Rising Warren County Hispanic population increases need for translators
By MATT HUTTON GateHouse News Service Nov 28, 2008
The increase in the area’s Hispanic population has led to the increased need for translators employed by the county.
Warren County State’s Attorney Chip Algren said about five years ago the county had to bring in translators about four or five times per year.
“We now have a translator who comes in every Tuesday and Thursday for traffic court,” he said. “It used to be that what we would look at the court calendar and if we saw a Hispanic surname we had (the translator) come in. Now we automatically have an interpreter come.”
The county used to spend so little on translators, less than $500 in 2002, the cost simply came out of a miscellaneous fund in the state’s attorney’s budget. Not including this month, the county has spent $8,000 so far on interpreters during this fiscal year.
“Over the last six years you can see how much it’s jumped, from an inconsequential amount to a pretty big chunk of change. ... We’ve increased the hours here more than a hundred-fold in the last five years, to go from four to five times per year to four to five times per week,” Algren said, adding 99 percent of the cases are for Spanish. “Obviously we’re spending a lot more money today. I can’t see it’s going to change.”
Sheriff Martin Edwards said he needs interpreters at least twice a week, if not more. While sometimes situations can be resolved through gestures and broken English, Edwards said if an investigation is being conducted, the department has to have an interpreter.
“We run into situations where we need to get an interpreter just to get through the booking process. We try to work through it with the arrestee,” said Edwards, who has noticed a steady increase in the need for at least the last three years. “It’s probably a little more critical up in the courthouse, they need the services more often up there.”
While the latest U.S. Census data from 2000 put the Hispanic population in Monmouth at 4.3 percent, the 2008 figures from the Monmouth-Roseville School District show 13.7 percent of students are Hispanic.
Xochi Pannell has worked with the Monmouth Hispanic population through Hispanic Advocate Project out of the Quad Cities. While she didn’t have any figures for the area, she said jobs are drawing Hispanics — and Monmouth is unique because of Farmland Foods.
“The impact I see, on the positive side, is they’re filling jobs that most — generally speaking — Americans don’t want to fill,” she said. “Second, because of that they are spending lots of money in Monmouth.”
On the other hand, Pannell said she is sympathetic to the increasing problem this presents to officials.
“I’m sure it is, for some, a burden on the county. And how you decrease that amount is try to educate our community about the laws of the U.S. Some don’t always know it, some may just abuse it, in all honesty; it’s hard to avoid. Education is one of the ways to avoid that huge expense to the county,” Pannell said. She added many in the Hispanic community do try to learn the language, but English can be difficult for them and they may not be able to juggle working double shifts and family obligations as well.
Another problem is that not everyone in the Hispanic community is here legally.
“We find in many instances they have two identifications — a work identification and their real identification,” Algren said. “Quite frankly, the way it works is you can buy a Social Security card and birth certificate on the black market.”
Algren cited one recent example of a woman pulled over during a traffic stop whose ID indicated she was wanted for a homicide in California. The woman told police the ID wasn’t really her and they had to hold her in jail until they could get fingerprints and determine that she was telling the truth.
“That’s the most serious, but it has happened before, (where someone is wanted or) there are warrants on somebody. And it does create a problem when you don’t know who you’re dealing with,” said Algren, who pointed out there is little local officials can do — other than charge them with having an illegal identification — because immigration issues are handled by the federal government and authorities.
“It does have a real effect on the court system,” Algren said. “Any time you have court hearings with interpreters, the length of time devoted is longer because of translation — you’re doubling the amount of time when dealing with non-English speaking individuals.”
Edwards added that during in-depth investigations that might require multiple interviews, the translator fees can add up in a hurry.
Both county officials said when it comes to future staff hires, a candidate’s being bilingual would be a factor they at least would consider when making a decision. Edwards said in his experience some of the basic training courses offered in which officers learn a few Spanish phrases don’t work.
“If it’s not a full immersion training course, it doesn’t serve us,” he said. “You learn a few words, but you can only go so far. So, we stay away from that completely, maybe a couple of phrases to alleviate an emergency, but in the conversational area we have interpreters available.”
There are also simply a lack of resources, both in terms of available translators and services to help members of the Hispanic population become better situated. Pannell said that is true even in the Quad Cities, which has a Hispanic population estimated at 15,000. She said those services are crucial to alleviate some of these concerns.
“The more they become part of a community, they become less of a burden — if you want to use that word — and become a positive part of community.”
For the time being, it appears this will be an ongoing issue for the area, and with budget times tough for the county, the increased need for translators is just another factor with which they must contend.
“This is something we just have to deal with in the local area,” Edwards said.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Latino leaders look beyond Richardson
Minority Advocates Watching Obama
President-Elect Tries to Balance Racial Diversity, Gender, Ideology as He Picks Team
By Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer November 29, 2008
Barack Obama's friend and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett likens the effort of piecing together a Cabinet for the president-elect to assembling a puzzle. The co-chair of his transition, John D. Podesta, promised that his team will "keep our eye on the ball" as it attempts to balance racial diversity, gender and ideology in building a White House operation and stocking the Cabinet.
The president-elect has already signaled that he will make a number of historic appointments. Obama is poised to nominate the first black attorney general and one of the nation's highest-profile women as its chief diplomat. A Hispanic governor is the leading candidate to become commerce secretary.
But as Jarrett recognized early, every appointment he makes to the 15-member Cabinet reduces by one the opportunities he has to make sure another group is represented. It is a zero-sum game that leaves presidents with little wiggle room.
"There are huge expectations on him because he's the first black president, the first civil rights lawyer, the first president with an Arab middle name," said Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP.
"In other words," Jealous said, Obama is "the first president to have been the victim of multiple forms of discrimination and the first to have made fighting discrimination a part of his career."
The NAACP and other groups are watching Obama's appointments closely, an example of the scrutiny under which the new president is already operating. Jealous said his group wants Obama to appoint leaders at the departments of Justice, Labor, Education and Health and Human Services who will actively enforce the nation's civil rights laws.
"Many of the names that we have heard floated for deputy attorney general for civil rights and the Department of Education make us feel good that he's taking his responsibility seriously to restore the federal government's role in enforcing civil rights," Jealous said this week. "So far, so good."
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But most of Obama's Cabinet picks are still up in the air, leaving interest groups and activists crossing their fingers.
Obama is said to be considering former representatives David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) and Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and at least one prominent Hispanic, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, for labor secretary. The education secretary's job could go to either New York public schools chancellor Joel Klein or Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond. Former senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) is slated to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Women's groups are hoping to build on the progress that Obama has already appeared to make, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) the all-but-certain secretary of state and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano the nominee for secretary of homeland security.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), an early Obama supporter, is being considered for agriculture. Tammy Duckworth, the Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in that conflict, could be the next secretary of veterans affairs. Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) might end up as the secretary of energy. And several women are potential choices to head up the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Groups that are concerned with racial and gender diversity are certainly wise to keep the pressure on," said Paul C. Light, a professor of public policy at New York University. But he said questions of diversity among Obama's closest confidants should go beyond those characteristics to include their worldview, their educational background, their work history and their ideological allegiances.
On those scores, it is less clear that Obama is building a diverse team. The individuals who are known are experienced politicians who would be familiar to anyone studying administrations of the past. None represents the kind of radical break from the government as usual that some of Obama's supporters expected.
"This is not a team of rivals as much as it is a team of experienced Washington insiders," Light said.
Obama addressed that concern directly at a news conference on Wednesday, defending his decision to tap establishment figures -- especially for his economic team -- by saying that the members of his Cabinet need experience to tackle the big problems facing the nation.
He said people looking for change from his administration should not focus too closely on his Cabinet choices.
"[U]nderstand where the vision for change comes from first and foremost: It comes from me," he told reporters. "That's my job, to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure that my team is implementing it."
The diversity of that team will be judged first by the composition of his Cabinet and the five sub-Cabinet jobs that are often considered on par: EPA administrator, U.S. trade representative, budget director, chief of staff and drug policy administrator.
Hispanics are hoping to see representation beyond New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), who is the leading candidate to become commerce secretary. In addition to Labor, Villaraigosa is thought to be in the running to lead the department of Housing and Urban Development. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is a leading candidate to be secretary of the interior.
But Obama will ultimately be judged by the broader swath of appointments he makes, including his White House staff, the senior-level staff around the secretaries and the other political appointees who fill the agencies.
Already, Obama has made appointments that have been well received by groups that are pushing for diversity. This week, he appointed Cecilia Muñoz as the White House director of intergovernmental affairs. Muñoz is a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza.
"If you look at the people in the White House, you have a good cross section," said Martha Joynt Kumar, a professor at Towson University who studies White House personnel.
Kumar said she thinks Obama's supporters are likely to be somewhat more forgiving about diversity since he has broken a historic barrier by being black himself. "He meets part of that just by his election," she said.
President-Elect Tries to Balance Racial Diversity, Gender, Ideology as He Picks Team
By Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer November 29, 2008
Barack Obama's friend and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett likens the effort of piecing together a Cabinet for the president-elect to assembling a puzzle. The co-chair of his transition, John D. Podesta, promised that his team will "keep our eye on the ball" as it attempts to balance racial diversity, gender and ideology in building a White House operation and stocking the Cabinet.
The president-elect has already signaled that he will make a number of historic appointments. Obama is poised to nominate the first black attorney general and one of the nation's highest-profile women as its chief diplomat. A Hispanic governor is the leading candidate to become commerce secretary.
But as Jarrett recognized early, every appointment he makes to the 15-member Cabinet reduces by one the opportunities he has to make sure another group is represented. It is a zero-sum game that leaves presidents with little wiggle room.
"There are huge expectations on him because he's the first black president, the first civil rights lawyer, the first president with an Arab middle name," said Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP.
"In other words," Jealous said, Obama is "the first president to have been the victim of multiple forms of discrimination and the first to have made fighting discrimination a part of his career."
The NAACP and other groups are watching Obama's appointments closely, an example of the scrutiny under which the new president is already operating. Jealous said his group wants Obama to appoint leaders at the departments of Justice, Labor, Education and Health and Human Services who will actively enforce the nation's civil rights laws.
"Many of the names that we have heard floated for deputy attorney general for civil rights and the Department of Education make us feel good that he's taking his responsibility seriously to restore the federal government's role in enforcing civil rights," Jealous said this week. "So far, so good."
ad_icon
But most of Obama's Cabinet picks are still up in the air, leaving interest groups and activists crossing their fingers.
Obama is said to be considering former representatives David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) and Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and at least one prominent Hispanic, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, for labor secretary. The education secretary's job could go to either New York public schools chancellor Joel Klein or Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond. Former senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) is slated to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Women's groups are hoping to build on the progress that Obama has already appeared to make, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) the all-but-certain secretary of state and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano the nominee for secretary of homeland security.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), an early Obama supporter, is being considered for agriculture. Tammy Duckworth, the Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in that conflict, could be the next secretary of veterans affairs. Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) might end up as the secretary of energy. And several women are potential choices to head up the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Groups that are concerned with racial and gender diversity are certainly wise to keep the pressure on," said Paul C. Light, a professor of public policy at New York University. But he said questions of diversity among Obama's closest confidants should go beyond those characteristics to include their worldview, their educational background, their work history and their ideological allegiances.
On those scores, it is less clear that Obama is building a diverse team. The individuals who are known are experienced politicians who would be familiar to anyone studying administrations of the past. None represents the kind of radical break from the government as usual that some of Obama's supporters expected.
"This is not a team of rivals as much as it is a team of experienced Washington insiders," Light said.
Obama addressed that concern directly at a news conference on Wednesday, defending his decision to tap establishment figures -- especially for his economic team -- by saying that the members of his Cabinet need experience to tackle the big problems facing the nation.
He said people looking for change from his administration should not focus too closely on his Cabinet choices.
"[U]nderstand where the vision for change comes from first and foremost: It comes from me," he told reporters. "That's my job, to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure that my team is implementing it."
The diversity of that team will be judged first by the composition of his Cabinet and the five sub-Cabinet jobs that are often considered on par: EPA administrator, U.S. trade representative, budget director, chief of staff and drug policy administrator.
Hispanics are hoping to see representation beyond New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), who is the leading candidate to become commerce secretary. In addition to Labor, Villaraigosa is thought to be in the running to lead the department of Housing and Urban Development. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is a leading candidate to be secretary of the interior.
But Obama will ultimately be judged by the broader swath of appointments he makes, including his White House staff, the senior-level staff around the secretaries and the other political appointees who fill the agencies.
Already, Obama has made appointments that have been well received by groups that are pushing for diversity. This week, he appointed Cecilia Muñoz as the White House director of intergovernmental affairs. Muñoz is a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza.
"If you look at the people in the White House, you have a good cross section," said Martha Joynt Kumar, a professor at Towson University who studies White House personnel.
Kumar said she thinks Obama's supporters are likely to be somewhat more forgiving about diversity since he has broken a historic barrier by being black himself. "He meets part of that just by his election," she said.
Anti-Hispanic bias claimed in suit
Anti-Hispanic bias claimed in suit against SDC
By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel Nov. 28, 2008
A longtime manager at the Social Development Commission in Milwaukee has sued the agency, claiming discrimination over her demotion and pay cut last year.
Juanita A. Valcarcel, who is Hispanic, contends that the agency treats non-Hispanics more favorably when they've been removed from managerial positions.
SDC Chief Executive Officer Deborah Blanks said she couldn't respond in detail because of the pending litigation, but she said the agency has policies that would prevent that type of thing from happening.
"I can tell you we're an equal opportunity employer, and we're very careful that we don't engage in discrimination," Blanks said.
The complaint filed in federal court by Valcarcel's attorney this week contends that Valcarcel received good reviews and has been promoted several times in her 19 years as an agency employee.
But last year, Valcarcel was demoted from a manager to a supervisor of a program within the department, and her salary was cut from $30.79 to $25.30 an hour.
The complaint also says Valcarcel's old position was filled by a Caucasian woman who didn't meet qualifications spelled out in the job description.
"It seems like they've been treating non-Hispanic people differently," Valcarcel's attorney, William Rettko, said.
The complaint seeks $300,000 in compensation and money to make up for lost wages as well as punitive damages.
By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel Nov. 28, 2008
A longtime manager at the Social Development Commission in Milwaukee has sued the agency, claiming discrimination over her demotion and pay cut last year.
Juanita A. Valcarcel, who is Hispanic, contends that the agency treats non-Hispanics more favorably when they've been removed from managerial positions.
SDC Chief Executive Officer Deborah Blanks said she couldn't respond in detail because of the pending litigation, but she said the agency has policies that would prevent that type of thing from happening.
"I can tell you we're an equal opportunity employer, and we're very careful that we don't engage in discrimination," Blanks said.
The complaint filed in federal court by Valcarcel's attorney this week contends that Valcarcel received good reviews and has been promoted several times in her 19 years as an agency employee.
But last year, Valcarcel was demoted from a manager to a supervisor of a program within the department, and her salary was cut from $30.79 to $25.30 an hour.
The complaint also says Valcarcel's old position was filled by a Caucasian woman who didn't meet qualifications spelled out in the job description.
"It seems like they've been treating non-Hispanic people differently," Valcarcel's attorney, William Rettko, said.
The complaint seeks $300,000 in compensation and money to make up for lost wages as well as punitive damages.
No sign Hispanics leaving Hall County
Flowery Branch mayor not convinced Hispanics are leaving
By Jerry Gunn Staff Access North Georgia
Flowery Branch - With fewer jobs available because of the economic slowdown, Hispanics are reportedly leaving Hall County and the rest of Georgia. But the mayor of Flowery Branch is not so sure.
