and universities enrolling first-generation students must take extra steps to communicate academic options and possibilities. The financial reward for earning a bachelors degree is easy to grasp. In 2002, the average annual earnings of Americans 18 years and over whose highest educational attainment was high school were $27,280. Those with an associates degree netted only an additional $3,766 annually. In contrast, a bachelors degree brought $51,194 per year.35 Yet, less than 10 percent of this countrys Latinos 25 to 29 years of age hold a bachelors degree, and, as we have seen, even fewer have attained advanced degrees.36 While America may have readily adopted our food, it has failed to build an educational bridge to fully integrate into the professional workforce those who brought that food here. The majority of Latino students are first-generation college goers, it is important to note that such students have a tendency to have more modest educational aspirations than their peers whose parents have gone to college.37 Perhaps this is one of the underlying reasons for the tendency of Latino students to elect to attend community colleges. More than half58 percentof Latino undergraduates enroll in public two-year institutions instead of proceeding directly to four-year colleges and universities.38 In Fragile Futures: Risk and Vulnerability Among Latino High Achievers, Patricia Gndara identifies several root causes spurring even high-achieving Latino students to shoot low: Low socioeconomic backgrounds making less expensive schools more attractive; A lack of familiarity with the benefits of more selective colleges; and A proliferation of dropout programs designed to ensure high school graduation that aim simply to place students in collegeany college.39 A long-term study examining students of all ethnic groups who began their postsecondary education at public two-year institutions in 199596 with the intent to earn either an associates or a bachelors degree concluded that 69 percent failed to do so within six years.40 Community colleges play a vital role in American higher education and in society; nonetheless it is clear we must improve the transition from these starting-point institutions to baccalaureategranting institutions. Promising work is underway to inform many community college students who were not either aware of the opportunity or informed of
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the opportunity to apply to selective colleges.41 For example, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation supports scholarships to help community college students transfer to an elite university. In its seven years of operation, the foundation has given $10 million to 249 such recipients.42
RAISING THE BAR FOR HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS

Rather than selecting colleges based on reputation, Latino students are drawn to schools within fifty miles of their homes.43 This tendency to attend local schools has created college campuses with high concentrations of Latino students. Almost half of all Latino postsecondary students attend institutions in California and Texas and close to 75 percent attend schools in five states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois.44 In 200304, close to 50 percent of all Latino postsecondary students were enrolled in 236 Hispanic-Serving Institutions.45 Beginning in the 1980s, a small group of educational leaders recognized this clustering was creating a set of institutions enrolling large numbers of Latino students. Those leaders sought to gain formal recognition for such institutions, to support improvements in the quality of the education they provided. As defined by federal law in a 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are public or private nonprofit degreegranting colleges with enrollments of 25 percent or more Hispanic undergraduate full-time equivalent enrollment. In an attempt to lessen the disparity in academic achievement of Latino and white students, Title V of the Higher Education Act authorizes funding to improve and strengthen the academic quality, institutional stability, management, and fiscal capabilities of eligible institutions.46 Although Hispanic-Serving Institutions represent only 6 percent of all degree-granting postsecondary schools throughout the country,47 they enroll 50 percent of all Latino students attending postsecondary institutions. The concentration of Latino students in these schools makes them critical to efforts to bolster Latinos success in higher education. That said, there is no federal mandate for these institutions to provide Latino students with an educational program leading to academic achievement, graduation, and workplace success. Most of these institutions did not choose to serve Hispanics as their primary mission. Instead, the college choices of Latino students seeking schools based on accessibility and financial considerations imposed these demographics on the institutions. Nonetheless, the time has come to make them better. It is imperative for the leadership of these institutions to focus on accelerating Latino student success and for policymakers to reinforce this priority through strategic incentives. HSIs can be a powerful force for improving the
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educational levels of Latinos, but they must become more rigorous and provide better services and a higher quality of education to Latinos. To identify ways HSIs can better serve Latino students, Excelencia in Education, with support from the U.S. Department of Education, developed a series of projects focused on Latino Student Success at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Examining institutional practices and the outcomes for Latinos at six baccalaureate granting HSIs and their sister community colleges in the three states with the largest concentrations of Latino studentsCalifornia, Texas, and New Yorkteams from each of these institutions analyzed what attributes on their campuses fostered Latino student success. These teams jointly addressed key areas, such as outlining what it means to be Hispanic-serving, and defining student success, understanding how this success can be facilitated, and exploring appropriate indicators of measuring this success.48 Efforts at these twelve institutions focused increasingly on what it takes to improve student access, retention, and academic achievement of their students overall and of Latino students in particular. As a result, these HSIs strive to create an institutional paradigm that includes both serving Latino students to improve success while also measuring the institutions ability to do so. In the process, these institutions have become trendsetters in higher education, Deborah Santiago states.49
STRONG LEADERSHIP CAN SET PROGRESS IN MOTION

The emerging consensus of Excelencias constituents is serving Hispanics must mean more than simply enrolling large numbers of Latino students. In order to be called Hispanic-serving, institutions should actively promote the success of Latino students and be effective in meeting the needs of students who come from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. While the U.S. Department of Educations Title V program provides important financial resources, it is a tool not a solution. And like any tool, what matters is how it is used. Institutional leadershipthe president and administrationmust set a tone that instills a sense of pride in the faculty and staff in the college and universitys status as Hispanic-serving. Here is how Diana Natalicio, the president of the University of Texas at El Paso, describes how the internal view of its campus has evolved:
Over the past two decades, UTEP has engaged in major institutional transformation. A university that once offered its alumni bumper stickers that read Harvard on the Border woke up to the reality of its surroundings and began earnest efforts to serve as an authentic and responsible catalyst for the human development of an undereducated and economically under-performing region.
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UTEP faculty and staff removed their blinders and began to address in their teaching and research the many challenges and opportunities of the region. Whats most interesting about this transformation has been that, in the process of serving this region and its population well, UTEP has achieved the national recognition to which its earlier pretensions aspired.50
Hispanic-Serving Institutions have the opportunity to make this and the next generation of Latino students this countrys greatest resource. The Chairman of the Congressional Subcommittee on Higher Education, Life Long Learning and Competitiveness, Congressman Ruben Hinojosa said: HispanicServing Institutions are on the crest of a demographic wave in this nation. They are our laboratories for fostering Hispanic student success, and other colleges and universities will look to them for guidance and leadership.51 For too long efforts to boost the success of Latino students concentrated on the highly ranked institutions featured in U.S. News & World Report, such as the Ivy League and Public Flagships. Rated less for what they accomplish with the students they let in than by how many students they keep out,52 these institutions no longer provide the means for accelerating Latino student success in higher education at the scale we need. This country can ill afford to wait for the trickle-down effects of turning out a small portion of degree-holding Latinos from ivory towers. Patricia Gndara writes:
If the majority of Latinos, including many high-performing Latinos, are going to continue to attend HSIs, policymakers should pay more attention to these schools: to raising their academic standards, increasing the rigor of their offerings, and demanding accountability in terms of high-achievement outcomes for more of their students.53
We must focus on the institutions Latino students choose and identify innovative practices showing positive results by Latino students. Providing recognition and incentives, rather than imposing financial penalties based on formulas for the number of degrees conferred will catalyze Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other Latino-focused institutions to expand promising practices. Policymakers must support institutions that rely on data to examine student and institutional success and look carefully at racial and ethnic groups, those who are economically disadvantaged, those with disabilities, and those with limited English proficiency when allocating existing resources. Such institutions must be acknowledged and supported when they make progress in student achievement. In addition, a strong Latino presence in the administration and on the faculty provides strong role models for students. With the dearth of Latinos with graduate
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degrees, natural mentors are not abundant. Postsecondary institutions must take extra steps to ensure faculty and staff are reaching out to Latino students. This is not rocket science, nor does it always require great expenditures of funds. For example, one discovery from an Excelencia project was a course in teaching faculty how to pronounce Hispanic names properly. Faculty at El Camino Community College reported that when they pronounced names correctly in calling upon students, the students instantly appeared more alert and responsive to the subject matter at hand. Students reported feeling more welcome and achievement levels for these students improved.
MAKING IT PERSONAL
One of the reasons more Latinos were attracted to UT-Austin was that the university went to undergraduate programs with large numbers of Latinos and made personal appeals. There was, therefore, an opportunity to sell them on programs, and, more importantly, to address their concerns about the university. Their faculty was put in touch with UT-Austin facultya connection that led to better understanding of applicants potential for success in advanced programs. This type of one-on-one relationship is one of the most effective methods of promoting student success. UT-El Paso assigns faculty members from its Colleges of Science and Engineering as mentors to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students participating in its Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). Research is paired with personal and development workshops. In addition to stipends during the academic year, these science and engineering majors are reimbursed the exam fees for taking the Graduate Record Examination. Since 1965, the university reports, approximately 95 percent of the more than three hundred participating students have either graduated with a baccalaureate degree in science or engineering or are still pursing a baccalaureate degree. Of those who have graduated, over 40 percent have either earned a graduate degree or are currently pursuing a graduate degree.54 Likewise, through a combination of thoughtfully and respectfully recruiting students from schools that traditionally had not sent many students to UTAustin and providing meaningful financial aid for eligible students,55 in 200304, UT-Austin awarded Latinos more bachelors degrees in math and statistics than any institution in the country.56 The universitys Emerging Scholars Program provides a support system for students taking calculus,57 and strong Latino participation is evidenced in UTeach, a program that encourages math and science majors to enter the teaching profession by offering a math or science degree plan integrated with teacher certification, financial assistance, and
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early teaching experiences for undergraduates.58 The National Math and Science Initiative, supported by a $125 million gift from the ExxonMobil Foundation, selected UTeach for replication at up to ten colleges and universities in the fall of 2007.59 These are more than isolated examples of institutions doing what it takes to advance the academic achievement of minorities. These efforts prove that deliberate action makes a difference and provide models the nation can follow as part of a more intentional and strategic effort to boost the overall attainment of Latinos at all levels of higher education.
TAKING STEPS TO PROMOTE COLLEGE SUCCESS

As I have noted, the most significant and long-lasting results come from deliberate action. From the one-on-one approaches mentioned above to communitywide partnerships, deliberate action produces results. Here are a few more examples of what these actions can look like and the results they produce. Arizonas Maricopa County Community College District has found that partnerships can help get more high school students into the higher education pipeline. It launched the Achieving a College Education Programs in 1988 to assist at-risk, financially disadvantaged, or first-generation college-bound students to complete high school and then make the transition to higher education. The districts ten colleges partner with their feeder high schools to reach high school sophomores and their parents to demystify the process of getting into college. Students take college classes during their final two years of high school. Successful students earn community college scholarships. Between 88 and 96 percent of participants graduate from high school, and 83 percent enroll in college, where they outperform the general student population.60 The University of Colorados Pre-Collegiate Development Program targets first-generation Latino students from forty-seven high schools. Academic counseling during high school is accompanied by Saturday Academies addressing such subjects as interpersonal skills, test-taking, and summer residential opportunities. The program is regarded as rigorous and the results are phenomenal. From 1988 to 2004, 95 percent of the programs graduating seniors elected to continue their education, and 94 percent of these enrolled in four-year postsecondary institutions.61 New Mexico State Universitys Migrant Program (CAMP) targets the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. CAMP provides a complete package of support, with the full-time students given financial aid and housing in clustered living/learning communities. Upperclassmen who are CAMP alumni serve
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as mentors.62 The ninety-one participants between 2002 and 2005 were all Latino. The 80 percent freshman retention rate for CAMP students is higher than that of New Mexico State Universitys overall retention rate. When asked whether they would have attended NMSU had it not been for the assistance of CAMP, 85 to 90 percent of program students said they would not have entertained the prospect of attending college.63 Transitional Bilingual Learning Community (TBLC) at Truman College in Chicago helps Latino English learners build and strengthen their Englishlanguage skills and knowledge of the culture of higher education while supporting their progress toward the completion of an associates degree. Organized as a cohort, students with varying educational backgrounds and English-language skills, take an integrated curriculum of four core courses enrolled as full-time students. After a year in the program, students are ready to take regular classes in English and pursue the associate degree at Truman College in the major of their choice. Early results are very promising with 87 percent of the participants completing the program and the majority subsequently enrolling in Truman College degree programs.64 These programs are the beginning of the knowledge base that must be built and used about what works for Latino students. The analytical process of discovering effective programs and powerful tactics must be supported if we are to be prepared to make investments of the all-too-limited funds. Institutions electing to undertake efforts to improve educational outcomes for Latino students are serving as laboratories for learning what should be replicated throughout the country.
ITS TIME TO END THE POTHOLE APPROACH TO FIXING HIGHER EDUCATION

As these examples demonstrate, we know what it takes to help Latinos advance and succeed in higher education. Now we must share these promising practices and expand their use where needed. Latino students now make up one in five public school students.65 Educated, they will emerge ready for college and career and become a rich human resource helping America retain its economic stature in the world. Uneducated, they will have limited opportunities to contribute to our society and economy while America desperately searches for well-trained workers. But meeting the needs of Latino students requires more than lip service and doomsday predictions. The poor state of postsecondary education for Latino
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students is one of our nations most important challenges. Right now whats happening is that were fixing our higher education institutions like we patch the blacktop on our roads, a pothole at a time, observed Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.66 We have the opportunity to see all of our young people as the future of America and, more importantly, dedicate the same resources and attention to them that we have to past generations. The time has come to effect a bigger change at the national level. Patrick Callan, of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, believes the situation calls for a federal investment in education comparable to the GI Bill:
American higher education was one of the great success stories of the second half of the 20th century. What we need now is something comparable to what we did with the GIs and the baby boomers. We need to create a world in which more people are prepared to go, can afford to go, and go to and complete higher education. We need a comparable shift in our thinking about college and its purposes. Its a shift the United States has been slower to make than much of the rest of the world, including countries that were competing with for good jobs. . . . 67
A PLAN FOR ACTION; A TIME TO ACT

Addressing the financial needs of Latino students in order to make college possible must be a priority at the state and federal levels. Financial aid for Latino students struggling to pay for their education should be increased. The maximum awards for Pell grants should be increased to align with rising costs in college tuition. Moreover, the federal government should establish a significant entitlement-based loan forgiveness program for Latino students who study in areas of national need.68 It is also reasonable to suggest that portions of college loans for economically disadvantaged students could be forgiven as an incentive for students to obtain postsecondary degrees. In addition, community colleges could be made tuition-free, a proposition already underway in Massachusetts. We also must challenge institutions of higher learning to serve Latino students effectively by continuing educational research about what works and make those programs contagious. Institutions must provide culturally relevant support if we are to help Latinos attain excelencia in education. Many of these students believe strongly in the value of postsecondary education, they just need assistance to learn how to cope with lifes hurdles along the wayhow to balance personal demands with studies. To better accommodate the complicated schedules of those trying to work and/or raise families, we must make course
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offerings more flexibleon weekends or online. And all students would benefit from expanding on-campus support groups and one-on-one mentoring. Finally, and most importantly, all the recommendations in the world wont matter unless they are acted upon. We know what it takes to improve the higher education outcomes of Latinos. The question is, will we put this knowledge to work for Latinos and the nation. For those tempted to debate the costs of supporting these programs, I challenge them to consider seriously and honestly the long-term costs of not supporting Latinos academic achievement. Now is the time for leaders to lead. America is a wonderfully diverse nation that has been at its best when it took the right actions at the right time. That was true with the GI Bill of Rights after World War II, when investments in higher education brought college education to the middle class. It was true when the federal government later launched new federal grant and loan programs to provide universal access to higher education. We can no longer wait for the growth in the Latino population to somehow automatically translate into equal representation in higher education. We can see that this simply is not happening. The right thing to do now would be to saymuch like UT-Austin did when I was hired as a minority-student recruiter twenty-five years agoLatinos are critical to our nations future and we will not let you fail. The strategy of picking clear goals and taking deliberate action worked for us then and will work equally well today. By beginning this momentum anew, we would once again be at our very best, strengthened by the energy of millions of college-going Latinos who are eager to enrich Americas future.
EIGHT LA GRAN OPORTUNIDAD / UP FOR GRABS / THE HISPANIC OPPORTUNITY

Joe Garca
Joe Garca has been an activist since his law school student days, when he led the Exodus Project, which became the most successful private refugee resettlement project in American history. After Exodus, Garca moved into state government under the late governor Lawton Chiles and governor Jeb Bush as head of the Florida Public Service Commission. In 2000, he became head of the Cuban American National Foundation and soon a national figure as a spokesperson in the cause of Cuban freedom on such outlets as CNN, Fox News, Univision, and MSNBC. Currently (2008) Joe Garca is a Democratic candidate for Congress in South Florida. In the thoughtful essay that follows, Garca outlines the widespread implication of the immigration protests of 20062007, which initiated a sea change in relations between the Latino community and the U.S. social and governmental structure. And there are recipes here for a renewal of a Latino commitment to a Democratic Party looking to dominate an electorate and a U.S. political future.
n May 1, 2006, thousands upon thousands of protesters flooded the streets, parks, and public plazas of cities throughout the United States, calling for the right to live and work here. Many marchers carried banners and posters that read, Today, we march. Tomorrow, we vote. The vast
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majority of those marching were of Latin American origin, most without the papers necessary to live and work permanently or even temporarily in this country. Those without papersthe undocumentedwere joined in their marches by other Latinos, many of whom were U.S.-born, naturalized citizens or permanent residents. Demonstrations were by and large peaceful, and they were not limited to cities with traditionally large Latino populations. To the surprise of many in mainstream media, some of the largest demonstrations took place in Chicago and Milwaukee, cities far from the U.S.-Mexican border. Those demonstrations should have been a wake-up call to politicians, policymakers, the media, and corporate America, for if you were to scan the crowds, it would have been difficult to tell just by looking who was born in this country and who wasnt, who had papers and who didnt, who could vote and who couldnt. The Mayday protests were a watershed in the history of U.S. Latino political power. Latinos as a group finally began to see the power in their numbers and in their ability to organize themselves and to express themselves politically without benefit of a traditional leadership or party structure. The marches were a pure expression of people power, and how this group defines itself, is defined, is understood, and what its aspirations are is at the heart of getting their vote for this and for future generations. Although the Latino vote has been a fairly reliable one for the Democratic Party, it has never completely been in the Democratic camp to the extent that the African American vote is. Latinos have demanded that politicians earn their vote, and as was demonstrated by the immigration protests, the community learned quickly how to flex its political muscle. Words to the wise: The Latino vote may be up for grabs, but it has to be earned. The Democratic Party or, for that matter, anyone else who wants the Latino vote for the long run, has to understand whats at stake. They also have to understand that that vote needs to be courted but not with empty promises. The Latino community clearly demonstrated in its reactions to the protracted immigration debate in 2006 and 2007 that it is far more sophisticated, far more diverse, and much more American than many observers had realized before. Those marchesthe largest the country had seen since the civil rights marches of the 1960sprovided tangible evidence of the dramatic demographic change this country has been undergoing for several decades. By 2008, Hispanics made up 14 percent of the population of the United States, having surpassed the largest minority group, African Americans, only four short years previously. Numbering over forty million, Hispanics are a young population
La Gran Oportunidad/Up for Grabs/The Hispanic Opportunity
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with a median age of 25 years old compared to the general populations thirty-six yearsand the countrys fastest-growing minority. Their growth is spurred both by a high birth rate and a continuous flow of immigrants from Latin America. There are significant Hispanic communities in all fifty states, whose members hail from more than twenty different countries. Each state has a different make-up of countries of origin, immigrant and native-born, citizen and noncitizen, making every state and local Hispanic population unique. The oldest communities, predating the Pilgrims, are in the southwest, and are predominantly Mexican in origin. But there are also relatively newer communities with strong ties to their places of origin as well as deep roots in their new homes, such as the Puerto Ricans who migrated from the island in the 1950s and the more recent Dominican arrivals in New York. There are large pre-Castro Cuban communities in the northeast, notably in New Jersey, and, for the past half century, Miami has seen successive waves of Cubans fleeing communism. Working-class Colombians seeking economic opportunities migrated to New York, specifically Queens, decades ago, and in this last decade entrepreneurial Colombians have left the almost endemic violence of their homeland and settled in suburban Miami, neighbors once more to Venezuelans escaping an increasingly undemocratic regime. Civil wars, violence, poverty, or a combination of all three have long driven Central Americans from their homelands. They have settled throughout the United States, creating vibrant and close-knit communities in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and along the Gulf Coast. The Latino wave, as it has been called, is the single most important element of the recent demographic and sociological change in the United States, a country that is becoming increasingly suburban and exurban, southern and western, Hispanic and Asian, immigrant and Spanish-speaking, aging boomer and millennial, and more digital and information age in its orientation toward life and work than during the industrial age. The demographic tide began to turn in the United States with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the national-origin quotas that had been in place for four decades. (In an interesting coincidence, one of that bills key backers was the junior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, who would go on to be instrumental in the latest round of immigration reform.) This act dramatically changed the face of the nation, moving it away from its white European/African American binary history and making the United States a more multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual society. Because of the Immigration and Nationality Act our country is more diverse but also more complex.
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Before the Immigration Act of 1965 opened the door for immigrants from the four corners of the earth, the United States was overwhelmingly white (an estimated 89 percent), with African Americans making up somewhat less than 10 percent of the population. The U.S. population in 1965 was 194 million; Hispanics accounted for only three million residents, or 1.5 percent of the population. Proximity to the United States and years of relative ease of entry allowed for a fairly smooth and regular flow of Latin American immigrants to the United States. Some stayed legally, or not, and had children who were citizens by birth; others, temporary or seasonal workers, came and went, but also often had children here, many of whom remained in the United States. Still others were brought by family members under a program of family reunification, by far the most prevalent way of bringing people to the United States for legal permanent residency. And unlike previous waves of immigration, such as the Irish and the Italians at the beginning of the last century, immigration from Latin America has had an element of circularity, with migrants traveling back and forth or at least maintaining greater contact with their countries of origin. Advances in telecommunications and technology have made staying in contact easier still. Phone cards, the Internet, cell phones, and inexpensive calling plans have helped Latino immigrants keep in touch with the home office and maintain far greater linguistic and cultural ties than any previous immigrant community in U.S. history. The proliferation of Hispanic and Spanish-language media in the United States has helped reinforce language and culture among those immigrants, recent arrivals, long-term residents, as well as the second and perhaps even third generations. This strong sense of identity has been welcomed in many arenas and, by extension, a lot of Latino culture has spilled over into the American mainstream. Foods, such as tacos and salsa, have become staples of American diets. Reggaeton, salsa (the kind you dance to, as well as the kind you eat) and Latin pop have crossed over and been embraced by Anglos. This cross-pollination is both inevitable and irreversible. And the flow of people into the United States, particularly from Latin America, is also irreversible. Travel back and forth has been stemmed by greater border controls post-9/11, forcing those who do get in to stay, and those not able to go back to their countries of origin even for visits or temporarily, lest they wind up back home permanently, unable to return to their sources of income, their jobs, in the United States. These post-9/11 restrictions exacerbated a long-simmering immigration crisis, creating an ever-larger underclass of unskilled workers, while unable to enjoy the full rights and benefits of life in the United States because they are not
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legal permanent U.S. residents, these undocumented workers are condemned to reside permanently in the shadows of U.S. society. The United States General Accountability Office has estimated that some 400,000 to 700,000 people have entered the country illegally every year since 1992. According to Pew Hispanic Center figures in 2006, there are some twelve million undocumented workers in the United States, 57 percent of whom are Mexican, 24 percent Central or South American, 9 percent Asian, 6 percent European and Canadian, and 4 percent other. But just as not all (but most) undocumented workers are Latino, clearly neither are all Latinos undocumented. Many, many are citizens, either U.S.-born or naturalized. Most of those are English-dominant; many are bilingual; some remain Spanish-dominant. The U.S. Census reports that in the United States, as of 2007, there were 16.1 million foreign born Hispanic adults, 13.2 million U.S.-born adults and 15 million children. This means that a majority of Hispanic adults are immigrants who grew up speaking Spanish. Of the 29 million Hispanic adults, 13 million or so were registered to vote in 2008. Close to half of these 13 million registered were foreign born U.S. citizens. (And its a young voting population. According to Pew Hispanic Center figures from September 2007, there were 5 million Hispanic voters between the ages of 18 and 29. That number just keeps growingan estimated 400,000 U.S.-born Hispanics turn 18 every year.) With each election in recent history, the number of Latinos registering to vote, and voting, has increased. In 1980, Hispanics represented 2.5 percent of total registered voters; by 1996, they were 4.9 percent, and in 2004, 9.3 percent. Not only do they register, Hispanics exercise their right to vote in percentages higher than the national average. Clearly the potential and the future potential of the Hispanic vote are enormous. So, the demographic transformation of the United States represents not a challenge but an opportunity for politicians of both parties to be truly inclusive. Or, to put it more bluntly, given their size and the trend of rapidly increasing numbers, it will be hard for an ideological movement or political party to be dominant without Hispanics. To quote that great philosopher Karl Rove, You cannot ignore the aspirations of the fastest-growing minority in America. The immigration debate is but a smokescreen for the larger debate about identity, the Anglo-American identity versus the Hispanic identity. Unlike previous waves of immigration, Hispanics have held strong to their roots and their culture. To some, the power and endurance of this identity is a threat to their own culture. Unlike previous waves, Hispanics dont want to melt into a culture that they see as lacking in warmth and human relations and the joys in life.
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They want to hold fast to their culture and values, and they see no conflict in being good Americans and good Hispanics at the same time. Prior to the debate and the tabling of serious legislation, immigration ranked 7th or 8th as an issue of importance among Latino voters. U.S.-born Latinos by and large did not take the issue personally for they did not see what it had to do with them as good, law-abiding U.S. citizens. When the hate mongers got involved, when the tone turned venomous and xenophobic, the dynamic changed. The debate became about whether Hispanics belong in America, whether Hispanic culture is a good thing or a bad thing for America. Hispanics, documented and undocumented decided that their culture and their contributions were good for this country. They rose and took to the streets to let their politicians and their countrymen know how they felt. The issue touched their souls. Terms like anchor babies, welfare cheats, and lawbreakers were unfair, they felt, to describe people who had come to this country to work hard and to contribute. Some of the name-calling was directed toward their own family members for, remember, the definition of family as the nuclear family is virtually unknown in the Hispanic community. The broader description of family means that many U.S.-born Latinos might well have an undocumented cousin or two at their dinner table. In much the same way as the Catholic Churchs opposition to abortion benefited Republicans, the churchs support of immigrants rights benefited Democrats. The Church, which still yields great influence among many Latinos, vigorously defended immigrants, helping to turn the issue into a wedge issue like abortion and gay marriage. And immigration reform became a familyvalues issue for the toll the broken immigration system had taken on many families. Suddenly, it wasnt just a parish priest talking about abortion and driving the faithful into the Republican camp; there were bishops speaking to crowds of thousands, talking about immigration reform as a social justice issue, a more typical part of the Democratic agenda. Since taking to the streets didnt work, Hispanics went to the polls in record numbers in November 2006. They went to punish the party that told them that their culture and their contributions were unwelcome in this society. And punish they did. Their vote was key, in some cases, decisive, to Democrats victories in the House and Senate. In Texas, Ciro Rodriguez defeated incumbent Henry Bonilla in what was considered a safe seat, the reliably conservative 23rd congressional district. Rodriguez, who had lost twice before in that district, trounced Bonilla, the only non-Cuban Hispanic Republican congressman, in a runoff election, 54 percent to 46 percent.
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, on the frontline of the immigration war in southern Arizona, handily beat her Republican opponent, former state representative Randy Graf, an anti-immigration firebrand, 54 percent to 42 percent. An LA Times editorial dubbed that race a referendum on immigration policy. Giffords district, a 9,000 square mile area in southern Arizona includes 114 miles of border with Mexico. In her first speech on the House floor in January 2007, Giffords reiterated her stance on increased border security, via electronic surveillance, and also called for immigration reform, including a path to legalization. The 2006 mid-term elections, both for the results and the turnout, may be a bellwether for the long-term relationship of the Democratic Party with the Latino community. That year, Latino support for the Democrats returned to more traditional levels of support. The results of the 2006 midterm election dispel three myths about the Hispanic vote in America: 1) There are a lot of Hispanics, but they dont really vote. They became 8 percent of the electorate in 2006, their highest percentage ever. In the previous off-year midterm, 2002, Hispanics were 6 percent of the electorate. Hispanic registered voters exercised their vote during the midterms in an even higher percentage in proportion to their numbers than most Americans. 2) They are not a swing vote in American politics. Between 1996 and 2004, Republicans gained 32 points among Hispanic voters. They went from 72 to 21 in favor of the Democrats to approximately 59 to 40 in favor of the Democrats, a thirty-plus point swing in favor of the Republican Party. Between 2004 and 2006, there was a swing back toward the Democratic Party of around twenty-five points. There have been huge swings in the Hispanic electorate over the last decade, clearly indicating that this vote is not a part of anyones base. 3) The element or sector of the electorate that is important is the U.S.born, English-dominant Hispanic voter. For the first time, exit polls asked voters in California whether they were born in the United States or whether they were born in a foreign country. The polls found that 19 percent of all voters in California were Hispanics of record, but they also revealed that 10 percent were born in Latin America. That means that more than half the Hispanic voters in California were immigrant, Spanish-dominant. That fact alone highlights a need to communicate and reach out to that group in their own language.
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Also in 2006, disappointment over the immigration debacle dovetailed with a growing antiwar sentiment, both in the general population and among Hispanics. That sentiment among Hispanics cant be ignored. Hispanics, both U.S. and foreign born, have consistently polled higher than Americans overall against the Iraq war. Latinos have a proud history of military service in the United States and they currently have one of the highest participation rates in the U.S. military. While they polled higher against the war than the national average, their young also continued to enlist in percentages above the national average. (In overwhelmingly Hispanic south Texas, 37 percent of voters had a close relative on active military duty in 2008.) Hispanics connection to other countries has heightened their awareness of Americas place in the world. This and globalization both play into Hispanics, role and place in America. The immigration debate did not take place in a vacuum. Globalization and how it is playing out now is part of the backdrop to the immigration issue. There is a growing question among many as to whether or not globalization is really working for them and their families. Hispanics, especially those with ties to other countries, have seen the failure of globalization to create prosperity in their homelands or countries of origin, and arguably that failure is one of the main drivers in migration to the United States. What will drive Hispanic votes to some degreeto one party or the other will be the integration of the Americas and how the United States deals with the region. No area of the world offers the United States greater opportunities in business, trade, culture, and human and natural resources, and there is no comparable exchange of goods, people, services, and even ideas with any other region. Antiwar sentiment and the dubious benefits of globalization are part of the growing questioning of the Hispanic place in America. But it was the mishandling of the immigration issue in particular that created a strategic opening for Democrats, if for no other reason than that they appeared relatively blameless for the failure to pass immigration reform. George W. Bushs immigration reform was so much more than a missed opportunity. It has become a Proposition 187 but on a national scale. In 1994, when governor of California Pete Wilson backed a ballot measure cutting benefits to undocumented workers and their children, even he never could have imagined that the eventual fallout would confine him to the dustbin of history. (Although voters approved the measure, it was overturned by a federal court.) The ensuing backlash resulted in large-scale protests, a dramatic increase in Hispanic voter registration, and even a large number of Hispanic legal permanent residents opting to become U.S. citizensand voters. The result? Proposi-
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tion 187 backfired and turned California into the bluest of blue states, probably for generations to come. If the Democrats could earn the Hispanic vote, the resulting power shift would likely also last for generations to come. What do the Democrats have to do to gain power via the Hispanic vote? The 2008 primary race for the White House represented much of what is best about the Democratic Party and what is most attractive to potential Hispanic voters. The race was historic not only because it was the first open field race since 1928 (i.e., no incumbent or vice president was in the running), it was also truly the first race with serious and viable candidates representative of America: a woman, an African American, a Hispanic, all of them qualified, all of them Democrats. Two Democratic candidates, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut are fluently bilingual, and both actively campaigned in Spanish among the Hispanic community. Two candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, had Hispanics leading the charge as their campaign managers. The Democratic contenders also very quickly accepted an invitation to a debate sponsored by Univision, the leading Spanish-language network. The debate, held at the University of Miami on September 9, broke records for the network, with over 2 million viewers. (Republican candidates initially declined to participate in a forum originally scheduled to be held at the same venue a week later on September 16. No doubt due to the success of the debate among Hispanic viewers, all but one candidate reconsidered, and a Univision-sponsored Republican candidates debate was held December 9 at the University of Miami.) This reflected part of an overall strategy by the candidates to approach Hispanics earlier in the game. The unprecedented media blitz in 2008 outstripped earlier primary campaignspreviously, attempts to reach Hispanics didnt start until the general election and usually only in the waning moments of the campaign. Another important step forward was the rise of a serious southwest strategy. With the countrys demographic shift to the south and the west, politicians need to spend time and money where their potential voters are. In 2004, the Democrats couldnt find the southwest on a map; for their 2008 nominating convention they chose a major western city, Denver, as their venue and they selected as convention chair Senator Ken Salazar, a compelling figure and rising star in the party. (It was the second straight convention chaired by a HispanicBill Richardson chaired the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston.) The Democrats also moved up their Nevada caucus, holding it very early in the primary cycle, on January 19, just after the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Nevada, as a western state, was especially significant. One of the
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fastest growing states in the nation, Nevadas growth is largely attributed to the Hispanic population, who currently make up about 25 percent of the states residents. California and Texas also held early votes. Delegate-rich California, which historically has held its primaries as late as June, moved up the contest to February 5. It was one of twenty-four states to vote in a quasi-national referendum that day. Texas moved up its primary and caucus vote to March 4. The Latino vote was decisive in those three western states. Although Barak Obama had received the endorsement of the powerful culinary workers union in Nevada, Hillary Clinton beat him there, winning the Latino vote 2 to 1, as she did in California and Texas. In those contests, Latinos turned out in higher numbers than most voters. In Texas, Latinos made up approximately 20 percent of registered voters, but accounted for 32 percent of voter turnout (up from 24 percent in 2004). In California, where one in four residents is Hispanic, 29 percent of those casting ballots were Hispanic. (In 2004, Latinos accounted for 16 percent of voters in the primary.) Florida, one of the nations most populous swing states, is where the Democrats stand to make some serious long-term gains. The countrys most racially complex state seems to be in a constant demographic flux. Immigration from the south and migration from the north both drive growth in the state. As fast as Nevada is growing, Florida is changing. Huge new waves of Hispanic immigration in Floridalargely Puerto Rican and Central and South Americanhave left the long-dominant Cuban Americans a minority of the statewide Hispanic vote. The exit polls report that in 2006 Cubans were 5 percent of the total statewide vote; other Hispanics were at 6 percent. With an increase of participation of two groups much more Democratic than the original exilessecond-generation Cuban Americans and those who came after 1980the Cuban vote itself is becoming less Republican. In 2006, the Democratic candidates for governor and Senate received 29 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of the Cuban vote, twice the total historically achieved by a Democrat. Newly arrived Puerto Ricans from New York and the island tend to be Democrat, as do Dominicans who have resettled in Florida from New York. Nicaraguans, who are politically active but make up a small portion of the Latino electorate in Florida, tend to be more conservative, their experiences colored by the Cold War. Their arrival in large numbers to Florida coincided with the rise of the conservative movement in the 1980s. Taken together, what all this means is that Florida Hispanics are no longer majority Republican, and may in fact now be majority Democratic. In 2006, Senator Bill Nelson won the Florida Hispanic vote 58 percent to 41 percent, and
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Jim Davis, while losing the non-Hispanic electorate 44 percent to 53 percent in his race for governor, tied with Hispanic voters 49 percent to 49 percent. As there are more than a million Hispanics in the Florida electorate, this type of big shift can mean a shift of hundreds of thousands of votes over time, clearly enough to swing a state decided by a mere 500 votes in 2000. And Florida voters are still haunted by the specter of the 2000 general election. If the experience of 2000 served for anything, it was the maturation of the Florida voter. Florida voters are arguably more sophisticated and engaged than in previous generations, and the state is a favorite stomping ground of candidates from both parties, not just for campaigning for votes but also for dollars. Voters in the state see through insincere courting rituals such as those attempted by Mitt Romney during the 2008 primary season. Romney arrived early in Florida, put together a Hispanic advisory team that was staffed by fluent Spanish speakers who targeted Hispanic media with the same degree of professionalism as their English-language counterparts. Florida was, for the Romney Hispanic outreach team, a laboratory of what they might do in a general election with the Latino electorate. And the result was what would have happened in a general electionRomney would have been given his walking papers by Latino voters. Romney and team had the mechanics down pat. But what they lacked and, most importantly, what the candidate lacked was a message that Latinos wanted to hear and needed to hear. His antiimmigrant rhetoric didnt go down wellin either language. The medium is not the message; the message is the message. Latino leadership remains a challenge for the Democrats. At least 45 percent of the nationwide Hispanic electorate is foreign born while most Latino Democratic leaders come from families who have been in this country for generations, if not centuries. Part of the problem the modern Democratic movement has with these foreign born voters is that it is mired in the civil rights successes of the past. The foreign born voters dont see the tangible fruits of those victories, nor were they part of the struggle. The foreign born electorate relates more readily to its own struggles with the demagogic Hugo Chvez than it does to the struggles of the iconic Csar Chvez. As Hispanic power increases across the country, the Democrats are going to have to compete with other interest groups, so they need to take a hard look at Latino numbers nationwide and to try to appreciate the complexity of the Latino community or communities. Latinos are black, Caucasian, Asian; a majority are at least nominally Roman Catholic but Latino evangelicals make up a growing portion of the Hispanic electorate (and they are twice as likely to identify with the GOP, according to 2007 Pew Hispanic Center figures).
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The Democratic Party needs to promote and cultivate its Latino youth, to welcome newcomers into the fold, and also to train fully bilingual, bicultural staffers. It needs to speak to the electorate in a language it understands, be it Spanish or English, and it needs to communicate via the culturally appropriate symbols and icons. Most important, the Democratic Party needs strong, consistent messages, relevant to peoples lives. Hispanics are predominantly working class, and they care about bread and butteror rice and beans, if you preferissues, like jobs, education, and health care. Hispanics are listening for messages, for policyoriented speeches with solutions, not just clever campaign stunts like poorly executed Mexican hat dances and ear-jarring renditions of rancheras. Hispanics, both foreign and U.S.-born, have long demonstrated a work ethic that rivals the Protestant work ethic and they are living the reality of all Americans. Latino aspirations are bound to the American Dream, and thus Democrats need to master the big issues, such as restoring broad-based prosperity. No voter will ever say the economy is not an issue in any election. The economy, robust or failing, is an issue in every single election held in this country, at any given time. Politicians need to appeal to voters pocketbooks as well as to their long-term security. And this is where immigration reform fits into the long-term strategy, and where the American Dream and Latino aspirationsthe desire to be part of that dreamdovetail. Fortunately, Americans are tremendously pragmatic about the economy. Precisely for that reason, those opposed to immigration reform need to be told that bringing the undocumented into the fold is the only way to guarantee the very way of life immigration opponents are fighting to maintain. Immigration is fundamental to the economic well-being of the United States. Immigrants are an integral part of the American economy, because our country is no longer producing a workforce that is interested in unskilled labor. If we dont find people to do those jobs, the American economy will shrink and we will at the very least go into a huge recession and we will not be competitive with the rest of the world. The power of an immigrant is that most of the time immigrants choose America; America doesnt choose them. They embrace America and are willing to take on whats good and leave behind much of whats bad. They are willing to work hard and they still believe in the American Dream. A large part of what immigrants see as good in America is this countrys resiliency. But immigrants, like most who live in the United States, know that that resiliency is fed by a continuous flow of new talent and enthusiasm. We underestimate, at our peril, the commitment that new citizens have to this country and its values. The anxiety created over the precarious nature of
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immigration reform has driven record numbers of those Latin Americans who are permanent residents in this country to become U.S. citizens. (In 2007, the United States welcomed 1 million new naturalized citizens, many from Latin America.) Although almost half of Latino voters are foreign born with continued strong ties to their home countries, they live in the here and now. And there is no one who loves the American Dream more than these Americans by choice. The American Dream, which many embraced long before even leaving their native countries, is an easy sell on the front end. But any time you start talking about real issues, you need to be substantive. The issue sets of the Democratic Partyeducation, health care, jobsare appealing to these entry-level Americans. And these are all issues that Hispanics are doing poorly on. The Hispanic dropout rate is nearly 50 percent in some cities, and, nearly one third of Hispanics lack health insurance even when they are employed. Hispanics are now in every region, in every state, and in every walk of life. And although their presence is leaving a broad effect on America, they have embraced American culture and have contributed to it. But in the end, American culture changes immigrants more than immigrants change American culture. The biggest change of all for those from other countries is often their belief in the power of the political process. Even those who do not have a vote believe strongly in the power free expression has to change a society. Imagine the faith in the political process of those who have fought long and hard to attain citizenship. Today, they march; tomorrow, they vote. And vote they will.
NINE POLITICS AND THE LATINO FUTURE A REPUBLICAN DREAM