The head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), Jerry Gonzalez says immigrants, including illegal immigrants, are leaving because of the current economic climate; they are going elsewhere in search of a job.
Mayor Diane Hirling said if they are, it has not become apparent in her town.
"I don't see any indication of people moving in or out of Flowery Branch right now whether they're Hispanic or not," Mayor Hirling said. "I checked with our water/sewer clerk and she says there's really no turnover right now."
Hirling said when she was at the new Stone Bridge Village shopping center recently across I-985 from downtown and she saw no lack of Hispanic shoppers.
"In a lot of the stores that I was in, there was an exceptional amount of Hispanic people shopping," she said.
Mayor Hirling said she still sees a lot of Hispanic workers in the area.
"Because of the tornado this summer, our whole neighborhood had to have new roofs put on and they were all Hispanic workers," the Mayor said. "They are here in Flowery Branch."
By Jerry Gunn Staff Access North Georgia
Flowery Branch - With fewer jobs available because of the economic slowdown, Hispanics are reportedly leaving Hall County and the rest of Georgia. But the mayor of Flowery Branch is not so sure.
The head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), Jerry Gonzalez says immigrants, including illegal immigrants, are leaving because of the current economic climate; they are going elsewhere in search of a job.
Mayor Diane Hirling said if they are, it has not become apparent in her town.
"I don't see any indication of people moving in or out of Flowery Branch right now whether they're Hispanic or not," Mayor Hirling said. "I checked with our water/sewer clerk and she says there's really no turnover right now."
Hirling said when she was at the new Stone Bridge Village shopping center recently across I-985 from downtown and she saw no lack of Hispanic shoppers.
"In a lot of the stores that I was in, there was an exceptional amount of Hispanic people shopping," she said.
Mayor Hirling said she still sees a lot of Hispanic workers in the area.
"Because of the tornado this summer, our whole neighborhood had to have new roofs put on and they were all Hispanic workers," the Mayor said. "They are here in Flowery Branch."
Hispanic immigrants death may have been result of local political rhetoric
Who is to Blame for Marcelo Lucero's Murder?
New America Media, News Analysis, Marcelo Ballvé, Nov 26, 2008
Editor’s Note: Immigrant rights activists in suburban New York question how much anti-immigrant rhetoric by local politicians contributed to the murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero. New America Media contributing editor Marcelo Ballvé is based in New York.
SMITHTOWN, N.Y.—Why here? That's still the question on the minds of many residents of Long Island, the archetypal New York suburb, after the murder of Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant who was stabbed to death after being attacked by seven teenagers on November 8th.
Lucero's death was labeled a hate killing by local police, who said the teenagers, all locals, embarked on a beer-fueled rampage in search of "a Mexican" to beat up.
"Once more, the blood of our people, of an immigrant, has been spilled on the streets of Suffolk," said Allan B. Ramirez, a congregational pastor, speaking near the street corner where Lucero died.
It was only the latest, and most serious, in a chain of attacks on Latino immigrants in Suffolk County. In 2000, two Mexican day laborers in Farmingville were picked up by men ostensibly offering them work and were nearly beaten to death with gardening tools. Three years later, local teenagers firebombed a home, and the immigrant family of five living in it barely escaped with their lives. Low-level harassment is even more common. Community leaders say Latinos are regularly taunted, spit upon and pelted with projectiles.
This ugliness is belied by Suffolk's surface peace and orderliness. It is a land of strip malls, corporate parks and idyllic towns and villages occupying Long Island's eastern two-thirds.
Local soul-searching over the crime has focused on whether local politicians are partly to blame for Lucero's death. Immigrant advocates say elected officials, through legislation and rhetoric, have created a xenophobic climate that breeds hate crimes.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and his allies in the local legislature have very publicly championed measures aimed at stemming illegal immigration. Levy has won some of these battles (requiring county contractors to check workers' status, cracking down on landlords with overcrowded housing) but lost others, most notably an effort to deputize local law enforcement to nab illegal immigrants.
Levy, an extremely popular, brash Democrat first elected in 2003, also co-founded a national group called Mayors & Executives for Immigration Reform. He has been a guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight, the CNN show known for Dobbs' strident coverage of illegal immigration.
Meanwhile, Suffolk's Latino population – a diverse mosaic of Salvadorans, Colombians, Dominicans, Ecuadoreans and Mexicans – has continued booming. Suffolk is 13 percent Latino, according to U.S. Census figures.
The contradictions of life in today's Long Island were apparent recently at a county legislative session. A low-slung brick building in a governmental complex off a highway in Smithtown, the legislature's usual business is the day-to-day management of suburbia. In a typical session, lawmakers might handle zoning, traffic problems and citizens' complaints regarding trash pick-up.
On the morning of Nov. 18, however, the legislators got an earful about their portion of responsibility in Lucero's murder, which happened 10 days earlier.
The morning began normally, with resolutions to commend community heroes: a little girl who had won a blueberry muffin baking contest, a sporting goods retailer that donated equipment to the "Fighting 69th" National Guard unit in Afghanistan, a policeman who saved the life of a man trapped in a car. The legislature's presiding officer, William J. Lindsay, cheerily announced that a fifth grade class from a local elementary school in Bohemia was watching the proceedings.
Then came the public portion, when citizens are allowed to speak out, and the tone changed immediately.
Charlotte Koons of the Suffolk New York Civil Liberties Union was the first speaker. She read a poem about Lucero's death, ending with this line: "We must all own our part in this crime ... We can legislate and educate the hate away." Suffolk resident Andrea Callan, also with the NYCLU, blasted the lawmakers for setting a bad example. "The policies coming out of this legislative body, and no doubt from the playbook of Steve Levy, have been divisive and unfair, and send a message of intolerance into our community."
While the speakers, some wearing pins reading "I am Marcelo Lucero," launched these critiques, many legislators looked the other way. Brian Beedenbender and Jack Eddington, both enthusiastic backers of Levy's campaign against illegal immigration, stared at the screens of their laptops.
In between the advocates' speeches, other speakers touched on more routine Suffolk issues like the budget woes of the county's planetarium and science museum.
Some in Suffolk may yearn for normality, but their county has forever become emblematic of a problem with national reach: the tension between the suburban myth of white-picket fences and orderly lawns and the realities of immigration. As job-seeking immigrants increasingly move from urban areas to outlying communities, suburbs must choose whether they will embrace diversity or scapegoat foreigners.
It's no secret many Suffolk residents moved from more urbanized areas to put some distance between themselves and what they perceive as the chaotic diversity of New York City and its immediate surroundings, said Patrick Young, program director of the Central American Refugee Center (Carecen), who also spoke at the session. Suburbia's irrational distrust and fear of minorities can manifest as anti-immigrant sentiment.
"It has become an acceptable part of the culture of this area, and this is a culture that's pandered to by these politicians and stirred up by them," he said.
Not all Suffolk legislators agree on immigration. Some lawmakers (including two Latinos and a Republican) have made efforts to reach out to the Latino community and taken a stand against Levy's aggressive immigration positions.
For his part, in a televised speech the same night of the Nov. 18 legislative session, Levy apologized for his initial reaction minimizing the hate crime's importance (he had said that if it had happened elsewhere, Lucero's murder would have been "a one-day story," a comment that enraged many Latinos and activists). Levy, son of a Jewish father, also compared Lucero's killing to Kristallnacht in 1938, when Nazis in Germany destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues. Lucero's murder occurred on the eve of Kristallnacht's 70-year anniversary.
But Levy denied there was a link between Lucero's death and his attitude toward illegal immigration. "Advocates for those here illegally should not disparage those opposed to the illegal immigration policy as being bigoted or intolerant," he said.
The next day, though, Levy seemed to forget his serious tone and again was flippant regarding Lucero's murder. According to Newsday, he was speaking to a gathering of business people and jokingly compared his difficulties handling the Lucero case to a colonoscopy.
In the past, Levy has cited the dream of a suburban lifestyle to justify his beliefs on immigration. “People who play by the rules work hard to achieve the suburban dream of the white picket fence,” he said in 2007 to The New York Times. “Whether you are black or white or Hispanic, if you live in the suburbs, you do not want to live across the street from a house where 60 men live. You do not want trucks riding up and down the block at 5 a.m., picking up workers.” With such statements Levy is advancing a polarizing vision, said immigrant advocates.
It's the same rhetoric the teenagers who killed Lucero have been hearing since they were old enough to understand it, said Carcen’s Young, who added, "this constant branding of people as illegal is the most dehumanizing thing."
At the street corner in the tidy, seaside village of Patchogue where Lucero died, an improvised shrine has been set up, with flowers, candles, and photos. A line of orange spray-paint left by police still marks the path the mortally wounded Lucero followed before falling. A sign written in black marker reads: "God Loves All People, and All People Should Love One Another."
New America Media, News Analysis, Marcelo Ballvé, Nov 26, 2008
Editor’s Note: Immigrant rights activists in suburban New York question how much anti-immigrant rhetoric by local politicians contributed to the murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero. New America Media contributing editor Marcelo Ballvé is based in New York.
SMITHTOWN, N.Y.—Why here? That's still the question on the minds of many residents of Long Island, the archetypal New York suburb, after the murder of Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant who was stabbed to death after being attacked by seven teenagers on November 8th.
Lucero's death was labeled a hate killing by local police, who said the teenagers, all locals, embarked on a beer-fueled rampage in search of "a Mexican" to beat up.
"Once more, the blood of our people, of an immigrant, has been spilled on the streets of Suffolk," said Allan B. Ramirez, a congregational pastor, speaking near the street corner where Lucero died.
It was only the latest, and most serious, in a chain of attacks on Latino immigrants in Suffolk County. In 2000, two Mexican day laborers in Farmingville were picked up by men ostensibly offering them work and were nearly beaten to death with gardening tools. Three years later, local teenagers firebombed a home, and the immigrant family of five living in it barely escaped with their lives. Low-level harassment is even more common. Community leaders say Latinos are regularly taunted, spit upon and pelted with projectiles.
This ugliness is belied by Suffolk's surface peace and orderliness. It is a land of strip malls, corporate parks and idyllic towns and villages occupying Long Island's eastern two-thirds.
Local soul-searching over the crime has focused on whether local politicians are partly to blame for Lucero's death. Immigrant advocates say elected officials, through legislation and rhetoric, have created a xenophobic climate that breeds hate crimes.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and his allies in the local legislature have very publicly championed measures aimed at stemming illegal immigration. Levy has won some of these battles (requiring county contractors to check workers' status, cracking down on landlords with overcrowded housing) but lost others, most notably an effort to deputize local law enforcement to nab illegal immigrants.
Levy, an extremely popular, brash Democrat first elected in 2003, also co-founded a national group called Mayors & Executives for Immigration Reform. He has been a guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight, the CNN show known for Dobbs' strident coverage of illegal immigration.
Meanwhile, Suffolk's Latino population – a diverse mosaic of Salvadorans, Colombians, Dominicans, Ecuadoreans and Mexicans – has continued booming. Suffolk is 13 percent Latino, according to U.S. Census figures.
The contradictions of life in today's Long Island were apparent recently at a county legislative session. A low-slung brick building in a governmental complex off a highway in Smithtown, the legislature's usual business is the day-to-day management of suburbia. In a typical session, lawmakers might handle zoning, traffic problems and citizens' complaints regarding trash pick-up.
On the morning of Nov. 18, however, the legislators got an earful about their portion of responsibility in Lucero's murder, which happened 10 days earlier.
The morning began normally, with resolutions to commend community heroes: a little girl who had won a blueberry muffin baking contest, a sporting goods retailer that donated equipment to the "Fighting 69th" National Guard unit in Afghanistan, a policeman who saved the life of a man trapped in a car. The legislature's presiding officer, William J. Lindsay, cheerily announced that a fifth grade class from a local elementary school in Bohemia was watching the proceedings.
Then came the public portion, when citizens are allowed to speak out, and the tone changed immediately.
Charlotte Koons of the Suffolk New York Civil Liberties Union was the first speaker. She read a poem about Lucero's death, ending with this line: "We must all own our part in this crime ... We can legislate and educate the hate away." Suffolk resident Andrea Callan, also with the NYCLU, blasted the lawmakers for setting a bad example. "The policies coming out of this legislative body, and no doubt from the playbook of Steve Levy, have been divisive and unfair, and send a message of intolerance into our community."
While the speakers, some wearing pins reading "I am Marcelo Lucero," launched these critiques, many legislators looked the other way. Brian Beedenbender and Jack Eddington, both enthusiastic backers of Levy's campaign against illegal immigration, stared at the screens of their laptops.
In between the advocates' speeches, other speakers touched on more routine Suffolk issues like the budget woes of the county's planetarium and science museum.
Some in Suffolk may yearn for normality, but their county has forever become emblematic of a problem with national reach: the tension between the suburban myth of white-picket fences and orderly lawns and the realities of immigration. As job-seeking immigrants increasingly move from urban areas to outlying communities, suburbs must choose whether they will embrace diversity or scapegoat foreigners.
It's no secret many Suffolk residents moved from more urbanized areas to put some distance between themselves and what they perceive as the chaotic diversity of New York City and its immediate surroundings, said Patrick Young, program director of the Central American Refugee Center (Carecen), who also spoke at the session. Suburbia's irrational distrust and fear of minorities can manifest as anti-immigrant sentiment.
"It has become an acceptable part of the culture of this area, and this is a culture that's pandered to by these politicians and stirred up by them," he said.
Not all Suffolk legislators agree on immigration. Some lawmakers (including two Latinos and a Republican) have made efforts to reach out to the Latino community and taken a stand against Levy's aggressive immigration positions.
For his part, in a televised speech the same night of the Nov. 18 legislative session, Levy apologized for his initial reaction minimizing the hate crime's importance (he had said that if it had happened elsewhere, Lucero's murder would have been "a one-day story," a comment that enraged many Latinos and activists). Levy, son of a Jewish father, also compared Lucero's killing to Kristallnacht in 1938, when Nazis in Germany destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues. Lucero's murder occurred on the eve of Kristallnacht's 70-year anniversary.
But Levy denied there was a link between Lucero's death and his attitude toward illegal immigration. "Advocates for those here illegally should not disparage those opposed to the illegal immigration policy as being bigoted or intolerant," he said.
The next day, though, Levy seemed to forget his serious tone and again was flippant regarding Lucero's murder. According to Newsday, he was speaking to a gathering of business people and jokingly compared his difficulties handling the Lucero case to a colonoscopy.
In the past, Levy has cited the dream of a suburban lifestyle to justify his beliefs on immigration. “People who play by the rules work hard to achieve the suburban dream of the white picket fence,” he said in 2007 to The New York Times. “Whether you are black or white or Hispanic, if you live in the suburbs, you do not want to live across the street from a house where 60 men live. You do not want trucks riding up and down the block at 5 a.m., picking up workers.” With such statements Levy is advancing a polarizing vision, said immigrant advocates.
It's the same rhetoric the teenagers who killed Lucero have been hearing since they were old enough to understand it, said Carcen’s Young, who added, "this constant branding of people as illegal is the most dehumanizing thing."
At the street corner in the tidy, seaside village of Patchogue where Lucero died, an improvised shrine has been set up, with flowers, candles, and photos. A line of orange spray-paint left by police still marks the path the mortally wounded Lucero followed before falling. A sign written in black marker reads: "God Loves All People, and All People Should Love One Another."
Latino students could lose chance to get into University system
Squeezed Out: California State University Cuts 10,000
Vida en el Valle, News Report, Staff, Nov 29, 2008
When California State University officials announced the steps it would take to deal with a bleak economic forecast, it didn't take into account the impact those measures will have on students like Tiffany Vásquez of Fresno, Horacio Viveros of Sacramento, or Lourdes Montes de Oca of Davis.
The CSU -- facing midyear cut of $66.3 million in addition to a $31.3 million cut that trustees approved last month -- has decided to cut enrollment by 10,000 students next year by:
Cutting off admission for the fall 2009 semester on Sunday (Nov. 30). Those who apply between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1 will go on a waiting list.
Giving higher priority to students who live in the university's geographic region. This means that graduating high school students in Sacramento may see their chances diminish greatly if they apply to attend San Diego State.
Not ruling out tuition hikes in the future if the state demands more cuts.
The UC system has ruled out tuition hikes for the time being, but is looking at a $65.5 million budget cut request from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. UC regents said last week they would cap enrollment if their current budget is not increased.
Vásquez, a senior at Sunnyside High School (Fresno) who hopes to attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and major in kinesiology, is having a difficult time explaining the situation to her mother.
"My mom drives me to school at 5 a.m. for leadership classes, and she doesn't understand why I won't be able to go if I have done everything they've asked of me," said Vásquez. "She asks, 'Why did you work so hard all these years?'"
Viveros, an ethnic studies major at California State University, Sacramento, wonders what has happened to the message of the importance of education.
"We have constantly heard that education is everything, that it is the most important thing for a person, and is also good for the state's welfare," he said. "That is why I don't understand the governor's measures to cut funds to what is the future and economy of the state."
Montes de Oca, who studying medicine at UC Davis, said fee increases would be devastating to her.
"Up to now, my parents have helped me pay my university fees, but they don't have much economic resources," said Montes de Oca. "Every time I have to pay my fees, they find themselves in serious problems because they also have to raise my three other siblings."
Educators believe the CSU and UC measures will do more harm to Latino students because they tend to procrastinate on filing their applications, have less of a college-going environment which makes the process much harder for them, and often come from low-income backgrounds that makes college more difficult.
Jessie Ryan works for the Campaign for College Opportunity out of the group's Modesto office. She believes the CSU and UC efforts "represent a broken promise by the state of California."
"We tell students that we want them for college. That if they take the responsibility to go to college, the state will have a spot for them," said Ryan. "Now we're telling them: 'You're out of luck. This is a tough economic year.'"
The impact, said Ryan, will be felt greater in the San Joaquín Valley which has a large Latino population that has traditionally shied away from college.
"We have been working so hard in the Valley to turn around this perception that we lack a college-going culture, a fast-growing population of Latinos who are not accessing higher education at a level to maintain California's competitive economy," said Ryan. "This is not only hurting students, but hurting the state as a whole."
She points to studies that show that for every dollar the state invests in higher education, the economy gets $3 in return.
"If we fail, we lose $3 based on incarceration rates, local and state sales taxes lost, and pressure for social services," said Ryan.
Asked during a telephone press conference last Wednesday about what he would tell students who would not be able to go to the college of their choice, Fresno State President John Welty said: "They will have a more difficult time. The best advice I can give them is to apply to other institutions."
Fresno State will reduce enrollment by 500 students, primarily by not accepting lower division transfer students, those who want to get a second degree and graduate students without a major.
"As a system we regret having to take this action, but it is clear the Legislature will not fund enrollment growth this year or next year," said Welty.
Fears of higher fees
The CSU and UC moves will not have a huge impact on current students, unless their fees are increased.
That has not lessened the worries for students like Viveros and Luis Cabrera at Sacramento State.
Viveros remembers paying $1,200 when he first enrolled in college five years ago. Today, he is paying $2,000.
"I would not be able to afford another increase in our college fees," said Viveros. "I would rather drop out and find a full-time job instead. The sad thing is that all my classmates find themselves in the same situation I'm in."
Cabrera, a business administration major, would be forced to find a job to pay any fee hikes.
"With much effort, my parents have been able to pay for my college costs up to this point," said Cabrera. "But if the fees are increased, I know they would not be able to afford it. I don't know how the government can make cuts in something as important as college, which should be the No. 1 priority for them."
Last fall, Sacramento State had to refuse admission to 10,000 students because the university had no funds.
"The worst thing is that among those students there were many who had excellent qualifications," said Jason Conwell, a university professor.
At UC Davis, Montes de Oca is proud of her grades. Having to take a job to pay for tuition increases would put them at risk, she said.
"My parents are proud of my grades, and they have told me that whatever happens they will support me," said Montes de Oca. "However, I don't want to take advantage of them because I know there are times when they don't have the money for the most basic things."
Fellow UC Davis student Alejandro Ibarra, a 20-year-old law student, has had his parents' financial support.
However, they have told him that if tuition gets higher, they won't be able to help.
"Unfortunately, I didn't qualify for a scholarship and my parents didn't qualify for me to get financial assistance," said Ibarra. "The books and class materials are very expensive. That is what the government should take into account before they increase tuition. Doing so will force many of us to leave school."
Getting to college
Just getting to their college of choice is a concern these days for Andrade and fellow students at Sunnyside High School. Fellow students Jules, Lylian Banderas, Robert Johnson, Tiffany Vásquez, Victoria Criado and Jasmeet Grewal all have dreams of attending a university other than Fresno State.
They have been active in extracurricular activities, taken college prep courses, and, some of them are enrolled in the Doctor's Academy. The students have nothing against Fresno State, but they want to challenge themselves by becoming independent from family.
"I've tried so hard," said Vásquez, who hopes to study criminal justice at San Diego State or UC San Diego or San José State. "I have really good grades, but not-so-good test scores."
Getting into college, she said, is important for another reason.
"I come from a family that does not attend college," said Vásquez. "Do you know how much this would mean for my family? I would be a role model for my cousins. Why is it that we are getting limited with our chances?"
That is the same question that Banderas, who hopes to attend Dominican University and major in business.
"We won't get our chance to shine," said Banderas. "It's not your fault. How do you explain that to your parents?"
Johnson, who hopes to major in psychology at San José State or CSU Monterey Bay, said, "I want to expand. I want to reach out. I don't want to go to Fresno State. I want to dream bigger."
Grewal, who reads and speaks Spanish because of her efforts to improve her résumé for college, wants to study computer engineering at UC Irvine or Cal Poly Pomona. She also took three years of summer school to improve her chances of getting into her college of choice.
"How are we going to make a difference?" she asks. "Something needs to change."
Diana Rodríquez, a Sunnyside counselor, helped organize massive college admission forums in recent weeks to make sure students met the Nov. 30 deadline.
"This is devastating," said Rodríquez. "They have taken the rug out from under their feet. I think it is very unfair."
Educators have concerns
Students are not the only ones concerned about the impacts, especially when it comes to the Latino community. The early deadline is a problem, they said.
"We do know that our Latino students tend to wait a little bit because sometimes they're not sure how they're going to pay for it, they're waiting for their financial aid packet," said Lisa Bernardo, admissions dean at California State University, Stanislaus. "For a lot of our students this is a completely new process it's very overwhelming, and without knowing how you're going to pay for it, it's not something you would like to jump into. I don't see it as procrastination. They just have to take it all in."
Carolina Alfaro, admissions counselor at the same university, said Latino students normally confer much more with their parents over college.
"Families are a big portion of this. Latino families tend to be a bit more worrisome about their financial situation; how they're going to pay for things," said Alfaro.
In the past, universities like Stanislaus have accepted applications through June for the fall semester. Last year, the deadline was moved to Feb. 1.
Private universities like the University of the Pacific in Stockton sometimes benefit.
As state colleges are forced to accept less students while they suffer reductions due to state budget cuts, UOP has actually seen a record enrollment of freshmen this fall. Compared to last year, they had 882 new freshmen this fall.
"When public schools have to their decrease budget that means they'll admit fewer student. It will drive those students to explore other options," said Robert Alexander, Pacific associate provost for enrollment.
Vida en el Valle, News Report, Staff, Nov 29, 2008
When California State University officials announced the steps it would take to deal with a bleak economic forecast, it didn't take into account the impact those measures will have on students like Tiffany Vásquez of Fresno, Horacio Viveros of Sacramento, or Lourdes Montes de Oca of Davis.
The CSU -- facing midyear cut of $66.3 million in addition to a $31.3 million cut that trustees approved last month -- has decided to cut enrollment by 10,000 students next year by:
Cutting off admission for the fall 2009 semester on Sunday (Nov. 30). Those who apply between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1 will go on a waiting list.
Giving higher priority to students who live in the university's geographic region. This means that graduating high school students in Sacramento may see their chances diminish greatly if they apply to attend San Diego State.
Not ruling out tuition hikes in the future if the state demands more cuts.
The UC system has ruled out tuition hikes for the time being, but is looking at a $65.5 million budget cut request from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. UC regents said last week they would cap enrollment if their current budget is not increased.
Vásquez, a senior at Sunnyside High School (Fresno) who hopes to attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and major in kinesiology, is having a difficult time explaining the situation to her mother.
"My mom drives me to school at 5 a.m. for leadership classes, and she doesn't understand why I won't be able to go if I have done everything they've asked of me," said Vásquez. "She asks, 'Why did you work so hard all these years?'"
Viveros, an ethnic studies major at California State University, Sacramento, wonders what has happened to the message of the importance of education.
"We have constantly heard that education is everything, that it is the most important thing for a person, and is also good for the state's welfare," he said. "That is why I don't understand the governor's measures to cut funds to what is the future and economy of the state."
Montes de Oca, who studying medicine at UC Davis, said fee increases would be devastating to her.
"Up to now, my parents have helped me pay my university fees, but they don't have much economic resources," said Montes de Oca. "Every time I have to pay my fees, they find themselves in serious problems because they also have to raise my three other siblings."
Educators believe the CSU and UC measures will do more harm to Latino students because they tend to procrastinate on filing their applications, have less of a college-going environment which makes the process much harder for them, and often come from low-income backgrounds that makes college more difficult.
Jessie Ryan works for the Campaign for College Opportunity out of the group's Modesto office. She believes the CSU and UC efforts "represent a broken promise by the state of California."
"We tell students that we want them for college. That if they take the responsibility to go to college, the state will have a spot for them," said Ryan. "Now we're telling them: 'You're out of luck. This is a tough economic year.'"
The impact, said Ryan, will be felt greater in the San Joaquín Valley which has a large Latino population that has traditionally shied away from college.
"We have been working so hard in the Valley to turn around this perception that we lack a college-going culture, a fast-growing population of Latinos who are not accessing higher education at a level to maintain California's competitive economy," said Ryan. "This is not only hurting students, but hurting the state as a whole."
She points to studies that show that for every dollar the state invests in higher education, the economy gets $3 in return.
"If we fail, we lose $3 based on incarceration rates, local and state sales taxes lost, and pressure for social services," said Ryan.
Asked during a telephone press conference last Wednesday about what he would tell students who would not be able to go to the college of their choice, Fresno State President John Welty said: "They will have a more difficult time. The best advice I can give them is to apply to other institutions."
Fresno State will reduce enrollment by 500 students, primarily by not accepting lower division transfer students, those who want to get a second degree and graduate students without a major.
"As a system we regret having to take this action, but it is clear the Legislature will not fund enrollment growth this year or next year," said Welty.
Fears of higher fees
The CSU and UC moves will not have a huge impact on current students, unless their fees are increased.
That has not lessened the worries for students like Viveros and Luis Cabrera at Sacramento State.
Viveros remembers paying $1,200 when he first enrolled in college five years ago. Today, he is paying $2,000.
"I would not be able to afford another increase in our college fees," said Viveros. "I would rather drop out and find a full-time job instead. The sad thing is that all my classmates find themselves in the same situation I'm in."
Cabrera, a business administration major, would be forced to find a job to pay any fee hikes.
"With much effort, my parents have been able to pay for my college costs up to this point," said Cabrera. "But if the fees are increased, I know they would not be able to afford it. I don't know how the government can make cuts in something as important as college, which should be the No. 1 priority for them."
Last fall, Sacramento State had to refuse admission to 10,000 students because the university had no funds.
"The worst thing is that among those students there were many who had excellent qualifications," said Jason Conwell, a university professor.
At UC Davis, Montes de Oca is proud of her grades. Having to take a job to pay for tuition increases would put them at risk, she said.
"My parents are proud of my grades, and they have told me that whatever happens they will support me," said Montes de Oca. "However, I don't want to take advantage of them because I know there are times when they don't have the money for the most basic things."
Fellow UC Davis student Alejandro Ibarra, a 20-year-old law student, has had his parents' financial support.
However, they have told him that if tuition gets higher, they won't be able to help.
"Unfortunately, I didn't qualify for a scholarship and my parents didn't qualify for me to get financial assistance," said Ibarra. "The books and class materials are very expensive. That is what the government should take into account before they increase tuition. Doing so will force many of us to leave school."
Getting to college
Just getting to their college of choice is a concern these days for Andrade and fellow students at Sunnyside High School. Fellow students Jules, Lylian Banderas, Robert Johnson, Tiffany Vásquez, Victoria Criado and Jasmeet Grewal all have dreams of attending a university other than Fresno State.
They have been active in extracurricular activities, taken college prep courses, and, some of them are enrolled in the Doctor's Academy. The students have nothing against Fresno State, but they want to challenge themselves by becoming independent from family.
"I've tried so hard," said Vásquez, who hopes to study criminal justice at San Diego State or UC San Diego or San José State. "I have really good grades, but not-so-good test scores."
Getting into college, she said, is important for another reason.
"I come from a family that does not attend college," said Vásquez. "Do you know how much this would mean for my family? I would be a role model for my cousins. Why is it that we are getting limited with our chances?"
That is the same question that Banderas, who hopes to attend Dominican University and major in business.
"We won't get our chance to shine," said Banderas. "It's not your fault. How do you explain that to your parents?"
Johnson, who hopes to major in psychology at San José State or CSU Monterey Bay, said, "I want to expand. I want to reach out. I don't want to go to Fresno State. I want to dream bigger."
Grewal, who reads and speaks Spanish because of her efforts to improve her résumé for college, wants to study computer engineering at UC Irvine or Cal Poly Pomona. She also took three years of summer school to improve her chances of getting into her college of choice.
"How are we going to make a difference?" she asks. "Something needs to change."
Diana Rodríquez, a Sunnyside counselor, helped organize massive college admission forums in recent weeks to make sure students met the Nov. 30 deadline.
"This is devastating," said Rodríquez. "They have taken the rug out from under their feet. I think it is very unfair."
Educators have concerns
Students are not the only ones concerned about the impacts, especially when it comes to the Latino community. The early deadline is a problem, they said.
"We do know that our Latino students tend to wait a little bit because sometimes they're not sure how they're going to pay for it, they're waiting for their financial aid packet," said Lisa Bernardo, admissions dean at California State University, Stanislaus. "For a lot of our students this is a completely new process it's very overwhelming, and without knowing how you're going to pay for it, it's not something you would like to jump into. I don't see it as procrastination. They just have to take it all in."
Carolina Alfaro, admissions counselor at the same university, said Latino students normally confer much more with their parents over college.
"Families are a big portion of this. Latino families tend to be a bit more worrisome about their financial situation; how they're going to pay for things," said Alfaro.
In the past, universities like Stanislaus have accepted applications through June for the fall semester. Last year, the deadline was moved to Feb. 1.
Private universities like the University of the Pacific in Stockton sometimes benefit.
As state colleges are forced to accept less students while they suffer reductions due to state budget cuts, UOP has actually seen a record enrollment of freshmen this fall. Compared to last year, they had 882 new freshmen this fall.