Lionel Sosa
Lionel Sosa has been called by Time Magazine (2005) one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America. He is a highly successful advertising executive, a media consultant to three U.S. presidents, and in 2008 was active in his seventh national presidential race. He has served as a board member of institutions in the field of education and communications and chaired both the United Way of San Antonio and the San Antonio Symphony. In 2001, Sosa was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. In this lively essay, at various times speculative, autobiographical, and interpretive, Sosa elaborates on the theme of core Latino values as core Republican valuesa theme of huge significance in American political life.
s we consider the Latino-American future, let us go there. It is November 7, 2028. Election Day. The votes have been counted and the president-elect steps to the podium to declare her victory. She is cheered as few before have ever been. Katherine Cabrals margin of victory was very narrow, but wide enough to make history. Not only will she be Americas first Latina president but the first Republican president of that heritage. But not the first Latin-American presi115
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dent. Twelve years earlier, in 2016, Democrat Enrique (Bill) Richardson-Lpez earned that distinction when he was elected on his second try. His victory and his capable, successful leadership changed many things. For Latino youth he became the ultimate role model, proving that anything is possible. His presidency gave tremendous pride to older Latinos, who felt that they shared his accomplishment and that he honored theirs. And the Richardson administration had changed the minds of many other Americans about a people who, not many years before, they had underestimated, even scorned. How did two Latino presidents get elected back-to-back? How could such a turn of events occur when only two decades earlier, in 2006, the U.S. Congress was debating an immigration bill that would have severely limited Latino acculturation into the American mainstream? The answer was Latino leadership. Let us now move away from a fantasy future to the real past or, more accurately, the present. First in 2007, to a small meeting of Latino leaders in Texas. Sarita E. Brown, former education advisor to President Bill Clinton and president of Excelencia in Education, suggests that Latinos could become the next new wave of American talent. Sarita presents her ideas elsewhere in this book, but I recall her saying that while the Latino achievement gap is real, if we focus on positive accomplishments, on providing an atmosphere in which our young people can thrive, Can you imagine the kind of talent that will be available, in science, mathematics, the arts? Some of those in the meeting warmed to the notion but others questioned its viability, suggesting that Latinos needed more time to catch up on the educational front. Still, it was an intriguing thought and certainly a notion Latinos could rally around. In 2007, the times were changing for Latinos. Although this huge minority group was at the center of an enormous, destructive debate over immigration, individual Latinos had become hip. The Oscars in Hollywood had nominated many for awards. Mario Lopez wowed American TV viewers on the top-rated Dancing with the Stars. The George Lopez Show had been a toprated sitcom for five years. The new series Ugly Betty also found a huge audience. Salma Hayek, Penlope Cruz, Jessica Alba, America Ferrera, Thala, Christina Aguilera, Eva Mendez, Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Eva Longoria, and Gloria Estefan were some of the countrys hottest female stars. Marc Anthony, Juanes, Man, Jimmy Smits, Andy Garca, Enrique Iglesias, and Freddy Rodrguez were big male heartthrobs. Pioneers like Rita Moreno, Edward James Olmos, Paul Rodriguez, Sonia Braga, and Cheech Marin were holding strong. In sports, Lorena Ochoa was the number one woman golfer on the LPGA tour,
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and Latinos dominated baseball more than ever. Politics were changing too. Democrats had taken the Latino vote for granted ever since Mexican-Americans helped elect John F. Kennedy in 1960. A television commercial by a Spanishspeaking Jacqueline Kennedy had actually asked for their votes, promising that her husband would watch out for the interests of all the sectors of our society that need the protection of a humanitarian government. The spot concluded, Para el futuro de nuestros nios . . . votan ustedes para el partido demcrata . . . For decades during the twentieth century, Latinos did vote for Democrats. Party leaders came to believe that the Hispanic vote was a given. The strategy was simple. First, throw a beer and tamale party. Second, vilify the Republicans as rich gringos who dont care about you. Third, bus Latinos to the polls on Election Day. This 1-2-3 approach kept working year after year. So why do more? Why spend money to hire Latino consultants and staff, to advertise to the Latino voters in any big way, especially when Republicans were doing even less? That had begun to change in 1978, in Texas, and I found myself in the middle of it. My San Antonio ad agency got a call from U.S. Senator John Towers office. Were looking for a good, creative agency to handle the senators reelection campaign. We like your work and noticed that two of the four partners are Hispanic. Well need lots of help on the Hispanic end so your agency may be the right one for the job. Then came the kicker. Our budget is $13 million. Would you like to make a presentation? Was he kidding? Asking an ad agency if they would pitch a multimillion dollar account is like asking an alcoholic if he would like a shot of tequila. Of course we would, we answered, adding, Our agency is uniquely qualified for the job. Never mind that we had done no political work at all. I didnt know a state senator from a U.S. senator, but I knew thirteen million dollars from thirteen dollars. Besides, Im an ad guy and ad guys think they can do anything. Everyone at the agency took on the opportunity with gusto, working eighteenhour days for three weeks to prepare. I read everything I could find on Texas politics and Latino marketing. There were few exit polls in those days, but I studied news reports asking voters why they made the choices they did. I asked my friends. I concluded that most political support was not based on deep issues. It was based on whether the voters liked the candidate or not and believed he was a strong enough leader to solve whatever problem might come along. As it happened, that was how I had seen my parents making their political decisions. History nearly passed us by, thanks to now-defunct Braniff Airlines. When my partners Beverly Coiner, Warren Stewart, Lupe Garcia, and I flew to Washington, D.C. to make our presentation, Braniff lost our carefully crafted presen-
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tation materials. We arrived with nothing to show: no TV storyboards, no billboard or magazine designs, no radio tapes. Nada. Tower and his people said, Were sorry, but you have to make your presentation today. With little to lose and everything to gain, we were surprisingly calm. Wed been rehearsing so hard that wed memorized our parts without knowing it. In fact, I think we presented better with no props than we would have while using them as a crutch. I believe we got the approval of those twenty people (including the Senators mother) because we had no political experience. Since we werent used to the conventional approaches, we werent constrained by what was expected. As a result, the ads we produced later had a really wonderful look of their own, a crispness that the political advertising world had not seen. Rather than an American flag for a logo, we used Towers signature, white on blue. There was a John Hancock feel to it, like he was affirming what the ads said, that he stood for Texas and always would. We were ultimately awarded the account, though the decision was vetoed at first by the Senators wife, Lilla. We got the job after the staffers learned that she hated the competing presentations even more. Senator Tower said, Lionel, the Latino vote is getting bigger every year. One of these days it will be the deciding vote, and Im going to get started early. I dont see why we have to accept 8 percent, which was the most any Republican had ever won. The Senator told me he wanted 35 percent of the Latino vote. How were we supposed to manage that? Actually, I had an idea. We didnt have to make John Tower likable to Latinos. He already was. We only had to show the man to voters. Tower loved Texas politics and he loved his Lone Star beer. He visited South Texas Mexican beer joints often, and when he stepped inside, the men knew him and greeted him with big abrazos. He asked about their families and their worries. They wanted the latest Washington gossip and the Senators tall Texas tales. This guy was the real thing. He spoke cantina. As ad people, we wanted to capture this feeling, so we filmed the Senator around the men he respected. We also filmed visits to women and children in the barrio centers. Our commercials reminded Latino voters that Tower had been there when they needed him, supporting bilingual education, small business ownership for Latino entrepreneurs and family assistance through the organization SER-Jobs for Progress. We wrote a Mexican ballad, a corrido for the soundtrack and created a series of commercials called El Corrido de John Tower. It was the biggest Texas political ad budget up to that point, as well as the first to target Hispanic voters with advertising so far in advance of the general
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election. We spent half a million dollars on Spanish-language radio and TV (about a million and a half in 2007 dollars). El Corrido de John Tower became a hit, and the Senator won reelection with 37 percent of the Latino vote, two points higher than the goal he had set. His overall margin of victory was onehalf of one percent. The Latino vote made the difference. That election changed my life. From then on, all I wanted to do was create Hispanic and political advertising. I opened up my own agency, Sosa and Associates. Within ten years, it became the largest Hispanic ad agency in the United States. One reason for that was a call I got from a grateful John Tower. I want to help you build your business, he said, and Im going to introduce you to the governor of California. Hes running for president and I told him youd help him win. His name is Ronald Reagan. Let me say something about friends in high places. It is easy to resent the patrones, but if they are bringing you something you need because you have something they need, there is no charity. It is a business that brings money to both sides, and with the money comes respect. You may or may not become friends, but you get access like you never had before, especially if youre dealing with people who already see a connection between you and them. Like John Tower. Like Ronald Reagan. When Tower introduced us, the governor smiled, put his hand on my shoulder and said, Lionel, your jobs going to be easy. Hispanics are Republicans. They just dont know it yet. What do you mean? I asked. Hispanic values are conservative values. Republican values. What you need to do is communicate this truth to them. At our core, we think alike. The same things that matter to Latinos matter to me. Family. A strong work ethic. Personal responsibility. Good moral values. Patriotism. Isnt that what your mother and father taught you? Of course that was what my parents taught me. Never mind that they also taught me to be a Democrat. That lesson never took. Reagans words hit me like a ton of ladrillos. He understood something about my own people that I had never realized. In less than one minute, this friendly, rosy-cheeked man had figured it all out for me. No wonder they called him the Great Communicator. I never forgot what Ronald Reagan taught me that day. I have said that to get a candidate to the voter, you must use advertising to form a deep, personal bond. You do this by stressing shared, core values. The strategy worked for Reagan. He took 37 percent of the Hispanic vote in 1980 and 44 percent in 1984, according to exit polls cited by Reagan biographer Lou Cannon. Reagans success brought George H.W. Bush to me, when he began his campaign for 1988. Papa Bush did not attain Reagans numbers with Latinos,
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especially against Bill Clinton. Neither did Bob Dole, who made little attempt to reach Latino voters in 1996 (and who didnt hire me). In 2000, however, the Reagan strategy did work for the Republicans. Not only had the raw numbers of Latino Americans been rising, their voting patterns had been changing. In state and local elections, Republicans had been making inroads into Democratic Latino vote totals for more than two decades, especially in Texas and (sometimes) California. Floridas Cuban-American community remained strongly Republican, especially after the Elin Gonzlez affair. In New York, Republicans George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani had won almost half the traditionally Democratic Puerto Rican vote in the late 1990s by running inclusive campaigns. In 2000, George W. Bush told me, We are going to do this right. He gave me three goals. I want more Hispanic votes than any Republican running for president has ever gotten. I want ads that portray Latinos as Americans, equally deserving of the American Dream. And I want to leave a model for other Republicans to follow. (If you want to see some of the commercials we made, log on to www.LionelSosa.com.) George W. Bush got an estimated 35 percent of the Latino vote in 2000. More important, Cubans and Puerto Ricans tipped the scales when Bush got 6,000 more Latino votes in Florida then did Al Gore. Florida, of course, decided the election by going for Bush by 534 votes, although my Democratic friends still argue about that. In 2004, again pursuing the same three goals, Bush won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote nationwide, according to his campaign manager, Ken Mehlman. I have told these stories because I think they show theres no magic involved in advancement of a politician, an ad man or a people. Good luck comes to those who prepare, who are willing to set a smart strategy and then take chances on it, those who let no one convince them that a goal is impossible to reach. And now is the time for me to say that nobody does good stuff all by themselves. Dozens of great people more talented than I am have contributed to our success in very big ways. They include my original partners, Bev, Lupe, and Warren; also Bob Estrada, Alex Armendariz, Sig Rogich, Frank Guerra, Cesar Martinez, Karl Rove, Mark McKinnon, and the best of them all, my wife and partner, Kathy Sosa. Back again to 2006. Republicans were seeing their partys gains among Latinos threatened by the debate over misguided reforms in immigration law. Some Republicans in the House passed a bill that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally. There would be new penalties on employers who hire such immigrant workers. Churches would have to check the legal status of
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parishioners needing help. And the government would build fences along much of the U.S.-Mexican border. Latino Americans responded with enormous protest demonstrations. Tens of thousands of them took to the streets in Milwaukee, Phoenix, Denver, and other cities. An estimated half a million marched in Los Angeles. The hard-line Republicans sneered at the Mexican flags carried by some demonstrators, ignoring the fact that their attempt at repressive legislation would cost the party the votes of many of those marchers. Some super conservatives want nothing to do with illegal aliens. A few call for the deportation of twelve million immigrant workers, a ridiculously impractical idea. They accuse those workers of committing crimes, when all they did was accept jobs offered by business owners who, as U.S. citizens, are rarely regarded as criminals themselves. Latinos, of course, take this ill-conceived approach as unfriendly and voted their minds. In the ugly debate over immigration, control of Congress had passed to the Democrats. The Latino support that Republicans had developed in recent decades was almost obliterated. In spring 2007, John McCain and George W. Bush were among the brave ones insisting on a more moderate approach to reforming the immigration system, making provisions for those already working in the United States and for their families, among other positive proposals. But the hard-liners in Congress and the rest of the men then running for the Republican presidential nomination call the Bush-McCain approach amnesty and rejected it, either in principle or because they believed they could not win by seeming to be pro-immigration. At mid-year, the immigration reform effort collapsed in Congress. No bill passed. The issue was unresolved. Hard feelings remained. Democrats pounced on the opportunity. The 2008 presidential candidates, especially Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson, began courting Latinos strategically, spending money and resources to bring them back home, even in some primary and caucus states with small Hispanic populations. Iowa, por Dios, exclaimed the political journalist Luis Clemens, quoted in The Washington Post, Who would have thought there would be competing [Latino] voter outreach efforts in Iowa? Theres a sea change. Miami publisher Arturo Villar launched La Poltica, which he declared as the first Web site covering the business of political marketing to Hispanics. Clemens, the editor of La Poltica, said, Hispanic voters have distinct political interests and value systems . . . We will report on the attempts by the campaigns to navigate these complex waters . . . In those waters, it seems, the next new wave of American talent may be about to crest. Latinos, energized by the immigration debate and realizing they arent a powerless minority anymore, prepared to help elect a president and
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members of Congress who are for them, not against them. This same energy was directed toward education and business. At that 2007 meeting in Texas, Sarita E. Brown and others talked about how Latinos growing numbers demanded that they take up the mantle of leadership, how the time had come to start training the next generation of governmental, academic, and economic talent. What do I see, looking to the future? A multimedia, multiyear communications campaign directed by an alliance of Latino leadership organizations. I see corporate America, recognizing the enormous profit potential in Latin-American prosperity, pitching in. I see both political parties involving themselves for the same reason. I see a fair resolution of the immigration debate, influenced by the economic, political, and social power of the nations biggest minority. The activism seen in the streets of Los Angeles and other cities in 2006 will become the norm. Latinos will become more confident of what they can do, especially as they see themselves taking on greater roles in civic, political, and business life. As a population understands its own influence, it becomes more ready to be part of the mainstream. With the assistance of public and private universities, there will be an intense emphasis on education. As a result, I see Latino graduation rates tripling in ten years. I see even more Hispanic-owned businesses than there are today. The small business tradition will continue but there will be many more midsized and larger Latino companies, reflecting our experience and success competing in the United States. There will be more Latinos in large American corporations, influencing their direction in terms of giving to the community, hiring, and marketing. More celebrities? Absolutely. In the future I see a fourth to a third of the pop stars will be Latino, bringing more influence in language, music, and art. However, sheer numbers and gross economic power will not make us true leaders. We also must nurture our traditional Latino core values and mix them with mainstream American values. If we can take the best from one and the best from the other, we will be helping ourselves and helping our country. Here are examples of old interpretations of Latino values and some new interpretations, the ones most Latino leaders are embracing: Family Values: 1. Family comes first. 2. Work to help the family. 3. Old way: Drop out of school, get a job. 4. New way: Finish college, earn more, and contribute more to the family.
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Education: 1. Education is important, but . . . 2. Old way: Well never be able to afford college, so why invite disappointment by getting ready for it? 3. New way: Work smart and prepare. The money will be there if you believe it will. 4. Be creative and resourceful. Work: 1. Hard work is good. 2. Hard work is honorable. 3. Old way: Any steady job is honorable. 4. New way: Set high goals for your career. You are capable of achieving anything. 5. Go for it. Believe you will be successful. Wealth: 1. Money is not important 2. God loves the poor 3. Old way: Stay poor, go straight to heaven. 4. New way: Its okay to have money. God loves the rich, too. We should also set high expectations for our children. We must teach them: To have big, clear, and concise goals. That any goal they set is achievable. To get the best education they can and that youll be there to help. That they are in charge of their own future. To expect success, because they will have it. Its true. If we all believe we are the next wave of American talent, then we will be. Belief becomes reality. We attract what we expect of ourselves. As I have said, I see Latinos winning the White House. Twice, in twenty years. That is my dream. It is also my prediction. And if Im off, it wont be by much. It will happen, if we, as Latinos, want it to happen. I also predicted that one of those presidents, my so-far fictional Katherine Cabral, would be a Republican. My own parents would find that prediction the one least likely to come true. As with most Latinos of their generation, they were Democrats even though they believed in conservative principles. I realized that as a boy when, one day, I saw President Eisenhower on TV, talking about taking personal responsibility, about looking for opportunities and not relying on others to take care of us. That was exactly what my parents had taught me, but when I told them that made me
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a Republican, they said, My God, Lionel, those are the rich Anglos. You cant be a Republican, theyre the party of the rich? I told them, But I want to be rich! I thought of that the day I met Ronald Reagan, realizing that my parents were two of the many Latinos who were Republicans and didnt know it. I believe that as Latinos become more prosperous, they will be more likely to vote Republican. It wont be because Republicans are the party of the rich. It will be because Republican candidates at all levels will do a better job of pointing out the shared conservative values, as Reagan did. They will say, truthfully, We both believe in individual opportunity based on our own initiative. We believe in the work ethic, in family values, and in our faith. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush did leave a model for other Republicans to follow. I do not predict that most Latinos will become Republicans, but there will be many more than there are today. As we grow, we will find more room forand more need fordifferences in our politics. Joe Garca writes his thoughts elsewhere in this book. He is a Cuban-American Democrat from Miami. I am a Mexican-American Republican from San Antonio. If that doesnt make the case for an expanding Latino-American diversity of leadership, I dont know what might. More and more in the future, both parties will come to understand that they cannot win without us, and so more and more they will target the Latino vote. I believe that we will be the primary, secondary, or tertiary focus in every campaign, especially in the biggest states. Those are where the electoral votes are, and that is where the Latino voters reside. Competition for Latino support will benefit all of us. Never again will the parties take us for granted or ignore us. Instead, they will urge us to become their candidates, to run in local, state, and national races. I would make a crazy guess that in twenty years there will be six Latino governors. There will be fifteen to twenty Senators and forty Congressmen, maybe fifty. I want half of them to be Republicans and half Democrats. That way, our community will be the winner. And because of what we can contribute to the life and culture of this country, America will be better for it. In 1980, the first Latino ran for president. He was businessman and economist Benjamin Fernandez. He didnt get very far because he was ahead of his time. But now, the time is right. I believe Bill Richardson will ultimately be a winner in a presidential campaign. And following him should come a Katherine Cabral. Today, she might be the owner of a growing business somewhere, a leader of her community being courted by local Republicans to run for the state legislature. Tomorrow? Whos going to stop her? Whos going to stop us? The doors of opportunity are open wider than ever before, and we are poised to lead.
TEN LATINO PROGRESS AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

Sergio Muoz Bata
Sergio Muoz Bata, a recognized authority in the field of foreign affairs, brings a journalists preparation to a thoroughgoing survey of the interwoven interests of the Latino community and U.S. foreign policy in much of the twentieth century until today, and he looks ahead to twenty-five years from now. Beginning with a discussion of how ethnic lobbies (Latinos along with others) affect foreign policy, Muoz Bata then places emphasis on ongoing and shifting relations over the years between the United States and its next-door-neighbor Mexico, with specific examples of a complex history. Regarding the future, as the people on both sides of the border know well, in good and bad times, both countries should learn to share. The writer, Muoz Bata, served on the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times and is now a contributing editor for that newspaper. He also publishes a weekly column in eighteen U.S. and Latin American newspapers. He studied philosophy in Mexico City, cinematography in London, holds an M.A. degree from USC, and has taught at several universities in the United States and Mexico. He was executive editor of La Opinin, executive news editor of KMEX, and has done commentary for TV and radio stations in Mexico, Canada, Argentina, and the United States.
THE PURPOSE OF THE ESSAY
he influence of ethnic interest groups in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy is a reasonably well-documented subject in academic literature and within political circles. Yet the information on the topic that has
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trickled down to the common citizen is rather flawed, both by inclusion and omission of pertinent historical data. For the most part, Americans have only a vague idea regarding the political work done by some well-organized ethnic, religious and national groups, i.e., Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Cubans, to place successfully some of the issues they are concerned with, in the public agenda. They provide information on the issue and, in some cases, even actually influence U.S. foreign policy to benefit their cause. The debate over how they do it or how much or how little these ethnic groups actually influence U.S. foreign policy isnt new. In 1975, for example, in the introduction to a seminal book, Ethnicity: Theory and Practice,1 its editors Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan concluded that the ethnic composition of the United States is the single most important determinant of American foreign policy. Their assumption became an essential piece of conventional wisdom in foreign policy circles and in academia. Along with it came the controversial notion of divided loyalties raised against some ethnic groups, sometimes with, but more often without, a reasonable justification. Furthermore, in some very specific cases, the allegiance of certain groups to the United States not only has been questioned, but some have even been accused of posing a threat to a vaguely defined national interest. Quite often in the history of this country, the perceived link between some ethnic groups and their countries of origin has brought about unintended consequences. Consider, for example, what happened to most Japanese-Americans during World War II and how they were subjected to undeserved humiliation and suffering as they were rounded up and sent to internment camps. Others, namely those of Anglo Saxon descent, have been able to transit unscathed through centuries of successful lobbying for their race, religion, and country of origin. Of late, and mostly due to an article and a book by Harvard professor Samuel Huntington, Who Are We? The Challenges to Americas National Identity, the main focus of the growing debate about the threats and dangers of ethnic influence on U.S. foreign and/or domestic policy has centered on Latinos, especially Mexicans, in the United States and their continued links with their home countries. The main purpose of this essay is to explore how, if at all, the Latino population, whose political power keeps on growing at an accelerated pace, could substantially influence traditional American foreign policy twenty-five years from now. To get there, however, well first have to examine the functioning of the ethnic lobby. Why does it exist? How does it operate? Which ethnic lobbies have been successful and why? And, most of all, we must present a historical account of Latino efforts in this area.
Latino Progress and U.S. Foreign Policy
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ETHNIC INTEREST GROUPS