"When public schools have to their decrease budget that means they'll admit fewer student. It will drive those students to explore other options," said Robert Alexander, Pacific associate provost for enrollment.
Latina student promotes anti-tobacco agenda
Student promoting anti-tobacco agenda in Latino community
By Nicholas C. Stern News-Post Staff November 29, 2008
Dariela Sarmiento, 16, a sophomore at Frederick High School, will graduate Friday from a two-month training course that has focused on helping people stop smoking cigarettes or using other forms of tobacco. Sarmiento hopes to aid members of the Latino community in decreasing tobacco usage.
Dariela Sarmiento first heard about an effort to educate members of the Latino community about the harmful effects of tobacco from her stepmother, who was taking English classes at a local church.
Sarmiento is a Frederick High School sophomore who moved to Frederick from Honduras about a year ago. She attended the first meeting for health promoters at the Trinity United Methodist Church in October.
Along with nine others, Sarmiento will graduate Friday from a two-month training course that has focused on helping people stop smoking cigarettes or using other forms of tobacco.
The idea of the initiative, sponsored in part by a grant from the Frederick County Health Department Cigarette Restitution Fund Program to Trinity United, is to schedule a series of meetings about the dangers of tobacco throughout the county from February to June.
"A lot of Latinos are smoking," Sarmiento said. "I want to help people and give them information about it."
Sarmiento said she has learned about the various dangers associated with smoking and tobacco use, from cancer to emphysema to pregnancy complications.
As part of her training, she had to make presentations to her group in preparation for people she will try to reach at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, Alcoholics Anonymous and a local doctor's office, among other places.
"Some people will reject (the message)," she said. "But I'm going to let them know about smoking damage."
Sarmiento said she would also like to visit people in local retirement communities in part because she missed the company of her grandmother and great-grandmother.
"I like to talk with old people," she said.
By Nicholas C. Stern News-Post Staff November 29, 2008
Dariela Sarmiento, 16, a sophomore at Frederick High School, will graduate Friday from a two-month training course that has focused on helping people stop smoking cigarettes or using other forms of tobacco. Sarmiento hopes to aid members of the Latino community in decreasing tobacco usage.
Dariela Sarmiento first heard about an effort to educate members of the Latino community about the harmful effects of tobacco from her stepmother, who was taking English classes at a local church.
Sarmiento is a Frederick High School sophomore who moved to Frederick from Honduras about a year ago. She attended the first meeting for health promoters at the Trinity United Methodist Church in October.
Along with nine others, Sarmiento will graduate Friday from a two-month training course that has focused on helping people stop smoking cigarettes or using other forms of tobacco.
The idea of the initiative, sponsored in part by a grant from the Frederick County Health Department Cigarette Restitution Fund Program to Trinity United, is to schedule a series of meetings about the dangers of tobacco throughout the county from February to June.
"A lot of Latinos are smoking," Sarmiento said. "I want to help people and give them information about it."
Sarmiento said she has learned about the various dangers associated with smoking and tobacco use, from cancer to emphysema to pregnancy complications.
As part of her training, she had to make presentations to her group in preparation for people she will try to reach at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, Alcoholics Anonymous and a local doctor's office, among other places.
"Some people will reject (the message)," she said. "But I'm going to let them know about smoking damage."
Sarmiento said she would also like to visit people in local retirement communities in part because she missed the company of her grandmother and great-grandmother.
"I like to talk with old people," she said.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Hispanic lobbyists part of group that loves Obama
Lobbyists will love Obama
Jackson Sun November 28, 2008
Barack Obama promised the end of the era of lobbying as we know it during the campaign, but the National Marine Manufacturers Association didn't get the message. Nor did the National Automobile Dealers Association. Nor did anyone else who can make a remotely colorable case for getting any precious drops of the bailout money sloshing around Washington.
Obama has banned lobbyists from contributing to his transition committee. No one can work on the transition on an issue that has been part of his lobbying work in the past year. After the transition, no one can lobby the Obama administration for a year on any issue he worked on during the transition. Transition head John Podesta called it "the strictest, and most far-reaching, ethics rules of any transition team in history."
The Obama team thought of everything, except banning failing executives from firing up their corporate jets and heading to Washington to petition for billions of dollars in federal aid. That's what the CEOs of the Big Three automakers just did. They are only the tip of the spear of a massive lobbying push for an auto bailout that includes auto dealers and suppliers, union officials, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and practically every elected official in Michigan.
Ronald Reagan's famous description of government economic intervention could become quaint: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." The updated version is, "Whether it moves or not - bail it out."
The Paulson plan started the free-for-all. Wave around a money clip stuffed with $700 billion, and you'll attract attention. According to a New York Times article headlined "Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for Piece of Bailout Pie," "the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other Hispanic business groups met with Paulson to push for minority contracts in asset management, legal, accounting, mortgage services and maintenance jobs, like plumbing and masonry."
Lobbyists for business exist to gain whatever tax, spending or regulatory favors they can for their clients. The more Washington taxes, spends and regulates, the more work they naturally have. So it doesn't matter how much Barack Obama abhors lobbying in theory, his Washington is going to teem with well-appointed lobbyists.
Obama's economic program has been grandiosely compared to the New Deal. FDR's tax and spending programs - unsurprisingly - played political favorites. It is impossible for a government composed of ambitious politicians to wield massive economic powers in an utterly neutral way. "Reporter Thomas Stokes won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative research that exposed the Works Progress Administration for using federal funds to buy votes," notes historian Burton Folsom, author of the new book "New Deal or Raw Deal?" "Whatever the good intentions, the funds quickly became politicized."
Tell it to the lobbyists racking up billable hours right now. Folsom gave a lecture in Washington making this point the other day. A professor at Hillsdale College, he explained to his cab driver when he arrived that he had flown in from Michigan. "Oh, you're here for the money?" his car driver replied. No, but he might be the only one.
Rich Lowry comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.
Jackson Sun November 28, 2008
Barack Obama promised the end of the era of lobbying as we know it during the campaign, but the National Marine Manufacturers Association didn't get the message. Nor did the National Automobile Dealers Association. Nor did anyone else who can make a remotely colorable case for getting any precious drops of the bailout money sloshing around Washington.
Obama has banned lobbyists from contributing to his transition committee. No one can work on the transition on an issue that has been part of his lobbying work in the past year. After the transition, no one can lobby the Obama administration for a year on any issue he worked on during the transition. Transition head John Podesta called it "the strictest, and most far-reaching, ethics rules of any transition team in history."
The Obama team thought of everything, except banning failing executives from firing up their corporate jets and heading to Washington to petition for billions of dollars in federal aid. That's what the CEOs of the Big Three automakers just did. They are only the tip of the spear of a massive lobbying push for an auto bailout that includes auto dealers and suppliers, union officials, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and practically every elected official in Michigan.
Ronald Reagan's famous description of government economic intervention could become quaint: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." The updated version is, "Whether it moves or not - bail it out."
The Paulson plan started the free-for-all. Wave around a money clip stuffed with $700 billion, and you'll attract attention. According to a New York Times article headlined "Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for Piece of Bailout Pie," "the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other Hispanic business groups met with Paulson to push for minority contracts in asset management, legal, accounting, mortgage services and maintenance jobs, like plumbing and masonry."
Lobbyists for business exist to gain whatever tax, spending or regulatory favors they can for their clients. The more Washington taxes, spends and regulates, the more work they naturally have. So it doesn't matter how much Barack Obama abhors lobbying in theory, his Washington is going to teem with well-appointed lobbyists.
Obama's economic program has been grandiosely compared to the New Deal. FDR's tax and spending programs - unsurprisingly - played political favorites. It is impossible for a government composed of ambitious politicians to wield massive economic powers in an utterly neutral way. "Reporter Thomas Stokes won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative research that exposed the Works Progress Administration for using federal funds to buy votes," notes historian Burton Folsom, author of the new book "New Deal or Raw Deal?" "Whatever the good intentions, the funds quickly became politicized."
Tell it to the lobbyists racking up billable hours right now. Folsom gave a lecture in Washington making this point the other day. A professor at Hillsdale College, he explained to his cab driver when he arrived that he had flown in from Michigan. "Oh, you're here for the money?" his car driver replied. No, but he might be the only one.
Rich Lowry comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.
Hispanics in Florida concerned about Obama's leanings
Some Hispanics in South Florida see Obama leanings that worry them
By Alexia Campbell | South Florida Sun-Sentinel November 28, 2008
Hispanic voters helped turn Florida blue for president-elect Barack Obama, but not all of them are cheering. Many Colombian, Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants who voted Republican are nervous about what comes next.
Obama's rejection of a free-trade agreement with Colombia is one worry. His willingness to sit down with anti-American Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is another. And his call to ease limits on travel and remittances to Cuba has some wondering whether the end of the 48-year-old trade embargo is near.
Yet what unsettles some immigrant voters the most is doubt about whether their new president will steer the country toward the kind of left-wing politics that led them to leave their countries.
"It concerns me," said Alejandro Recio, who owns a Cuban bakery in Hollywood. "Are we gonna be soft now with Venezuela? Are we gonna be soft on Cuba?"
Recio, 46, says he's afraid to expand his business after hearing Obama talk about spreading the wealth. That's socialism, he said, and one reason his father left a successful dentistry practice in Cuba decades ago. Now Recio hopes Obama will adopt more moderate politics in office.
"I'm an American first and he's my president," Recio said. "I'm going to be behind him until he goes to the left so far that I can't support him anymore."
Exit polls conducted in Miami and Los Angeles by Bendixen & Associates indicated that unlike other Hispanic voters in Florida, a majority of Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan voters cast their ballots for McCain. Thirty percent of Colombians voted for him.
But many of the Colombians who backed McCain wonder whether strong ties between the United States and their country will weaken with Obama in the White House. Fabio Andrade, of Weston, said he feels betrayed by the president-elect's criticism of Colombia's human rights record as a reason for not supporting a long-term free-trade agreement.
Things aren't perfect in Colombia, he said, but the country has made progress in suppressing guerrilla warfare. The United States has sent billions of dollars in military aid to the country since 2000 to fight terrorists and drug traffickers.
"We can't have Colombia go down the path of Venezuela, down the path of Nicaragua and Ecuador," said Andrade, who left Colombia in 1967.
To Venezuelans, it's unclear how Obama will deal with leftist leaders like Chavez, whose socialist tendencies led many to flee to South Florida."I hope he sees that Chavez's position is contrary and harmful to the interests of the United States," said Pompano Beach resident Luis Jose Vicentini, former president of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce.
Alexia Campbell can be reached at apcampbell@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4513.
By Alexia Campbell | South Florida Sun-Sentinel November 28, 2008
Hispanic voters helped turn Florida blue for president-elect Barack Obama, but not all of them are cheering. Many Colombian, Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants who voted Republican are nervous about what comes next.
Obama's rejection of a free-trade agreement with Colombia is one worry. His willingness to sit down with anti-American Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is another. And his call to ease limits on travel and remittances to Cuba has some wondering whether the end of the 48-year-old trade embargo is near.
Yet what unsettles some immigrant voters the most is doubt about whether their new president will steer the country toward the kind of left-wing politics that led them to leave their countries.
"It concerns me," said Alejandro Recio, who owns a Cuban bakery in Hollywood. "Are we gonna be soft now with Venezuela? Are we gonna be soft on Cuba?"
Recio, 46, says he's afraid to expand his business after hearing Obama talk about spreading the wealth. That's socialism, he said, and one reason his father left a successful dentistry practice in Cuba decades ago. Now Recio hopes Obama will adopt more moderate politics in office.
"I'm an American first and he's my president," Recio said. "I'm going to be behind him until he goes to the left so far that I can't support him anymore."
Exit polls conducted in Miami and Los Angeles by Bendixen & Associates indicated that unlike other Hispanic voters in Florida, a majority of Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan voters cast their ballots for McCain. Thirty percent of Colombians voted for him.
But many of the Colombians who backed McCain wonder whether strong ties between the United States and their country will weaken with Obama in the White House. Fabio Andrade, of Weston, said he feels betrayed by the president-elect's criticism of Colombia's human rights record as a reason for not supporting a long-term free-trade agreement.
Things aren't perfect in Colombia, he said, but the country has made progress in suppressing guerrilla warfare. The United States has sent billions of dollars in military aid to the country since 2000 to fight terrorists and drug traffickers.
"We can't have Colombia go down the path of Venezuela, down the path of Nicaragua and Ecuador," said Andrade, who left Colombia in 1967.
To Venezuelans, it's unclear how Obama will deal with leftist leaders like Chavez, whose socialist tendencies led many to flee to South Florida."I hope he sees that Chavez's position is contrary and harmful to the interests of the United States," said Pompano Beach resident Luis Jose Vicentini, former president of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce.
Alexia Campbell can be reached at apcampbell@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4513.
Latino Boys taught leadership
Boys' group in Lafayette nurtures potential
Angevine Middle School club works to build Latino leaders
By Amy Bounds November 28, 2008
LAFAYETTE -- Sitting shoulder to shoulder in a circle on the floor, 18 middle school boys debated how to use a length of rope to help them stand together, simultaneously, without using their hands.
They passed the rope from one to another, leaving a single boy holding the two ends together. Realizing that just one person couldn't bear the combined weight of the entire group, they made adjustments. With the rope doubled up on itself, they counted to three and raised themselves off the floor.
That successful teamwork is just a sampling of their unlimited potential.
Once a week, the 18 seventh- and eighth-graders in the Latino Boys Leadership Group get to Angevine Middle School an hour early to learn about their past, talk about the present and plan for the future.
This year's group is still getting to know each other and their leader, community activist Daniel Escalante.
By the end of the year, if past groups are any indication, they'll be tight. They'll continue to support each other through middle school and high school.
"It's a gang, but not in a bad way," said eighth-grader Ariel Alonso, who joined last year. "We're a family. We help each other in any way we can."
On a recent morning, they shared how they identify themselves -- not using labels imposed by others. Most identify as Mexican, a few as Latino, one as Mestizo. Escalante identifies as Chicano.
The club offers a safe place to talk and to vent, the boys said.
"We can say what we really want to say," said seventh-grader Alexis Estevane.
A retreat planned for early December at the Boulder Outlook Hotel will give the group time to explore topics, such as racism and peer pressure, in more depth. The retreat also gives the boys a chance to revel in room service, watch movies and get to know each other.
Many said they joined because they want support to graduate from high school and want to learn more about their roots and history.
"We don't get taught much in school about our culture," said Ariel.
Escalante also wants to help the boys find their voice and reject society's negative views. He asks them to avoid dissing each other and instead offer praise and encouragement.
"They've heard these messages that they're not as good as other people and they start to believe it," he said. "They're amazing kids."
A previous group painted a mural in the school library, while last year's group took turns reading a poem -- in front of the entire school -- highlighting information about Latinos.
"It gave everybody else something to learn," Ariel said about the poem.
Escalante said the overall goal is to defeat dismal graduation statistics -- half of Latino students don't earn high school diplomas. He told the boys a story about Latino law students who helped each other make it to college graduation, later becoming judges and public defenders.
"For you to make it through, you all have to work together," he said. "It's important to not give up."
Jay Kenis, a counselor at Angevine Middle who sponsors the club, said the group meets an important need.
Deciding to take school seriously in high school is often too late, he said. By committing to graduate in middle school, the boys are setting themselves up for success.
"The way is paved for them," he said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Amy Bounds at 303-473-1341 or
boundsa@dailycamera.com.
Angevine Middle School club works to build Latino leaders
By Amy Bounds November 28, 2008
LAFAYETTE -- Sitting shoulder to shoulder in a circle on the floor, 18 middle school boys debated how to use a length of rope to help them stand together, simultaneously, without using their hands.
They passed the rope from one to another, leaving a single boy holding the two ends together. Realizing that just one person couldn't bear the combined weight of the entire group, they made adjustments. With the rope doubled up on itself, they counted to three and raised themselves off the floor.
That successful teamwork is just a sampling of their unlimited potential.
Once a week, the 18 seventh- and eighth-graders in the Latino Boys Leadership Group get to Angevine Middle School an hour early to learn about their past, talk about the present and plan for the future.
This year's group is still getting to know each other and their leader, community activist Daniel Escalante.
By the end of the year, if past groups are any indication, they'll be tight. They'll continue to support each other through middle school and high school.
"It's a gang, but not in a bad way," said eighth-grader Ariel Alonso, who joined last year. "We're a family. We help each other in any way we can."
On a recent morning, they shared how they identify themselves -- not using labels imposed by others. Most identify as Mexican, a few as Latino, one as Mestizo. Escalante identifies as Chicano.
The club offers a safe place to talk and to vent, the boys said.
"We can say what we really want to say," said seventh-grader Alexis Estevane.
A retreat planned for early December at the Boulder Outlook Hotel will give the group time to explore topics, such as racism and peer pressure, in more depth. The retreat also gives the boys a chance to revel in room service, watch movies and get to know each other.
Many said they joined because they want support to graduate from high school and want to learn more about their roots and history.
"We don't get taught much in school about our culture," said Ariel.
Escalante also wants to help the boys find their voice and reject society's negative views. He asks them to avoid dissing each other and instead offer praise and encouragement.
"They've heard these messages that they're not as good as other people and they start to believe it," he said. "They're amazing kids."
A previous group painted a mural in the school library, while last year's group took turns reading a poem -- in front of the entire school -- highlighting information about Latinos.
"It gave everybody else something to learn," Ariel said about the poem.
Escalante said the overall goal is to defeat dismal graduation statistics -- half of Latino students don't earn high school diplomas. He told the boys a story about Latino law students who helped each other make it to college graduation, later becoming judges and public defenders.
"For you to make it through, you all have to work together," he said. "It's important to not give up."
Jay Kenis, a counselor at Angevine Middle who sponsors the club, said the group meets an important need.
Deciding to take school seriously in high school is often too late, he said. By committing to graduate in middle school, the boys are setting themselves up for success.
"The way is paved for them," he said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Amy Bounds at 303-473-1341 or
boundsa@dailycamera.com.
Bias against Hispanic surnames in elections
The Latino Factor
How ethnic bias distorts Texas elections.
Forrest Wilder | November 28, 2008
Before she filed to run for a spot on the Texas Supreme Court, Linda Reyna Yañez received some unsolicited advice. "I was told, don't use your maiden name because then people might think, 'Oh Linda Yañez—maybe she's a white woman who married a Hispanic man,' and you might get that benefit. I said, no, that is my name."
Like the four other Democrats running for statewide judicial offices, Yañez faced serious obstacles: a lack of funding, voter indifference, and the fact that no Democrat has held a statewide office since 1994. But Yañez—along with Court of Criminal Appeals candidate J.R. Molina—faced an additional hurdle: ethnic bias. Some voters, with little else to go on in these low-profile races, appear to have cast a vote against Latino surnames. You've heard of the Bradley Effect. Call this the Latino Factor.
An analysis of election returns by The Texas Observer and Democratic political demographer Leland Beatty found that the whiter and more rural the county, the worse Molina and Yañez fared relative to their white Democratic counterparts in similar judicial races. In 224 counties, primarily in east and north Texas, Yañez trailed Sam Houston, the Democratic candidate for Supreme Court, Place 7. Molina lagged behind Susan Strawn, the Democrat running for Place 3 on the Court of Criminal Appeals, in 227 counties. The margins constitute hundreds of thousands of votes. On the other hand, Yañez and Molina got a boost in parts of the state where Latinos predominate, such as the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio.
"The odds that this is due entirely to chance are .000004," said Beatty. "It's infinitesimal."
The fact that multiple judicial candidates run simultaneously—and that voters know little about them compared to other statewide and local candidates—offers a rare real-world opportunity to systematically examine prejudice at the polls.
To that end, Beatty ran a statistical analysis, checking the discrepancy against a number of variables, including race, age, home ownership and income. One factor predominated: race. The white share of a county explained 39 percent of the gap between Molina and Strawn, and 34 percent of the difference between Yañez and Houston. "I don't think I've ever put a single variable into a regression [analysis] and had it come up with almost 40 percent," said Beatty. "This is just as plain as the nose on your face."
A similar bias against ethnic or funny-sounding names may have cost four Harris County judicial candidates, the only Democrats to lose there: Mekisha Murray, Ashish Mahendru, Andres Pereira and Goodwille Pierre. Murray, who is white, says she is frequently assumed to be black. Strangers shouldn't make that mistake any more; she is changing her first name to "Jane," mainly to help draw clients to her law practice, she told the Houston Chronicle. Yañez said she has no intention of changing her name. But, she noted, "We've got a long way to go in this state."
How ethnic bias distorts Texas elections.
Forrest Wilder | November 28, 2008
Before she filed to run for a spot on the Texas Supreme Court, Linda Reyna Yañez received some unsolicited advice. "I was told, don't use your maiden name because then people might think, 'Oh Linda Yañez—maybe she's a white woman who married a Hispanic man,' and you might get that benefit. I said, no, that is my name."
Like the four other Democrats running for statewide judicial offices, Yañez faced serious obstacles: a lack of funding, voter indifference, and the fact that no Democrat has held a statewide office since 1994. But Yañez—along with Court of Criminal Appeals candidate J.R. Molina—faced an additional hurdle: ethnic bias. Some voters, with little else to go on in these low-profile races, appear to have cast a vote against Latino surnames. You've heard of the Bradley Effect. Call this the Latino Factor.
An analysis of election returns by The Texas Observer and Democratic political demographer Leland Beatty found that the whiter and more rural the county, the worse Molina and Yañez fared relative to their white Democratic counterparts in similar judicial races. In 224 counties, primarily in east and north Texas, Yañez trailed Sam Houston, the Democratic candidate for Supreme Court, Place 7. Molina lagged behind Susan Strawn, the Democrat running for Place 3 on the Court of Criminal Appeals, in 227 counties. The margins constitute hundreds of thousands of votes. On the other hand, Yañez and Molina got a boost in parts of the state where Latinos predominate, such as the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio.
"The odds that this is due entirely to chance are .000004," said Beatty. "It's infinitesimal."
The fact that multiple judicial candidates run simultaneously—and that voters know little about them compared to other statewide and local candidates—offers a rare real-world opportunity to systematically examine prejudice at the polls.
To that end, Beatty ran a statistical analysis, checking the discrepancy against a number of variables, including race, age, home ownership and income. One factor predominated: race. The white share of a county explained 39 percent of the gap between Molina and Strawn, and 34 percent of the difference between Yañez and Houston. "I don't think I've ever put a single variable into a regression [analysis] and had it come up with almost 40 percent," said Beatty. "This is just as plain as the nose on your face."
A similar bias against ethnic or funny-sounding names may have cost four Harris County judicial candidates, the only Democrats to lose there: Mekisha Murray, Ashish Mahendru, Andres Pereira and Goodwille Pierre. Murray, who is white, says she is frequently assumed to be black. Strangers shouldn't make that mistake any more; she is changing her first name to "Jane," mainly to help draw clients to her law practice, she told the Houston Chronicle. Yañez said she has no intention of changing her name. But, she noted, "We've got a long way to go in this state."
Latino youth taught abstinence
Abstinence program focuses on Latino youth
By SHAJIA AHMAD - The Garden City Telegram
GARDEN CITY, Kan. -- Some teens were too shy to share their private pledges of abstinence, but others read their commitments aloud.
"My parents raised me to wait. I want to wait and it be special and wait for that one man," one girl wrote.
Another girl wrote why it was important for her to abstain from sex until she was ready.
"We have to respect our bodies until we are prepared physically and mentally," she said. "Including that, I want to wait until I'm married, and I also want to be prepared and educated."
The teenagers planned to share them in a graduation ceremony at the culmination of a local abstinence-education program, coordinated by local officials from the Finney County Health Department and Fort Hays State University.
Eight boys and girls ages 11 through 15 participated in the program, which encompasses a curriculum that aims to reevaluate the rituals of the coming-of-age celebration - called the quinceanera - for 15-year-old girls of Hispanic or Latino communities.
The program, which works to foster communication between parents and children around this culturally rich event, was adopted as a local health and education initiative from a private, nonprofit organization by the name of Friends First, based in Littleton, Colo.
The program's facilitators also hoped to educate teens about sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancy rates are much higher in Finney County than the rest of the state, according to the latest report by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
A five-year average rate of teens who gave birth in Kansas is 27 per 1,000 girls ages 10 through 19. The same rate is 40 per 1,000 in Finney County. The KDHE also found that teenage pregnancy rates are slightly higher in densely settled rural areas compared to urban or semi-urban areas.
During a recent Monday night class, the last in a series that began in mid-September, the six girls and two boys handed in their written pledges to Stacy Gonzalez, one of the program's facilitators, who gave them all her support.
"It's going to be tough, mi hija," said Gonzalez, using the Spanish endearment for "daughter" as she sat down one-by-one with the teens. "Sex is great, but it's even greater when it's with the right person."
Gonzalez, a disease intervention specialist with the county health department, encouraged the teens to talk to their parents or turn to her or Martha Perkins, the area Fort Hays center director, for advice.
"We'll always be here for you," Gonzalez said. "And, if you break the pledge, don't worry because stuff happens. It's not the end of the world."
Earlier in the night during the class, several of the kids and parents got hands-on experience with the curriculum's topics.
Gonzalez passed around distorted-vision goggles that simulated the effects of drunkenness, and teenagers and parents alike struggled to walk in a straight line or pick up objects from the floor with the goggles on.
All of the family members were warned against the dangers of underage drinking and drunken driving.
"All you mothers who say you don't drink, you say to your husband, 'Let me drive, because my life and my children's lives are in your hands,'" Gonzalez said as she addressed the small group of about 20.
Later in the night as the children turned their pledges in and chatted about what they were going to wear to the graduation ceremony, the parents - many of whom did not speak English and communicated through Perkins - discussed the need to continue the dialogue about sex with their teenagers long after the class is over. The parents agreed that resources and information were not as readily available in their generation, a time when talking openly about sex was much more taboo.
"None of my aunts, not my grandmother, no one talked to us about this," said Marta Alvarez, who added that it was difficult for her to answer questions about sex from her two daughters prior to the program but felt better equipped to approach the topic now.
Other mothers agreed they wanted what was in the safety and best interest of their teenagers.
"I would like my daughter to keep her virginity until her marriage, but it has to be up to her," said Luisa Frayre, who has a 15-year-old daughter. "My job is to keep reminding her about what is important and what makes her happy."
Gonzalez said families can lose sight of the traditions, which can be traced back thousands of years to the indigenous people of Latin America. She believes, backed by the premise of the program, that modern practices of the rite-of-passage event can sometimes put girls at a greater risk for early sexual activity and pregnancy if they are not armed with the right information.
"In my mother's generation, the girls, they were probably all virgins at this age. But girls nowadays, they are fast, and more and more are becoming sexually active at a younger age," said Gonzalez, who added that sometimes the parties coinciding with the daughter's 15th birthday can become a symbol of status and power by a family.
Many of the parents agreed. Blanca Sandoval listed the iconic symbols of the quinceanera celebration, including a cake, a cushion a girl kneels on and a tradition in which her father slips the daughter's shoes onto her feet.
"They have and do all these things, but they don't always know the meaning," Sandoval said.
The crux of the curriculum, which also addressed issues of peer pressure, self-esteem, the media, good decision-making skills and more, appealed to Gonzalez because it returned to the values she saw as important to Mexican-Americans like herself.
Despite a slight increase in the number and rate of teenage pregnancies in 2005 and 2006, there continues to be a general downward trend: Pregnancy rates have dropped 15 percent overall over the last 20 years in Kansas, reflecting on a smaller scale the downward trend of teen pregnancies.
Of the 19 million new sexually transmitted infections each year, almost half are among those age 15 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC. Among the mandatory-reported sexually transmitted diseases - chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis - racial and ethnic minorities continue to be disproportionately affected, as well, according to CDC.
While the disparities may be, in part, because racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to seek care in public health clinics that report STDs more completely than private providers, CDC researchers say the reporting bias does not fully explain the differences. Other contributing factors include limited access to quality health care and poverty.
Dana Manna, a registered nurse with the Finney County Health Department, said anyone, regardless of age or gender, can come in for confidential family planning or health education and advice, and younger people often are the ones who seek the assistance.
Both facilitators of the program, who recruited the families by posting fliers and through announcements on La Nueva, the KSSA local Spanish-language radio station, said they are planning future classes, but have no definite dates yet.
As the Monday night class came to a close, many of the girls chattered about the dresses they would wear for the weekend graduation ceremony, during which friends and family would honor the teens' pledges to stay abstinent.
"I don't know if I could have made this pledge," Gonzalez said. "These kids have to be living with more peer pressure than I had growing up."
By SHAJIA AHMAD - The Garden City Telegram
GARDEN CITY, Kan. -- Some teens were too shy to share their private pledges of abstinence, but others read their commitments aloud.
"My parents raised me to wait. I want to wait and it be special and wait for that one man," one girl wrote.
Another girl wrote why it was important for her to abstain from sex until she was ready.
"We have to respect our bodies until we are prepared physically and mentally," she said. "Including that, I want to wait until I'm married, and I also want to be prepared and educated."
The teenagers planned to share them in a graduation ceremony at the culmination of a local abstinence-education program, coordinated by local officials from the Finney County Health Department and Fort Hays State University.
Eight boys and girls ages 11 through 15 participated in the program, which encompasses a curriculum that aims to reevaluate the rituals of the coming-of-age celebration - called the quinceanera - for 15-year-old girls of Hispanic or Latino communities.
The program, which works to foster communication between parents and children around this culturally rich event, was adopted as a local health and education initiative from a private, nonprofit organization by the name of Friends First, based in Littleton, Colo.
The program's facilitators also hoped to educate teens about sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancy rates are much higher in Finney County than the rest of the state, according to the latest report by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
A five-year average rate of teens who gave birth in Kansas is 27 per 1,000 girls ages 10 through 19. The same rate is 40 per 1,000 in Finney County. The KDHE also found that teenage pregnancy rates are slightly higher in densely settled rural areas compared to urban or semi-urban areas.
During a recent Monday night class, the last in a series that began in mid-September, the six girls and two boys handed in their written pledges to Stacy Gonzalez, one of the program's facilitators, who gave them all her support.
"It's going to be tough, mi hija," said Gonzalez, using the Spanish endearment for "daughter" as she sat down one-by-one with the teens. "Sex is great, but it's even greater when it's with the right person."
Gonzalez, a disease intervention specialist with the county health department, encouraged the teens to talk to their parents or turn to her or Martha Perkins, the area Fort Hays center director, for advice.
"We'll always be here for you," Gonzalez said. "And, if you break the pledge, don't worry because stuff happens. It's not the end of the world."
Earlier in the night during the class, several of the kids and parents got hands-on experience with the curriculum's topics.
Gonzalez passed around distorted-vision goggles that simulated the effects of drunkenness, and teenagers and parents alike struggled to walk in a straight line or pick up objects from the floor with the goggles on.