An ethnic interest group (EIG) is a domestic constituency identified with its racial, ethnic, religious or national characteristics and organized under one conceptual framework for the purpose of influencing domestic or foreign U.S. policy by: Framing an issue. That is, placing an issue on the governments agenda to shape perspectives about it and influence the terms of the debate. Providing information, albeit almost always adding emphasis beneficial to their agenda. Monitoring government policies and reacting politically to those policies with letters, marches, and calls for hearings and/or legislation. As several authors specialized on the topic have noted, the strength of ethnic groups varies based on factors such as: Organizational strength: organizational unity, a professional lobbying apparatus that provides useful information and financial resources. Membership unity, placement, and voter participation: based on the groups electoral participation. Salience and resonance of the message: ability to influence public opinion. Push on an open door: ethnic interests will be more successful if they promote policies that the government already favors. Strength of opposition: an interest groups strength is inversely related to the strength of its opposition. Permeability of and access to the government: EIGs are more likely to be successful when the policy in question requires a congressional role since it is usually more porous than the executive. Mutually supportive relationships: while groups need policymakers to do something for them, policymakers also need EIGs, information, votes and campaign contributions.
A SHORT STORY ON ETHNIC LOBBIES IN THE UNITED STATES

In spite of its proud heritage as a country of immigrants, the United States has historically displayed its uneasiness with foreigners coming to live on its land. Since the birth of the Republic, the question of alien or ethnic group influence on U.S. foreign policy has been a topic of analysis, concern, and, on occasion, panic.2 In 1798, for example, the Congress enacted the alien, sedi-
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tion and naturalization acts that allowed the arrest and deportation of people believed to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against the United States.3 As documented by Paul McCartney,4 the American elites who formulated the United States foreign policy at the turn of the nineteenth century, did it based on two unquestionable beliefs. First and foremost that the United States was a country with a mission, namely to make other countries adopt its core principles and values. Second, that being white, Anglo Saxon, and protestant, the three characteristics that defined the American national identity, gave those an edge over other people, other races, other national origins, and other religions. These were the values and principles that gave form to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny (circa 1845) that justified the annexation of Oregon, Texas, and also the so called Mexican Cession, under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase. Two transactions in which Mexico lost parts of the modern-day U.S. states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming as well as California, Nevada, and Utah. The thrust of the doctrine was partly revived in 1898, this time to justify U.S. expansion outside of North America, fighting Spain, occupying Cuba, and invading the Philippines. Many decades later, it would reappear to justify the initial U.S. support for apartheid in South Africa. In modern times, the paradigm of U.S. ethnic and/or religious groups to actually influence U.S. Foreign Policy vis--vis their countries of origin is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. A lobbying group once described by the New York Times as an organization that has gained power to influence a presidential candidates choice of staff, to block practically any arms sale to an Arab country, and to serve as a catalyst for intimate military relations between the Pentagon and the Israeli army. Its leading officials are consulted by State Department and White House policy makers, by senators, and generals.5
LATINOS AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

In the twentieth century, only two Latino groups, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans, had a perceptible impact on U.S. foreign policy toward their country of origin and/or Latin America. Puerto Ricos record in the effort to position itself as a broker between the United States and Latin America is, at best, mixed. Yet it would only be fair to point out that the relative failure of its role as a lobbyist for the region was due to historical circumstances beyond the control of a Puerto Rican leadership envisioning a plan to take advantage of both its status as a commonwealth freely
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associated to the United States and its historical roots in Latin America. Domnguez states In the 1950s, Puerto Rican Spanish Speaking U.S. citizens leaders saw themselves playing a protagonist role on a continental stage and as the unique possessors of privileged knowledge and skill to serve U.S. policy toward Latin America and improve U.S.-Latin American relations.6 Puerto Rico, suggested Morales Carrin, was in a privileged position to be the vanguard of U.S. policy toward Latin America because, he wrote, We have learned not to be foreigners in the United States, but neither are we foreigners in Latin America.7 A condition, he explained, that made the country see itself as a town meeting of the Western World, a condition which is unlikely to be replicated in the hemisphere. The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and Fidel Castros anti-U.S. position gave the incoming Kennedy administration an opportunity to place Puerto Rican leaders in position to play a leading role in the design of the United States most ambitious project to assist Latin America. Teodoro Moscoso, the former head of Puerto Ricos development agency under Operation Bootstrap, became the coordinator of the Alliance for Progress, and Arturo Morales Carrin became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. Kennedys untimely death, the occurrence of several military coups, and the rise of guerrilla groups in the region as well as the increasing involvement of the United States in Vietnam, killed the Alliance and thus ended Puerto Ricos ephemeral role as intermediary between the United States and Latin America and its ability to influence the design, direction, and implementation of U.S. foreign policy. Throughout the whole process, it should be noted, Puerto Rico acted under the guidance of the U.S. presidency to implement U.S. policy in the hemisphere. Regarding Cuba, it was also in the 60s when Cuban exiles willingly became instruments of U.S. policy toward their homeland.8 But it was during the Reagan administration that Cubans sped up their process to become U.S. citizens and participate in U.S. elections. Cuban-American entrepreneurs discovered that they could influence U.S. policy to further their political cause in their home country using money and political clout to good effect in the U.S. political system. Thats how the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) was created in 1981 to become one of the most successful U.S.-based lobbies for a foreign population founded in the United States until the mid 1990s. Albeit focused on the one central issue of overthrowing Fidel Castro, the Cuban-American lobby also worked with the Reagan administration against leftist regimes in Central America, notably Nicaragua.
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The myriad ways in which the CANF has shaped and influenced U.S. policy toward Cuba have been amply documented in books and papers. Suffice to say it was Cuban American politicians and the leadership at the CANF, who dictated the terms of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 approved by both Republicans and Democrats and signed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the foreign policy clout of both the Cuban-American community and of Cuban-American politicians began to diminish. As the exile generation ages and dies, young Cuban Americans feel less emotionally invested in their parents country and more like mainstream Americans. Historically, no Latino group other than Puerto Rican and Cuban American has attempted to develop a comprehensive agenda to influence U.S. policy to benefit their homeland.
THE MEXICAN DIASPORA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH MEXICO

The relationship between Mexicans in the United States and their relatives, friends, and government officials in Mexico has been at the same time multifaceted, fraternal, loving, convoluted, and cooperative, but also full of conflict. Notwithstanding the complexities of the prolonged exchange between the Mexican government and its population that had moved to the north, their protection became a key component of its consular policy from the time of the annexation of Mexican territory to the United States. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, as Mexicans fought their revolution, the Southwest United States became a haven for Mexican families fleeing the violence and many of the leaders of the uprising found refuge in cities like Los Angeles and San Antonio. Between 1930 and 1960, the Mexican-American community in the United States more than doubled in size, with the majority of its members native born, attending schools, and speaking English. More became citizens; average incomes rose and most moved to urban centers. Ironically, it was also a time when largescale deportation, persecution of, and discrimination against Mexicans reached a peak, notwithstanding the protests of the Mexican government.9 In the late 1960s, the children of Mexican Americans joined the struggle for civil rights begun by African Americans and thus was born the Chicano Movement. Young Chicanos rebelled against discrimination and the negative ethnic stereotypes of Latinos in the mass media and in the Anglo-American consciousness. They resented their lack of political representation and felt that their parents had been excluded from the political process.
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Some leaders of the Chicano Movement believed that developing closer ties with Mexico would help improve their political situation in the United States.10 Others rejected this approach, believing it could actually jeopardize their incipient political gains. One of the pioneers of the rapprochement movement was Reies Lpez Tijerina, a Texan once described as an uneducated and itinerant Protestant fundamentalist and revivalist,11 who had formed a group called The Alianza de los Pueblos, to reclaim hundreds of thousands of acres of land granted by the Spanish Crown and the Mexican government to descendants of land grantees before the takeover by the United States. In 1964, Tijerina sought the support of the Mexican government and to that end met with then Mexican Undersecretary of the Interior Luis Echeverra. The meeting was brief, and Echeverra bluntly rejected his request for assistance. Notwithstanding that initial rejection, Echeverra, once he became president, began a Mexican government outreach program with the Mexican-American community that established political, cultural, and economic links with Chicano activists, Mexican-American associations, and the Mexican-American population in general. Jos Angel Gutirrez, the founding leader of the Partido de la Raza Unida and, arguably, Echeverras closest interlocutor, publicly declared that his partys intention was to influence Mexican foreign policy to conform to its aims and ideology. Gutirrez was convinced Chicanos had to look south to consolidate what he described as a family without borders.12 As expected, given the ever-changing priorities of the national interest, the rapprochement with Mexicans north of the border wasnt always smooth. At one time, for instance, Echeverra refused to help Mexican agricultural workers in California in their call to boycott the sale of American lettuce in Mexico. Echeverra argued that Washington would deem his intervention as an attempt by the Mexican government to interfere in the internal affairs of the United States.13 By the same token, some Chicano activists assumed very aggressive positions, criticizing the Mexican government for its extensive pressure and presence of government in all aspects of life and in all spaces of the civic terrain.14 Mexican authorities, for their part, also took issue with the Chicano leadership, asserting that it wasnt their role to question the Mexican governments words and actions. After Echeverra, subsequent Mexican administrations supported, albeit unevenly, several cultural and educational initiatives to benefit Mexicans living in the United States, Chicanos and Mexican Americans. But no Mexican official has ever been willing to endorse political activities of a Chicano or Latino
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activist group that, as they perceive, could be construed as damaging the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Meanwhile, there were further developments north of the border, partly as a result of middle-class mobilization, ironically inspired by student activism.15 Community leaders, elected officials, academics, businesspeople, and artists involved in traditional middle-class organization, such as LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens), founded in 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, as a political advocacy group, and the G.I. Forum began to pursue international visibility, Selected delegations visited Israel, Germany, Spain, Cuba and other places. (. . .) As expected, Mexico-related activity was the most widespread.16 The Hispanic Council on Foreign Relations, chaired by Fernando Oaxaca, a Latino prominent in the Republican Party, was formed in February 1980. Its mission to remain a bipartisan and multi-Latino organization made it hard for the organization to arrive at a policy consensus other than stressing the importance of the region and the need for more Latino representation in policy and diplomacy.17 (Ironically, when U.S. policy toward Latin America ran contrary to the prevailing Latin American view, the Council was placed in a very uncomfortable position. A military intervention in the region left Latinos in a position either to condone or oppose U.S. policy, but they were never able to change it in any way.) On August 7, 1986, LULAC convened a panel discussion on The Role of Hispanics in U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America. The conference took place at a crucial historical moment in the relationship between the United States and the countries of Latin America. That same year, a Lebanese magazine, Ash Shiraa, reported the Reagan administration was selling weapons to Iran and illegally using the profits to fund the Contras, a counterrevolutionary army sponsored and organized by the United States to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. This so-called Iran-Contra affair became an explosive and finally iconic episode in the Reagan presidency. And last, but not least, it was also a time when the leadership in the Latino community accused the Reagan administration of being inaccessible, negative toward the basic social and economic needs of the community and undertaking specific negative actions concerning immigration and labor . . . 18 To frame the panel discussion in its historical context, Mario Obledo, a past president of the host organization, wrote in the foreword to its proceedings, a scalding criticism of the U.S. government for mistreating both Latin America and the Hispanic American community: Latin America was and remains a second class citizen in the world community just as the Hispanic American has been and remains a second class citizen within U.S. borders.19
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Obledo adhered to the old idea that Hispanics can make a substantial and significant contribution to the improvement of relations between the United States and Latin America,20 because he said there was a natural connection between Hispanics and the people of these nations due to a common cultural, historical, religious and linguistic relationship. Further more, this natural connection creates an environment whereby nuances, dynamics, symbols, facial expressions, temperaments, customs, languages, philosophies and emotions can be best understood.21 During the actual panel discussion, however, the conclusions of the three panelists, retired U.S. Ambassador Diego Ascencio, former mayor of Miami Maurice A. Ferr, and U.S. Congressman from California Esteban Torres, presented a different poing of view. As follows: Hispanics are a very diverse community formed by three large communities, Mexican Americans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans and several smaller national groups: Salvadorans, Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, Guatemalans, etc. Given this diversity, finding a unified voice regarding foreign policy toward the region is impossible. To lobby successfully, a minority group should have: singularity of purpose, a narrow focus of interest, and sufficient financial resources. It was also reaffirmed that Hispanic influence in U.S. foreign policy will only increase when political involvement increases. Once again, the need to increase political power became a rallying point across the different constituencies in the Latino community. One way to achieve political power was to push for the appointment of Latinos to public positions in the foreign relations field. Jimmy Carter named some to administrative positions in the Latin America area: Ralph Guzman, to the State Department; Julian Nava, Mari Lucy Jaramillo, and Raul Castro as ambassadors to Mexico, Honduras, and Argentina; Esteban Torres Ambassador to UNESCO. Bill Clinton named Bill Richardson, a Latino, as U.S. Representative to the U.N. but, as Jorge Domnguez has noted, apart from Roger Noriega, the first Mexican American ever to have been confirmed as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, only three other U.S. citizens of Mexican descent have served as U.S. ambassadors to Mexico: Joseph John Jova (197477), Julian Nava (198081), and Antonio Garza (2002).
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U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE CHANGING FACE OF THE LATINO COMMUNITY
In the 1980s, two phenomena affected the mostly monolithic Mexican identity of the Latino community. First, mainly as a result of the wars in Central America, the Latino community in the United States experienced a demographic transformation. Although Mexicans remained the majority, the immigrant populations from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and other countries in Latin America grew substantially. The community thus became more and more Hispanic. Second, within the community itself Mexican Americans underwent a crisis of consciousness concerning their identity and an exhaustion of some values and goals upheld by past activism.22 As they began to gain power, Mexican-American elected officials became more accountable to all the citizens they represented, not only the Latino community and its issues. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the process of internationalization of the Latino community was uneven and disparate in its composition as well as in its ends; and it was affected by some quite specific considerations: among them the incomplete awareness by the community and its political players of international information and the greater diversity of issues and points of view in this arena as well as those of other distinct Latino communities, which were interested and involved in Latin American issues. This involvement complicated both advocacy and deployment on foreign affairs.23 The links between Mexico and its Diaspora in the decade of the 1990s strengthened not only as a result of the continued flow of immigrants, but also because the number of topics in the agenda deepened and widened. They were: The growing network. First and foremost, continued immigration expanded the already extended network of relatives and friends in both countries. It is an undisputed fact that every other Mexican has at least one friend or a relative living in the United States. The NAFTA. In 1991, as the negotiations between the United States, Mexico, and Canada for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) faced a stronger that expected opposition in the U.S. Congress and the trade agreement became a hot political issue, the George H. W. Bush administration asked Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, an unprecedented petition in the diplomatic history between the two countries,24to lobby the U.S. Congress, corporate America,
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and the Latino community to help them gain the fast track authorization in Congress that was deemed essential to negotiate the NAFTA. The Mexican government sought the professional support of some of the most powerful lobbying firms in the United States and played its cards with considerable efficiency. Strengthening the links with the Mexican Diaspora became a national strategic priority for the Mexican government, which was well aware of growing Latino political power: At the time, there were fourteen Representatives in Congress; two hundred state legislators and more than five thousand elected officials throughout the nation. Mexican-American political leaders like Henry Cisneros, editor of this volume, who would become a member of the Clinton administration; Esteban Torres and Bill Richardson, then Representatives in Congress from New Mexico and California; Farm Workers Union leader Csar Chvez, and Civil Rights leader Ral Yzaguirre, another contributor to this volume, from the National Council of la Raza, were called on to play important roles in the final passage of NAFTA. The interesting thing, however, as Domnguez has noted, was that even though all but one Mexican-American member of Congress voted for NAFTA, they did so in support of their political party and only after the side agreements were modified to establish the North American Development Bank to fund community development and environmental projects along the border. They represented the domestic policy interest of their districts and their party above all a classic approach by U.S. members of Congress.25 Remittances. Back in 1980, the flow of money from the United States to Mexico and Central America hovered around $1 billion annually; in 2006 the amount sent to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean was about $46 billion. Mexico received the largest share in its region, about $24.2 billion$2 billion less than India and $3.2 billion more than the Philippines. There is controversy about whether such money transfers have benefited or hindered communities in the countries of origin. Those on the positive side say it has helped enormously in the subsistence of millions of people. It is also pointed out that the money sent plays an important economic role in reducing poverty and as seed money to finance local development projects receiving matching funds from local, state, and federal government, and sometimes even from the private sector. The money is used to build roads, bridges, schools, churches, and houses. Even though the average remittance is relatively small, lately some has been invested in small businesses. Regardless of all its benefits,
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there seems to be a consensus that sending money to the needy relatives is an admirable act of solidarity and generosity. On the other side of the issue, some academics argue that remittances have a negative effect on towns and villages, creating an elite group that divides poor communities. Others argue that the money is wasted in useless projects or in rebuilding towns emptied by immigration. As Manuel Orozco, a remittances specialist at Inter-American Dialogue puts it: It is difficult to combine philanthropy with business. It brings a lot of risks. In the United States, the amazing growth of the send-off in the last decade has led to widespread and perhaps unjustified questioning of the commitment and loyalty of these immigrants to their adopted country. Others have wondered whether home country remittances result in slowing economic progress of the Latino community in the United States, and thus its political influence. Dual Nationality. Several countries in Latin America: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay do recognize dual nationality. This means their citizens keep their original nationality even if they become citizens of another country. This is an issue frequently raised by xenophobic groups who question the loyalty of Latinos toward the United States. Voting rights. Many countries hold expatriate voting rights. Nowadays, at least ninety-three countries recognize multiple citizenships. But it is important to stress that the specific rights and responsibilities conferred to these types of citizens varies by country. Nevertheless, seventy-three countries around the world allow their nationals abroad to participate in home-country elections. Dual Mexican-U.S. nationals are not prohibited by U.S. law from voting in Mexican elections. This right may be exercised in Mexico or in the United States. There would be no legal or diplomatic conflict should the Mexican government decide to allow voting abroad. Nor would political leaders or candidates be forbidden from campaigning in the United States. Foreign politicians campaigning in the United States. As a matter of fact, some Latin American candidates for either presidential or gubernatorial races now routinely campaign in the United States. Politicians from the Dominican Republic, for example, raise funds in the United States and they all, wherever they come from, build ties with immigrants.
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THE MYTH OF DUAL LOYALTY

If nothing else, Mexicos 2006 presidential election undercut some conventional political wisdom with important implications for the immigration debate in the United States. Right now, many conservatives favor tougher immigration enforcement because they believe the loyalties of Latino immigrants in the United States are divided between their native lands and their adopted country. The unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, the widespread use of Spanish all over the United States, the Mexican-flag-waving marches in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, and the large number of Latin American countries allowing their citizens to hold dual nationalities, have all contributed to this belief. Historically, the divided-loyalty argument has been used to demonize nonEnglish-speaking immigrants. At the turn of the twentieth century, Italian immigrants were the targets. World War II saw Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps. Now it is Latinos who are being singled out, especially those who hold dual citizenship and can vote in their native countries elections. The aforementioned Samuel P. Huntington, in his 2004 Foreign Policy magazine article, contended that Latinos reputed divided loyalties threaten to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures and two languages. Mexicos government first allowed dual citizenship in 1998, but even before then Mexican leftists had tried to get Mexicans living in the United States involved in their native countrys political campaigns. Since the 1980s, Huntington wrote in the same article, the Mexican government has sought to expand the numbers, wealth and political power of the Mexican community in the U.S. Southwest and to integrate that population with Mexico. This history gives credence to enforcement-minded conservatives who claim that dual citizenship translates into divided loyalty and a reluctance to assimilate into mainstream American life. Currently, twelve Latin American countries allow their citizens to retain their nationality when they become a citizen of another country. U.S. conservatives probably would argue that proof of Mexicans divided loyalty would be their eagerness to vote in their countrys elections. But the results of the 2006 presidential election showed no such eagerness. Of the four million Mexicans abroad eligible to vote, only about 28,000 who cast a vote live in the United States. For at least two decades, Mexican pundits had forecast that millions of Mexican voters in the United States could decide Mexicos elections. The experts not only badly misjudged how many Mexicans in the United States would turn out, they were wrong about who those voters would pick.
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Beginning in the 1980s with Cuauhtmoc Crdenas, founder of the Democratic Revolution Party and a former presidential candidate, the Mexican left believed that the Mexican Diaspora would be its natural constituency. After all, these Mexicans left their country because of its failure to provide them with jobs and a decent standard of living. Given the opportunity, the reasoning went, they would vote for the left wing partys calls for radical change. As it turned out, of the 28,000 in the United States who cast presidential ballots, 58 percent voted for Felipe Caldern, the conservative candidateand winnerwho fervently favors free market economics. The abysmally low turnout of Mexican voters living in the United States should help dispel the stereotypical and prejudiced view that Mexican immigrants are more loyal to their native land than to their new home. That the voters went for Caldern, the candidate of economic entrepreneurialism, also suggests that these Mexicans share his capitalist values and are more in tune with the U.S. free market system than with Mexicos semi-statist economy. Over time, the pattern of immigrant assimilation in the United States is the same. Latin American immigrants have become naturalized U.S. citizens at unprecedented rates since 1986, when a generous provision in a new immigration law granted amnesty to almost 3 million people who were living here illegally. Yes, many of them remain citizens of their countries of origin. But, as U.S. citizens, they have registered with a political party, voted in U.S. elections, and helped elect the children of immigrants to ensure fair political representation for all ethnic and racial groups in the United States. There will be no comprehensive immigration reform as long as some politicians persist in using, among other arguments, the concept of Latinos divided loyalties to crack down on immigration. It is essential, therefore, to bury once and for all this divisive myth.
LATINOS AND IMMIGRATION

In the United States, for the most part, immigration is not considered a foreign policy issue. The Mexican government, however, believes that if immigration is defined as the transit of people from one country to another, and it is an issue of concern in two or more countries and a subject calling for bi- or multinational cooperation and agreements, then it belongs in the foreign policy realm. In this sense, it is then evident that the extent of immigration and the pace of integration will have an impact on both U.S. domestic and foreign policy issues. Today, conventional wisdom has it that the one issue where the majority in the Latino community, the Mexican-American political establishment (that is the Latino Congressional political caucus, advocacy organizations, and civil rights groups),
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and Mexico and the Mexican government seem to be on the same page in defending the human and labor rights of immigrants whether they are in the United States legally or not. Historically, however, such agreement has not been the rule. In the 1960s, for example, immigration was the paramount issue in the agenda between the Mexican government and Chicano activist groups. Most of the Chicano activist groups saw the defense of immigrants as a key issue. Furthermore, many in the leadership believed that supporting the Mexican position on immigration policy also enhances Chicano political fortunes since each additional immigrant, legal or not, is seen as a future supporter of Chicano interests.26 That was not, however, a view endorsed by everyone in a leadership position. Csar Chvez, the president of the United Farm Workers Union, vehemently opposed the idea of a guest worker program, for which the Mexican government was amenable. . . . When the farm workers strike and their strikes are successful, testified Chvez in Congress in 1979, the employers go to Mexico and have unlimited, unrestricted use of illegal alien strikebreakers to break the strike. And, for over 30 years, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has looked the other way and assisted in the strikebreaking. I do not remember one single instance in 30 years where the Immigration service has removed strikebreakers. . . . The employers use professional smugglers to recruit and transport human contraband across the Mexican border for the specific act of strikebreaking . . . 27 And a decade before, (in 1969), Chvez was so exasperated with the continued flow of immigrants to the U.S. agricultural fields, that he led a march to the Mexican border to protest illegal immigration. Joining the march were Senators Walter Mondale and Ralph Abernathy, the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1984, as the Simpson Mazzoli Immigration Reform Act was debated in Congress, Mexican Americans were widely perceived as being opposed to it. And in 1986, when the Immigration Reform Act finally passed, giving amnesty to almost three million Latinos, five Latino Congressmen voted in favor and six against. Lately, the events that unified the Latino political, civil, and business elites, the Latino community at large and Mexicans and the Mexican government were their opposition to: The 1994 Proposition 187 in California, which sought to bar undocumented people from receiving benefits like education and health services and the anti-immigrant tone of Governor Pete Wilsons reelection campaign. Although they were separate issues, their mutual reenforcement forged them together in the minds and souls of Latinos.
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The 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which actually barred permanent legal residents from participating in Social Security, food stamps programs, and other federal assistance programs. And the 1996 passage of a new Immigration Reform Law, which increased penalties against undocumented people and included tougher provisions to allow deportation of legal residents. Significantly, in spite of the large popular demonstrations rejecting Proposition 187 and the unified Latino front, the measure was approved by the voters overwhelmingly. Later on, it died in the ensuing legal process. In 2007, there was a congressional debate on a new immigration bill that would have offered a path to legalization to millions of undocumented workers, created a guest worker program, and reinforced security at the border. There was almost unanimous support for the bill in the Latino community and in Mexico, but Congress left the issue unresolved.
COULD LATINOS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE FORMULATION OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS FROM TODAY?
What should Americans expect to be different about Americas relationships in the world, particularly the Latin American world, as the Latino population matures within the United States? How might changes take place? Will such changes be marginal or tangential twenty-five years from now? Will immigration still be the defining issue in Anglo perception of the Latino community? I posed these questions and a few more to Professor Manuel Garca y Griego,28 and here are some of his answers: I believe the pace of both immigration and integration of Latinos will determine not only how the Latino community is perceived in the nation but the possible influence Latinos could have in both domestic and foreign policy. To frame the issue, Garca y Griego suggests two hypothetical scenarios, one benign and one rather the opposite: If immigration continues but starts to diminish in the course of the next ten years and integration proceeds at least not worse than it has been in the last 30 years, Latinos could have some say in U.S. foreign policy, provided they create powerful lobby organizations and assuming there are no disturbing external variables like a war in the region or radical major conflict. A caveat, he added, is that it is hard to organize a Latino foreign policy when Latin America is not a sovereign state. Although there are some com-
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monalities among Latinos in terms of regional responses, the differences are much bigger than the commonalities needed for effective lobbying. Another important factor that must be considered, according to Garca y Griego, is the possibility of a schism between the Latino Mexican-American groups and the Mexican immigrant groups. The latter would have a much more intense set of interests with respect to Mexico whereas the former would be less active and have a more diffuse set of interests. Furthermore, he adds, a key question is how active or removed from Mexico will third- and fourth-generation of Mexican Americans be. Now, continues Garca y Griego, if immigration continues in larger numbers and with less integration than at present to the extent that Mexicans and Central Americans become an underclass; a massive guest worker program is set in place and illegal immigration isnt stopped, lobbying would be more complicated and it would not play out the way I suggested before. Even if the whole Latino community unites as a single group, most likely the lobbying would not be in favor of Mexico nor would it necessarily be in support of U.S. aims in a conflict. It would mostly be a self-protective attitude. If immigration is indeed the key factor regarding Latinos and U.S. domestic and foreign policy and a real concern for those who fear immigrants, then we are talking about immigrant integration or assimilation and, as Tamar Jacoby (another contributor in this volume) has written, Immigrant absorption isnt a one-way streetthe American mainstream changes even as the immigrants do. Theres a nonnegotiable core to the American identity, and we expect newcomers to buy into it. But that doesnt and neednt require anyone to forget who they are or what they brought with them.29
FORECASTING A U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA

Needless to say, it is difficult to forecast what will be the main topics in U.S. foreign policy agenda twenty-five years from now. But in the aftermath of 9/11, it would be safe to assume that the war against terrorism, the spread of nuclear technologies to rogue countries, achieving greater energy independence, and reinforcing internal security and border control will still be high on the agenda. It would also be a safe bet to assume that regional conflict in places like the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will continue to be a priority in the U.S. foreign policy agenda, plus possible trouble ahead in North Korea. Assuming that some of these assumptions come true and also again assuming that the flow of immigrants from Latin American to the United States continues at the same pace or increases, one issue that would have reverberations in the Latino community would be the reinforcement of internal security and bor-
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der control. After all, out of the top twelve countries sending immigrants to the United States, Mexico is at the top, followed by Cuba in fifth place, plus Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The other issue could hypothetically be energy. Assuming that in virtue of their ancestry, Latinos could play the role of a broker with authorities in Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Trinidad and Tobago, Latin American countries that are significant oil- and gas-producing countries. To play out these hypothetical scenarios and considering the extensive body of literature on the issue of ethnic lobbying, it would be relatively simple to draw a model under which ethnic lobbies have successfully influenced U.S. policy toward their ancestral homeland and apply it to Latinos. Traditionally, an ethnic lobby succeeds when it: Considers itself part of a political community with the people of the homeland. Possesses human or financial resources to act across boundaries. Is able to act in a concerted manner. Shares the same attitude toward the government of the homeland. Has convergent views with U.S. policy toward that particular original homeland. Given these criteria, would it be reasonable to believe that the above-mentioned nations could form a unified block to act in concert to defend their regional interest, having invested the necessary financial and human resources to create a regional powerful lobbying organization whose views are somewhat in concert with the U.S. policy toward that subregion? Not by a mile. History shows that U.S. Latinos, with the exception of Puerto Ricans and Cubans, have had, at most, limited impact on U.S. policy toward Latin America. History also has proven that, as a group, Latinos lack the interest and the resources to do so and the capacity to act in concert for foreign policy purposes. As the 2007 debate on immigration has amply demonstrated, none of the Latino lobbies (i.e., community activists or elected officials) had any influence shaping U.S. policy to mend a broken immigration system. Could it be, as Steven Malanga suggests, that within the Latino community, immigration is not the most important issue and could it also hurt candidates who assume a liberal immigration policy will attract voters?30 From another perspective, Jorge Domnguez has written that Mexican Americans not only have yet to influence U.S. policy significantly . . . (but) They do not act in opposition to the laws of the United States or in support of
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enemy governments . . . they neither harbor spies nor have the capacities or predisposition to co-opt U.S. policy to serve Mexican interests. While it would be accurate to describe the Mexican-American community as part of a transtate cultural community, most Mexican-American activist organizations do not claim privileged knowledge, interest and skill with regard to U.S. policy toward Mexico. If any, the only liberal right that their organizations have articulated is for representation, often for simple patronage in exchange for political support.31 Furthermore, Domnguez, Gmez Quionez, and many other authors have cited evidence that although some U.S. citizens of Mexican origin may consider themselves part of a political community with Mexicans, in fact their values and policy preferences differ from those of Mexicans. Mexican-Americans have traditionally been very critical of the Mexican government and most Mexican origin peoples in the United States show little interest in Mexican politics.
CONCLUSIONS
Given these circumstances, what should Americans expect might be different about Americas relationships in the world, particularly the Latin American world as the Latino population within the United States matures? How might it happen? Will its impact be marginal or tangential? Will immigration be the defining issue of the Latino community twenty-five years from now? Hispanics are a very diverse community formed by people coming from different countries and with very heterogeneous views and interests. Without singularity of purpose, a narrow focus of interest, and sufficient financial resources and political clout, it doesnt seem likely that Latinos will be able to influence foreign policy to benefit the home country. Even when Latinos have reached prominent public positions, they have not followed the orthodox approach of an ethnic lobby a la Israel. Not only because of the impediments cited above regarding the lack of a unified voice and a narrow focus of interest on behalf of a foreign government, but mostly because they are Americans. Their country is the United States of America and none of them seems to be confused about it. There have been, of course, some prominent Latinos that have carved a role for themselves in U.S. foreign policy. Bill Richardson would be perhaps the best example. But even in his case, his ethnicity or ties to the country of his ancestors hasnt played any role in his diplomatic forays. For the most part, foreign policy has not been an issue of interest within Latino elites. In a 1997 survey, 454 Hispanic elites (public officials, academics, business leaders, and activists) gave their views on foreign and domestic policy
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issues. . . . Five of the top six issues ranked very important were domestic rather than international policy issues (the exception being international terrorism).32 Education was at the top followed by race relations, economic growth, crime and the environment in the United States. On the other hand, it is true that through remittances and political patronage, immigrants have increased their clout in their countries of origin. Yet, as JonesCorrea has pointed out, For the most part, the approach and the agendas of Hispanic policy elites and Latino immigrants remain separate and distinct. . . . Only the issue of immigration bridges the gap between these two sets of Latino foreign policy actors.33 But even on this issue, as Jones-Correa suggests, for Hispanic elites, the protection of immigrants is a civil rights issue whereas for the immigrants themselves, the issue has a strong foreign policy component: Research shows that as the first-generation Latin American immigrants spend more time in the United States, their contributions and remittances to their countries of origin drop off precipitously. It may be that a united Latino foreign policy is a chimeratantalizingly tempting in the distance, it will always slip away just as it lies within reach. A similar view is held by political scientist Luis Fraga, There is evidence that the more time a group spends in the United States, the less interest they have in the old country and some evidence that that drops off noticeably once the individual gains American citizenship. Of course, immigration is a big issue now and will continue to be but beyond that it is unclear to me what that galvanizing issue will be that will allow the attention to be maintained.34 A second issue is whether a Latino, any Latino, may have a special sensitivity toward his ancestors country. Well, says Fraga, it isnt clear to me that a Latino would bring such sensitivity. He or she could have it, but that kind of sensitivity is not a necessary condition of Latinos. In other words, the question here is whether second- or third-generation Latinos keep the so-called cultural capital that makes them sensitive to their parents or grandparents country. What makes Bill Richardson so great? asks Fraga rhetorically, meaning that he seems to have special skills in foreign policy. It could be that he comes from two elite families, one in Mexico and one here. And both are families of privilege. Hes well traveled, he has experience and he understands issues. In that sense, hes not your typical Chicano and in some way one could say he is even better because he is not. The same would apply to Latinos like Henry Cisneros. Albeit hes been involved mostly in domestic politics, he acted, at least once, as a bridge between the Salinas and the Clinton administration. The question, though, is ponders
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Fraga, did the Mexicans or the Americans believe he had a special sensitivity to bring to the table? If he did, could it be because there were so few other Mexican Americans in the Clinton administration? Or was it because both Cisneros and Salinas, two prominent members of elites, met at Harvard?
THE BORDER AS A MEETING PLACE