All of the family members were warned against the dangers of underage drinking and drunken driving.
"All you mothers who say you don't drink, you say to your husband, 'Let me drive, because my life and my children's lives are in your hands,'" Gonzalez said as she addressed the small group of about 20.
Later in the night as the children turned their pledges in and chatted about what they were going to wear to the graduation ceremony, the parents - many of whom did not speak English and communicated through Perkins - discussed the need to continue the dialogue about sex with their teenagers long after the class is over. The parents agreed that resources and information were not as readily available in their generation, a time when talking openly about sex was much more taboo.
"None of my aunts, not my grandmother, no one talked to us about this," said Marta Alvarez, who added that it was difficult for her to answer questions about sex from her two daughters prior to the program but felt better equipped to approach the topic now.
Other mothers agreed they wanted what was in the safety and best interest of their teenagers.
"I would like my daughter to keep her virginity until her marriage, but it has to be up to her," said Luisa Frayre, who has a 15-year-old daughter. "My job is to keep reminding her about what is important and what makes her happy."
Gonzalez said families can lose sight of the traditions, which can be traced back thousands of years to the indigenous people of Latin America. She believes, backed by the premise of the program, that modern practices of the rite-of-passage event can sometimes put girls at a greater risk for early sexual activity and pregnancy if they are not armed with the right information.
"In my mother's generation, the girls, they were probably all virgins at this age. But girls nowadays, they are fast, and more and more are becoming sexually active at a younger age," said Gonzalez, who added that sometimes the parties coinciding with the daughter's 15th birthday can become a symbol of status and power by a family.
Many of the parents agreed. Blanca Sandoval listed the iconic symbols of the quinceanera celebration, including a cake, a cushion a girl kneels on and a tradition in which her father slips the daughter's shoes onto her feet.
"They have and do all these things, but they don't always know the meaning," Sandoval said.
The crux of the curriculum, which also addressed issues of peer pressure, self-esteem, the media, good decision-making skills and more, appealed to Gonzalez because it returned to the values she saw as important to Mexican-Americans like herself.
Despite a slight increase in the number and rate of teenage pregnancies in 2005 and 2006, there continues to be a general downward trend: Pregnancy rates have dropped 15 percent overall over the last 20 years in Kansas, reflecting on a smaller scale the downward trend of teen pregnancies.
Of the 19 million new sexually transmitted infections each year, almost half are among those age 15 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC. Among the mandatory-reported sexually transmitted diseases - chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis - racial and ethnic minorities continue to be disproportionately affected, as well, according to CDC.
While the disparities may be, in part, because racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to seek care in public health clinics that report STDs more completely than private providers, CDC researchers say the reporting bias does not fully explain the differences. Other contributing factors include limited access to quality health care and poverty.
Dana Manna, a registered nurse with the Finney County Health Department, said anyone, regardless of age or gender, can come in for confidential family planning or health education and advice, and younger people often are the ones who seek the assistance.
Both facilitators of the program, who recruited the families by posting fliers and through announcements on La Nueva, the KSSA local Spanish-language radio station, said they are planning future classes, but have no definite dates yet.
As the Monday night class came to a close, many of the girls chattered about the dresses they would wear for the weekend graduation ceremony, during which friends and family would honor the teens' pledges to stay abstinent.
"I don't know if I could have made this pledge," Gonzalez said. "These kids have to be living with more peer pressure than I had growing up."
Study: Latinos spend more time caring for elders
Blessing and burden
Study on Latinos sheds light on eldercare for all.
Houston Chronicle Nov. 27, 2008
For roughly 20 million adults, the label "sandwich generation" is apt. Raising their own children, these Americans are pressed — heavily — by caring for a parent.
New research on Latino caregivers, however, highlights ways to make eldercare easier.
Latinos spend more time caring for elderly parents than non-Latinos, and alter their work lives more to accommodate them, according to a report by United Health Group and the nonprofit National Association for Caregiving.
More than half the Latinos studied, however, reported little or no stress from caregiving. Thirty-five percent actually cited no stress at all, versus 20 percent of non-Hispanics.
For many who've tended an invalid, this might be hard to imagine. Most elder care is a full-time job: 37 hours a week for Latinos, 31 for non-Latinos.
Elements of Hispanic culture, however, seem to ease the burden — and suggest how the U.S. can do the same for all our caregivers.
While Latinos tend to have a main caregiver, other family members reliably pitch in. Non-Latino families, often smaller, can't always do this. But insurers, hospitals and communities can supply more emotional and physical support.
Latinos also report different communal attitudes. Seventy percent of Latinos, versus 60 percent of non-Latinos, call their caregiving role a family obligation or honor.
This social reinforcement may help caregivers feel fulfilled, more respected — and less drained. U.S. society, however, sends a different message in word and deed.
"Non-ethnic Americans do an incredibly good job of taking care of our parents," said Donna Schempp, of the nonprofit Family Caregiver Alliance. "But unlike raising children, caring for your elder in American society is not seen as noble work."
Few workplaces are caregiver friendly; hospitals fail to give caregivers training. Insurers rarely offer respite services or counseling.
Granting America's caregivers the public honor they deserve should be our first step toward a system that eases their burden.
Study on Latinos sheds light on eldercare for all.
Houston Chronicle Nov. 27, 2008
For roughly 20 million adults, the label "sandwich generation" is apt. Raising their own children, these Americans are pressed — heavily — by caring for a parent.
New research on Latino caregivers, however, highlights ways to make eldercare easier.
Latinos spend more time caring for elderly parents than non-Latinos, and alter their work lives more to accommodate them, according to a report by United Health Group and the nonprofit National Association for Caregiving.
More than half the Latinos studied, however, reported little or no stress from caregiving. Thirty-five percent actually cited no stress at all, versus 20 percent of non-Hispanics.
For many who've tended an invalid, this might be hard to imagine. Most elder care is a full-time job: 37 hours a week for Latinos, 31 for non-Latinos.
Elements of Hispanic culture, however, seem to ease the burden — and suggest how the U.S. can do the same for all our caregivers.
While Latinos tend to have a main caregiver, other family members reliably pitch in. Non-Latino families, often smaller, can't always do this. But insurers, hospitals and communities can supply more emotional and physical support.
Latinos also report different communal attitudes. Seventy percent of Latinos, versus 60 percent of non-Latinos, call their caregiving role a family obligation or honor.
This social reinforcement may help caregivers feel fulfilled, more respected — and less drained. U.S. society, however, sends a different message in word and deed.
"Non-ethnic Americans do an incredibly good job of taking care of our parents," said Donna Schempp, of the nonprofit Family Caregiver Alliance. "But unlike raising children, caring for your elder in American society is not seen as noble work."
Few workplaces are caregiver friendly; hospitals fail to give caregivers training. Insurers rarely offer respite services or counseling.
Granting America's caregivers the public honor they deserve should be our first step toward a system that eases their burden.
Centro Latino In Trouble
Pierce County halts Centro Latino's funding
Pierce council wants finance report from Centro Latino after complaint
DAVID WICKERT; david.wickert@thenewstribune.com November 27th, 2008
Following news that Centro Latino is being sued by its former executive director, the Pierce County Council on Tuesday put a hold on nearly $30,000 worth of funding for the nonprofit group.
Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, the former director, says she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. She accuses the board member, David Almonte, of using his position to secure a large contract for his furniture business and trying to hire a friend as a contractor on the renovation of Centro Latino’s Tacoma building.
Gomez-Gonzalez served only four months as executive director before she was ousted. In her lawsuit, filed in Pierce County Superior Court, she claims the group’s board of directors fired her after she began to question Almonte’s handling of the renovation project.
She seeks back pay, court fees and unspecified damages for mental anguish and emotional distress.
Almonte has denied any wrongdoing. Other board members say their attorney has advised them not to speak with the media.
But a majority of County Council members wants to know more.
The county’s 2009 budget includes $29,630 for Centro Latino, which serves the local Latino community with job training, youth mentoring and family services. The money is included in a line item that provides $4.8 million for numerous nonprofits and community programs.
By a vote of 5-2, the council stipulated the county should not release funding for Centro Latino until the group reports to the council’s rules committee. The budget provision requires the nonprofit to report on its “financial condition and ongoing activities” and stipulates the council must reapprove the funding before it can be released to Centro Latino.
Republican Councilmen Dick Muri and Roger Bush, who sponsored the provision, said the council wants to ensure taxpayer money is being spent wisely.
“This is an exceptional circumstance,” Muri said. “I don’t know what’s going on” at Centro Latino.
Two council members – Democrats Tim Farrell and Calvin Goings – opposed the provision. They said it was unfair to single out one group from the dozens the county funds. And they suggested the council should scrutinize all of the groups equally.
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
Pierce council wants finance report from Centro Latino after complaint
DAVID WICKERT; david.wickert@thenewstribune.com November 27th, 2008
Following news that Centro Latino is being sued by its former executive director, the Pierce County Council on Tuesday put a hold on nearly $30,000 worth of funding for the nonprofit group.
Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, the former director, says she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. She accuses the board member, David Almonte, of using his position to secure a large contract for his furniture business and trying to hire a friend as a contractor on the renovation of Centro Latino’s Tacoma building.
Gomez-Gonzalez served only four months as executive director before she was ousted. In her lawsuit, filed in Pierce County Superior Court, she claims the group’s board of directors fired her after she began to question Almonte’s handling of the renovation project.
She seeks back pay, court fees and unspecified damages for mental anguish and emotional distress.
Almonte has denied any wrongdoing. Other board members say their attorney has advised them not to speak with the media.
But a majority of County Council members wants to know more.
The county’s 2009 budget includes $29,630 for Centro Latino, which serves the local Latino community with job training, youth mentoring and family services. The money is included in a line item that provides $4.8 million for numerous nonprofits and community programs.
By a vote of 5-2, the council stipulated the county should not release funding for Centro Latino until the group reports to the council’s rules committee. The budget provision requires the nonprofit to report on its “financial condition and ongoing activities” and stipulates the council must reapprove the funding before it can be released to Centro Latino.
Republican Councilmen Dick Muri and Roger Bush, who sponsored the provision, said the council wants to ensure taxpayer money is being spent wisely.
“This is an exceptional circumstance,” Muri said. “I don’t know what’s going on” at Centro Latino.
Two council members – Democrats Tim Farrell and Calvin Goings – opposed the provision. They said it was unfair to single out one group from the dozens the county funds. And they suggested the council should scrutinize all of the groups equally.
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
Hispanic vote being studied carefully
Researchers put Hispanic vote under the microscope
By Kathy Scott November 28, 2008
President-elect Barak Obama may have Latino voters to thank for tipping the election his way, thanks to an increase of more than 2.5 million more Hispanics who headed for the polls this year over past elections.
Researchers are still crunching the statistics, but according to various polls, including the Pew Hispanic Center, Obama garnered 66 percent of the Hispanic vote to McCain's 32 percent. The increase is credited with turning several states blue (Democratic) that had been red (Republican) in 2004. In Florida, 57 percent of the Latino voters supported Obama whereas in 2004, 56 percent supported George W. Bush.
Latino voters said the issues they were most concerned about were the economy, health care, immigration, and the war in Iraq. Not surprisingly, these are the same issues that concerned non-Hispanics and may speak more loudly of a united populace than any other election finding.
As a body, Latinos also tended to ban same-sex marriages. Of course, individuals within this ethnicity voted down amendments and proposals that would prevent such marriages, but as a voting block, Latinos supported the ban.
Analysts claim that since a majority of Latinos are Catholic, this vote had more to do with religious beliefs than with ethnicity and they may be right. But, in any case, those who desire to see a repeal of the measure in future years need to take into account the growing political savvy of Latino voters.
What I find particularly enlightening is that while certain measures garnered a majority of Latino supporters, no one issue or candidate dominated every Hispanic's vote. While Obama most certainly benefited from the 66 percent Latino count that is not so great a majority that it represents the viewpoints of all Hispanics. After all, Obama could not have won if a significant number of Anglos and other ethnicities had not also voted for him.
It will be interesting to see where the breakdown comes when disaggregated by age. Anecdotal evidence shows that young Hispanics voted in larger numbers for Obama while older Hispanics stuck with McCain. This alone represents a shift in Latino philosophies that mirrors mainstream America more closely than ever before.
While I find it fascinating to examine the voting patterns of those who make up America, I disagree with the question asked by a fellow columnist Maria Elena Salinas who publishes in the Arizona Daily Star. She wrote, "So now the question is, what President-elect Obama is going to do for the Latino community in exchange for its support?"
If Obama wants to further divide this nation, he should isolate his decisions along ethnic lines. If, instead, he wants to unite, he must make decisions that benefit all equally. He should immediately take steps to tame the financial crisis, increase the number of well-paying jobs here and decrease the number going off shore, make sure everyone has access to some type of health insurance, tackle tricky environmental and energy issues, and address both legal and undocumented immigration. These are issues that will benefit every single person living within the borders of this great nation.
There will come a time when an analysis of voting patterns based on ethnicity is a moot point. There will always be differences of opinion generated by religious affiliations, family values, economic status, and other topics, but these dividing points may one day ignore ethnicity as a factor.
Don't think it can't happen. How many of you ever thought you would live to see the day a biracial man would become president or that a hockey-mom from Alaska had a chance to be a heartbeat away from occupying the Oval Office?
(Editor’s note: Scott has been with the Nogales Unified School District No. 1 for 31 years and is an English teacher and freelance writer. She may be contacted at kscott 1969@msn.com.)
By Kathy Scott November 28, 2008
President-elect Barak Obama may have Latino voters to thank for tipping the election his way, thanks to an increase of more than 2.5 million more Hispanics who headed for the polls this year over past elections.
Researchers are still crunching the statistics, but according to various polls, including the Pew Hispanic Center, Obama garnered 66 percent of the Hispanic vote to McCain's 32 percent. The increase is credited with turning several states blue (Democratic) that had been red (Republican) in 2004. In Florida, 57 percent of the Latino voters supported Obama whereas in 2004, 56 percent supported George W. Bush.
Latino voters said the issues they were most concerned about were the economy, health care, immigration, and the war in Iraq. Not surprisingly, these are the same issues that concerned non-Hispanics and may speak more loudly of a united populace than any other election finding.
As a body, Latinos also tended to ban same-sex marriages. Of course, individuals within this ethnicity voted down amendments and proposals that would prevent such marriages, but as a voting block, Latinos supported the ban.
Analysts claim that since a majority of Latinos are Catholic, this vote had more to do with religious beliefs than with ethnicity and they may be right. But, in any case, those who desire to see a repeal of the measure in future years need to take into account the growing political savvy of Latino voters.
What I find particularly enlightening is that while certain measures garnered a majority of Latino supporters, no one issue or candidate dominated every Hispanic's vote. While Obama most certainly benefited from the 66 percent Latino count that is not so great a majority that it represents the viewpoints of all Hispanics. After all, Obama could not have won if a significant number of Anglos and other ethnicities had not also voted for him.
It will be interesting to see where the breakdown comes when disaggregated by age. Anecdotal evidence shows that young Hispanics voted in larger numbers for Obama while older Hispanics stuck with McCain. This alone represents a shift in Latino philosophies that mirrors mainstream America more closely than ever before.
While I find it fascinating to examine the voting patterns of those who make up America, I disagree with the question asked by a fellow columnist Maria Elena Salinas who publishes in the Arizona Daily Star. She wrote, "So now the question is, what President-elect Obama is going to do for the Latino community in exchange for its support?"