History and geography have shaped the relationship between Mexicans in the United States and Mexicans in Mexico in a complex and unique way. The cultural differences that so sharply separate the two countries seem to vanish at the border, giving way to a common space where a human, economic, and even political exchange has held steady for centuries. At the border, ordinary people set the agenda for U.S. and Mexican bilateral relations . . . their trade and investment relations have boomed since 1985, being U.S. Latinos participate in all facets of the U.S.Mexican relationship. And Domnguez explains, while conflict occurs at the border mainly because of the illegal activities . . . U.S. and Mexican government agencies also cooperate often staffed on the U.S. side by Mexican-American U.S. officials . . . And yet, the pertinent scholarship is striking in one respect: it is devoid of reference to the U.S. Latino influence on U.S. policies at the border.35 In this realm it should also be noticed that some Mexican-American elected officials have actually engaged in projects designed to increase political, economic, and diplomatic ties with foreign governments and to collaborate on bilateral or multinational task forces to combat international crime or promote healthful living, etc. Back in 1999, for example, Antonio Villaraigosa, then the California Assembly Speaker, traveled to Mexico to promote economic and political ties between California and Mexico. And even though Villaraigosa made a couple of significant faux pas during the visit, he publicly thanked Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo for helping defeat Proposition 187 and revealed he had had a conversation with the Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary about a possible guest worker program, he succeeded in exemplifying the realities of trans-border politics. On May 1, 2007, as mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa traveled to El Salvador and Mexico to talk to municipal authorities and local business. Unfortunately for him, he had to cut his trip short due to unforeseen problems when the LA police forcefully broke a demonstration by Latinos demanding reforms to the nations immigration system. Notwithstanding the emergency, Villaraigosa was able to sign an agreement with Salvadoran authorities on officer exchanges to deal with transnational crime organizations. Furthermore, while he was in Mexico, an important Mexi-
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can business conglomerate announced it was opening a new factory in Los Angeles. Yet, even after the international accomplishment, two big questions remain unanswered: 1) Did Villaraigosa play a role shaping U.S. foreign policy? 2) Did his ethnic origin play an important role in his mission? My answer is a definite no to both. First and foremost, what his trips demonstrated is how to deal with some of the issues, good (trade) and bad (crime) brought up by globalization. Second, most likely apart from a possible initial sympathy or antipathy from his hosts, his ethnic origin played no role in his deals. Hes done the same when hes traveled to countries in Asia and other mayors and governors of different ethnic origin have done the same as he did when they traveled abroad. I do firmly believe that the linkage between local authorities on both sides of the border will continue to grow regardless of a common ethnicity. And it will go on, plain and simple, because the two countries are blessed or condemned, depending on your perspective, to live side by side and influence each other in different ways.
Part THREE
Raw Numbers and Their Impact
ELEVEN THE RAW NUMBERS POPULATION PROJECTIONS AND THE POWER OF HISPANIC DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE
Leobardo F. Estrada
Leobardo F. Estrada, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, specializing in ethnic and racial demographic trends, particularly of the Latino population in the United States. He has served as an adviser to the U.S. Bureau of the Census and to many nonprofit organizations including the Pew Charitable Trust, the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, and the Southern California Association of Governments. In this brief, but definitive essay, Professor Estrada presents an analysis of how life cycle events of every Latinobirth, education, marriage, etc.have demographic implications with a powerful impact on Latino social change and the future of the United States as a whole.
hen the Southwest Territories became part of the United States, there were about 160,000 Spanish-origin persons in the United States and its territories. Andrew Jackson was president when foreign born Latinos reached the 1 million mark in population. John F. Kennedy was president when Latinos reached the five million mark in population.
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Richard Nixon was president when Latinos reached the ten million mark in population. Ronald Reagan was president when Latinos reached the twenty million mark in population. Bill Clinton was president when Latinos reached the thirty million mark in population. It was under president George W. Bush that Latinos reached the forty million mark in population. The president elected in 2008 will witness Latinos reaching the fifty million level of population. Anyone now approaching sixty has experienced the power of demographic change. In the 1950s, Latinos represented less than 1 percent of the population. Today they are 14 percent of the U.S. population. People in their thirties have lived the Hispanic experience: with Hispanics in public schools; eating at local Hispanic-owned restaurants; with the sound of Spanish radio and television, and cheering for Hispanic baseball players. Hispanics are very much a part of America today. As of July 2006, Hispanics became the largest ethnic/racial group in the United States, accounting for 44.3 million persons, or 14.8 percent of the U.S. population. The proportions are even higher for younger age groups. For example, Hispanics comprise 20 percent of all persons 0 to 19 years of age. Not surprising, Hispanics now comprise 42 percent of the public school enrollment. These numbers are a forecast of what is to come. In the last two decades, Latino growth averaged 4,650 new Latino residents each and every day, growth driven by three factors: births, deaths, and net migration. But such population growth cannot be appreciated without taking into consideration, by way of background, the sociohistorical context of demographic change and making comparisons to other groups to illustrate just how Latino growth is among the most impressive social trends in U.S. history. Demographic developments are interrelated with historical, economic, and social change in society. Thus, Latino growth has been related to events abroad such as the aftermath of revolutionary warfare in Mexico, civil unrest in Colombia, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, dictatorships in Chile and Cuba, economic displacement in Venezuela and Argentina, and the recruitment of agricultural labor from Mexico and Puerto Rico. There are also internal dynamics that include migrants with stable employment who reconstruct their families in the United States, migrant entrepreneurs who provide jobs, agricultural workers who move into industrial jobs, mothers
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who want their children to be born in the United States so their children can be U.S. citizens, and hometown associations that provide local support and information for immigrants, thus aiding the adaptation process. Finally, there are immigration policies that make it more difficult to return home. All of these elements lie beneath the demographic change experienced by the Latino population. In considering population growth, fertility is of primary importance. Information developed over many years indicates that newborns represent one of the two ways populations grow. Latinas begin having children at an earlier age and continue to have children at a later age than do white, Black, or Asian women. There are reasons why Latina fertility is higher than these other groups: cultural, health, and economic factors affect fertility behavior. Cultures value children differently and respond differently to childlessness; a womans health influences her ability to have children or limits the number of children she can bear; and poor economic conditions are more conducive to having children. Other factors include, especially, religious pressures, which influence contraceptive use and abortion options. In 2005, the Total Fertility Rate (average number of children in a family) was 1.7 for Asian women, 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women, 2.0 for Black women, and 2.9 for Latinas. Key to understanding the significance of these differences is that a Total Fertility Rate of 2.1 is needed for populations to grow by births alone. Thus, Latinos are the only racial/ethnic group having enough babies to grow by births alone. It is also well known that as the educational level of women increases, their fertility levels decrease. This trend has been evident among Latinos, whose fertility has declined over the past four decades from 4.3 to the 2.9 noted above. Another measure of population growth is that determined by the subtraction of deaths from births. For example, in 2006, the United States had approximately 4 million births and 2.5 million deaths per year. Thus the United States continues to grow due to natural increase (more births than deaths). Life expectancy is equally a factor in population growth. In 2005, the average life expectancy in the United States was 78 years of age. Blacks have a life expectancy 5 years less than whites (73) and Hispanic life expectancy is 75. As indicated in Table 1 in Appendix I, p. 220, this may be due to underreporting of mortality. Mortality rates are calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the population for age groups. Normally speaking, mortality rates are rather moderate for Latinos. Some experts have gone so far as to equate the low rates of Latino mortality with the health of the ethnic group. Two factors need to be considered, however. First, ethnicity/race of a deceased person is determined by next of kin
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or by the medical coroner in the case where next of kin are unavailable. The accuracy of the classifications by medical coroners is unknown. Second, with the proximity of Mexico, persons who become terminally ill may decide to return to their home countries for their final days. These deaths are then recorded in Mexico, Venezuela, or Peru, for example, instead of in the United States. To the extent that this occurs, mortality rates are artificially lowered. Regardless of these issues, also as noted in Table 1, when Hispanic mortality is compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanic mortality is relatively lower in all but four categories: Homicide, Liver Disease, Diabetes, and High Blood Pressure. The primary reason for these differences is the differential age structure between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Two population pyramids [see Table 2, Appendix I, p. 220] show the impact of higher fertilityin the bottom three rows for both pyramids, non-Hispanics are older and more prone to fatal illnesses and conditions. But youthfulness is not entirely a benefit. Youth gang violence, criminal activityparticularly that related to drugsleads to higher homicide rates. Alcoholism, diabetes, and liver disease are related to nutrition issues. Finally, high blood pressure is closely related to both overweight and stress. Migration is a third significant factor in considering population growth. Net migration may lead to population growth for countries of destination, but it must be understood as constantly in flux. Every day, migrants die, migrants return home, migrants enter, migrants give birth, and migrants marry nonmigrants. Net migration is most often estimated as the difference between those who exit and those who enter on an annual basis: In reality, the numbers fluctuate over the year and often around holiday seasons. Thus, net migration is only based on the best numbers available. (It is well known that existing numbers do not include those who do not wish to be included. These may be migrants lacking papers, a spouse with a reason to hide, a runaway teen, a fugitive, or simply someone who wants to protect his or her privacy.) As shown in Table 2 substantial non-European migration began only after the 1960s. Since then, the vast majority of immigration from abroad has been from Hispanic areas, Asian nations, and the subcontinent of India. Countless foreign born persons enter the United States every day. Most do not intend to remain permanently. The vast majority are tourists, students, businesspeople, and others who are here for temporary work, often at the request of employers. About 1.1 million immigrants enter the United States legally each year. This number includes refugees and asylees and temporary legal immigrants. Another number estimated at 500,000 annually enters the United States as unauthorized migrants. Finally, over a million immigrants go through the naturaliza-
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tion process each year after residing in the United States for many years. Immigration accounts for at least one-third of recent U.S. population growth. There is another aspect of migration: where migrants settle when they arrive. The importance of this is in understanding the distribution of future growth. In sum, wherever Latinos amass in large numbers, they account for most of the population growth of the local city, county, and region. By dispersing across the United States, Latinos also go from being regional groups to being considered a national group. As indicated in the maps in Figure 1, Appendix I, p. 221, Hispanics are the plurality of the minority population groups throughout the western United States, Northeast, and Florida. Projections into the future are often based on what has happened in the past and the assumption that dramatic changes are unlikely in the future. Data on fertility does allow us to foresee the future size of the youthful population and its impact for generations to come: births currently account for an increasing proportion of Latino growth and thus we have confidence in the general trend of the projections. Net migration, however, is more problematic. It is unlikely that anyone foresaw the level of civil unrest in Central America or the economic dislocations in Argentina or the exit of political exiles from Chile or the masses of boat people from Cuba. What is in store for us in migration depends on outcomes beyond our current understanding about the national wellbeing of the thirteen nations comprising the Spanish origin nations. Studies show [see Table 3, Appendix I, p. 221] that the Latino population is growing at a constant rate lower than in the past but higher than any other group. According to these projections, Latinos are the group to watch. The Hispanic population is the fastest, growing at an annual rate of 3.4 percent, compared to Black non-Hispanic annual rates of growth of 1.3 percent; Asian annual rates of growth of 3.2 percent, and white non-Hispanics at an annual growth rate of 0.3 percent. Hispanics currently account for about half the nations population growth. By contrast, Whites have declined in all but nine states. The United States will undergo a Hispanic transformation over the next fifty years. By 2050, at least 65 million more Hispanics will be added to the U.S. population, primarily through new births. Hispanics will then represent one of every four persons in the United States. The life cycle of every Latino has demographic implications: birth, education, marriage, household composition, employment, childbearing, retirement, and death. As a group, these demographic factors add up to forces that will have a profound impact on social change and shape the future of the United States. The power of demographic change is reflected in the Hispanic population. The future of U.S. and Hispanic growth is inextricably intertwined.
TWELVE LATINO NUMBERS AND SOCIAL TRENDS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Roberto Suro
Roberto Suro brings to bear his years of research in the Latino community in this essay, focusing especially on three issues of prime importance. They are first, the question of identity, next, the function of language, and finally, the rapid changes we see in a community undergoing such rapid growth. Suro is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication. Prior to joining the USC faculty, he was for six years founding director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization. During his earlier journalistic career he was on the senior staff of Time, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Suro is the author, also, of Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America.
etween March 10 and May 1, 2006 an estimated 3.5 million people took part in immigrants rights marches in more than 120 U.S. cities.1 Many news accounts suggested that Latinos made up the great majority of the marchers. Thus, by virtue of the raw numbers involved, the immigration marches of 2006 stand out as by far the largest social mobilization ever undertaken by Latinos. In terms of geographic scope, the marches surpassed any other effort at coordinated civic engagement by Latinos.
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This extraordinary moment left many unanswered questions in its wake. Not the least of them involves the nature of Hispanic identity and its likely political impact in the future: What are the attitudes and values that bring Latinos together and that separate this population into distinct segments? What issues or political stands are likely to rally Latinos as a group, and which do they debate among themselves? The marches offer some hints, but we must go elsewhere to find fuller answers. This chapter will explore what can be learned about the crosscurrents of Hispanic identity from an extensive body of public opinion research developed in recent years, and it will trace some of the trajectories that seem to point to the future. The issue of immigration was in the forefront of public consciousness in the United States in the spring of 2006. Proposed changes in the governments immigration policy sparked the protest marches. Many, probably most, of the Latino marchers were immigrants or their U.S. born children, and most extraordinary of all, many thousands of unauthorized migrants risked exposure by taking part in the demonstrations. Nonetheless, these protests were seen as Latino marches not as immigrant marches. Indeed, many Americans equate Latinos with immigrants. Even though it is erroneous, that perception is understandable. After decades of rapid, accelerating growth, foreign born Hispanics haved become by far the most visible segment of the Latino population if only because their presence prompts very specific policy concerns and because they have generated an anxious, even hostile reaction in some quarters of the non-Hispanic population. The first important lesson to draw from the marches is that immigration has come to define the Latino population in the popular consciousness, and this carries over to the way many Latinos see themselves when they think of themselves as part of an ethnic group. About four of every ten Hispanics are foreign born, and among those newcomers, more than half have arrived in the United States since 1990. Another three of every ten Latinos are the native-born children of foreign born parents. So, by the weight of numbers alone, immigrants are the protagonists of the Hispanic story today. This was not always the case. As recently as the mid-1960s, nearly half the Hispanic population was made up of people of long tenure, Latinos who were born in the United States and whose parents were also born in the United States. Those are the people, overwhelmingly Mexican Americans, who waged the Hispanic civil rights struggle and who produced, giving rise to a variety of institutions and leaders who remain important today. And for them, the experience of immigration lay at least as far back as their abuelos (grandparents), if not farther back in their family histories. Though many strongly embraced a Latino identity, it was an identity distinctly shaped and colored by
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the experience of being Latino in the United States and of having a history here, often a painful one. These Latinos of long tenure remain a powerful presence today, especially in public life, and their expressions of Hispanic identity are still influential. But, importantly, decades of immigration have changed the character of the Hispanic population. The marches of 2006 crystallized the fact that we now live in an era of Latino life defined by the immigrant experience. Even though the Latino population as a whole is much more complex, immigrants and their offspring are driving the central narrative of Latino life. That storyline involves people who are new to the United States and who are still in the process of defining their place here. It is a story of people deep in the process of change that inevitably accompanies migration to a new cultural setting. And it is the story of a people who are obliging American society to respond to them by virtue of their sheer numbers, their weight in the labor market, and the public policy controversies that surround immigration. Yet meanwhile the older narrative continuesthe story of a native minority group seeking redress of past grievances and asserting its place in American society. And, as we shall see, the two narratives have overlapped and intertwined and will play out together going forward during the marches and their aftermath. Every day thousands of new arrivals reinvigorate the Spanish language and revive Latin American cultural expressions, bringing with them a range of distinctive opinions on a variety of topics. And at the same time Latino immigrants and their children are subject to a continuous barrage of influences from every corner of American society. And, every day, the newcomers are exercising their own influence on the people around them, changing America even as they themselves are changed. The most obvious evidence is in popular culture, particularly music. But, by their sheer weight in certain segments of the labor market, Latino immigrants have influenced the nations economic development by making a variety of industries from construction to hospitality more lucrative than they would have been otherwise. Throughout this all Latinos of longstanding, the native-born of native-born parentage, are hardly bystanders. They, after all, make up the bulk of the Latino electorate, and they exercise much greater political influence than immigrant Hispanics. They both contribute their own influences to immigrant adaptation, and they are responding to the influx as well. Taken altogether what emerges is a highly dynamic interchange across the whole American population, and that interchange is particularly turbulent among Latinos. The very content of the Hispanic population is undergoing both rapid growth and the transformations that inevitably accompany such growth through
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immigration. And just as inevitably, the nature of Latino identity is in a state of transformation as it evolves along many different trajectories. In trying to draw a portrait of Latino identity we have to start by admitting that we are trying to describe a moving target. Next, we have to admit that the standard tool for drawing that kind of a portraitpublic opinion surveysonly gives us snapshots of that moving target. Each survey result tells us something about a certain kind of person at a given point in time. When people are involved in a process of change, one has to be careful about making predictions based on such information. Nonetheless, putting a great many of these snapshots together does start to form a picture, something like a mosaic. Colors and shapes, themes, and trends, become apparent. Gradually, tentatively, and with a good deal of humility, one can begin to draw some conclusions.
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE MARCHES

During my six years as founder and director of the Pew Hispanic Center, I supervised nineteen public opinion surveys of the Latino population. Thanks to the very generous support of the Pew Charitable Trusts, we were able to use the most accurateand the most expensivesampling methodologies available to ensure that we captured the views of all Hispanic adults, whether or not they spoke Spanish or English or lived in a barrio or in neighborhoods where Latinos are a sparse presence. Those surveys totaled nearly 30,000 interviews on dozens of topicssome of which we probed repeatedly. That body of data serves as the basis for this chapter. We should first look at a survey conducted in the wake of the immigration marches of 2006 that illustrates some of the major contours of Hispanic identity, some of the diversity of opinion within this population and some of the ways in which the ever-evolving modes of Latino thinking can have an impact on politics and public policy. Spring 2006 was an extraordinary moment because of the mass mobilization of Latinos; something not seen before and, in my view, something we are not likely to see again anytime soon. But, the key factors underlying the marches were not unique to that moment. In part they were a response to specific legislation adopted by the House of Representatives in December 2005. While that law would have enacted some of the most punitive immigration policies ever proposed in Washington, the spirit of the proposal and the rhetoric it engendered from all sides were a staple of American political discourse both before and after. The marches also reflected the kind of civic society that had developed in Hispanic communities and which remains in place. No overarching institutions, or national leaders, emerged from the marches. Instead, spontaneous coalitions
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of ethnic media organizations, churches, unions, immigrant rights groups, and other activists brought the people into the streets. The breadth and variety of these coalitions revealed an extensive, though fragmentary, civic structure that had evolved over a long period of time, attracting little notice. While the events of spring 2006 were singular, they illuminated ongoing trends in the Hispanic population, its evolving identities and its interactions with the rest of American society. A Pew Hispanic Center survey [see Figure 1, Appendix I, p. 222] fielded a month after the last of the big marches showed the degree to which Hispanic identity is being shaped by immigration and the responses it generates in the American public.2 That June 2006 survey explored the extent to which Latinos think that discrimination prevents them from succeeding in America and found that concern was rising. In a comparable 2002 survey, 44 percent of Latinos had said that discrimination was a major problem; 51 percent shared that view in 2004. In the 2006 survey, 58 percent of Latinos said discrimination was a major problem. Not surprisingly, given their socioeconomic and civic status, larger shares of the foreign born consistently express this concern. A subsequent survey taken in the autumn of 2007 showed these views holding steady.3 And, these 2006 surveys revealed not only that more Latinos see discrimination as a problem than a few years ago but also how that the contours of this perception are shifting. A follow-up question in the 2006 survey [see Figure 2, Appendix I, p. 222] asked whether the debate over immigration policy had affected the extent of discrimination. A majority of Latinos (54 percent) responded that the debate had made discrimination against Latinos more of a problem. One might have expected the foreign born to respond most forcefully in this direction. After all, the angry rhetoric and the policy proposals were mostly aimed at immigrants, particularly the unauthorized. But, in fact 57 percent of the native born said the debate made discrimination more of a problem compared to 51 percent of the foreign born. Moreover, the perception that the immigration policy debate had exacerbated discrimination was shared by a majority of Latinos regardless of age, gender, education, income, religious preference, or party affiliation. Latinos with the deepest family roots in the United Statesthose who are nativeborn of native-born parentsalso strongly shared this perception with 69 percent saying the immigration debate had made discrimination more of a problem for Latinos. The 2007 survey, which was fielded after the failure of the Congressional debate on immigration reform and a subsequent increase in enforcement efforts, found widespread fears of being caught up in an anti-immigrant backlash. Just over
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half (53 percent) of all Hispanics, including a third (32 percent) of native-born Latinos said that they worried that they or someone close to them might be deported. Fully two-thirds (67 percent) of immigrant Latinos expressed such fears. These findings suggest that the ways in which American society responds to Latino immigration is having a broad impact on the whole of the Hispanic population. In part this could be an expression of sympathy toward the embattled newcomers. It could also reflect a perception that anti-immigrant rhetoric demonizes all Latinos, not just the intended targets. The end result is likely to be strengthening of the sense of shared identity, in this case as victims of discrimination. The immigrant experience, therefore, seems a powerful influence on how Latinos see themselves and their place in the American landscape. Since immigration is a dynamic phenomenon, it seems safe then to assume that this influence is evolving. Indeed other evidence suggests that the immigrant experience might be forging a stronger sense of ethnic identity among Latinos that goes beyond a shared perception of rising discrimination. One of the key distinctions that Latinos draw among themselves is by country of origin. Mexicans think of themselves as different from Salvadorans, Dominicans see themselves as different from Cubans, etc. And, this sense of difference is as widespread among the American born whose connections to a country of origin might be quite distant, as they are among the recently arrived. The extent to which Latinos look beyond these differences to see commonalities with Hispanics of other ancestries is a key question both for the shaping of group identity and for mobilizing political power. In the wake of the 2006 marches, there were signs that the varying attitudes might be shifting. When asked in a 2002 survey whether Latinos of different countries share one culture or whether they all have separate and distinct cultures, Hispanics split 85 percent to 14 percent in favor of separate cultures. In 2006, a substantial majority still saw cultural differences, but the split was narrower, 75 percent to 23 percent. More significantly, the same basic trend toward a somewhat greater sense of unity is apparent when Latinos are asked whether Hispanics from different countries are working together politically or not. [see Figure 3, Appendix I, p. 223] Latinos are still split over whether they see themselves working to achieve common political goals, but in this case the split is much narrower. In 2006 there were signs of even greater ethnic solidarity emerging, particularly among the foreign born. In 2002 a plurality of Latinos (49 percent) had shown that Hispanics were not working together politically and a smaller share (43 percent)
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were in fact working together to achieve common goals. There was no significant difference in responses between the native and foreign born. In the aftermath of the marches, however, 58 percent of Latinos saw fellow Hispanics from different countries working together to achieve common political goals versus 34 percent who said they are not working together. This is a significant swing in public opinion, and it is evident to some extent throughout the Latino population with Cubans being the notable exception. However, the perception of common political effort was strongest among Latinos of Mexican origins, with 66 percent of the foreign born and 56 percent of the native-born agreeing on this greater sense of solidarity. [see Figure 4, Appendix I, p. 223] A third measure of ethnic identity is also revealing. In the 2002 and 2006 surveys we asked a sequence of questions that asked about the terms Hispanics use to identify themselves. There were three categories of answers: Country of origin, as in Mexican, Salvadoran, etc.; the ethnic labels Hispanic or Latino, and American. There was very little change between the two surveys. Most of the foreign born not surprisingly identify with the country of their birth although a significant minority of the native-born also identify with the country of ancestry. The largest share of native born Latinos identify themselves as Americans while relatively few of the foreign born do so. Meanwhile, only about a quarter of Latinos, regardless of nativity, select the broad ethnic terms Hispanic or Latino (and respondents were given a choice between the two). This kind of ethnic identification is stronger among young adults than the middle aged and older, but even among the young it is a distinctly minority view. [see Figure 5, Appendix I, p. 223] There is an interesting contrast in the fact that the perception of common political goals is strengthening more than the perception of a shared culture and that both these other measures of ethnic solidarity are strengthening while the measure of self-identification is not changing. These survey results suggest to me that the bonds of ethnic solidarity among Latinos may be strengthening somewhat over time but that the notable movement is in the realm of political action rather than culture or individual identity. And, although it is impossible to draw a direct cause-and-effect connection, the evidence implies that the marches and the surrounding immigration debate helped provoke a greater feeling of political unity, particularly when you take into account the widespread feeling that the immigration debate worsened discrimination against Latinos. Other questions on the June 2006 survey probed perceptions of the marches and found, for example, that a majority of Latinos expected them to produce a lasting social movement and greater turnout by Latinos in elections.
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There is a larger paradox at work here. When asked, Latinos see themselves as having many cultures and adopt a variety of labels. However, when they are assessing themselves vis--vis American society as a whole, the group bonds are much stronger, as is evident in the shared perception of discrimination. When there is a specific threat from the outside, as is the case with immigration policy debates, the sense of common bonds ratchets up. This basic element of identity formation is most obvious at the level of national identity. During times of war or other external threats, patriotism is on the rise. Among Latinos, the harshness of the immigration debate provoked a similar reaction, but it was a relatively narrow response. The sense of shared threat was evident in the perceptions of discrimination, but the largest shift in the survey results came in the question about a shared political agenda, not in the questions about shared culture or identity labels. These results are subject to varying interpretations, of course, but my view is that they show an identity developing on multiple trajectories and comprised of several components. Many Latinos see no contradiction in saying that many different cultures are represented in the Hispanic population and then saying that Hispanics share a common political agenda. And, indeed there is no reason why such concepts need be mutually exclusive. After all, the very foundation of American nationhood is that people of many different identities, cultures, and political persuasions can share a common set of beliefs about how to govern themselves. So, perhaps, something like the concept of e pluribus unum is at work among Latinos. At a time when immigration is such a powerful force shaping the population, it is logical that Latinos display a great variety of cultural identities yet find many ways to express a Hispanic identity. The simple fact that so many people arrive from so many different native lands virtually assures diversity. What we see today is that some degree of unity evolves from American societys reaction to the Hispanic population in general, but particularly its response to the foreign born and especially the unauthorized immigrant. There are other forces at work in the United States enhancing the concept that Latinos should be envisioned as a single people. This country, after all, maintains an age-old system of racial sorting in which people, notably non-whites, are categorized as members of a group for many different purposes, both positive and negative. The media, both in English and in Spanish, is particularly insistent on addressing Latinos as a monolithic group. This is not to say that all of the energy or impulses bringing Latinos together are emanating from the outside. Rather my aim is to emphasize that the development of Latino identities must be understood as an interaction between several parties. On the one side is the Latino population, which is in a dynamic
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process of growth and change as a result of immigration and which includes a variety of values, attitudes, and cultures. On the other side of the interaction are a great variety of influences resident in many sectors of American society. Nowhere is this interaction more vivid than among the immigrants who have thrown themselves into a process of transformation by the mighty act of leaving their native lands to come to the United States.
LANGUAGE AND ATTITUDES

One of the simplest yet most profound transformations taking place in the Hispanic population involves language. Virtually all the foreign bornwho account for 40 percent of the Latino population and closer to 60 percent of Latino adultsarrive in this country speaking Spanish as their primary language. Only a relatively small number, generally those coming with a college education, start out speaking a modest amount of English. Over the course of one generation, from the immigrants to their American born children, this picture changes dramatically, so that English is common among virtually all Latinos who were born in the United States, with Spanish surviving in the form of bilingualism. In several Pew surveys we used a battery of six questions to explore how much Latinos read or speak English and Spanish and which language they use at work and at home. Combining responses to these questions allowed us to categorize respondents as to whether English or Spanish was their primary language, meaning that they spoke and read that language very well and used it in most of their dealings, while perhaps having limited abilities and usage of the other language. Bilinguals, people who are thoroughly functional in both languages and use both languages regularly, constitute a third category. Very significant differences emerge, particularly according to nativity. Spanish is the primary language of nearly three-quarters of the immigrant generation. Almost all the rest are bilingual. The children of immigrants, the second generation, is almost evenly divided between those who are bilingual and English dominant. And, Latinos of long tenurethe native-born of native-born parentager known as the third plus generationsare almost the mirror image of the newcomers. About three-quarters of these are English dominant and the remainder is bilingual. Across generations, reliance on Spanish diminishes greatly as English takes on a central role, but Spanish, interestingly, does not disappear (witness the substantial percentage of bilinguals in the second generation).4 Among the immigrants themselves a process of linguistic transformation is underway. Among foreign born Latinos who have been in the United States for five years or less, about one-fifth say they can speak English either very well or pretty well. That measure increases to more than a third among those who have
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been in the country for ten to twenty years. The speed with which Latino immigrants acquire English abilities depends on a variety of factors but especially the age of the migrantthe young learn languages fasterand the level of education. Overall, this key element of identity and culture is in a state of flux. Language is a very dramatic marker of the changes taking place in the Latino population, especially among immigrants. The wide range of abilities and preferences across two languages is a powerful indicator of the multiplicity of outcomes. Language is also a vehicle of change. Learning English opens immigrants to American culture, and it is the avenue through which they absorb American attitudes. On a wide range of matters from social issues such as abortion to the more practical question of what it takes to succeed in an American workplace, the opinions expressed by English-dominant Latinos often resemble the views of non-Hispanics, particularly non-Hispanic whites. Meanwhile, the views of Spanish-dominant Latinos are quite distinct. Consider the sensitive question of homosexuality. Only 16 percent of Spanishdominant Latinos say that sex between two adults of the same gender is acceptable, compared to 27 percent of bilingual Latinos and 38 percent of the English dominant. Meanwhile, 35 percent of non-Latinos take that position. The centrality of family is often cited as a key element of Hispanic identity.5 However, Latinos differ considerably on the question of whether adult children should live with their parents until they marry. The Spanish dominant are almost unanimous in saying this is preferable, but the percentage of people taking this view is lower among the bilingual and lower still among the English dominant. Again, these latter attitudes mirror those of non-Latinos. This same pattern is evident over and over again in the survey results. A statistical analysis of those results [see Figure 6, Appendix I, p. 224] shows that language contributes substantially to differences in attitudes even when controlling for a variety of other factors, including age, gender, income, education, country of origin, religion, and the number of years an immigrant has lived in the United States.6
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