If Obama wants to further divide this nation, he should isolate his decisions along ethnic lines. If, instead, he wants to unite, he must make decisions that benefit all equally. He should immediately take steps to tame the financial crisis, increase the number of well-paying jobs here and decrease the number going off shore, make sure everyone has access to some type of health insurance, tackle tricky environmental and energy issues, and address both legal and undocumented immigration. These are issues that will benefit every single person living within the borders of this great nation.
There will come a time when an analysis of voting patterns based on ethnicity is a moot point. There will always be differences of opinion generated by religious affiliations, family values, economic status, and other topics, but these dividing points may one day ignore ethnicity as a factor.
Don't think it can't happen. How many of you ever thought you would live to see the day a biracial man would become president or that a hockey-mom from Alaska had a chance to be a heartbeat away from occupying the Oval Office?
(Editor’s note: Scott has been with the Nogales Unified School District No. 1 for 31 years and is an English teacher and freelance writer. She may be contacted at kscott 1969@msn.com.)
Latino Dems challenge leadership in New York
Dean Skelos ups ante with Gang of 3 Woos Dems to keep Senate in GOP rule
New York Daily News November 27th 2008
In an attempt to keep Republican control of the state Senate, Majority Leader Dean Skelos is wooing three rebel Democrats with a proposal to form a "coalition government."
Skelos made the offer at a dinner meeting Tuesday night on City Island with the so-called "Gang of Three" - Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, and Pedro Espada and Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, several sources familiar with the meeting said.
The Democratic rebels have thrown the Albany political world into a frenzy by refusing to back fellow Dem Malcolm Smith of Queens for majority leader.
Without their votes, the Democrats, who captured a slim 32-29 Senate majority for the first time in decades, cannot elevate Smith to the top Senate post. There's one undecided Senate race, in which incumbent Queens Republican Frank Padavan is clinging to a small lead in a recount.
Under the Skelos "coalition" proposal, the majority leader's post would be split in two - president pro-tem of the Senate and majority leader.
In return for the Gang of Three backing Skelos for the first post, Republicans would help elect Espada majority leader. Kruger would then be named chair of the powerful Finance Committee and the top posts on other committees would be split between Democrats and Republicans.
Skelos has even offered nearly $6 million in extra funding for the Finance Committee and greater autonomy for all committees.
"Think of a real coalition," said one person involved in the talks. "That's never happened before in Albany."
The Skelos plan would still leave him and the Republicans in charge of the Senate - something Gov. Paterson and the other Democrats are expected to vigorously oppose.
Even if the plan falls through, the rebels still hold the decisive votes for either side.
Until now, the three have raised a hodgepodge of reasons for their vehement opposition to Smith.
Diaz and Espada have blasted the lack of Hispanic leaders in top state posts under Paterson and what they claim is Smith's insensitivity to the Hispanic community. They point to Smith's support of Mayor Bloomberg, who was then a Republican, for reelection against Bronx Democrat Fernando Ferrer.
Others dismiss the "Hispanic card" as pure opportunism.
"Wasn't it Ruben Diaz and his son who just backed a successful movement to oust Jose Rivera, the state's only Hispanic Democratic county leader, from his post?" said one Bronx official. "What kind of Latino empowerment is that?"
The mastermind of the rebellion has been Kruger, a conservative Democrat whose campaign coffers are flush with cash - much of it from the real estate industry. He, Diaz and Espada have met privately with Paterson twice and talked with him frequently by phone.
The governor has agreed to meet them because he is increasingly frustrated with Smith's inability to resolve the crisis, the Paterson camp says.
Pressure has mounted on Paterson to make a major appointment of a Hispanic to a statewide post - either U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate or Senior Judge Carmen Ciparick, the only Hispanic jurist on the Court of Appeals, to replace Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who will retire at the end of next month.
"If this thing drags out much longer, you could see Democrats breaking away from Malcolm and looking for another Democratic candidate for majority leader," said one powerful lawmaker who has the governor's ear.
jgonzalez@nydailynews.com
New York Daily News November 27th 2008
In an attempt to keep Republican control of the state Senate, Majority Leader Dean Skelos is wooing three rebel Democrats with a proposal to form a "coalition government."
Skelos made the offer at a dinner meeting Tuesday night on City Island with the so-called "Gang of Three" - Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, and Pedro Espada and Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, several sources familiar with the meeting said.
The Democratic rebels have thrown the Albany political world into a frenzy by refusing to back fellow Dem Malcolm Smith of Queens for majority leader.
Without their votes, the Democrats, who captured a slim 32-29 Senate majority for the first time in decades, cannot elevate Smith to the top Senate post. There's one undecided Senate race, in which incumbent Queens Republican Frank Padavan is clinging to a small lead in a recount.
Under the Skelos "coalition" proposal, the majority leader's post would be split in two - president pro-tem of the Senate and majority leader.
In return for the Gang of Three backing Skelos for the first post, Republicans would help elect Espada majority leader. Kruger would then be named chair of the powerful Finance Committee and the top posts on other committees would be split between Democrats and Republicans.
Skelos has even offered nearly $6 million in extra funding for the Finance Committee and greater autonomy for all committees.
"Think of a real coalition," said one person involved in the talks. "That's never happened before in Albany."
The Skelos plan would still leave him and the Republicans in charge of the Senate - something Gov. Paterson and the other Democrats are expected to vigorously oppose.
Even if the plan falls through, the rebels still hold the decisive votes for either side.
Until now, the three have raised a hodgepodge of reasons for their vehement opposition to Smith.
Diaz and Espada have blasted the lack of Hispanic leaders in top state posts under Paterson and what they claim is Smith's insensitivity to the Hispanic community. They point to Smith's support of Mayor Bloomberg, who was then a Republican, for reelection against Bronx Democrat Fernando Ferrer.
Others dismiss the "Hispanic card" as pure opportunism.
"Wasn't it Ruben Diaz and his son who just backed a successful movement to oust Jose Rivera, the state's only Hispanic Democratic county leader, from his post?" said one Bronx official. "What kind of Latino empowerment is that?"
The mastermind of the rebellion has been Kruger, a conservative Democrat whose campaign coffers are flush with cash - much of it from the real estate industry. He, Diaz and Espada have met privately with Paterson twice and talked with him frequently by phone.
The governor has agreed to meet them because he is increasingly frustrated with Smith's inability to resolve the crisis, the Paterson camp says.
Pressure has mounted on Paterson to make a major appointment of a Hispanic to a statewide post - either U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate or Senior Judge Carmen Ciparick, the only Hispanic jurist on the Court of Appeals, to replace Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who will retire at the end of next month.
"If this thing drags out much longer, you could see Democrats breaking away from Malcolm and looking for another Democratic candidate for majority leader," said one powerful lawmaker who has the governor's ear.
jgonzalez@nydailynews.com
Hispanics in Alaska present challenges
As Hispanic community grows, schools adapt to meet student needs
by Leyla Santiago November 27, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- If schools are a reflection of society, then it should be no surprise that Anchorage schools are becoming more diverse every year.
Children from non-English speaking families are filling seats in classrooms during the day and going home to a different world at night.
It's a challenge for families and schools to communicate and address the student's needs.
At Tudor Elementary, no child is the same. You'll find unique talents, different quirks, and very different backgrounds.
"We have about 67 percent of our students that are of an ethnicity other than Caucasian," said Michelle Prince, Tudor Elementary principal.
And according to the latest statistics from the Anchorage School District, almost a tenth of students district-wide are Hispanic.
Since 1988, Hispanics have been the fastest growing ethnic group in the district.
"We do have a large number of Hispanic families and we really want our families -- we want to build connections with our families, build those strong relationships with our families, and that's hard to do when there's a communication barrier," Prince said.
Enter Karim Otaegui, or Miss O, as the students call her. She's the school district's Hispanic cultural liaison.
It's part of program the district started a few years ago to meet the needs of the schools and non-English speaking families.
"I work as a bridge," Otaegui said. "Like a connection between the teachers, the parents and the community."
Otaegui is the link between Tudor Elementary and families like first-grader Amairani Garcia Velazquez's. Like every other student, she studies English.
But she'll likely never use it at home. Her parents speak very little English.
"A lot of the parents don't understand what's happening at the school in a day-to-day basis," Otaegui said.
Everyone agrees that language is the biggest communication barrier. But it's more than just that.
"What are GLEs, the grade level expectations that every grade has," Otaegui said. "They don't know what that means."
Once a month Otaegui meets with parents to give them important information, listen, and give them a voice. She sits in on parent-teacher conferences, monitors student achievement, and even visits the family at home.
In turn, the parents feel more at ease, knowing there's someone to turn to, someone who understands them.
"A large percentage of a student's success is based on their parent involvement," Prince said. "When parents feel comfortable in coming to school, they understand the expectations. They then can reinforce that at home with their kids."
Because while children may be learning in a completely different environment from their parents, success is just as important.
"I look at it as this is the way you make a mark in the world and help make a difference in kids' and families' lives," Otaegui said.
Contact Leyla Santiago at lsantiago@ktuu.com
by Leyla Santiago November 27, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- If schools are a reflection of society, then it should be no surprise that Anchorage schools are becoming more diverse every year.
Children from non-English speaking families are filling seats in classrooms during the day and going home to a different world at night.
It's a challenge for families and schools to communicate and address the student's needs.
At Tudor Elementary, no child is the same. You'll find unique talents, different quirks, and very different backgrounds.
"We have about 67 percent of our students that are of an ethnicity other than Caucasian," said Michelle Prince, Tudor Elementary principal.
And according to the latest statistics from the Anchorage School District, almost a tenth of students district-wide are Hispanic.
Since 1988, Hispanics have been the fastest growing ethnic group in the district.
"We do have a large number of Hispanic families and we really want our families -- we want to build connections with our families, build those strong relationships with our families, and that's hard to do when there's a communication barrier," Prince said.
Enter Karim Otaegui, or Miss O, as the students call her. She's the school district's Hispanic cultural liaison.
It's part of program the district started a few years ago to meet the needs of the schools and non-English speaking families.
"I work as a bridge," Otaegui said. "Like a connection between the teachers, the parents and the community."
Otaegui is the link between Tudor Elementary and families like first-grader Amairani Garcia Velazquez's. Like every other student, she studies English.
But she'll likely never use it at home. Her parents speak very little English.
"A lot of the parents don't understand what's happening at the school in a day-to-day basis," Otaegui said.
Everyone agrees that language is the biggest communication barrier. But it's more than just that.
"What are GLEs, the grade level expectations that every grade has," Otaegui said. "They don't know what that means."
Once a month Otaegui meets with parents to give them important information, listen, and give them a voice. She sits in on parent-teacher conferences, monitors student achievement, and even visits the family at home.
In turn, the parents feel more at ease, knowing there's someone to turn to, someone who understands them.
"A large percentage of a student's success is based on their parent involvement," Prince said. "When parents feel comfortable in coming to school, they understand the expectations. They then can reinforce that at home with their kids."
Because while children may be learning in a completely different environment from their parents, success is just as important.
"I look at it as this is the way you make a mark in the world and help make a difference in kids' and families' lives," Otaegui said.
Contact Leyla Santiago at lsantiago@ktuu.com
Friday, November 28, 2008
Hispanic Groups urge Obama to address digital divide
National Hispanic Groups Urge President-elect Obama to Decrease the Digital Divide and Advance ‘minority media ownership’ in New Administration
'President-elect Obama must make Diversity of Voices a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans.’
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC (CapitalWirePR) November 28, 2008 – Leading national Hispanic organizations this week called on President-elect Obama to make enhancing minority access to digital opportunities and media ownership an early priority of his new administration. In a joint statement sent to the transition team, the ASPIRA Association, Inc., Latinos in Science and Technology Association (LISTA), Cuban National Council (CNC), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), and National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) outlined actions the new president must take, including affordable high-speed access, creation of minority media ownership opportunities through DTV sublicensing, and capacity set-asides on all multi-channel video platforms for national non-profit minority controlled broadcasters.
The statement calls on a four point media agenda:
1) Ensuring that the transition to digital television (DTV) creates new opportunities for minority ownership. Minority owned and controlled entities should be permitted to hold commercial and non-profit licenses for sufficient bandwidth to accommodate single streams of programming which are also required to be carried on multi-channel video services.
2) Creating a capacity set-aside on all multi-channel video platforms for minority owned and controlled non-profit entities that are not owned or controlled by a broadcast, satellite or cable interest.
3) Making ‘Diversity of Voices’ a key factor in all Communications. When considering mergers, spin-offs, license transfers and eligibility for public broadcasting funds, policymakers should move to policies which enhance diversity of voices from multiple sources in all media.
4) Embracing a national policy of affordable high speed internet. Lack of broadband availability exists in alarming frequency in America's urban and rural communities.
The groups urged President-elect Obama to examine the current landscape that through corporate consolidation and brand extensions have concentrated power in a small number of media giants.
“Today there is little opportunity for growth of new and emerging minority-owned broadcast, satellite and cable programmers,” said Ronald Blackburn, CEO of ASPIRA. “President-elect Obama must make ‘Diversity of Voices’ a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans. Unless serious efforts are undertaken to create an antidote to media consolidation, we risk having our community’s image, culture and its first amendment rights in the hands of a very few corporate powerhouses.”
During the campaign, then-Senator Obama advocated for reduced length of television station licenses and more diversity in ownership of broadcast media. In a written statement to the Federal Communications Commission, a spokesperson for then-Senator Obama expressed the candidate's positions favoring shorter license renewal terms for broadcasters so that they would be subject to more public scrutiny, as well as criticizing the FCC for allowing broadcast consolidation.
“The election of President Obama is an opportunity for a fundamental change in the way children, public schools, and low-income communities are being prepared for the 21st Century,” said LISTA National President, Jose Marquez. “Our country lags behind other nations in broadband deployment in an ever-changing global economy. President-elect Obama must take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology.”
Guarione M. Diaz, President and CEO of the Cuban National Council adds, “Media ownership by U.S .Hispanics is an important component of our community growth and prosperity. Moreover, access to educational programming by non profits will complement the learning process of Hispanic children, and in some cases play a unique role in the development of a healthy identity. Hispanic owned or controlled media will be an important step in the narrowing of the current digital divide affecting U.S. Hispanics.”
Additional information about the statement can be obtained from the six leading Hispanic organizations listed below.
About the ASPIRA Association, Inc. (ASPIRA)
The ASPIRA Association, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization devoted to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Latino youth. The ASPIRA Association promotes the empowerment of the Puerto Rican and Latino community by developing and nurturing the leadership, intellectual, and cultural potential of its youth so that they may contribute their skills and dedication to the fullest development of the Puerto Rican and Latino community everywhere. Presently, ASPIRA serves over 25,000 students each year in over 400 schools, through its core activity, the Aspira Clubs. The Aspira Association's Web site is located at www.aspira.org.
About the Latino in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA)
LISTA (www.a-lista.org ) promotes the utilization of the technology sectors for the empowerment of the Latino community. We are an organization that is committed to bringing various elements of Technology under one central hub to facilitate our partners, members and the community with the leverage and education they need to succeed in a highly advanced technologically driven society. LISTA Mission is to educate, motivate and encourage the use of technology in the Latino community and empowering them to bridge the digital divide. LISTA believes in "justice and access for all" LISTA counts on its 3,500 National members and 12 chapters from NY to California committed to the closure of the digital divide.
About the Cuban American National Council (CNC)
CNC has pioneered alternative education models in South Florida and helps provide affordable housing to low-income elderly people across the United States. To date, the non-profit CNC has helped more than 3,500 at-risk students remain in school, made 36,800 direct job placements; created more than 4,400 new jobs; awarded over 85 internships to needy students; published more than 60 policy papers and books, and built new housing units for 1,700 persons of low and moderate income. To learn more, visit http://www.cnc.org.