On many occasions, as in the preceding pages, I have described Latinos as a people in motion. The geographic and socioeconomic movement is quite widespread and tangible. As the survey results here demonstrate, attitudes and values are also moving. Indeed, the character and content of Latino identity, its breadth, and the extent to which it motivates people to collective action, are all in a state of evolution as well. In looking to the future, I think it is most useful to focus on the process of change rather than its outcomes, at least when
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discussing the intangible realm of identity. The starting points vary as do the trajectories, and so, inevitably, there will be multiple and varied outcomes. Many factors influence group identity, of course, but in the short term at least it seems to me that immigration and the response it provokes in the nonLatino population is perhaps the most powerful. In politics and civic life it is a matter of sheer numbers. If there are going to be Hispanic policy agendas, political candidates, or membership organizations that win elections by expressing a sense of collective will, they will have to mobilize immigrant Latinos and their children. There lies the growth potential of political power. In the commercial marketplace and in popular culture as well the numbers are driving attention to the immigrants and the native-born, bilingual young people emerging from immigrant households. Beyond their numbers, immigrants are exercising an outsized influence on the evolution of Hispanic identity because the new arrivals among them bring such distinctive attitudes and because those who have been here for a while are in a process of adapting to American ways. The presence of so many newly arrived immigrants ensures that attitudes and identities are going to be in a state of flux over the decades to come. The large and growing share of Latinos who are now the young children of immigrants ensures another kind of flux. These young people are in an ongoing process of negotiation and reconciliation between their parents Spanish-speaking culture and the English-speaking cultures of the land where they were born. As they emerge into adolescence and then adulthood, they will be spawning new bilingual and bicultural expressions of what it means to be a Latino, a Hispanic, a Mexican, a Salvadoran, a Chicano, an American, with the meaning behind all those labels still to come. Accepting the idea that Latino identity is in flux does not in any way diminish its importance. Accepting the idea that there may be multiple expressions of Hispanic identity does not in any way dilute the concept. On the contrary, it is an acknowledgment that the Hispanic population as it is now constituted, after several decades of intense migration, is a new and vibrant entity redefining its place on the American landscape. It may be as old as the ancient churches on the Mission Trail, but it is also now in a process of reinvention and renewal. The process of change is underway; the outcomes are unknowable. How the meaning of Latino identity develops and how it is expressed culturally and politically depends of many factors. Some lie beyond the Latino population: how the dilemma of unauthorized migration is resolved and other responses by the host society to the new era of immigration; how globalization shapes the U.S. workforce; how U.S. partisan politics incorporates the growth of the Hispanic electorate. At the same time, there are many factors within Latinos control: The
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extent to which families take advantage of education opportunities and the quality of the leaders emerging from Latino communities will both have a decisive impact. Many other factors are explored in the other chapters of this book. In weighing each of those subjects, keep in mind that they will each help determine the directions this process takes; they will each help determine what it means to be Latino in the next decade and the decade after that. We are well past the start of a new era in American history, an era in which Latinos will play an ever larger role. The size and the growth of the Hispanic population guarantee that. But, the manner of growth, immigration, and high birth rates among immigrant parents, plus the presence of a population of long standing, ensures that it wont be just one role and that the emergence of multiple roles will not be a linear or predictable process. Instead, Latinos will be engines of change, changes in their own identities, changes in the ways they relate to the rest of society and changes in the ways that society relates to them. The outcomes may be unknowable, but they will be important to all Americans.
THIRTEEN A FIRST-ORDER NEED: IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF THE NATIONS LATINOS

Elena V. Rios
Elena V. Rios, M.D., M.S.P.H., is one of the most respected and forceful spokespersons in the cause of better health for Latinos, especially in her present (2008) post as president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and president of NHMAs National Hispanic Health Foundation. After attaining undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and the University of California, Los Angeles, respectively, and completing an internal medicine residency in California hospitals, Dr. Rios entered a full-time career in public health, ultimately achieving important responsibilities in Washington, D.C. and her home state of California. The following pages present a comprehensive view of Latino health today and an agenda for improvement in both private and public sectors to raise the level of Latino health in the years to come.
o improve the health of Latinos in the United States over the next twenty years, the first requirement is to end disparities in the health-care system. Medical treatments received by Latinos are less attentive, less timely and less comprehensive than those afforded to other Americans. Good health may be seen as a right, but the preservation and advancement of rights are driven by economics and politics. Given the magnitude of the expected growth
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in the Hispanic population in coming decades, we should be able to ensure that policymakers in government and the private sector devise strategies for raising Hispanic health-care standards to the level experienced by other Americans, but only if we develop and exercise the necessary leadership. At the same time, we must acknowledge that Latinos own attitudes and behavior contribute to bad health. If we fail to improve on disease prevention in Hispanic communities through healthy living, good diet, and weight control, we are unlikely to improve our own wellness no matter what changes are made in the health-care system. To examine both factorsthe state of Hispanic medical care and the role that Latino communities may play in worsening their own conditionlet us begin with three hypothetical cases.
FEMALE, 49, NO INSURANCE

The woman, a wife and mother of four goes to a health clinic and reports she is experiencing abdominal pain. Though it is a clich, it is nevertheless quite likely that the doctor or nurse will tell her to go home, take an aspirin, and come back in the morning. It could be something you ate, they may say. I dont think its serious. What they may believe but not say is that, with Latinas, pain in the abdomen is a sign of stress in the home, likely emanating from family concerns. They may tell themselves that Latinas always complain but that shes obviously an energetic woman whos never had a health problem in her life. In a crowded clinic with a patient who lacks health insurance, its likely that little thought will be given at that first visit to more urgent possible causes of the pain. The language gap makes the situation worse. The practitioners whom the woman has seen so far speak no Spanish. She speaks English but not well. She fails to understand many of the things she is told and she does not trust the people telling her. The medical personnel do not know what she understands and what she does not. If the pain and the patient persist, doctors may eventually begin a workup and, conceivably, could discover something as serious as ovarian cancer. But in too many instances, the woman will not come back to the clinic because she is discouraged by the reception she received. She will refuse to tell her husband about her pain. She wont want her children to know. She believes it is her job to keep the family together, not to cause fear. She doesnt want to be seen as having a vulnerability. It may be that her mother died of ovarian cancer. She may know that, but she doesnt know or believe that the disease is curable.
A First-Order Need: Improving the Health of the Nations Latinos
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Demonstrating an unnecessary fatalism, she thinks, If its my time to go, its my time to go. So the system fails her, first by not taking her seriously and second by failing to communicate the importance of the possibilities suggested by her symptoms. The clinic workers are unaware of a Latina mothers tendency to say, Let me take care of my family first and then take care of myself, so they may fail to ask necessary questions. But the woman fails herself, too.
MALE, 41, LIMITED HMO COVERAGE

The Latino father of three children receives a minor injury in a traffic accident. While being treated at an emergency room, the nurse notices his blood pressure is elevated. In one ER visit, medical personnel cannot make a meaningful diagnosis of high blood pressure and probably wont even ask the man if anyone in his family has had it. They may advise him to consult his doctor about it. The odds are that he will not. Probably he has no regular doctor and fears his HMO will not cover a consultation. He has heard such stories from other Latinos. The possible out-of-pocket cost gives him pause, especially with a potential illness that displays no symptoms that he can see or feel. He is proud of being the family breadwinner, bringing in the money that must be spent on others when they need it. He cant be sick because theyre relying on him. He cant afford it, he thinks. So he says to himself, Im physically fit, I havent had any problems. He wont deal with it. Now, assume that he does have hypertension. Perhaps there are symptoms he has noticed creeping up on him over months. Hes getting bad headaches or his vision is changing. He may conclude, Im going to have to get glasses, but he will be in denial of anything larger. He wont get himself checked out, and then one day he will drop dead, a stroke victim. You see the same thing with undetected heart disease causing a fatal heart attack. Even if he does see a doctor and the diagnosis is high blood pressure, the Hispanic male may not take the medication. He may never get into the mind-set of swallowing a pill every day. He will forget.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, 16, OBESE

This boy or girl presents at the office of the school nurse with an ankle twisted in gym class. The student is still out of breath from the exercise and perspiring heavily. One factor in the injury, the shortness of breath and the sweat is as obvious as the patients rapid heartbeat: this child is grossly overweight.
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The nurse is Latina herself and can predict other likelihoods: that the childs mother will be obese, as will the father. And that they would say about their fat child, Oh, hell grow out of it or Its better for her to be chubby and healthy than skinny and starving. Healthy means having meat on your bones. The nurse is more likely than in years past to tell the teen that he or she is obese, because schools are more aware that excess weight causes serious health problems later in life. And the teen may tell the parents what the nurse said, but the parents wont accept it because they wont want to face the irresponsibility of their own food choices: fast foods, packaged dishes prepared on the fly, fatty meats and potatoes fried in lard instead of lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Sugary soft drinks instead of milk and plain water. Candy that promotes tooth decay. Here, the business community fails the family. Advertising by the food industry surrounds them, encouraging the worst food and beverage choices. Many lower-income Latinos live in neighborhoods where there are no supermarkets and the corner markets do not have affordable prices for quality produce. So the family buys and eats the cheap prepared and canned foods. If the parents of our 16-year-old had the quality of insurance coverage and regular medical care that Latinos so often lack, their doctors would counsel them on their self-threatening eating habits. They also would explain that when children spend too much time indoors, on cell phones, watching TV, or using computer games and the other available electronic distractions, they are not getting the exercise they need.
THE SOCIOECONOMIC AND HEALTH PROFILE OF LATINOS

Poverty, education, language, government policies, and the health-care and insurance systems are woven together so tightly with Latino culture and the experience of immigrants in the United States that it is difficult to isolate these individual threads for examination. Still, some statistical observations are useful: The poverty rate for Hispanics historically has been above 20 percent and as recently as 1994 was more than 30 percent. The Hispanic poverty rate for 2006 was 20.6 percent, which was 67 percent higher than the overall U.S. poverty rate. (U.S. Census Bureau). Latinos are among the least educated group in the United States: 11 percent of those over age 25 have earned a bachelors degree or higher, compared with 17 percent of blacks, 30 percent of whites, and 49 percent of Asian Americans in the same age group.1 Latino and Latina youth typi-
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cally have the highest high school dropout rate (28 percent in 2000, double the rate of blacks and whites, according to research from Johns Hopkins University).2 It should require no statistics to establish that Americans who do not speak English well have a harder time getting an education and finding well-paying jobs. Such language difficulties contribute to a disparity in health-care, too. Almost half of those with limited English proficiency 47 percentdo not have a usual source of health-care. They have difficulty understanding everything in the system, including medical records and prescription instructions. Spanish-speaking Latinos are less satisfied with the treatment they receive and more likely to report overall problems with health-care than are English speakers.3 Hispanics at all levels of English proficiency are 20 percent more likely than non-Hispanic whites to receive poorer quality medical care and a whopping 88 percent more likely to have worse access to care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services 2006 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Another big reason for the disparity in care, of course, is that so many Hispanics do not have health insurance. Uninsured rates in 2005 were 48 percent for Hispanics compared to 19 percent for blacks and 13 percent for non-Hispanic whites. Hispanics made up 30 percent of the total U.S. non-elderly uninsured.4 Government policies toward immigrants52 percent of whom were from Latin America in the 2000 censusaffect access to health-care. Immigrants with legal status face restricted Medicaid eligibility for five years, except for emergency care. Those without legal status may deny themselves and their families even emergency treatment, fearing apprehension and deportation. Bills periodically before Congress and state and local government would add additional barriers for undocumented immigrants and for their children born in the United States.5 The two leading causes of death for Hispanics are heart disease and cancer, the same as for all Americans. Beyond the top two, however, there are some important differences. In particular, homicide, chronic liver disease, and diabetes rank higher as causes of death among Americans of Hispanic origin than in the general population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Chronic liver disease often comes from alcohol abuse but also can be associated with diabetes or with an accumulation of fat in the liver, frequently from an unhealthy diet. Diabetes also is diet-related. Both diseases tend to run in fam-
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ilies, but at the same time it must be observed that those who develop these illnesses may be said to have helped cause their own condition through their eating and drinking habits. The same is true of heart disease. For decades, researchers have been studying what has come to be called the Hispanic paradox: that Hispanics tend to have lower rates of chronic illnesses than other ethnic and racial groups, despite the fact that so many come from poor communities.11 Much of the research has been into the roles of traditional Hispanic diet and culture. Unfortunately, the literature shows that first-generation Latinos tend to be healthier than subsequent generations. With time, the paradox disappears and Hispanic health status appears to be at the same level as the American population overall, except that Hispanic youth show higher rates of overweight, obesity, and poor oral health. It is not an overstatement to observe that reduction of overweight and obesity is the most significant national issue for the current generation of Latinos. Obesity is a significant public health threat for most segments of the population of the United States; childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. But the evidence is clear that Hispanic (and African American) children are at a higher risk for childhood obesity than white children.12 Without the health insurance that brings access to good medical care, too many Hispanic families never learn about the link between childhood obesity and adult diseases, which even includes chronic knee pain. As a result, diseases we think of as being for people in their sixties are going to hit this generation in their thirties. Why are so many Latino families overweight? It is because of the unhealthy foods they buy and cook: fried, fast, and fatty. It is because many Latino couples must work lengthy and overlapping job schedules, leaving the children to cook for themselves. Or not to cook: unsupervised, the kids may gorge on junk food loaded with additives and preservatives and on soft drinks spiked with sweeteners. The extra weight comes from high fructose corn syrup, white bread, white rice, and potatoes, all of them bad. The cheapest foods are starches that break down quickly, leading to more fat retained in the body, fat that is not burned off because parents and children are not getting the necessary exercise. That is what has built this generations obesity. And here is a chilling fact that may be related to the above: the National Center for Health Statistics reports that mental illnessdepression and suicide ideationis more prevalent in Hispanic youth than in non-Hispanic youth. Latinos in general, then, face major barriers to obtaining health-care due to socioeconomic status, low proficiency in English and lack of health insurance or restrictions on coverage due to immigrant status. The literature shows that those who are poor, uneducated, and uninsured obtain less medical care and, in the case
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of persons with chronic diseases, suffer from greater morbidity and premature death. These represent costs to all of American society in terms of the number and quality of the years lived by a substantial percentage of its population. It is important to recognize that the health-care system does have a safety net for the uninsured and the poor: hospitals, medical clinics, mental health clinics, and private physicians who provide care at lower than average costs. Recently the federal government approved funding for more community health centers and also expanded programs to repay the educational loans of doctors, nurses, and medical students in return for their service in such facilities. However, the safety net historically has developed holes during economic hard times. Budgets are cut disproportionately, partly because clinics and loan programs dont have the political lobbying power enjoyed by major academic medical centers. Also, hospitals that normally use some of the benefits received for insured patients to help pay for the uninsured have less ability to cross-subsidize when the economy deteriorates. Thus, serious gaps exist in the safety net, especially for specialty care, mental health, and dental care services.6 Increases in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes only worsen the situation.
STRATEGIES TO ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES

The administration of every U.S. president since the 1960s has addressed the problems of unequal health-care for Latinos and other minorities. Community health centers were established by the federal government, as were community economic development projects and programs to recruit minority students into the health-care professions. In 1986, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) was opened in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after a task force report concluded that American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders exhibited higher mortality trends than whites.7 Recognizing that health-care providers needed greater understanding of the cultures and languages of patients, OMH developed training programs for doctors and nurses and so-called culturally and linguistically appropriate standards for health-care organizations. [See Table 1, Appendix I, p. 225] In the 1993 TODOS Report, Surgeon General Antonia Novello recommended increased access to care, greater diversity in the health professions, and more Hispanic-focused research and disease prevention.8 In 1996, HHS released the Hispanic Agenda for Action, which recommended Latino recruitment to HHS itself. It also called for follow-up work on the TODOS recommendations and advocated greater representation of Hispanics in medical research.9
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More recently, two steps taken at the federal level in 2000 were aimed at the problem of medical personnel who literally dont speak the same language as their patients. President Clinton declared that the difficulties in getting medical care experienced by people of limited English proficiency may constitute discrimination by reason of national origin, and the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) issued guidance to all state Medicaid directors emphasizing that federal matching funds are available for states to provide oral interpretation and written translation services for Medicaid beneficiaries. In 2001, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) study concluded that Americas minority populations continued to encounter persistent gaps in access to medical care. The IOMs landmark report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, repeated most of the recommendations of earlier reports, stressing the need for cultural understanding by health-care professionals, for community outreach, and for more diversity in the health professions. [See Table 2, Appendix I, p. 227] In 2002, the National Hispanic Health Leadership Summit was convened in San Antonio by the National Hispanic Medical Association, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, HHS, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One hundred seventy-five health-care and community leaders developed key recommendations targeted to Latinos including universal health-care, uniform enrollment in public insurance programs, cultural awareness strategies, and official encouragement of Hispanic students to enter the health professions. [See Table 3, Appendix I, p. 228] In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus introduced the Hispanic Health Improvement Act of 2002 and, in each session of Congress since, Hispanic, Black, and Asian caucuses have introduced legislation focused on eliminating health-care disparities, notably the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007 (H.R. 3014). The Senate introduced the Minority Health and Health Disparity Elimination Act of 2007 (S. 1576) with a companion bill in the House (H.R. 3333). These bills incorporated many of the ideas described above and included a focus on language services and a concept that had come to be called cultural competence.
CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Hispanic populations, for the most part, have retained their strong cultural values and their Spanish language. The elderly and first generation especially, who are monolingual, tend to feel more comfortable with physicians and health-
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care workers who understand their culture. Unfortunately, due to the overall low educational attainment of Hispanics, there are very few who have attained the position of a health-care professional. According to the Sullivan Commission Report, in 2003 Hispanics comprised only 3.3 percent of all physicians, 2 percent of all registered nurses, and 1 percent of all dentists. Because of this deficiency, the idea has been advanced that non-Hispanics in the health-care and insurance industries need to be taught how to work effectively with Latino patients in cross-cultural situations. In this context, cultural competence refers to the ability to acquire and use knowledge of the healthrelated beliefs, attitudes, practices, and communication patterns of Latino patients and their families, in order to improve services, increase community participation, and strengthen research and training.10 For example, non-Hispanic health professionals must understand the effect on health-care deliberations that can emerge from the social connectedness of Latinosthe extended family, including godparents and close friendsand the accompanying importance of trust and respect. While social considerations may be a source of unwanted complication, even difficulty, they can also be a font of information. Concluded one national panel of experts, The use of community members and indigenous healers as informants, lecturers and training team members has been extremely effective . . . Health-care educators and association leaders are working to add cultural competence information to the curricula of medical, dental, and nursing schools (for future practitioners) and of university life-sciences departments (for clinicians). HHSs Hispanic Centers of Excellence have established cultural competence curricula at medical and dental schools across the nation. The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine has cultural competence guidelines for primary care physicians. In a 2004 report, Hispanic faculty in New York City teaching hospitals recognized that they had not assigned enough importance and commitment to establishing cultural competence in curriculum. They recommended standardized approaches to building communication skills among medical residents who would bring health-care to targeted Latino sub-populations. In addition, they declared that medical training should not be conducted solely in hospitals but extended into street clinics and doctors offices, so that caregivers-in-training might gain a better understanding of their patients communities and the challenges they face. The Hispanic medical faculty also called on community physicians, organizations, and leaders to make cultural competence policies a requirement for medical and academic accreditation.
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The Joint Commission, a national organization that accredits and certifies health-care organizations and programs, introduced two standards requiring hospitals (including teaching hospitals) to indicate patients native language and communication needs in their medical records and to document the language services provided. Also, as of 2007, California and New Jersey mandated cultural competence training as a continuing medical education requirement for licensing of physicians. The Americas Health Insurance Plans developed an online continuing medical education training module, Quality Interactions: A Patient-Based Approach to Cross Cultural Care, designed to increase skills of health-care professionals in its member plans. As we have seen, eliminating health-care disparities has been the focus of multiple policies and programs from both the government and the private sectors. While much information has been gathered, ideas discussed, and bureaucracies established, this effort has yet to bring about major improvements in the fundamental causes of health disparities for minority populations: poverty, language, cultural misunderstanding, access to medical facilities, and health insurance.
A TIME FOR ACTION

For the nations political parties, reform in health insurance is at the center of the domestic agenda. But the debate has never truly been about Hispanic health. Its always been about whatever the party leaders think is important. We need to help them understand that we are important. As recently as 2006 and 2007, many members of the House of Representatives supported a bill on immigration that, among other flaws, would have been an obstruction to Hispanic health-care. It would have made doctors into criminals if they treated undocumented residents without reporting them, or into immigration agents if they did. A demonstration of political and economic willthe enormous street demonstrations across the countryhelped convince Congress to abandon that legislation. It also showed us the key to effecting meaningful reform in healthcare for Latinos: that the nations largest ethnic group cannot long be ignored or thwarted if it is determined to exercise its growing power. We must be bipartisan: Democrats and Republicans both will come to us for political support. We must be economically open, too, as corporations seek our business. And on health-care, our first requirement should be this: that disparities be removed. That Latino health be brought to the level of public health. That no longer will we Latinos be worse off. Some specifics:
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Any proposed change in the health-care and health insurance systems should focus equally on every segment of society: ethnic, racial, and economic. This means universal, insured access to health-care for all Americans, including Latinos. Diversity in the health-care workforce should reflect the demographic representation of minorities in the United States. The same diversity standard should apply to medical, dental, and nursing schools. The businesses that profit from health-care and health insurance should help carry the financial cost of promoting diversity, along with government, foundations, and other private organizations. Such organizations already sponsor Hispanic-oriented scholarship programs; there should be more. To place more Latino medical personnel where they are most needed, they should be sought there. Literature has shown that students and others who come from disadvantaged communities tend to return to those communities to work as health-care professionals, due to personal characteristics beyond the easy reach of training, such as familiarity with neighborhoods and family connections. The exceptional commitment of minority members to provide care to underserved groups is evident during their academic careers. One 2002 dental student graduation survey showed 45 percent of Hispanics planned to provide dental care to underserved populations after graduation, compared to 20 percent of whites. As more Hispanic physicians and other medical personnel are trained, more of them must be brought into positions of leadership. The National Hispanic Medical Association, along with New York Universitys Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and HHS, has established the NHMA Leadership Fellowship to train mid-career physicians for national public service careers. More than 120 Hispanic physicians have completed the program. Several of them have been nominated to federal and private sector health-care advisory commissions. There must be more such initiatives, notably at the state and local levels, where health-care organizations should appoint and train Hispanic leaders for health-care programs that serve Latino communities. Cultural competence should be attained by 100 percent of the healthcare workforce. This is a challenge to be taken up by all segments of the health-care community: hospitals and clinics, medical and dental practitioners, medical researchers, insurance companies and federal, state, and local government. Latinos should recognize that they have a natural alliance with other minority groups, notably African Americans and Native Americans. Too
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often, we seem to be in competition for the same political action and the same dollars. Whenever possible, we should work together. Policymakers at the national, state, and local levels must shape population health by removing wherever possible the negative determinants of health, such as inadequate housing, unavailability of family-friendly social and work policies, lack of public transportation, lack of safe public spaces for exercise, lack of healthy foods, lack of education, and, above all, poverty and hunger. Finally, as we focus attention on health-care reform, it is critical that we encourage our own communities to take advantage, both in availing themselves of available services, in heeding the medical advice they are given, and, most important, in leading healthy lifestyles.
IMPROVING OUR OWN WELLNESS

The Institute of Medicines 2003 report, The Future of the Publics Health in the 21st Century, called for a shift in national health policy, from an individual to a population-based approach that would redirect resources to improve health at the community level. What can we do, we meaning American society? To begin with, we can spread the word. The safety-net institutions such as public hospitals and clinics provide most health-care in Hispanic communities. These facilities are already fighting obesity and other health-destructive behavior among Latinos. They must be encouraged to do more, with educational materials, training, and dollars. In addition, health-care professionals who are themselves Hispanic are a key source of expert knowledge and advice that is more likely to be understood and believed by Hispanic patients. As Hispanic doctors, nurses, and dentists become more numerous, they will do more good. We need greater knowledge about the health of the nations Latinos, about the diseases and medical conditions our people exhibit. When our behavior contributes to good healthor damages itwe need to know more about how and why that happens. It is imperative for the scientific community to plan and implement rigorous studies of health and behavioral differences among Hispanic subpopulations. In particular, researchers must focus on identifying successful practices and treatments for lowering obesity among Latinos. We need health information technology that connects doctors with this new research and with their patients in their homes, schools, and communities. Latino physicians and other advocates of health need to utilize the new research to
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educate policymakers about the critical health consequences of not acting quickly on a new lifestyle-oriented health policy. Business, academia, the insurance industry, and community-based organization leaders can coordinate their efforts to promote the concept of wellness. Employers can provide health information and incentives to workers to exercise and to eat and drink sensibly, recognizing that a healthy workforce is more profitable. The health-care system can provide training to its providers in how to educate patients in wellness. Restaurants can list information about healthy food choices on their menus. The news and entertainment media can put out more information about healthy lifestyles and less advertising for junk food, especially aimed at children. These steps can be voluntary, if possible, or subject to government regulation if necessary. Government leaders can develop policies to change the physical and educational environments of our communities so that schools and parks have more safe areas for physical activity; so that schools add courses in health and physical education instead of cutting them; so that institutions of higher education receive more accreditation and grants for research into health and nutrition. Schools can teach students and their parents about healthy lifestyles, physical activity and nutrition. Schools and communities can cooperate in supporting group exercise programs for adults. A similar cooperative approach may be taken to sharing cooking, diet, and nutrition expertise. Finally, parents and community leaders can recognize and build on good health assets within Hispanic culture. For example, our love for social contact, for rhythmic music and dance. Dancing is exercise. Over the years, our ancestors brought many kinds to the United States: Tango, Jarabe tapato, Samba, Flamenco, Mambo, Rumba, Merengue, Cha-cha-ch, Salsa, and Bachata. Our young people make up new steps and variations all the time. Let us all get up and dance.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has outlined the need to improve the health of Latinos. Government, business, community, academic, and health-care leaders need to continue to develop more effective, culturally competent approaches to eliminating health disparities for Latinos. The process of bringing Hispanic health to the same level as overall public health is inextricably intertwined with the integration of Latinos into the nations mainstream. As the Hispanic community grows healthier over the next twenty years, so will the mainstream. Scientific data gathered from increased
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research into Hispanic health inevitably will yield treatments that will benefit non-Hispanics, too. More Hispanic doctors, dentists, and nurses will mean more medical personnel available to all. Fewer obese Hispanic children will mean fewer obese American children. Every dollar and every hour of effort expended today by the United States to achieve better health among its largest ethnic group will, tomorrow, accrue to the benefit of all Americans.
FOURTEEN HOUSING THE NATIONS LATINOS AN OVERVIEW

Sal N. Ramrez, Jr.
Sal N. Ramrez is Executive Director of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. In addition to his twenty-year experience as an insurance executive in Texas, Ramrez has had a fruitful career in politicsas a city council member, then the seven-year mayor of the city of Laredo, and ultimately in national government as deputy secretary of HUD from 1998 to 2001. From this broad perspective, Ramrez offers an overview of major issues as an exploding Latino population forms both the requirements and opportunities in an industry that is itself in transition. Whether the challenges be in better jobs, more sophisticated financial orientation or more appropriate home design, the Latino community must move forward to obtain what all Americans want: safe, decent and affordable housing.
he Latino family, like any other family in America, seeks to secure safe, dependable, and affordable housing. Well over three-fourths of Latino renters surveyed by the Toms Rivera Policy Institute1 in Los Angeles, in a 2004 study, express a strong desire to one day own a home. Other studies have shown that Latino families characterize their measure of progress in our society as revolving around home ownership and that the American Dream of owning ones own home is an embodiment of hope and a cornerstone of future prosperity.
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Unlike most other segments of the population in the United States, the Latino population is rapidly growing, as we have seen, through a combination of immigration and higher birth rates. A natural consequence of this growth is a demand and need for an increased level of housing in both the existing and new construction sectors of our nations real estate markets. The need for working-class housing over the next twenty years in the singlefamily and multifamily categories will grow at a faster pace in the Latino community than in the rest of the nation. The number of Latino households is projected to double during this period. The sooner we, as a nation, come to terms with the realty of this shift in demographics, the sooner the search for ways to house Latinos and help them integrate into their communities can become one of the focal points in building a stronger America. Once again, the national demographics of the Latino family show that they are larger in size and relatively younger than every other sector of the population. Most importantly, over the next half century young Latinos will form their own households and families, further altering the national demographic landscape. Both legal and illegal immigration also exert a strong influence on the growing numbers of Latinos in our nation. According to the Immigration and Natural Service Annual Report, some 200,000 Spanish-speaking people come to the United States annually through the prescribed immigration process. In addition, an estimated twelve million Latinos have relocated without the proper documentation, though many of those arrived in the United States more than three or four decades ago. Both the growing adult Latino population and the shifting economic forces at work in our nation have also resulted in the spread of Latino communities. Latino housing trends in the recent past could be traced to cities and neighboring areas in a handful of states including California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. Now, however, new or growing Latino communities can be found in states or regions that have not been traditional destinations. For example, a recent issue of Berkshire Living, a regional magazine published in the western Massachusetts community of Great Barrington, devoted a lead article to the positive impact of the recent influx of new Latino families. As has been pointed out earlier, between 1995 and 2005, the Latino population grew by more than 50 percent in fourty-five of the fifty states. Regardless of ones point of view in the ongoing illegal immigration political debate in the United States, one cannot dispute that the sheer scale of this population makes it a significant economic force. This strength provides the financial power to push growth within the housing markets of the United Statesthough this is too often manifested in immigrants living in crowded and substandard conditions.
Housing the Nations Latinos: An Overview
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LATINOS AND THE HOME OWNERSHIP AND RENTAL MARKETS

As more Latinos work their way up the economic ladder in the years to come, they will represent a growing segment of the middle market for housing in the United States. The 1998 Current Population Survey shows that between 2000 and 2010, there will be approximately two million Latinos in the market for owner-occupied housing. As the Latino population ages during the next several decades, their ability to amass wealthand hence their abilities to purchase homeswill grow exponentially. Latinos are becoming the fastest growing group of housing product consumers and fulfilling their housing needs produces an opportunity for supporting the growth of Americas housing sector. Recent studies suggest that the Hispanic home ownership rate will rise by 20 percent over the next five years as the next generation of Latinos enters its peak homebuying years. A June 2006 report from Notre Dames Institute for Latino Studies2 clearly documents the Latino influences on the housing market. Their research shows that between 1995 and 2005 the number of Latino owner-occupied homes grew by 3.1 million, reaching 6.9 million in 2005. This is an 81 percent increase in that tenyear period. This number eclipses the non-Latino household rate of 19 percent for the same period. Despite this increase, the Latino home ownership rate is only 48 percent, growing from 42 percent over the last ten yearssignificantly lower than both the current national home ownership rate of 69 percent and the white, nonHispanic rate of 74 percent. This difference between the national average and the Latino average can be partially explained by the relatively shorter period of time that a considerable number of Latino immigrants have resided in the United States. This, coupled with their lowered ability to earn, save, and establish creditworthiness in a relatively short time, can impair the ability to purchase homes. Other factors, such as a younger native and immigrant Latino population and lower wages earned, also play a role. More than half the Latino workforce is in a low- to moderate-income job. Of that number, over 46 percent are concentrated in the three lowest paying occupations: service, processing/manufacturing, and the agricultural industries.3 The widening gap between average family wages and rising housing costs, along with the rise in property values, also acts to slow down many Americans progress toward owning their own homes, not only that of Latinos. The Latino presence in the rental market is also both significant and growing. The Institute for Latino Studies report concluded that Latino renter households increased by 1.2 million between 1995 and 2005, contrasted with a net
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decrease of 1.2 million non-Latino renter households. Forty-eight of the fifty states registered gains in Latino renter-occupied homes. Affordability in rental housing for Latinos is an even bigger problem than home ownership. In 2003, 28 percent of Latino renters were classified as severely cost-burdened (paying at least 50 percent of their income for housing); 59 percent were classified as cost-burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income).4 In 2005, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported that, between 20012003, Latino renters whose income is less than 50 percent of the median rose to 3,260,000: a 25 percent increase. The growth in the percentage of very low-income Latino renters who are severely cost burdened, jumped by nearly one-third during the same period. With future home ownership affordability vulnerable to national and local economic fluctuations, a strong multifamily housing sector is fundamental to tackling Latino housing issues. Over the next ten years, approximately half the Latino population will continue to rent. This need will generate opportunities for existing and new multifamily units in the rental-housing sector. If not dealt with proactively, the accelerated growth of the Latino population over this period of time may have the unintended consequence of creating an extreme demand/supply disparity.
EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY

Other dynamics beside demographics and financial capacity impair Latinos ability to buy a home. One of the most important is a lack of information and guidance regarding the way banks and financial institutions operate, how to establish credit and how to negotiate the often-complicated process of home buying. Needless to say, these difficulties may be increased by the language barrier faced by many of the more recent immigrants. The creation of financial literacy and other educational programs is essential to fully integrating Latinos into mainstream housing markets. A host of institutions and organizations have already begun to do so. National groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) started the Credit Smart Project, which educates Latino consumers regarding how to manage their finances and make prudent purchasing decisions and provides a template that can be replicated by others. There are also Spanish-language publications such as Daniel Marcos Hogares para Hispanos (Homes for Hispanics), which discusses everything from macroeconomic issues such as the impact of Latinos on the nations economy to the intricacies of the housing industrys terminology to the fine print involved in buying a home.
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Local efforts number in the thousands. Since its inception in 2002, the Ohio Credit Union Movements Spanish-language financial literacy course has helped hundreds of Latinos become more informed about personal finance in the United States. This statewide model is an excellent illustration of combining financial literary and access to financial services in a user-friendly environment. With financial support from government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac, the Neighborhood Housing Services of New York (NHS NYC) provides home ownership counseling and other assistance in English and Spanish to the Latino community in the South Bronx and Northern Queens. Washington D.C. established the Office of Latino Affairs to focus resources for aiding the assimilation of Latinos into the community. This office connects Latinos to faithbased and local nonprofits that help with issues such as financial literacy. Institutes of learning are also stepping up to the plate. The Latino Financial Issues Program (LFIP) is a university-community partnership inviting undergraduate and graduate level students to work through a yearlong, integrated course of study and service learning to promote wealth and asset building in the Latino community. The program exposes LFIP students to careers in economic development and financial services and gives them work experience where they can make a direct impact on the financial security of Latinos. Currently, the University of California at Los Angles and the University of Norte Dame collaborate with ACCION Texas, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Arizona State University. Parts of our country where the Latino populations continue to grow would be well-served to establish similar programs in their universities and community colleges. Multi-jurisdictional activities are also becoming more commonplace nationwide. Home ownership fairs in Latino neighborhoods gather partners from all sides of the economic and governmental spectrumlike the June 2003 event in Nashvillewhere local, state, federal, and nonprofits and the private sector partnered with the neighborhood Woodbine Community Organization to bring greater awareness to local financial literacy programs, home ownership success stories, and opportunities. The Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Hispanic College Funds LOFT (Latinos on Fast Track) in partnership with Fannie Mae initiated the American Dream Team Program, whose mission is to increase financial empowerment opportunities for Latinos and other populations and offset negative lending practices. American Dream Team Program interns are monitored in the lending industry and encouraged to pursue careers in the field. While a growing number of companies and institutions are making information and services available online, the Internet is a source of information remaining relatively underutilized by the Latino community. Garcia Research
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Associates (GRA) Hispanic Omnibus Study in September 2005 showed that among Spanish-dominant Latino adults from 18 to 65 years of age, only 20 percent have Internet access and only 14 percent have an e-mail address. Not surprisingly, the results indicate that Internet access is driven mainly by income of those households earning $30,000 or higher, usage is 46 percent, compared to 19 percent in the $20,000-$30,000 income range and 13 percent in the lessthan-$20,000 range. Nevertheless, Latinos represent the largest growing segment of the online population; the GRA study shows that the Spanish-dominant subgroup has room for growth, and research group eMarketer predicts that Hispanic Internet user totals will rise to nearly 21 million by 2010, with an estimated 12.1 million of these users being under the age of 35. As the number of Latino Internet users continues to increase, so does their access to information and more convenient online services that can help them improve their financial literacy and allow them to make informed decisions about both rental and home ownership opportunities.
ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES

The market is also waking up to the purchasing power of the Latino population and adjusting its strategies accordingly. Bilingual services and Latinocentric products are growing and gaining wider acceptance across America. In the spring of 2006, Pulte, Americas largest homebuilder, unveiled Comunidad Pulte, a New Market Opportunities for Pulte Homes. This five-step initiative, which integrates all aspects of the companys home development business, is both a model for how to reach the underserved Latino community and an indepth look at how Pulte will modify its business practices to serve this growing market effectively. It details the obstaclesand more importantly, a system of solutionsto assist Latinos in the home buying process. Champion Enterprises, Inc., a manufactured and modular home builder, launched a Spanish translation of its Web site to meet the needs of Latinos in 2004. Financial institutions are also paying attention. In 2004, Wells Fargo implemented a series of enhancements to its online services. Their Web site includes the ability to open accounts, apply for credit cards, and a service that allows Mexicans in the United States to send funds to their families through a Wells Fargo account in Spanish. Additional services include educational centers for Latino home buyers as part of a bilingual online financial literacy program called El futuro en tus manos (The future is in your hands). As the Latino population matures, its access to competitive mortgage markets needs to occur at a quicker pace than the current one, as demand is steadily outpacing availability. In order to fill the gap, the Hispanic National Mortgage
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Association (HNMA) was created in 2003. A for-profit company dedicated to increasing Latino home ownership in the United States, HNMA creates businesses in both the primary and secondary mortgage markets, with a stated purpose of challenging the status quo of the mortgage industry to create millions of new Hispanic and other minority homeowners. At the prompting of national Latino advocacy organizations, traditional mortgage banks, and brokers are testing the waters gradually over the last few years principally at the prompting of national Latino advocacy organizations. In 2002, the National Council of La Raza garnered commitments from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, U.S. Bank, and Bank of America to flexible mortgage products to Latinos in Arizona, California, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois with Freddie Mac agreeing to buy $200 million in mortgage loans in the secondary market. CitiMortgage has developed mortgage products in Florida and Texas for Latinos that have had limited market penetration. These and other efforts to reach the Latino home buyer in cities and states have generated some success in increasing Latino home ownership, but not at levels that reflect appreciable increases relative to the overall U.S. home ownership rate.
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE GRASSROOTS

At the core of meeting the growing Latino housing demand is the acknowledgment that existing federal housing policies and programs continue to be vital and effective tools that encourage housing production. Government-funded and operated housing programs such as Section 8 and public housing are invaluable options, but they cannot be the only provider of safe and decent housing. This type of housing is a limited resource that is generally oversubscribed. Home owner interest and property tax deductions, the Federal Housing Administration, the Veterans Administration Mortgage Insurance, the secondary mortgage markets, and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit are all extremely helpful programs essential for the stability of our housing markets. Preserving and expanding their flexibility to better deal with the nations housing challenges fosters the healthy evolution of the expanding Latino housing market. Nevertheless, federal policies and programs alone will not completely resolve the emergent housing crunch for Latinos. There are also state-run initiatives, as well as a number of local grassroots organizations providing aid and education of various sorts. A brief example of the interplay between federal and local housing policies and local community- or faith-based organizations is a set of programs targeting the rural communities known as colonias. These are unincorporated settlements along the border of the United States and Mexico located primarily in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Californiathat are pop-
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ulated predominantly by Latinos (HUDs Web site claims that 97 percent of all colonias residents are Hispanic, and 85 percent of them are U.S. citizens5). Many of these colonias were undesirable plots of land purchased for the construction of cheap housing, which led to substandard buildings; minimal or no investment in infrastructure also resulted in the lack of adequate water and sewer services. Colonia residents also tend to have lower incomes. While 1994 per-capita income in all of Texas was $16,167, per-capita income in the border counties, where most of the colonias are located, tended to be much lowerthe Web site of the Texas Secretary of State notes that in border counties such as Starr, Maverick and Hidalgo, per capita annual incomes in 1994 were $5,559, $7,631 and $8,899, respectively.6 While these areas are eligible for federal fundswhether administered by HUD, such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnership Programs, or via the Environmental Protection Agencys Border 2010 program or taken from other sourcesstate and local initiatives are also required. The state of Texas has instituted what it calls the Colonias Program, an initiative from the Secretary of States Ombudsman that helps to provide better roads, bring water and wastewater infrastructure to areas that lack these basic services, and improve the quality of life for some of Texas neediest citizens.7 In 2001, the state created a $175 million bond offering whose proceeds were slated to provide financial assistance to counties for roadway projects serving border colonias. Grassroots organizations have also sprung up to address these issues. The nonprofit Colonias Development Council was incorporated in 1994 to provide a multi-pronged effort to improve the lives of colonias residents in southern New Mexico via economic development, advocacy, and community organizing. The Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (TxLIHIS) is another nonprofit with a similar mission. Such initiatives are not limited to colonias. The Hispanic Housing Development Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, is dedicated to the physical and economic revitalization of neighborhoods where Latinos live and work. In the thirty-two years of its existence, Hispanic housing has a development record of over $200 million in constructed housing and millions in projects under development. Their work has helped thousands of Chicago and Illinois Latino residents with their housing needs. In rural parts of our nation, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) improves housing conditions for the poor. They have done extensive work to better housing conditions for Latino migrant and agriculture workers areas they serveincluding the Southwest border colonias. HAC has made almost $164 million in loans to help create more than 56,867 homes, including water/sewer connections throughout the United States to assist Latinos and others.
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Local government planning and zoning laws will either contribute to the solution or exacerbate the growing challenge of housing Latinos. Sensitivity by local public officials, developers, and builders toward the Latino family demographics, lifestyle, and activity patterns is required in their planning process in order to successfully pull together a coherent public/private sector strategy that addresses the growing Latino housing demand.
SOME THOUGHTS CONCERNING LATINO LIVING SPACE

Given that Latinos tend to have larger and younger families, thoughtful consideration should be given to building homes with more but smaller rooms or easily adaptable enclosed garages that the families can use as living space. With larger extended families, it is not uncommon for Latinos to host gatherings with family and friends around special days like birthdays, holidays, or unplanned activities that bring a fiesta together. One solution is to design social space that flows easily and directly from the inside to the outside gathering areas of the house. Employment demographic data should also be considered. Many Latinos are entrepreneurs in occupations such as daycare, construction, cleaning, and lawn maintenancewhich require extra rooms or storage facilities for workrelated tools and equipment. Numerous Latino families have multiple workers within the household, thus making accessibility to a number of mass transportation alternatives even more important than it might in a family with only one or two working members. Scores of housing styles and community designs can be used to reach Latino home buyers and renters. For a city to succeed in this effort, local political will to modify, where appropriate, zoning regulations and laws to adequately deal with rising local Latino housing needs is the correct response to fashioning neighborhoods that will provide a strong sense of identity and community diversity that innately strengthens the overarching interests of the locality. Public spaces are basic requirements for a healthy communitynot only for Latinos, but for all people. Parks and play areas create a sense of ownership and belonging to the community at large; spaces for churches, faith-based organizations and neighborhood groups encourage and strengthen both family and community bonds. Public spaces and the active community interaction that results from their use also encourages neighborhood safety. Attention must be paid to the various generations of immigrants and their changing housing needs, especially in the formulation of local policies and planning community development. Some immigrant and first-generation native-born Latino communities spring up in neighborhoods where older single-family
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housing is transformed into rental multifamily housing; these can best be described as residential properties on the decline. Many are transitioned from homesteads to investment properties and are usually found in close proximity to downtowns and central business districts. The influx of an immigrant rental community into the neighborhood can create a natural tension between existing owner-occupants and renters. This tension can be eased when city governments take a proactive approach toward integrating Latino immigrants. But, as is the case with any other demographic group, Latino living patterns change as their social and economic conditions improve. Second-generation and native-born Latinos often move to the outer rings and suburbs of cities and pursue the American Dream in the form of home ownership and a better quality of life. As this social assimilation occurs, Latinos become Americanized in the best sense of the word. They become an integral part of the community, participating in every type of activity from engaged parent in school and church activities to local neighborhood activist. And affordable housing is one of the first and most necessary components that makes this assimilation possible.
THE IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRATION

Our cities are built around a mixture of cultures; people are drawn to places not only providing employment options and well-situated amenities but diverse housing types and sizes too. This is basic to the successful adaptation of Latinos and other immigrants. Latinos can grow and prosper in communities that afford them the opportunity to put down roots for themselves and future generations. As Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa Maryland, Inc., a nonprofit immigrant advocacy group, wrote, This enfranchisement of immigrants is beneficial on at least three levels. First, it encourages fellow immigrants to become engaged with, and woven into, American society as a whole. Second, it is empowering to individual immigrants, and it enhances their sense of self. Third, the regions reputation as a multicultural hub makes it a more desirable place to live.8 Conversely, states, cities, and other localities that work to segregate and minimize the presence of the Latino immigrant and first-generation native-born populationwhether through zoning requirements and denial of services that hinder access to safe, decent, and affordable housing or other discriminatory measureswill face problems of resident polarization, loss of support from native-born Latinos, and strain on city services. Lack of understanding of the overall demographic composition of the population can lead to exclusionary and discriminatory practices based on the false assumption that the majority of Latinos moving into states and cities are illegal immigrants. Consider a law like Georgia Senate Bill 529, which was passed in 2006 to curtail illegal immigra-
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tion in the state and is now affecting the state housing market, with fewer Latinos actively pursing home ownership regardless of immigration status.9 In July 2007, Prince William County, Virginia, passed a law denying services to illegal immigrants. The laws passage was immediately met with protests and boycotts by the Latino business community, further straining community relations. The cities of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, Valley Park, Missouri, Escondido, California, and Farmers Branch, Texas have passed ordinances that restrict landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. All are being challenged in court. These reactionary and ill-thought-out laws have heightened discriminatory practices as they relate to housing and lending practices for the Latino population at large and may erode the economic viability of these areas in the future. Demographic and economic statistics, many of which are cited in the previous parts of this chapter, show that Latinos are an influential part of this nation, and their influence will only increase. Regardless of the result of the debate on illegal immigration, growth of the Latino population will only continue, and their demand for housing will only continue to increaseat a faster pace than that of non-Latinosin the next twenty years. States that have historically been gateways are somewhat prepared to deal with the growth. Most have been proactive in assimilating the Latino community to the community at large. Affordability will be the principal factor that will impede the path to home ownership. Augmenting the local and state financial infrastructure for Latinos, coupled with innovative development design concepts and the creation of safe, affordable and viable communities for the immigrants, will be indispensable for these gateway states and cities. State and local actions that discourage the ability of Latino families to advance and integrate in these regions will suffer lasting negative economic effects. Those states and cities that prepare for and welcome the growing Latino population in their region will reap the benefits as the immigrant community matures, prospers, and becomes a cornerstone of the larger community. Not that integration is without its challenges. Those regions that are experiencing a new Latino population will face similar challenges to those of the gateway states and cities in the housing arena as attempts are made to assimilate Latinos into their communities. But, as I hope I have made clear in this chapter, the eventual benefits will far outweigh the inconveniences.
CONCLUSION
Housing is an issue that touches all Americans. Safe, decent, and affordable housing is one of the most basic requirements for a thriving society, and the Latino population can help all sectors of the housing industry to grow and sus-
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tain it in the future. At present, Latinos are more acutely vulnerable to substandard housing, housing cost burdens and lack of access to desirable financial products. While the government (federal, state, and local), private companies and nonprofit institutions are attempting to stem the damage where they can, a permanent and lasting shift will only occur when a concrete effort is brought to bear by all the stakeholders: national, state, and local leaders in the political, private sector, nonprofit, faith-based, and community groups. By and large, the expanding Latino population is committed to the American way of life. They have embraced the country and are determined to succeed. Disregarding this willingnessand their contributions to both the economy and society at large will only tear apart our communities and nation, while integrating the Latino population into mainstream America can only enrichboth economically and culturallyall of those involved.
Part FOUR Final Thoughts
FIFTEEN ON THE POWER OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ACTION

Ernesto Corts
One of the nations most distinguished community organizers, Ernesto Corts, comments on the status of Latinos in the educational process, on the nature of education in a democratic culture, and the function of the public schools in this context. Most importantly, he describes telling examples of community effort in typical school systems. Mr. Corts meditations grow out of his decades of experience as a community organizer in the Midwest and the Southwest, notably in his native city of San Antonio, where he founded, in 1974, the church-based organization COPS (Community Organized for Public Service). The establishment of a COPS network over the following years culminated in the formation of the Southwest IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation) Network. One of the most successful of the networks initiatives is the Alliance School Initiative, dedicated to engaging communities in school restructuring and reform. Corts is currently Southwest Regional Director of the IAF, the widely known nonprofit organization founded by the late Saul Alinsky.
early a quarter of a century ago, the National Commission on Excellence in Education announced that we were A Nation at Risk. Therefore it may sound hackneyed to say that our nation is at a crossroads with respect to public education. Yet at the time of their report, far too few of us
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were aware of the intersection of economics and demographics with the crisis of education. Today the Baby Boomers represent one of the most educated cohorts in U.S. history. They are the beneficiaries of the GI Bill and the programs of the Great Society, and investments in their education and training led to a period of unprecedented prosperity. However even if none of the Baby Boomers retired, we would be on the verge of a tremendous gap in the labor market simply because not enough workers have the education and training necessary for the jobs being created by globalization and technology in the twenty-first century. And the Boomers are, in fact, retiring. They will be replaced by the fastest growing and youngest ethnic group in the United States: the Latino population. Luckily for these young Latinos, the retirement of the Baby Boomers is going to make millions of well-paying jobs available. Unfortunately, however, our current system of education and training is failing to prepare this younger generation for the jobs that will become available as the retirement population increases, as well as for the new high-wage jobs being created in todays economy. Our labor market and our tax base are on the brink of needing an enormous influx of well-educated, well-paid workers, and Latinos represent the largest available pool. In Texas alone Latinos are projected to increase from 29 percent of the population to 42 percent over the next twenty-five years. Within the 18to 24-year-old population, 83 percent of the growth will be Hispanic. As we have seen in other chapters, nationwide, Latinos will represent 25 percent of the population by 2050.1 Not only will our labor market depend increasingly on this population to fill high-skilled jobs that cannot be outsourced, the Social Security and Medicare programs will be dependent on workers earning higher average wages in order to sustain services for the increasing number of retirees. A full quarter of the U.S. population is expected to be over the age of sixty by 2030.2 The high-skilled, high-wage jobs from which the Boomers retire will also require higher levels of education than at any other time in our nations history. Princeton University Professor Marta Tienda reminds us that while it is the case that the promotion of minorities in higher education has risen, given that they also represent a larger proportion of the population as a whole, there have been no real net gains in over two decades.3 While more Latinos are taking the SAT and enrolling in college than ever before, the numbers are still far below those of their counterparts. Average SAT scores of Latino students are higher than those of African Americans, but currently only 31 percent of Hispanics have some college or a degree, as compared to 44 percent of African Americans and 57 percent of Anglos.4 The number of
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Hispanics taking Advanced Placement Exams has increased by 137 percent since 19995, but nationwide the high school dropout rate for Latinos remains more than double that of African Americans and nearly four times that of Anglos.6 Foreign born Hispanics are more than twice as likely to drop out than their native-born Latino counterparts. It is obvious that while an increasing number of Latino students are preparing for and entering college, we cannot significantly increase the rates of higher education among the Hispanic population overall without first getting them out of high school. Notwithstanding the importance of better educating not only Latinos, but all children, for our economic well-being, a high-quality education is in fact a prerequisite for the health of our democracy. A good education is more than literacy and numeracy; it equips people to be able to consider anothers moral universe and recognize the common humanity that we all share. The real challenge facing our educational leadership is one of developing the capacity of all of our institutionsnot just our schoolsto be attentive to the moral formation of the members of our society. Beyond educating and providing services and spiritual guidance, how do these institutions form people who understand the responsibilities of citizenship and what it means to be anothers neighbor rather than just a member of our family, our clan, our tribe, or our community. I would like to assert that far too much of modern education, and indeed modern life, is about demanding answers to questions or solutions to problems, when often the real issue is overlooked or assumed away. Rarely does anyone ask: Is this the right question? Whats behind this question? Is it properly formulated, or have we rushed to judgment without considering all the factors? At the classroom level, because schools lack a well-developed culture of inquiry and argument, students learn to conduct searches on the Internet to find information about the questions other pose rather than puzzling through the dimensions of the situations they encounter to determine for themselves which questions are relevant and meaningful. On a larger scale I would suggest that without first grappling with the deeper question of why education is so crucial to the sustenance of modern civilization, we cannot begin to have a genuine debate about the details of what happens in our schoolrooms, on our campuses, and in our legislative bodies. Our cultures emphasis on the answers at the expense of the questions is reflected in the narrowness of the vision of many of our schools. In most circumstances our schools do not draw on the intuitive ability of students to argue or persuade one another (or their parents). Our schools do not build on the natural inquisitiveness of children by teaching them to form hypotheses and then test them out. Instead educators and administrators respond to our natural desire
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for certainty and order. Today the tendency is to warehouse kids and bombard them with facts and figuresteaching the truth or to the test. Now as philosopher Alfred North Whitehead reminds us, there is nothing necessarily wrong with teaching to the test if in fact the test adequately reflects the complexity, nuance and depth of the subject matter, and if the person writing the test is the one doing the teaching.7 In fact, part of being a good teacher is knowing how to evaluate the relationship between teaching and learning, part of which is writing good tests and making challenging assignments. Unfortunately, the conditions laid out by Whitehead are not met by todays standardized testing regime. Our anxiety and fear of uncertainty drive us to teach our students to live in intellectual, cultural, and political silos that leave no room for ambiguity, relationality, or engagement. From this perspective everything is black or white/true or false in a binary world of artificially constructed polarization. This thinking reflects the structure of our institutions, which are in many cases so intent on maintaining the status quo and transmitting the existing culture that they forget their role in cultivating human potential and preparing students for lives in a society undergoing constant change. The desire for certainty and the unwillingness to embrace ambiguity in our culture have led to a system of education that is focused on instruction rather than teaching and on compliance rather than creativity. It ignores the role of teaching as a performing art, in which the practitioner must be entrepreneurial, creative, and willing to take risk.8 If teaching is a craft, then the craftsperson embraces the variety of materials and their different natures, while still caring deeply about the outcome of every project. The emphasis on instruction and standardization also ignores the practice of genuine learning as a time of discovery in an environment that encourages the testing of ideas and concepts and acknowledges that sometimes a test results in a negative outcome, which is in itself an opportunity for educational growth. Real teaching and learning is based on the understanding that intellectual capital is more than mere information; it is the ability to analyze and reflect. We have to be prepared to teach students the wonder, awe, and beauty of the U.S. Constitution, while also recognizing it as a deeply flawed document that ignored women, property-less men, and the horrors of slavery. Teaching (as opposed to mere instruction) should transmit the value of and appreciation for a culture, while at the same time preparing students to challenge it and to learn from its shortcomings. These may seem like contradictory charges, but as Jerome Bruner reminds us in The Culture of Education, they are in fact both truths. Bruner cites them as antinomiespairs of large truths, which, though both may be true,
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nonetheless contradict each other.9 Educators at times seem unwilling to embrace this dual purpose because they are uncomfortable with the ambiguity it creates. And Bruner acknowledges that such an approach complicates teaching and learning: Education is risky, for it fuels the sense of possibility.10 Education is also complicated because it does not occur in isolation from other issues. An examination of what happens in the classroom addresses only one aspect of a childs educational experience. All too often we operate on the presumption that when children enter school they are ready to learn. Obviously this is not the case if they are hungry, sick, homeless, scared, or have uncorrected vision problems. Other impediments to learning include but are not limited to: dangerous intersections, crack houses, high-sulfur home heating oil, and inadequate sanitation systems. Richard Rothstein cites countless studies in his book Class and Schools (2004), which document specific challenges to educational achievement that are directly linked to socioeconomic status rather than to traditional education concerns. For example, he cites the fact that student mobility has been linked to academic performance and that 30 percent of the poorest children had attended at least three different schools by the third grade, in contrast to only 10 percent of middle-class children.11 In no way do I cite these factors as an excuse for public schools that are not achieving adequate standards of education. Rather I intend to remind the reader that this is not the problem of a single institution, an individual, or even groups of individuals. We know, for example, that poor children are not the only ones whose circumstances outside the classroom can have an impact on their academic performance, because we know that the path to literacy begins with the strength of a rich oral culture and tradition. Conversations and stories provide young children with a context for the written word. For older children and adults, the ability to tell a well-crafted story is the prerequisite for a good argument. In his portrayal of John Quincy Adams in the movie Amistad, Anthony Hopkins makes the point that in all his experience in arguing before the Supreme Court he has learned that the person who tells the best story wins.12 Logic and relevance are important, but storytelling is essential. Unfortunately, there is growing evidence that the vast majority of children, regardless of wealth and income, regardless of ethnicity, spend an increasing amount of time in front of the television or the computer rather than in conversations with adults. These one-way systems of transmission might provide visual or auditory stimulation, but they do nothing to engage the child in practicing his or her own oral abilities that provides the foundation for literacy.13 In fact, according to Stephen Miller in his new book Conversation: A History of a Declining Art (2006), all Americans, both children and adults, are confronted by
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a growing force of electronic gadgets from television, radio, cell phones, computers, movies, BlackBerries, and the Internet, which impede conversation at every turn. Even when listening to talk radio shows, or ersatz conversation, the audience has no conversational role, only a passive one.14 The fact that this is an issue for middle-class and upper middle-class households as well as for poorer ones speaks not only to an increase in the working hours of all Americans, but also to the sociological phenomenon of increased isolation and withdrawal from public life. Hannah Arendt makes the point in Men in Dark Times that human beings have an inclination in times of crisis to retreat into themselves, to seek the comfort of that which is familiar, and to withdraw from public life. We become preoccupied with preservation and withdraw from the public square. While she does not criticize this survival instinct on its face, she wisely draws the connection of the power vacuum it leaves behind to the rise of demagogues who both prey on fears and anxieties and take advantage of the absence of participation in public life to create oppressive regimes. Specifically she cites this as a factor in Weimar Germany, which led to the rise of the Third Reich.15 I would submit that to the extent that we are not teaching the argument culture either in our schools or in our democracy as a whole, we are in fact reinforcing this dangerous inclination to withdraw from public life in dark times. The phenomenon becomes self-reinforcing in that schools do not prepare students to argue, and as adults they then withdraw from debate, which in turn creates a culture that does not value the very tradition on which democracy is based. There is no democratic culture without public education. As far back as the 1830s free public education has been promoted as a crucible of democracy, a blending of all children to function from a common set of values.16 We have to understand that when we give up on public schools we give up minimally on one of the most important pillars of democracyand maybe on democracy itself. Our commitment to a constitutional democracy is predicated on the belief that there will be conflictconflict not only between the branches of government, but between groups of organized citizens, intermediate institutions, corporations, etc . . . the only question is how those conflicts will be resolved. The role of debate and argument is present throughout the system of democratic politics, but is particularly embodied in the judiciary branch. The courts require a sophisticated culture of argument; judgment is rendered only after the consideration of the merits of the arguments of both contesting parties. Notwithstanding these institutions and checks and balances, a democratic culture requires not just a Constitution, but also the habits and practices of
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empathy, engagement, deliberation, negotiation, confrontation, and ultimately compromise. Saul Alinsky used to say that if one word defines democracy it is compromise. Good judgment again comes into play in determining the difference between the compromise of half a loaf of bread (which is still lifegiving) and the compromise of Solomonhalf a baby (which is a corpse). Daunting though it may seem, the Supreme Court of the United States has given only one institution the charge to teach the habits and skills requisite for a democratic culturethe public school. Chief Justice Earl Warren clearly outlined the civic mission of the public schools in the Courts 1954 ruling:
Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship.17
However it was never intended that the schools perform this task alone, but rather that they were embedded in a network of overlapping institutions such as churches, synagogues, settlement homes, unions, neighborhood associations, lodges, clubs, and mutual aide societies. The assumption was that the mutual engagement of the public schools with all these institutions would underpin what we now call civil society (or social capital). It is in these networks of institutions that adults developed the skills of attentive listening and understanding, which undergird the culture of argument and deliberation. It is in these kinds of conversations that people get to know one anothers story, and thereby develop a deeper understanding of alternative points of view. In the early 1980s, for example, when the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) Network was organizing to support a new education finance and accountability system, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the network was the issue of funding for bilingual education. Members of some of the more middle-class Anglo contestation involved in the network thought bilingual education was a strategy which kept students from learning English and becoming more American. It was only through conversations and engagement (27 small group meetings in one congregation alone) with those who had experiences different from their own that a common understanding emerged. The respectful contestation that resulted in the emergence of that common understanding made the congregations ready allies to fight with the parents and the schools to fully fund bilingual education statewide. Today leaders of the organizations are actively recruiting classroom teachers aides with the potential for and interest in becoming certified bilingual teachers, and connecting them to the labor-
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market intermediary institutions created by the IAF organizations to prepare adults for high-wage jobs with benefits and a career path.18 Frequently even the relationships inside schools benefit from the engagement with networks of other institutions. Robert Cordova, principal of Harmony Elementary in the Los Angeles Unified School District, initially saw his work with the congregations and unions of One-LA IAF as a way to deflect the concerns of parents onto different institutions. However once Cordova began to have conversations with and be mentored by other institutional leaders in his community, he began to see himself not just as a manager of crises, but as an educational leader in a network of institutions with a broader vision for the transformation of his school and community. He began to see the benefit of working with people outside the walls of his campus and started thinking of parents as assets rather than liabilities. Today parents hold positions of responsibility on the campus core leadership team alongside educators and classified employees. Harmony has also begun organizing Achievement Academies to identify and develop additional parent leaders, as well as equipping them with the academic content knowledge necessary to participate more fully in their childrens education. The attention of One LA-IAF to this type of formation and transformation grew at least in part out of similar relationships forged on campuses working with the Texas IAF network throughout the state. In just one example, teachers and parents developed new relationships at Zavala Elementary in Austin in a context which, on the face of it, appeared to have little to do with education, yet led to concrete improvements in student success. In 1991, a meeting between Zavala parents and teachers about test scores and student achievement had reduced teachers to tears. Parents were angry; teachers felt attacked. Through individual conversations with parents and teachers, organizers with Austin Interfaith (the local IAF affiliate) uncovered a common concern: health-care for the students. Teachers identified poor health conditions as one of the factors related to student achievement; parents mentioned the two-month waiting period at the local clinic as their first concern. When the city announced that the clinic would be closed for the removal of asbestos and mold, organizers posed the question: Why not provide immunizations and other basic preventive services for students on the campus itself? More than 200 parents and teachers came together to strategize about the possibility. For many it was the first time they had witnessed both sides working toward a common, concrete goal. The health department agreed to the proposal, but the school board hesitated in the face of a vocal minority from outside the school community who raised the question of whether school-based health services opened the door for reproductive health services (condoms for kindergarteners!). At a December school board meeting, sixty parents and twen-
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ty teachers stayed well into the night to testify on behalf of their common agenda. Leaders from Austin Interfaiths religious institutions spoke in favor of the proposal as well. The boards favorable vote was unanimous. Parents and teachers at Zavala had been transformed through their engagement with one another and their common struggle to secure health-care for their children. They went on to organize a new curriculum for the campus, creative after-school programs, and a science-intensive program designed to help students achieve admission to a science magnet junior high school.19 The Young Scientists program was particularly noteworthy in that it required the school boards permission to keep sixth grade students on the elementary campus rather than busing them across town to a middle school, and it could only serve a portion of Zavalas fifth grade. Despite the fact that only a minority of the campus fifth grade students would directly benefit, hundreds of teachers, parents, and other Austin Interfaith leaders made their arguments before the school board and ultimately secured members support. Austin Interfaith leaders went on to organize similar collaborative efforts in nearly twenty schools throughout the district. More than fifteen years later, a study conducted by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform found that the school and community organizing work of Austin Interfaith contributed to increased student attendance, improved standardized-test-score performance, and higher graduation rates and college going aspirations . . . 20 The neighborhoods and campuses organizing with Austin Interfaith during the study were 40 percent Hispanic and significantly poorer than other Austin Independent School District schools and surrounding neighborhoods. More than one-third of families and students were English-As-Second-Language learners, and one-fifth were born outside the United States. Some 27 percent of adults lacked a high school diploma, compared to an average of 13 percent in other parts of the district. Despite these challenges, the Annenberg Institute found that Austin Interfaiths involvement in schools predicted higher rates of student achievement, and broad improvement across three core domains of school capacityschool climate, professional culture, and instructional core. Annenberg researchers also documented effects on collaboration and trust among teachers and a sense of school commitment, which have been identified as critical to the development of a successful learning environment.21 Austin Interfaith and One-LA are only two examples of broad-based IAF organizations organizing to change the culture of public education and improve student achievement around the nation. These examples highlight the potentially transformative nature of relationships between schools and other community institutions, the networks of which have produced well-documented improvements in academic achievement, teacher morale, and so forth.22 At their best
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these networks of institutions are developed into broad-based constituencies that also support the tax increases and bond elections necessary for investments in public education more broadly. To the extent that networks of people and organizations remain focused on more traditional kinds of support for public schoolsguest speakers, volunteers, and fundraising eventsthe unintended consequences of these relationships are that their voluntary dimensions allow us to indulge in the belief that public education can be sustained on the cheap. This belief was further reinforced by the fact that, until recent decades, the public schools had a virtually captive labor market from which to draw. In the past, gender discrimination meant that teaching was one of the few professional paid-employment options widely available to women. In short, it was a buyers market, and schools benefited by being able to pay relatively low wages to dedicated teachers. Fortunately for women those labor market conditions have changed, providing a wide range of opportunities for educated professionals. Unfortunately public schools have not had the resources to be able to respond to the change in market conditions, to wit: increasing salaries and benefits in this more competitive labor market. At the same time, the rise of the high-stakes testing regime has robbed teachers of much of the power to determine what goes on inside their classrooms and on their campuses. This hierarchical system does not value the collegiality and mentoring relationships that are central to the social dimensions of teaching. Educators draw dignity and meaning from collaboration with their colleagues, serving as a source of learning to peers rather than only to students. The lack of professional recognition evinced by lost autonomy and deficient wages has made it increasingly difficult for public schools to attract and retain highly qualified, creative, competent educators. Recent decades have also witnessed the deterioration of the relationships among schools and the other mediating institutions in their neighborhoods and communities. The mediating institutions themselves have experienced a decline, as economic pressures have forced adults to work longer hours, leaving less time for voluntary associations. At the same time, the testing regime has left teachers and principals with less time and energy to invest in relationships outside the campus. The absence of these relationshipsof an external constituency that cares about the success of the schoolleaves the campuses short of both human capital and the financial capital generated by taxpayers demanding a greater investment in public education. Given the demands of a twenty-first century economy and a growing population of Social Security recipients, it is in our national self-interest to invest in education and to educate all children. There has always been a debate about who
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should be educated in America. Thomas Jeffersons proposal for a public school system in Virginia excluded women, slaves, and farmers. Of course Jeffersons commitment to maintaining a small, agrarian economic system didnt require the economic growth fueled by universal education. As Americas leaders began to recognize both the potential and the challenge of a much more diversified economy, education took on more significance. By the 1840s, Henry Clays American system required expanding investments not only in infrastructure throughout the nation, but in education as well.23 As the manufacturing industry was fueled by the Civil War, the westward expansion, and the emerging Common Market, the demand for immigrant workers increased and the need for a universal common school became self-evident. Today a small but vocal minority argues that the children of undocumented immigrants should be excluded from our school systems, just as they argued against educating African Americans, Catholics, and a host of other minorities throughout the history of the United States. As my good friend Steve Levy has often said, from an economists perspective alone it is in our self-interest to educate children no matter whether or not their parents have papers. Countless studies have documented that a well-educated workforce is more productive, earns higher wages, pays higher taxes, and requires fewer government services, as well as generating economic growth through both production and consumption. The coming intersection of demographic shifts and labor market demands facing our economy and tax structure has led University of Southern California Professor Dowell Myers to suggest that we must rejuvenate what he calls the intergenerational social contract: investing in the education of an ethnically different younger generation today knowing full well that we will be dependent on them in our retirement.24 Education is about creating the wherewithal for a democratic politics, and our political practices and processes should be educational. Ideally they reinforce and sustain one another in a democratic culture. As Cass Sunstein suggests in his book The Second Bill of Rights, beyond the rights explicitly protected in the Constitution, there are also Constitutional Commitments, which flow out of the expectations of our democratic society.25 Whereas the right to an education is not guaranteed in the Constitution, it is an explicit Constitutional Commitment: why guarantee a set of rights and liberties unless you presuppose that citizens will be sufficiently well-educated to understand them? President Ulysses S. Grant understood this instinctively when he encouraged Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing a free quality public education to every child in the United States in 1875. His exhortation that, free public education lay at the root of the nations liberty26 clearly indicates his belief that education
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is a prerequisite to freedom. The fact that the language of his proposed amendment created the right to an education for all children, irrespective of sex, color, birthplace or religion,27 is a reminder of the lessons he drew from the institution of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction: as a nation we are inevitably interconnected. Or, as Benjamin Franklin so adroitly stated: We can all hang together or we can all hang separately.28
SIXTEEN TOWARD A NEW AMERICAN DREAM

Nicols Kanellos
Nicols Kanellos sets forth in these final pages the idea of a revolutionary change in our society. The combined forces of Latino population growth and the ever-closer interweaving of the United States and its Hispanic neighbors to the south will evolve into a transnational, transcultural society. Truly a New American Dream.
o stand aside for a moment from the never-ending debate over immigration, affirmative action, and equal education opportunity as regards Hispanics, I would now like to propose what Hispanics in the near future can and will contribute to American society. In the twenty-first century, various socioeconomic-demographic factors within the context of the U.S. relationship with Mexico, the Central American, and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, will accelerate the already existing cultural trends outlined in my essay The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background in this book. The falling birth rate and rising population of retired workers in the United States, coupled with American capitalisms insistence on continued economic growth and expansion, will make continued immigration a necessity for the countrys economic engine to continue to run at the rates demanded by Big Business and for the growing elderly populations retirement
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and social security benefits to be sustained by younger people entering the workforce. As described elsewhere in this volume, the U.S. Census has provided a perhaps surprising picture of Latino population growth, and the implications of this browning and Latinization of America will be revolutionary for practically all segments of social and economic life in the United States. These changes will also have great implications for our relations with the other nations in the hemisphere. As the U.S. economy continues to draw unskilled, as well as skilled, workers, especially into agricultural, service, and manufacturing jobs, working-class culture among Hispanics will continue to thrive and produce cultural products, becoming ever more influential and mainstream in all types of media and arts, from television, radio, film, and video to music, literature, and other popular art forms. As the economies of the hemisphere become more integrated and the free-trade arrangements solidified, media products will become more hemispheric in target and distribution, negating borders, making use of satellite communications and, above all, increasingly using Spanish as the lingua franca for the hemisphere to reach the majority of viewers, listeners, and readers. While for political reasons, as well as world-trade reasons, English will remain the official language of the United States, Spanish will become the unofficial second national language. At universities, Spanish departments are already separating themselves from foreign language divisions to develop their curricula along the lines of English and American Studies departments in recognition that Spanish has always been an important language in this land and has an expanded role today and in the future for trade, education, communications, nonprofit systems, and in many other areas. For domestic as well as hemispheric consumption, media products will have English and Spanish tracksas did newspapers and periodicals in Louisiana, Florida, and the Southwest in the nineteenth centurytracks that are already available in DVD, for instance. As in the media, much of the rest of the corporate world will need to access the Hispanic domestic and hemispheric markets, and thus trained and sensitive bilingual personnel will become essential, consequently placing greater pressure on the school systems not only to teach in bilingual and dual-language formats but also to identify and prepare students for careers with bicultural and bilingual requirements. Because of its capital base, vast, and relatively open educational system, housing the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, as well as its advanced technology, the United States is poised to become the media production and distribution center for the Spanish-speaking countries of the hemisphere. In fact, it has been such networks as Univision, which first instituted hemispheric satellite broadcasts and built real-time broadcasts from
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Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. The current programming originating in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Spanish-speaking United States and coordinated and distributed from Los Angeles and Miami is unrivaled by any of the Englishlanguage networks. The viewers of Jay Leno and David Letterman shrink in size when compared to the enormous viewership of Hispanic television personality, Don Francisco, the Chilean host of the hemispheres most popular program: Sbado Gigante. Like the demand for Sbado Gigante, the demand for working-class cultural products will remain strong throughout Latino U.S.A. as long as Latinos remain predominantly outside upwardly mobile America. The same is true in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, so long as vast populations are condemned to live in poverty, either because of domestic mismanagement and greed or economic and political oppression originating in the developed world. As the largest proportion of U.S. Hispanics remain in the working class, more and more they will ascend to the leadership and vanguard of movements for workers rights and unions, as well as reform of immigration policy. And as more and more Hispanic women become heads of households and balance family and blue-collar work outside the home, they will continue to assume a leadership role in these movements. Illegal status will become less and less of a barrier to unionization of Latinos, and they will forge new and better ways of ensuring a living wage and benefits, as well as the education of their children, by recognizing their power as a class and as an oppressed minority. During the current decade, predominantly Hispanic service workers, such as hotel housekeepers and cleaning crews for office buildings, have already made great strides in this direction. And, despite the high number of uneducated Hispanic immigrants and natives, their children already make up the fastest growing segment of college enrollments, even while the unusually high dropout rates of Latinos is unabated. Their children are already on the first rungs of the ladder to leadership in industry, entertainment, communications, and education. Probably sooner than later, they will also become part of a massive rupture of the glass ceilings in these fields. But the immigrants themselves, rather than their children, per se, will create new patterns of economic development and leadership. The growth of the Hispanic population has been attended by a hardy entrepreneurial class serving the needs of the immigrants; their restaurants and small factories and stores in virtually every major city are now in the growth mode of establishing chains and corporations that their formally educated children will inherit, cultivate, and expand into an economic powerhouse. This largely neighborhoodbased growth will renew inner cities, transform the landscape, and give a sense
210
Nicols Kanellos
of place, stability, and ownership to first- and second-, perhaps even thirdgeneration Latinos. The growing economic integration of the Americas means their cultural integration as welleven if not full political integration. More and more professionals trained in Spanish-speaking institutions throughout the hemisphere will be recruited by American corporations for leadership abroad as well as domestically. Access to boardrooms and decision-making positions will more and more be open to bilingual-bicultural Latinos. All of this will put pressure on the American education system to prepare students to enter an economy newly and increasingly appreciative of Hispanic perspectives and talents. The history, culture, and civilization of Hispanics will be increasingly seen as part of the national American culture, one shared by all. This trend will become even more accelerated as the American population continues to shift from the old rust-belt North and Midwest to the South and Southwest, regions that historically were established and inhabited by Hispanics and where Hispanics in this century will make up as much as one-half the population. The ascent of Hispanics into the middle class will not be accomplished through the traditional avenue of leaving the old country culture behind in order to become Americans purified through a melting pot process. The opposite will be true: proximity and repeated travel and communication with the countries of origin will foster language and cultural loyalty and forge a bilingualbicultural citizenry capable of negotiating cultural differences at many levels. Dual citizenship will be more common and university systems will expand across many borders to prepare graduates capable of operating on a hemispheric basis. Nor will American racism continue to limit the access of Hispanics to American opportunities, for their sheer numbers will transform politics and policy, once the population reaches voting age. But more important than demographics and voting power, Hispanic culture has always fostered a dynamic of racial and cultural blending. If there is anything that characterizes Hispanic culture throughout history and throughout the Hispanic world, it is pronounced and consistent mestizaje, the bringing together biologically and culturally the heritages of Europe, Amerindia, and Africaand in various Caribbean and South American countries the heritage of Asia, as well. Where once miscegenation was anathema to Americans, the Latino influence will further accelerate interracial and inter-ethnic marriage and the propensity to identify with the rest of the countries and cultures of the Americas rather than solely with Europe.
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211
The noted Latino scholar and philosopher Jos Vasconcelos in the early twentieth century forecast the birth of a cosmic race. He never envisioned that one of its major constituents would be Anglo-America itself. Needless to say, all of the above-mentioned trends would depend on, as well as produce, transnational identities, and the media and cultural arts products to reflect and promote those identities. Art, literature, and cultural media would all blaze paths for the new ways for us to relate to each other. These cultural and media products would greatly transform artistic canons, commercial media, entertainment and sports, and linguistic communications. The cultural arts and media would no longer be tied to nineteenth-century print technologies nor to twentieth-century telecommunications technologies, but be fully articulated digitally at extremely high speed to a variety of media receivers, which will no longer be limited by geographic, national, political, and linguistic borders. Latinos have the potential to become the brokers for a new transnational and transcultural society in the Western Hemisphere, the source, in fact, of a New American Dream.
APPENDIX I TABLES, CHARTS, AND MAPS
Appendix I
215
CHAPTER FIVE
Figure 1: Median Household Income of Latino, African American and White Non-Hispanic, 2006
Latino $40,094
African American $38,385
White non-Hispanic $65,180
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
Source: U.S. Census, American Community Survey 2008.
Figure 2: Causal Factors Contributing to the Presence of an Hispanic Underclass

Structural Demand for Lowwage Labor in the United States Poor Employment Opportunities for Peasants and Workers in Mexico, Central America
Sustained Labor Flow across U.S.Mexico Border
Efforts to Disrupt Migrant Flow through Expanded Border Enforcement
End of Cyclical Migration Pattern. Consolidation of a Permanent Unauthorized Population in the U.S.
Growth of a Second Generation under Conditions of Severe Disadvantage
Proliferation of Gangs, Drug Use, Adolescent Pregnancies, and other Pathologies Reflecting Poverty, Weak Communities, and Discrimination
Source: Portes, 2003, 2007.
216
Tables, Charts, and Maps
Figure 3: Percentage of Hispanic Household Income over $50,000 (2006) $ 100,000 + $ 75,000-99,999 $ 50,000-74,999 10.5 % 8.9 % 17.3 % 36.7 %
Figure 4: Median Age of Latinos and White Non-Hispanics (2006)
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
40.6
Age
27.3
Hispanics
White non-Hispanics
Source: U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2008.
Figure 5: Age of Foreign-born Latinos and Expenditures by Age

30 25 8000 7000
Percentage
20 15 10 5 0
o 4 o 9 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59 64 69 74 94 0 t 5 t 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 to 5 to 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7
5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0
Thousands of $
6000
Percentage of all Foreign-born Latinos in the United States. Total Expenditure in the United States.
Age
Appendix I
217
Figure 6: Age of Native-born Latinos and Expeditures by Age
30 35 25
8000 7000
20 15 10 5 0
5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0
Thousands of $
6000
Percentage
Percentage of Native-born Latinos in the United States. Total Expenditure in the United States.
Age
Figure 7: Foreign- and Native-born Latinos and Expenditures by Age

8000 7000
Percentage of all Foreign-born Latinos in the United States. Percentage of Native-born Latinos in the United States. Total Expenditure in the United States.
30 35 25
20 4000 15 10 5 0
5000
3000 2000 1000 0
Age
Thousands of $
6000
Percentage
218
Figure 8: Path to Income Mobility Education Capital
Entrepreneurship
Job Mobility
Participation in Financial Institutions, Credit Leveraging
Asset Development (Home Ownership)
Asset Protection
Generation Wealth Transmittal
Figure 9: Insurance Ownership (N=616)

80% 76% 60% 40% 39% 20% 0% Auto Life Home/Renters 47%
Source: Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2005.
Appendix I
219
Figure 10: Ownership of Life Insurance by Education (N=600)

70% 60% 50% 40% 30%
29% 36% 51% 61%
20% 10% 0% Less than HS High School Some College College and Above
Figure 11: Ownership of Life Insurance by Immigrant Generation (N=612)

60%
60%
40%
32%
47%
20%
0% First Generation Second Generation Third+ Generation
Figure 12: Ownership of Life Insurance by Length of Residence in the U.S. (N=388)
60% 50%
52%
40%
40%
30% 20% 10% 0% 0-10 Years
31%
11%
11-20 Years
21-30 Years
31+ Years
220
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Table 1: Leading Causes of Death, United States, 2004
Ratio of Death Rate / Percent of All Hispanic to non1000,000 Deaths Hispanic Wihte 222.2 27 0.7 186.6 23 0.6 51.1 6 0.8 41.5 5 0.4 38.1 5 0.8 24.9 3 1.5 22.5 3 0.6 20.3 3 0.9 14.5 2 0.9 11.4 1 0.8 11.0 1 0.5 9.2 1 1.6 7.9 1 1.0 6.1 1 0.6 5.9 1 2.7
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Cause of Death Heart Disease Cancer Stroke Respiratory Disease Accidents Diabetes mellitus Alzheimers Influenza / Pneumonia Kidney Disease Blood Poisoning Suicide Liver Disease High Blood Pressure Parkinsons Disease Homicide
Source: A. M. Minimo, et al. Deaths: Final Data for 2004, Health E-Stats, Table 2 (www.cdc.gov/nchs).
Table 2: Leading Countries of Immigration to the United States
1900 Germany Ireland Canada UK Sweden Italy Russia Poland Norway
1960 Italy Germany Canada UK Poland Soviet Union Mexico Ireland Austria
2000 Mexico China Philippines India Cuba Vietnam El Salvador Korea Dominican Republic
Appendix I
221
Table 3: Hispanics and African American Proportions 20002100 35 30 25 20

Hispanic
15 10 5 0
2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
Black
Figure 1: Latino Migration

9 States Where Latinos Are Largest Minority Group: 1970 Census 23 States Where Latinos Are Largest Minority Group: 2000 Census
13 States Where Latinos Are Largest Minority Group: 1990 Census
26 States Where Latinos Are Largest Minority Group: 2004 Census
Source: Tomas Rivera Policy Institute Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Data, 1970, 1990, 2000, 2004.
222
CHAPTER TWELVE
Figure 1
In general, do you think discrimination against (Hispanics/Latinos) is a major problem, a minor problem or not a problem in preventing (Hispanics/Latinos) in general from succeeding in America?
PROBLEM
Major Minor
Not a problem
Dont Know
Refused
10/2007 Total Native born Foreign born 06/2006 Total Native born Foreign born 06/2004* 06/2002**
54 47 58 58 48 66 51 44
24 28 21 24 32 18 30 38
19 22 18 15 17 13 16 16
3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 * * NA
*PHC/KFF Latino Survey on Politics **KFF/Pew Latino Survey 2002
Figure 2
Do you think that the debate over immigration policy in the United States has made discrimination against (Hispanics/Latinos) more of a problem, less of a problem or has had no effect on discrimination? Total
Debate over policy has made it more of a problem Debate over policy has made it less of a problem Debate over policy has had no effect Discrimination against Latinos is not a problem Dont know Refused
Native born
Foreign born
54 9 15 15 2 1
57 7 13 17 2 1
51 10 16 13 2 *
Appendix I
223
Figure 3
Which comes closer to your views? (Hispanics/Latinos) from different countries . . . ? Share one All have separate Dont know (Hispanic/Latino) and distinct cultures culture
06/2006 Total Native born Foreign born 06/2002 Total
Refused
23 22 23 14
75 76 74 85 Figure 4
2 2 2 2
1 1 1 *
Which comes closer to your views? (Hispanics/Latinos) from different countries . . . ? Today are working together to achieve common political goals
06/2006 Total Native born Foreign born 06/2002 Total Native born Foreign
Are not working together politically
Dont know
Refused
58 52 62 43 45 42 Figure 5
34 40 29 49 48 50
8 8 7 8 7 8
1 1 2 ----
You have said that you describe yourself as an [American, a Latino/Hispanic, and as a (INSERT COUNTRY OF ORIGIN)]. In general, which of the terms that you use to describe yourself is the term you use first? Respondent / parent country of origin
6/2006 Total Native born Foreign born 6/2002 Total* Native born Foreign born
Latino / Hispanic
American
48 30 63 54 29 68
26 22 29 24 23 24
24 46 6 21 46 6
*KFF/Pew Latino Survey 2002
224
Figure 6
PRIMARY LANGUAGE Spanish Bilingual English Foreign Born 72% 24% 4%
SpanishDominant
Sex between two adults of the same sex Acceptable Unacceptable Abortion Acceptable Unacceptable In general, the husband should have the final say in family matters Agree Disagree It is better for children to live in their parents home until they get married Agree Disagree It doesnt do any good to plan for the future because you dont have control over it Agree Disagree You can be more successful in an American workplace if you are willing to work long hours at the expense of your personal life Agree Disagree 16 81 10 88
Native Born of Foreign Parentage 7% 47% 46%

Bilingual
Native Born of Native Parentage 0% 22% 78%
EnglishDominant
38 60 36 59
NonLatino
35 62 41 55
27 70 22 73
43 56
34 65
27 71
29 70
95 5
75 24
52 47
46 52
59 40
31 68
24 75
17 82
17 81
33 66
45 55
45 54
Appendix I
225
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Table 1
Assuring Cultural Competence in Health Care: Recommendations for National Standards and Research Agenda Recommended Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Health Care Services Based on an analytical review of key laws, regulations, contracts, and standards currently in use by federal and state agencies and other national organizations, these proposed standards were developed with input from a national advisory committee of policymakers, providers, and researchers. In the [full report], each standard is accompanied by commentary that addresses its relationship to existing laws and standards, and offers recommendations for implementation and oversight to providers, policymakers, and advocates. Preamble: Culture and language have considerable impact on how patients access and respond to health care services. To ensure equal access to quality health care by diverse populations, health care organizations and providers should: 1. Promote and support the attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and skills necessary for staff to work respectfully and effectively with patients and each other in a culturally diverse work environment. 2. Have a comprehensive management strategy to address culturally and linguistically appropriate services, including strategic goals, plans, policies, procedures, and designated staff responsible for implementation. 3. Utilize formal mechanisms for community and consumer involvement in the design and execution of service delivery, including planning, policy making, operations, evaluation, training and, as appropriate, treatment planning. 4. Develop and implement a strategy to recruit, retain and promote qualified, diverse and culturally competent administrative, clinical, and support staff that are trained and qualified to address the needs of the racial and ethnic communities being served. 5. Require and arrange for ongoing education and training for administrative, clinical, and support staff in culturally and linguistically competent service delivery. 6. Provide all clients with limited English proficiency (LEP) access to bilingual staff or interpretation services. 7. Provide oral and written notices, including translated signage at key points of contact, to clients in their primary language informing them of their right to receive no-cost interpreter services. 8. Translate and make available signage and commonly-used written patient educational material and other materials for members of the predominant language groups in service areas. 9. Ensure that interpreters and bilingual staff can demonstrate bilingual proficiency and receive training that includes the skills and ethics of interpreting, and knowledge in both languages of the terms and concepts relevant to clinical or non-clinical encounters. Family or friends are not considered adequate substitutes because they usually lack these abilities.
226
10. Ensure that the clients primary spoken language and self-identified race/ethnicity are included in the health care organizations management information system as well as any patient records used by provider staff. Use a variety of methods to collect and utilize accurate demographic, cultural, epidemiological and clinical outcome data for racial and ethnic groups in the service area, and become informed about the ethnic/cultural needs, resources, and assets of the surrounding community. Undertake ongoing organizational self-assessments of cultural and linguistic competence, and integrate measures of access, satisfaction, quality, and outcomes for CLAS into other organizational internal audits and performance improvement programs. Develop structures and procedures to address cross cultural ethical and legal conflicts in health care delivery and complaints or grievances by patients and staff about unfair, culturally insensitive or discriminatory treatment, or difficulty in accessing services, or denial of services. Prepare an annual progress report documenting the organizations progress with implementing CLAS standards, including information on programs, staffing, and resources. 1999, HHS Office of Minority Health and Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care
Appendix I
227
Table 2
UNEQUAL TREATMENT Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare Institute of Medicine of the National Academies The National Academies Press 2003 Summary of Recommendations General Recommendations Recommendation 2-1: Increase awareness of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare among the general public and key stakeholders. Recommendation 2-2: Increase healthcare providers awareness of disparities. Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Interventions Recommendation 5-1: Avoid fragmentation of health plans along socioeconomic lines. Recommendation 5-2: Strengthen the stability of patient-provider relationships in publicly funded health plans. Recommendation 5-3: Increase the proportion of underrepresented U.S. racial and ethnic minorities among health professionals. Recommendation 5-4: Apply the same managed care protections to publicly funded HMO enrollees that apply to private HMO enrollees. Recommendation 5-5: Provide greater resources to the U.S. DHHS Office for Civil Rights to enforce civil rights laws. Health Systems Interventions Recommendation 5-6: Promote the consistency and equity of care through the use of evidence-based guidelines. Recommendation 5-7: Structure payment systems to ensure an adequate supply of services to minority patients, and limit provider incentives that may promote disparities. Recommendation 5-8: Enhance patient-provider communication and trust providing financial incentives for practices that reduce barriers and encourage evidence-based practice. Recommendation 5-9: Support the use of interpretation services where community needs exist. Recommendation 5-10: Support the use of community health workers. Recommendation 5-11: Implement multidisciplinary treatment and preventive care teams. Patient Education and Empowerment Recommendation 5-12: Implement patient education programs to increase patients knowledge of how to best access care and participate in treatment. Cross-Cultural Education in the Health Professions Recommendation 6-1: Integrate cross-cultural education into the training of all current and future health professionals. Data Collection and Monitoring Recommendation 7-1: Collect and report data on health care access and utilization by patients race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and where possible, primary language. Recommendation 7-2: Include measures of racial and ethnic disparities in performance measurement. Recommendation 7-3: Monitor progress toward the elimination of healthcare disparities. Recommendation 7-4: Report racial and ethnic data by OMB categories, but use subpopulation groups where possible. Research Needs Recommendation 8-1: Conduct further research to identify sources of racial and ethnic disparities and assess promising intervention strategies. Recommendation 8-2: Conduct research on ethical issues and other barriers to eliminating disparities. The Institute of Medicine, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. (National Academy P, 2002.)
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Table 3
National Hispanic Health Leadership Summit Recommendations San Antonio, Texas August 15-17, 2002 Co-Chairs National Hispanic Medical Association And the Congressional Hispanic Caucus SUMMARY The National Hispanic Medical Association, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus acting as honorary co-chair, convened a national health leadership summit in August 2002. Participants explored how the health care system affects Hispanics and made recommendations to improve this groups health and health care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided the National Hispanic Health Foundation with $100,000 in partial support for this unsolicited project from August to October 2002. Other funders included the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ($86,000), GlaxoSmithKline ($20,000), Amgen ($20,000) and the California Endowment ($5,000). THE PROBLEM Americans of Hispanic origin constitute the largest and one of the fastest-growing ethnic subgroups in the country (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Hispanics have among the poorest health and health access indicators of any ethnic group. They are least likely to have visited a health care provider within the past year (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000) and have the highest rate of uninsurance among all ethnic groups (Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2003). Not having health insurance throws up a major barrier to health care in the United States, especially for migrant workers and part-time and small business employees. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES FOR HISPANICS, CATEGORIZED BY WORKGROUPS Workgroup #1: Access to Health Care Adopt a universal health care policy. Expand Medicare/Medicaid/State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility, including parents and pregnant women. Educate on waivers and tax breaks on health insurance for employers. Ensure that outreach, education and enrollment efforts are community-based and target Limited English Proficient populations. Develop automatic re-enrollment in public health insurance programs for highly uninsured populations. Develop uniform financial screening tools for public and migrant insurance programs. Establish a Web-based clearinghouse to promote research on underutilization and disenrollment of underinsured populations. Increase federal financial assistance for health programs for Puerto Rico.
Appendix I
229
Workgroup #2: Emerging Public Health Issues Conduct research on barriers to accessing care for Hispanics, including language, geography, health care cost, insurance benefits and provider hours of service. Develop programs in health promotion and disease prevention, focusing on HIV/AIDS, injury and violence prevention, and infectious diseases. Develop culturally sensitive marketing methods in conjunction with community institutions to engage Hispanic leaders and populations in expanding health care services. Workgroup #3: Cultural Competency and Limited English Proficiency Increase funding for the enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which, according to the project director, has not been vigorously enforced by the Department of Justice. (Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.) Adopt Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards, defined as those medical and preventive health services that are provided with an understanding of the cultural background of the patient. Mandate and reimburse Cultural Competency and Limited English Proficiency services in Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, medical education and clinics. (Limited English Proficiency services are defined as language services needed by those who have limited English proficiency.) Make Cultural Competency and Limited English Proficiency Services a core value of physicians, health care delivery systems, medical providers and insurance plans to improve quality of care to Hispanic populations. Promote bilingual and multilingual training. Develop measures for Cultural Competency and Limited English Proficiency performance, outcomes and interpreter training to link them to surveys. Workgroup #4: Health Professions Training Encourage Hispanic students to pursue careers in health and health care, by expanding and developing programs with the Health Resources and Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Workgroup #5: Building Community-Based Hispanic Research Increase Hispanic leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, state and private organizations, and advisory committees to ensure appropriate program development for Hispanic communities. Prioritize funding, either from the Federal government or the private sector, to states with existing or growing Hispanic populations. Ensure that partnerships with community organizations, including non-profit organizations and academic institutions, are a requirement for funding of research projects on the Hispanic community. Support the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the National Hispanic Medical Association, and other organizations involved in federal and state appropriations about the importance of funding for best practice models, Hispanic populations research and the training of Hispanic research scientists.
230
Workgroup #6: Prevention, Management and Treatment of Chronic Diseases Promote proven prevention strategies for the following health conditions: diabetes, asthma, heart disease and cancer. Promote healthy lifestyle modifications in the Hispanic community. Support Reach 2010, which seeks to eliminate disparities in health status experienced by ethnic minority populations in key health areas, as well as Redes en Accin, a National Cancer Institute-funded initiative to combat cancer among Hispanics. Promote diabetes prevention and treatment programs. Increase efforts to reduce cardiovascular disease among Hispanics through prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Workgroup #7: Special Populations Expand and promote the Federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, adding the benefit of fresh farm produce to improve the nutrition of the recipients (WIC is a subsidized food program for low-income women and children). Add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Award grants and scholarships to Hispanic students to encourage them to enter health care professions. Expand Welfare to Work programs to include funding for childcare programs that provide immunizations, translators, longer hours of operation, Limited English Proficiency programs and simplified application processes. Also provide reimbursement to states that provide these services. Workgroup #8: United States-Mexico Border Health Develop a management information system, including administrative support that focuses on health, bio-terrorism, environmental health and occupations health in the United States and Mexico. Develop a bi-national plan, between the United States and Mexico, to prepare for disasters that could occur on either side of the border, including chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear. Create a bi-national health insurance program. National Hispanic Medical Association, National Hispanic Health Leadership Summit, Report to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the US DHHS, 2003.
APPENDIX II CHAPTER NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Appendix II
233
CHAPTER TWO
Jay P. Dolan and Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J., Hispanic Catholic Culture in the United States (Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1994) 30. 2 Donald E. Chipman, Spanish Texas, 15191822 (Austin: UT P, 1992) 256. 3 Bernard L. Fontana, Entrada: The Legacy of Spain and Mxico in the United States (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1994) 8081. 4 Michael C. Meyer, Water in the Hispanic Southwest: A Social and Legal History 15501850 (Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1984) 3741. 5 Thomas E. Sheridan, Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson (Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1986) 4345. 6 Meyer 156-7. 7 Joseph McKnight, Law without Lawyers on the Hispano Mexican Frontier. The West Texas Association Yearbook. 64 (1990) 59. 8 Chipman 253-4. 9 Chipman 250-1 10 Chipman 251. 11 Chipman 253; McKnight 58. 12 Chipman 252. 13 Juan Gmez-Quiones, Roots of Chicano Politics, 16001940 (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1994) 381. 14 Sam Kushner, Long Road to Delano: A Century of Farm Worker Struggle (NY: International Publishers, 1975) 6876. 15 F. Arturo Rosales, Chicano! The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement (Houston: Arte Pblico P, 1996) 121. 16 Rosales 123-124. 17 Rosales 119-20. 18 Rosales 170-73.
1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Almaguer, Toms. Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California. Berkeley: U of California P, 1994. Campa, Arthur L. Hispanic Culture in the Southwest. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1979. Chipman, Donald E. Spanish Texas, 15191822. Austin: UT P, 1992. Dolan, Jay P., and Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J., Hispanic Catholic Culture in the United States. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1994.
234
Chapter Notes and Bibliography
Fontana, Bernard L. Entrada: The Legacy of Spain and Mxico in the United States. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1994. Galarza, Ernesto. Farm Workers and Agribusiness in California: 19471960. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1977. Gmez-Quiones, Juan. Roots of Chicano Politics, 16001940. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1994. Gonzales, Juan L. Mexican and Mexican American Farm Workers: The California Agricultural Industry. NY: Praeger, 1985. Kanellos, Nicols, ed. The Hispanic American Almanac. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1996. _______. Hispanic Firsts: 500 Years of Extraordinary Achievement. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1997. _______. Thirty Million Strong: Reclaiming the Hispanic Image in American Culture. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 1998. _______, and Claudio Esteva Fabregat, eds. Handbook of Hispanic Culture in the United States. 4 Vols. Houston: Arte Pblico P, 199495. Kushner, Sam. Long Road to Delano: A Century of Farm Worker Struggle. NY: International Publishers, 1975. McKnight, Joseph. Law without Lawyers on the Hispano Mexican Frontier. The West Texas Association Yearbook. 64 (1990): 5165. Meyer, Michael C. Water in the Hispanic Southwest: A Social and Legal History 15501850. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1984. Rosales, F. Arturo. Chicano! The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Houston: Arte Pblico P, 1996. Sheridan, Thomas E. Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1986. Tadiff, Joseph C., and L. Mpho Mabunda. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1996.
CHAPTER THREE
1
David J. Weber, Scarce More than Apes: Historical Roots of Anglo-American Stereotypes of Mexicans in the Border Region, Myth and History of the Hispanic Southwest: Essays, The Calvin P. Horn Lectures in Western History and Culture, University of New Mexico, Nov. 811, 1987 (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1988). Reprinted with permission from New Spains Far Northern Frontier: Essays on Spain in the American West, 15401821 (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1979), reprint edition SMU P, 1988, 159160. 2 Hildy Medina, Building the Foundation, Hispanic Business Magazine, May 2007.
Appendix II
3
235
Affirmative Action Review: Report to the President. Clinton White House Staff, Chapter 4, July 19, 1995. 4 Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States (New York: Greenwood P, 1968) 52. 3 David J. Weber, ed., Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1973) 150. 4 Weber 152156. 5 Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr., The Spanish-American War, Greenwood Guides to Historic Events 15001900, Linda S. Frey and Marsha L. Frey, Series Eds., (Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2003) 2021. 6 Francisco E. Balderrama, and Raymond Rodrguez, Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1995) 55. 7 Balderrama and Rodrguez 59. 8 At Last Count, The Atlantic Monthly, May 2007. 9 James Crawford, At War with Diversity: US Language Policy in an Age of Anxiety (Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 2000) 6.
CHAPTER FOUR
1
By and large, unlike the other chapters in this book, this is an essay about Latino immigrants. And I understand the concern of many in the second and third generations and beyond not to be confused with newcomershence the distinction, which I use often, between Latinos and Latino immigrants. Nevertheless, social scientists studying immigrants, and immigrant incorporation in particular, often find it useful to look at the progress of the second, third, and even fourth generationsto classify all these offspring as in effect immigrant stock and include them in any discussion of the fate of the original newcomers. And this essay occasionally follows that practicewith all due apologies to those in the second and third generations who emphasize the distinction between Latinos and Latino immigrants. 2 Even more than the rest of the essay, this section on Latino political predication conflates data for Latino immigrants with data for Latinos as a group. It would be impossible to do otherwisethe two kinds of data are rarely collected separately. And in this realm, as in others, the behavior of the second and third generation is arguably the best way to measure the trajectory begun by the first.
236
CHAPTER FIVE
Hispanic and Latino are terms that are used interchangeably to denote individuals who can trace their heritage back to Spanish-speaking countries in the Western Hemisphere. 2 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, 2002 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006). 3 U.S. Department of Commerce, Census, Current Population Survey (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007). 4 Ibid. 5 Delgado Wise, Ral, and Cypher, James M., The Strategic Role of Mexican Labor under NAFTA: Critical Perspectives on Current Economic Integration, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, NAFTA and Beyond: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Global Trade and Development (Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007). For an opposing view see: Pastor, Robert A., The Future of North America, Foreign Affairs: The New American Realism (2008). 6 Draut, Tamara, Strapped Why Americas 20- and 30-Somethings Cant Get Ahead (New York: Doubleday, 2005), Friedman, Thomas, L., The World is Flat A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006). 7 Reich, Robert B., The Future of Success (New York: A. Knofpt, 2001). 8 Borjas, George, Heavens Door (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1999). 9 Portes, Alejandro, Migration, Development, and Segmented Assimilation: A Conceptual Review of the Evidence, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, NAFTA and Beyond: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Global Trade and Development (2007). 10 Bean, Frank D., Stephen J. Trejo, Randy Capps, and Michael Tyler, The Latino Middle Class: Myth, Reality and Potential (Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2001). 11 Carney, Stacie, and William G. Gale, Asset Accumulation Among Lowincome Households, Thomas M. Shapiro and Edwards N. Wolff, Eds. Assets for the Poor: The Benefits of Spreading Asset Ownership (2001). 12 Toms Rivera Policy Institute, Increasing Wealth in the Latino Community, (Los Angeles, Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2007). 13 Myers, Dowell, Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America (New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2007). 14 National Research Council, The New Americans (Washington, D.C.: National Academy P, 1997).
1
Appendix II
15
237
Wheary, Jennifer, African Americans, Latinos and Economic Opportunity in the 21st Century (New York: Demos, 2006). 16 Tornatzky, Louis G., Celina Torres, and Harry, P. Pachon, Closing Achievement Gaps Improving Educational Outcomes for Hispanic Children (Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2003). 17 For example, the word for grant in terms such as Pell Grant or Cal Grant of California has no accepted Spanish translation. 18 Denton, Nancy A.,Housing as a Means of Asset Accumulation: A Good Strategy for the Poor? Thomas M. Shapiro and Edwards N. Wolff, Eds. Assets for the Poor: The Benefits of Spreading Asset Ownership (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2001). 19 Toms Rivera Policy Institute, El Sueo de su Casa: The Homeownership Potential of Mexican-Heritage Families (Los Angeles, Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2007). 20 Ibid. Toms Rivera Policy Institute, Increasing Wealth in the Latino Community. 21 Lee, Jongho, Celina Torres, and Yin Wany, Living in the Present, Hoping for the Future: Latinos and Insurance, A Los Angeles Case Study, (Los Angeles, Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2005).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bean, Frank D., Stephen J. Trejo, Randy Capps, and Michael Tyler. The Latino Middle Class: Myth, Reality and Potential. Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Insititute, 2001. Borjas, George. Heavens Door. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1999. Carney, Stacie, and William G Gale. Asset Accumulation Among Low-Income Households. Thomas M. Shapiro and Edwards N. Wolff, eds. Assets for the Poor: The Benefits of Spreading Asset Ownership. New York: Russell Sage Foundation: 2001. Delgado Wise, Ral, and James M. Cypher. The Strategic Role of Mexican Labor under NAFTA: Critical Perspectives on Current Economic Integration. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, NAFTA and Beyond: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Global Trade and Development. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007. Denton, Nancy A. Housing as a Means of Asset Accumulation: A Good Strategy for the Poor? Thomas M. Shapiro and Edwards N. Wolff, eds. Assets for the Poor: The Benefits of Spreading Asset Ownership. New York: Russell Sage Foundation: 2001.
238
Draut, Tamara. Strapped Why Americas 20- and 30-Somethings Cant Get Ahead. New York: Doubleday, 2005. Friedman, Thomas, L., The World is Flat A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005, 2006. Lee, Jongho, Celina Torres, and Yin Wang. Living in the Present, Hoping for the Future: Latinos and Insurance, A Los Angeles Case Study. Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2005. Myers, Dowell, Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007. National Research Council. The New Americans. Washington, D.C.: National Academy P, 1997. Pachon, Harry P., Louis, G. Tornatzky, and Celina Torres. Closing Achievement Gaps Improving Educational Outcomes for Hispanic Children. Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute, 2003. Pastor, Robert A. The Future of North America. In Foreign Affairs: The New American Realism. 2008. Portes, Alejandro. Migration, Development, and Segmented Assimilation: A Conceptual Review of the Evidence. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, NAFTA and Beyond: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Global Trade and Development. 2007. Reich, Robert B. The Future of Success. New York: A. Knofpt, 2001. Toms Rivera Policy Institute. El Sueo de su Casa: The Home ownership Potential of Mexican-Heritage Families. Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute. 2007. _______. Increasing Wealth in the Latino Community. Los Angeles: Toms Rivera Policy Institute. 2007. U.S. Department of Commerce, Census. Washington, D.C.: U.S.Government Printing Office, 2007. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, 2002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006. Wheary, Jennifer. The Future Middle Class: African Americans, Latinos and Economic Opportunity: Securing Economic Opportunity in the 21st Century. New York: Demos, 2006.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1
Strengthening Education: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing World, U.S. Department of Education February 2006 <http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/ competitiveness/challenge.html>.
Appendix II
2
239
Chao, Elaine L., Remarks Prepared for Delivery at City Club of Cleveland, Ohio, February 2, 2006 <www.dol.gov/_sec/media/speeches/20060202_ cleveland.htm>. 3 National Center on Education and the Economy, 2007 <http://skillscommission.org/ pdf/exec_sum/ToughChoices_EXECSUM.pdf>. 4 Freeman, Richard, Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership? National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. 11457, July 2005. 5 Meet the Experts, Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk, interview of Patrick Callan by John Merrow <http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/meetexperts-6-transcript.html>. 6 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2004, Ethnicity and Ancestry Statistics Branch, Population Division <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hispanic/ASEC2004/2004 CPS_tab1.1a.pdf>. 7 Population Projections Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, NPD1-A Projections of the Resident Population by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1999 to 2100. 8 Braaco, Kathy Reeves, and Patrick M. Callan, Competition and Collaboration in California Higher Education, The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2002 <http://www.highereducation.org/reports/calcomp/callen.shtml>. 9 Brady, Henry, Mike Hout, Jon Stiles, Shannon Gleeson, and Iris Hui. <http://paa 2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=61682>. 10 Brady, et al. 11 Murdock, Steve H., Steve White, Nazrul Hoque, Md., Beverly Pecotte, Xiuhong You, and Jennifer Ballkan, A Summary of the Texas Challenge in the TwentyFirst Century: Implications of Population Change for the Future of Texas, The Center for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research and Education, 2002 <http://txsdc.utsa.edu/download/pdf/TxChall2002Summary.pdf>. 12 Carnevale, Anthony P., and Donna Desrochers, The Missing Middle: Aligning Education and the Knowledge Economy, Educational Testing Services, April 2002 <http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hs/carnevale.doc>. 13 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), Fall Enrollment in Colleges and Universities surveys 1976 and 1980; 1990 through 2004 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Survey (IPEDSEF:90), and Spring 2001 through Spring 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/ digest/d05/tables/dt05_205.asp>.
240
14
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 19922005 Reading Assessments <http://nationsreportcardgov/reading_ math_grade12_2005/s0207.asp?subtab_id=Tab_2&tab_id=tab1#chart>. 15 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2005 Mathematics Assessment <http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_ grade12_2005/s0307.asp?subtab_id=Tab_2&tab_id=tab1#chart>. 16 Reading between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals about College Readiness in Reading, ACT, 2006 <http://www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/reading_summary.pdf>. 17 Contexts of Postsecondary Education: Learning Opportunities, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2004/section5/indicator31.asp>. 18 Adelman, Clifford, Principal Indicators of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, 19722000, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2004 <http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/prinindicat/ prinindicat.pdf>. 19 Immerwahr, John, and Tony Foleno, Great Expectations How the Public and ParentsWhite, African American and HispanicView Higher Education, Public Agenda, 2000 <http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/highered/highered.htm>. 20 Luis Clemens, editor of Candidato USA, interviewed on NPR by Steve Inskeep, January 28, 2008 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18468 236&ft=1&f=18575055>. 21 National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Interim Report to the Ford Foundation, 2006 <http://www.naleo.org/downloads/Ford_Foundation_ Report_FINAL_2006.pdf>. 22 Saenz, Victor B., Sylvia Hurtado, Doug Barrera, DeSha Wolf, and Fanny Yeung, First in My Family: A Profile of First-Generation College Students at FourYear Institutions Since 1971, Cooperative Institutional Research Program of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA and The Foundation for Independent Higher Education, April 2007 <http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/PDFs/ resSummary051807-FirstGen.pdf>. 23 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_224.asp>. 24 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_267.asp>.
Appendix II
25
241
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_264.asp?referer=list>. 26 Paredes, Amrico, With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero (Austin: UT P, 1958, 1971). 27 Gaff, Jerry G., Anne S. Pruitt-Logan, and Richard A. Weibl, Building the Faculty We Need: Colleges and Universities Working Together and Participants in the Preparing Future Faculty Program. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. 2000 <http://www.preparing-faculty.org/>. 28 Santiago, Deborah, and Alisa Cunningham, How Latino Students Pay for College: Patterns of Financial Aid 20032004, Excelencia in Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy, August 2005 <http://www.edexcelencia. org/pdf/LSA_eng.pdf>. 29 Ibid. 30 Fry, Richard, Latinos in Higher Education: Many Enroll, Too Few Graduate, Pew Hispanic Center Report, 2002 <http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/11.pdf>. 31 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_205.asp>. 32 Ibid., Fry. 33 Ibid., Santiago and Cunningham. 34 Ibid., Santiago and Cunningham. 35 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2003, <http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf>. 36 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Internet Release date: March 15, 2007 <http://www.census. gov/population/socdemo/education/cps2006/tab01a-06.xls>. 37 Ibid. Saenz, et al. 38 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_206.asp>. 39 Gndara, Patricia, Fragile Futures: Risk and Vulnerability Among Latino High Achievers, Educational Testing Service, 2005 <http://www.ets.org/Media/ Research/pdf/PICFRAGFUT.pdf>. 40 Berkner, Lutz, Shirley He, and Emily Forrest Cataldi, Descriptive Summary of 199696 Beginning Postsecondary Students Six Years Later, U.S. Department of Education, Education Statistics Quarterly, 5.1, 2003 <http://nces.ed.gov/pubs 2003/2003607.pdf>.
242
41
Pluviose, David, Pathways to Success, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. 2/22/2007, 24.1: 3032, 3p, 3c. 42 New York Times on Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Samuel G. Freedman <http://www. jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/content.aspx?page=NewsEv>. 43 Ibid. Saenz, et al. 44 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics Tables and Figures, 2005 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_209.asp>. 45 Excelencia in Education calculations based on National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Survey, 2003 <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006155>. 46 Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions ProgramTitle V, U.S. Department of Education <http://www.ed.gov/programs/idueshsi/index.html>. 47 Santiago, Deborah, Inventing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: The Basics, Excelencia in Education, 2006 <http://www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/InventingHSIs FINAL.pdf>. 48 Santiago, Deborah, Sally J. Andrade, and Sarita E. Brown, Latino Student Success at Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Excelencia in Education, Findings from a Demonstration Project Supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, January 2004 <http://www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/web-LSSatHSIs.pdf>. 49 Santiago, Deborah, Modeling Hispanic Serving-Institutions: Campus Practices that Work for Latino Students, Excelencia in Education, 2008. 50 Natalicio, Diana, 2020: Building Access, Engaged Learning and Excellence, October 2006 <http//ww.utep.edu/aboututep/speeches/campuscompact.doc>. 51 Excelencia in Education website, <http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/hsi/ default.asp>. 52 Gerald, Danette, and Katy Haycock, Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity of the Nations Premier Public Universities, Education Trust, 2006 <http://www2. edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/F755E80E-9431-45AF-B28E653C612D503D/0/ EnginesofInequality.pdf>. 53 Gndara, Patricia, Fragile Futures: Risk and Vulnerability Among Latino High Achievers, Educational Testing Service, 2005 <http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/ pdf/PICFRAGFUT.pdf>. 54 Research Experiences for Undergraduates, University of Texas at El Paso, <http://research.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=28675>. 55 Theisman, Uri, Making Change Possible: Assessing the Public Policy Context for Education in Texas, 19902005, Excelencia in Education, <http://www.edexcelencia.org/examples/recipients/2005.asp>.
Appendix II
56
243
Examples of Excelencia: 2005 Recipients, <http://www.edexcelencia. org/examples/recipients/2005.asp>. 57 Emerging Scholars: Program Overview, College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, <http://cns.utexas.edu/students/emerging_scholars_program/>. 58 UTeach Teacher-Preparation Program to Expand Nationally Through $125 Million Commitment by ExxonMobil, UTeach, University of Texas at Austin, March 2007, <https://uteach.utexas.edu/index.cfm?objectid=371426A3-B52584BA-21AC3056D03A24A3>. 59 Ibid. 60 ACEAchieving a College Education, Maricopa Community Colleges, <http://www.maricopa.edu/resdev/ace/>. 61 Pre-Collegiate Development Program, University of Colorado System, <https://www.cu.edu/diversity/precollegiate.html#02>. 62 CAMP Enrolls 26 Students, New Mexico State University <http://acans. nmsu.edu/acans/stories/092606ICTandCAMP.shtml>. 63 Examples of Excelencia: 2006 Compendium, Excelencia in Education, <http://www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/examples06/2006ExampleCompendium.pdf>. 64 Focus, Lumina Foundation for Education, Winter 2008 <http://www.lumina foundation.org/publications/LessonsWinter2008.pdf>. 65 The Condition of Education 2008, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid= 2008031>. 66 Meet the Experts, Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk, interview of Lee Shulman by John Merrow <http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/meetexperts-5-transcript.html>. 67 Meet the Experts, Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk, interview of Patrick Callan by John Merrow <http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/meetexperts-6-transcript.html>. 68 Santiago, Deborah A., California Policy Options to Latino Success in Higher Education, Excelencia in Education in association with the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute and California Policy Research Center, 2006 <http://www.ed excelencia.org/pdf/FINAL-CAPolicyOptionsPRINT-11_27_06.pdf>.
CHAPTER TEN
1 2
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1975) 23. Jorge I. Domguez, Latinos and U.S. Foreign Policy, Working Paper Series (Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University No. 06-05, May 2006) 42.
244
3 4
Domnguez 1. Paul McCartney, Anglo Saxonism and U.S. Foreign Policy during the SpanisAmerican War, Ethnic Identity Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy, Thomas Ambrosio, ed. (Prager Publishers, 2002) 21-46. 5 New York Times, July 6, 1987. 6 Domnguez 17. 7 Domnguez 17. 8 Domnguez 22. 9 Juan Gmez Quionez, Chicano Politics Reality and Promise 19401990, (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1990) 3132. 10 Rodolfo O. de la Garza, Chicanos and U.S. Foreign Policy, Mexican-U.S. Relations Conflict and Convergence, Carlos Vsquez and Manuel Garca y Griego, eds. (Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 1983) 408. 11 Gmez Quionez 115. 12 Arturo Santamara Gmez, La Poltica entre Mxico y Aztln Relaciones Chicano Mexicanas del 68 a Chiapas 94 (Sinaloa: U Autnoma de Sinaloa 1994) 60. 13 Santamara 49. 14 Gmez Quionez 2045. 15 Ibid. 175. 16 Ibid. 182. 17 Ibid. 200. 18 Ibid. 185. 19 Mario Obledo, Foreword to The Role of Hispanics in U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America (The Latin American Project series, January 1987, Vol. 2, No. 1) i & ii. 20 Ibid. i & ii. 21 Ibid. i & ii. 22 Gmez Quionez 194. 23 Gmez Quionez 200. 24 Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Mxico un paso difcil a la modernidad (Barcelona: Plaza & Jans editores, 2000) 91. 25 Domnguez 30. 26 De la Garza, op cit. 408. 27 Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Farmworker Collective Bargaining. 5. 28 Interview with Manuel Garca y Griego, 52607 (All the Garca Griego quotes come from that interview). 29 Tamar Jacoby. Speech published in Profitwise News and Views Special Edition October 2004, 15.
Appendix II
30
245
Steven Malanga, The Myth of the Latino Voting Block. Los Angeles Times, Oct 18, 2007. 31 Domnguez 32. 32 Michael Jones-Correa, Latinos and Latin America: A Unified Agenda? Thomas Ambrosio. Ethnic Identity Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002.) 117. 33 Jones op. cit. 126. 34 Conversation with Luis Fraga, 52707 (All the Fraga quotes come from that interview). 35 Domnguez, op. cit. 40.
CHAPTER TWELVE
1
Bada, Xochitil, Jonathan Fox, and Andrew Selee, eds., Invisible No More: Mexican Migrant Civic Participation in the United States (Washington, DC.: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2006). 2 Pew Hispanic Center, 2006 National Survey of Latinos: The Immigration Debate, 2006 <http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=68>. 3 Pew Hispanic Center, 2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill, 2007 <http://pewhispanic.org/ reports/report.php?ReportID=84>. 4 Pew Hispanic Center, English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States, 2007 <http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/82.pdf>. 5 Nancy S. Landale, R. Salvador Oropresa, and Cristina Bradatan, Hispanic Families in the United States: Family Structure and Process in an Era of Family Change, Hispanics and the Future of America, eds. Marta Tienda and Faith Mitchell (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2006), 138-178. 6 Pew Hispanic Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation, Assimilation and Language Survey Brief, 2004 <http://pewhispanic.org/factsheets/factsheet.php? FactsheetID=11>.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bada, Xochitil, Jonathan Fox, and Andrew Selee, eds. Invisible No More: Mexican Migrant Civic Participation in the United States. Washington, DC.: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2006. Landale, Nancy S., R. Salvador Oropresa, and Cristina Bradatan. Hispanic Families in the United States: Family Structure and Process in a an Era of Family Change. In Hispanics and the Future of America. Eds. Marta Tienda and Faith Mitchell. Washington, D.C.: National Academies P, 2006. 138178.
246
Pew Hispanic Center, 2006 National Survey of Latinos: The Immigration Debate, 2006 <http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=68>. _______. 2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill, 2007 <http://pewhispanic.org/ reports/report. php?ReportID=84>. _______. English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States, 2007 <http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/82.pdf> _______, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Assimilation and Language. Survey Brief, 2004 <http://pewhispanic.org/factsheets/factsheet.php? FactsheetID=11>.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
US Census Bureau. Current Population Survey. Annual Social and Economic Supplement. Washington, DC. 2003. 2 R. Balfanz, and N. Letgers. Locating the dropout crisis (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, 2004.) 3 National Healthcare Disparities Report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC. Dec. 2006. 4 The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Insurance Survey, 2006. 5 CMS, The Characteristics and Perceptions of the Medicare Population Data Tables, Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, 2003. 6 Health Systems Change. Health care access for low-income people: Significant safety net gaps remain. Issue Brief No. 84, June 2004. 7 Secretary Heckler. The Report of the Secretarys Task Force on Black and Minority Health, US HEW, 1985. 8 U.S. Surgeon General Report, TODOS: One Voice One Vision. US DHHS Office of the Surgeon General, June 1993. 9 Secretary Shalala. The Hispanic Agenda for Action Report, US DHHS, 1996. 10 Cultural competency: A Journey. Health Resources and Services Administration, 2000. 11 D.E. Hayes-Bautista, Latino Health Indicators and the Underclass Model: From Paradox to New Policy Models, E. Furino (Ed.), Health policy and the Hispanic (Colorado: Westview P. 1992.) 12 P.B. Crawford, M. Story, M.C. Wang, L.D. Ritchie, Z.I. Sabry, Ethnic Issues in the Epidemiology of Childhood Obesity, Pediatr Clin North Am, August; 48.4 (2001) 85578.
1
Appendix II
247
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
1 2
Homeownership Potential of the Mexican-Heritage Families. Hispanic Housing in the United States. 3 U.S. Census Bureau. 4 American Community Survey, 2004. 5 http://www.hud.gov/groups/farmwkercolonia.cfm. 6 http://www.sos.state.tx.us/border/colonias/faqs.shtml. 7 http://www.sos.state.tx.us/border/colonias/. 8 Washington Post, Oct. 10 2006. 9 Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2006.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2000. 2 Dowell Myers, Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America (New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007), 44. 3 An interview with Marta Tienda, Carnegie Reporter, 2.4 Spring 2004. 4 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2005, Table 9. 5 Ibid. 6 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Status and Trends in the Education of Minorities, 2007. 7 Alfred North Whitehead, The Aims of Education (New York: The Macmillan Publishing Company, 1929) 45. 8 Seymour Sarason, Teaching as a Performing Art (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1999), 6. 9 Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1996), 66. 10 Bruner, 42. 11 Richard Rothstein, Class and School, (Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute, 2004), 46. 12 David Franzon, directed by Steven Spielberg, Amistad (Hollywood, California: Dreamworks Video, 1997). 13 Barry Sanders, A is for Ox: The Collapse of Literacy and the Rise of Violence in an Electronic Age (New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1994), 4.
1
248
14
Russell Baker, Talking it Up, New York Times Review of Books, Vol. 53, No. 8, May 11, 2006. 15 Jeffery C. Isaac, Democracy and Dark Times (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1998), 24. 16 Robert H. Wiebe, The Opening of American Society (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), 309. 17 Supreme Court of the United States, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+), 3. 18 Paul Osterman, Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market: How It Has Changed and What to Do About It (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2000). 19 Only one Zavala student had achieved admission in the previous ten years. 20 Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings, March 2008. 21 A.S. Bryk, and B.L. Schneider, Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.) 22 Selected Bibliography on Alliance Schools includes: Hatch, T. How Community Contributes to Achievement. Educational Leadership. 55.8 (1998) 1516; R.J. Murnane, and F. Levy. The First Principle: Agree on the Problem. Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy (New York: The Free P., 1996) 80108; D. Shirley, Community Organizing for Urban School Reform. (Austin: UTP); D. Shirley, Valley Interfaith and School Reform: Organizing for Power on South Texas. (Austin: UTP, 2001); E. Simon, E. Gold, and C. Brown, Case Study: Austin Interfaith. Strong Neighborhoods, Strong Schools. (Chicago: Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, 2002). 23 Wiebe, 308. 24 Myers, 8. 25 Cass Sunstein, The Second Bill of Rights (Cambridge, MA: Basic Books, 2004). 26 Jean Edward Smith, Grant (New York: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 2001) 569. 27 Smith, 570. 28 The direct quote: We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in response to John Hancocks remark that the revolutionaries should be unanimous in their action.

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BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

LATINO VISIONS: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

LATINOS AND THE LARGER SOCIETY

101 115 125

RAW NUMBERS AND THEIR IMPACT

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Henry G. Cisneros and John Rosales

By Way of Introduction and Acknowledgment

Henry G. Cisneros and John Rosales

By Way of Introduction and Acknowledgment

Part ONE Latino Visions: Past, Present, and Future

ONE AN OVERVIEW LATINOS AND THE NATIONS FUTURE

An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future

THE SCALE OF THE LATINO PRESENCE

LATINO YOUTHFULNESS AS AN AMERICAN ASSET

An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future

A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO INVEST IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF AMERICANS

An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future

THE AMERICAN IDEA AND LATINO INTEGRATION

An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future

An Overview: Latinos and the Nations Future

TWO THE LATINO PRESENCE SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background

The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background

LABORTHE DOMINANT FORCE IN U.S. LATINO SOCIETY

The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background

The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background

TRANSFORMING MAINSTREAM CULTURE

The Latino Presence: Some Historical Background

FOUR BECOMING AMERICANTHE LATINO WAY

THE SUBJECTIVE SIDE OF AMERICANIZATION

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

ABSORPTIONLANGUAGE AS THE FIRST GIANT STEP

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

OFFICIALLY AMERICANAND ACTING ON IT

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

WHATS IN A NAMEAND THE VALUES THAT GIVE IT MEANING

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

THE LAST STEPWHEN THE BOUNDARIES DISAPPEAR

A MATTER OF CHOICEUP TO A POINT

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

IMAGININGAND CREATINGA SHARED FUTURE

Becoming AmericanThe Latino Way

Part TWO Latinos and the Larger Society

FIVE INCREASING HISPANIC MOBILITY INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS: AN OVERVIEW

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

THE CURRENT DILEMMA OF AMERICAS MIDDLE CLASS

THE COMPLEXITY OF THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

JOURNEY TO THE MIDDLE CLASS

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

CULTURE VERSUS COGNITION

BUDGETING FOR EDUCATION: CRUCIAL RESOURCES

LATINO ASSET DEVELOPMENT AND ASSET PROTECTION

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

Increasing Hispanic Mobility into the Middle Class: An Overview

SIX LATINO SMALL BUSINESS A BIG PRESENT, A BIGGER FUTURE

SMALL BUSINESS IS BIG BUSINESS

THE U.S. HISPANIC SMALL BUSINESS ECONOMY

Latino Small Business: A Big Present, a Bigger Future

SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS VS. ENTREPRENEURS