About the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) was established in 1986 with a founding membership of 18 institutions. Today, HACU represents approximately 450 colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain and Portugal. HACU is the only national association that represents Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Recently, HACU was named one of the nation’s top Hispanic non-profits by Hispanic Business magazine (May 2008). HACU is committed to assuring higher education access and success for Hispanic students. For more information, please visit www.hacu.net.
About the Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly (IPR/HE)
The Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly (IPR/HE) is the largest Hispanic nonprofit organization serving the Hispanic and other ethnic/racial minority seniors and their families in New York City. The Institute was founded in 1978 and incorporated in 1979 in the state of New York as a nonprofit organization under IRS Code Section 501 (c)(3). The Institute is also home to the dynamic Hispanic Senior Action Council with over 5000 members and a network of over 100,000 participants. In addition, the Institute founded the Minority Aging Defense Council, co-founded the Hispanic Aids Forum, and sponsors the Coalition of Hispanic Service Providers. For more information, please visit www.iprhe.org.
About the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA)
Established in 1994 in Washington, DC, the National Hispanic Medical Association is a non-profit association representing 36,000 licensed Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics and other underserved populations. As a rapidly growing national resource based in the nation's capital, NHMA provides policymakers and health care providers with expert information and support in strengthening health service delivery to Hispanic communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.nhmamd.org.
'President-elect Obama must make Diversity of Voices a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans.’
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC (CapitalWirePR) November 28, 2008 – Leading national Hispanic organizations this week called on President-elect Obama to make enhancing minority access to digital opportunities and media ownership an early priority of his new administration. In a joint statement sent to the transition team, the ASPIRA Association, Inc., Latinos in Science and Technology Association (LISTA), Cuban National Council (CNC), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), and National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) outlined actions the new president must take, including affordable high-speed access, creation of minority media ownership opportunities through DTV sublicensing, and capacity set-asides on all multi-channel video platforms for national non-profit minority controlled broadcasters.
The statement calls on a four point media agenda:
1) Ensuring that the transition to digital television (DTV) creates new opportunities for minority ownership. Minority owned and controlled entities should be permitted to hold commercial and non-profit licenses for sufficient bandwidth to accommodate single streams of programming which are also required to be carried on multi-channel video services.
2) Creating a capacity set-aside on all multi-channel video platforms for minority owned and controlled non-profit entities that are not owned or controlled by a broadcast, satellite or cable interest.
3) Making ‘Diversity of Voices’ a key factor in all Communications. When considering mergers, spin-offs, license transfers and eligibility for public broadcasting funds, policymakers should move to policies which enhance diversity of voices from multiple sources in all media.
4) Embracing a national policy of affordable high speed internet. Lack of broadband availability exists in alarming frequency in America's urban and rural communities.
The groups urged President-elect Obama to examine the current landscape that through corporate consolidation and brand extensions have concentrated power in a small number of media giants.
“Today there is little opportunity for growth of new and emerging minority-owned broadcast, satellite and cable programmers,” said Ronald Blackburn, CEO of ASPIRA. “President-elect Obama must make ‘Diversity of Voices’ a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans. Unless serious efforts are undertaken to create an antidote to media consolidation, we risk having our community’s image, culture and its first amendment rights in the hands of a very few corporate powerhouses.”
During the campaign, then-Senator Obama advocated for reduced length of television station licenses and more diversity in ownership of broadcast media. In a written statement to the Federal Communications Commission, a spokesperson for then-Senator Obama expressed the candidate's positions favoring shorter license renewal terms for broadcasters so that they would be subject to more public scrutiny, as well as criticizing the FCC for allowing broadcast consolidation.
“The election of President Obama is an opportunity for a fundamental change in the way children, public schools, and low-income communities are being prepared for the 21st Century,” said LISTA National President, Jose Marquez. “Our country lags behind other nations in broadband deployment in an ever-changing global economy. President-elect Obama must take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology.”
Guarione M. Diaz, President and CEO of the Cuban National Council adds, “Media ownership by U.S .Hispanics is an important component of our community growth and prosperity. Moreover, access to educational programming by non profits will complement the learning process of Hispanic children, and in some cases play a unique role in the development of a healthy identity. Hispanic owned or controlled media will be an important step in the narrowing of the current digital divide affecting U.S. Hispanics.”
Additional information about the statement can be obtained from the six leading Hispanic organizations listed below.
About the ASPIRA Association, Inc. (ASPIRA)
The ASPIRA Association, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization devoted to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Latino youth. The ASPIRA Association promotes the empowerment of the Puerto Rican and Latino community by developing and nurturing the leadership, intellectual, and cultural potential of its youth so that they may contribute their skills and dedication to the fullest development of the Puerto Rican and Latino community everywhere. Presently, ASPIRA serves over 25,000 students each year in over 400 schools, through its core activity, the Aspira Clubs. The Aspira Association's Web site is located at www.aspira.org.
About the Latino in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA)
LISTA (www.a-lista.org
About the Cuban American National Council (CNC)
CNC has pioneered alternative education models in South Florida and helps provide affordable housing to low-income elderly people across the United States. To date, the non-profit CNC has helped more than 3,500 at-risk students remain in school, made 36,800 direct job placements; created more than 4,400 new jobs; awarded over 85 internships to needy students; published more than 60 policy papers and books, and built new housing units for 1,700 persons of low and moderate income. To learn more, visit http://www.cnc.org.
About the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) was established in 1986 with a founding membership of 18 institutions. Today, HACU represents approximately 450 colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain and Portugal. HACU is the only national association that represents Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Recently, HACU was named one of the nation’s top Hispanic non-profits by Hispanic Business magazine (May 2008). HACU is committed to assuring higher education access and success for Hispanic students. For more information, please visit www.hacu.net.
About the Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly (IPR/HE)
The Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly (IPR/HE) is the largest Hispanic nonprofit organization serving the Hispanic and other ethnic/racial minority seniors and their families in New York City. The Institute was founded in 1978 and incorporated in 1979 in the state of New York as a nonprofit organization under IRS Code Section 501 (c)(3). The Institute is also home to the dynamic Hispanic Senior Action Council with over 5000 members and a network of over 100,000 participants. In addition, the Institute founded the Minority Aging Defense Council, co-founded the Hispanic Aids Forum, and sponsors the Coalition of Hispanic Service Providers. For more information, please visit www.iprhe.org.
About the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA)
Established in 1994 in Washington, DC, the National Hispanic Medical Association is a non-profit association representing 36,000 licensed Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics and other underserved populations. As a rapidly growing national resource based in the nation's capital, NHMA provides policymakers and health care providers with expert information and support in strengthening health service delivery to Hispanic communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.nhmamd.org.
Hispanic Cultural Center makes changes
Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho announces changes
Idaho Press-Tribune Staff newsroom@idahopress.com
NAMPA - The Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho has announced the appointment of Juan J. Saldana to its Board of Directors. Saldana, of Nampa, is currently employed at the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs. He is a former president of IMAGE de Idaho and former co-chair of the Hispanic Issues Training Conference.
Center offers community events
The cultural center has a special community event planned, plus several on-going programs.
* El Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Candles) will be celebrated on Dec. 13 at the center, located at 315 Stampede Drive in Nampa. El Dia de las Velitas is one of the most observed and celebrated holidays of Colombia, organizers said. The day also marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season for its celebrants.
* The Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho will also host the 1st Annual Noche de Gala on New Year's Eve. The gala will have food, entertainment, a silent auction and door prizes. For tickets, please contact Marcel Lopez at 442-0823.
* Ongoing programs include free workshops on business basics and how to finance your small business, offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The agency also provides free consultations.
* Offered regularly are Spanish classes by Gail LeBow.
In addition, the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho has formed an advisory board. The advisory board was formed to help further the center's continued success.
Inaugural members of the advisory board include Leo Puga, who will serve as an advisor on business operations. Rosio Gonzales will serve as a grant writing advisor, and Maria Salazar will serve as grant proposal advisor.
"The vast experience and success that each advisory board member brings with them allows the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho to carry on with its commitment to recognize, celebrate and preserve Latino arts, heritage, culture and values," Saldana said in a prepared statement.
For more information about any of the special events or on-going programs, call 442-0823 or e-mail adminassistant@hccidaho.org.
Idaho Press-Tribune Staff newsroom@idahopress.com
NAMPA - The Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho has announced the appointment of Juan J. Saldana to its Board of Directors. Saldana, of Nampa, is currently employed at the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs. He is a former president of IMAGE de Idaho and former co-chair of the Hispanic Issues Training Conference.
Center offers community events
The cultural center has a special community event planned, plus several on-going programs.
* El Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Candles) will be celebrated on Dec. 13 at the center, located at 315 Stampede Drive in Nampa. El Dia de las Velitas is one of the most observed and celebrated holidays of Colombia, organizers said. The day also marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season for its celebrants.
* The Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho will also host the 1st Annual Noche de Gala on New Year's Eve. The gala will have food, entertainment, a silent auction and door prizes. For tickets, please contact Marcel Lopez at 442-0823.
* Ongoing programs include free workshops on business basics and how to finance your small business, offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The agency also provides free consultations.
* Offered regularly are Spanish classes by Gail LeBow.
In addition, the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho has formed an advisory board. The advisory board was formed to help further the center's continued success.
Inaugural members of the advisory board include Leo Puga, who will serve as an advisor on business operations. Rosio Gonzales will serve as a grant writing advisor, and Maria Salazar will serve as grant proposal advisor.
"The vast experience and success that each advisory board member brings with them allows the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho to carry on with its commitment to recognize, celebrate and preserve Latino arts, heritage, culture and values," Saldana said in a prepared statement.
For more information about any of the special events or on-going programs, call 442-0823 or e-mail adminassistant@hccidaho.org.
Hispanic exhibition showcases Mexico's revolution
'Bold Caballeros y Noble Bandidas' at the Autry National Center of the America West
The exhibition showcases the art inspired by Mexico's revolutionary days and ideals.
By Yvonne Villarreal LA Times November 30, 2008
A framed poster of Leo Carrillo starring as Mexican caballero Francisco "Pancho" Villa in the 1950 film "Pancho Villa Returns" rests, in all its pristine splendor, on a cobalt wall. Tag lines such as "The man who made history with cyclonic fury!" and "The Robin Hood of Mexico" are splashed across the bill, luring potential viewers to witness Villa as a paragon of virtue. But this is not a theater revisiting the golden age of Mexican cinema. The poster is part of the exhibition "Bold Caballeros y Noble Bandidas" at the Autry National Center of the America West.
The show, on view through May 10 and co-presented by Arizona State University's Hispanic Research Center, explores relations between the U.S. and its neighbor to the south after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the evolution of Mexican pop culture that resulted.
"The Mexican Revolution really created a cast of social heroes," said Jonathan Spaulding, the museum's chief curator. "This exhibit takes that idea and examines how these bandit heroes made their way into pop culture and the public's consciousness, both in the past and even today." The legends surrounding towering figures such as Emiliano Zapata, Joaquin Murrieta(sometimes called "the Mexican Robin Hood") and Villa are palpable throughout the maze-like space. They and other caballeros became symbols of resistance to the U.S. occupation of lands that once belonged to Mexico. And their mystique inspired a robust anthology of film, art, folklore, music and literature that still shapes the identity of the borderlands.
"Most people's understanding of the West is pretty limited," Spaulding said. "It's not all John Wayne movies."
Walls burst with film posters, artwork, costumes, comic books and children's toys -- whether from films based on actual bandits such as 1957's "El Secreto de Pancho Villa," a 1950 wooden hobbyhorse based on fictitious hero the Cisco Kid or the 1999 serigraph"Tierra-O Muerte," in which Edward Gonzales illustrates the land struggles of the American Southwest by showing a rifle-toting Zapata outside the village of Tierra Amarilla, N.M. Music inspired by the folk heroes, such as War's 1972 song "The Cisco Kid" ("Cisco Kid was a friend of mine / He drank whiskey / Pancho'd drink the wine"), serves as a soundtrack.
Although the show focuses on testosterone-fueled caballeros, it also delves into a shift in female cultural norms, making the case that the revolution served as a catalyst in the emancipation of subservient Mexican women, said Gary D. Keller, director of the Hispanic Research Center and co-curator of the exhibit. Women took on new roles as colonels, outlaws and revolutionaries, even on the big screen. After the revolution's end in 1920, heroines often complemented the heroic male outlaws with aggressive roles, such as those of siren María Félix and Barbara Britton, famous for her role as the fictional Bandit Queen.
Inside the exhibition space, a montage of black-and-white snippets from films starring Félix plays on a loop, with Spanish subtitles. Félix, considered the Marilyn Monroe in the golden era of Mexican cinema, often used her smoldering sexuality to offset machismo. But the vigor of Félix and her femme fatale contemporaries wasn't confined to the screen; they also inspired artwork for decades to come.
Hector Silva's "María Félix With Rifle" (2002) shows Félix with a rebozo draped over her head and clutching a rifle against her chest. Her right eyebrow, perfectly shaped, is arched; her lips meet to form a slight grin. And in the 1991 serigraph "Adelita," George Yepes depicts an ivory-skinned woman, hands crossed, gripping pistols pointing upward. Her delicate facial features offset her masculine physique.
With the lasting effect of the myths surrounding these symbols of the revolution, it's no surprise that the exhibition blends the theme with the Day of the Dead to signify the deceased and living commingling.
Eduardo Oropeza's silk-screen print "Héchale," for example, depicts mustachioed skeletons in a mariachi band, each wearing a stylized, colorful sombrero. In José Guadalupe Posada's "Female Calavera With Hat," a female skeleton grins brashly beneath a plumed hat.
"It would be hard to do a show like this, and give it justice, without blending it with the Day of the Dead," Keller said. "The folklore surrounding the outlaws lives on."
Villarreal is a Times staff writer yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com
The exhibition showcases the art inspired by Mexico's revolutionary days and ideals.
By Yvonne Villarreal LA Times November 30, 2008
A framed poster of Leo Carrillo starring as Mexican caballero Francisco "Pancho" Villa in the 1950 film "Pancho Villa Returns" rests, in all its pristine splendor, on a cobalt wall. Tag lines such as "The man who made history with cyclonic fury!" and "The Robin Hood of Mexico" are splashed across the bill, luring potential viewers to witness Villa as a paragon of virtue. But this is not a theater revisiting the golden age of Mexican cinema. The poster is part of the exhibition "Bold Caballeros y Noble Bandidas" at the Autry National Center of the America West.
The show, on view through May 10 and co-presented by Arizona State University's Hispanic Research Center, explores relations between the U.S. and its neighbor to the south after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the evolution of Mexican pop culture that resulted.
"The Mexican Revolution really created a cast of social heroes," said Jonathan Spaulding, the museum's chief curator. "This exhibit takes that idea and examines how these bandit heroes made their way into pop culture and the public's consciousness, both in the past and even today." The legends surrounding towering figures such as Emiliano Zapata, Joaquin Murrieta(sometimes called "the Mexican Robin Hood") and Villa are palpable throughout the maze-like space. They and other caballeros became symbols of resistance to the U.S. occupation of lands that once belonged to Mexico. And their mystique inspired a robust anthology of film, art, folklore, music and literature that still shapes the identity of the borderlands.
"Most people's understanding of the West is pretty limited," Spaulding said. "It's not all John Wayne movies."
Walls burst with film posters, artwork, costumes, comic books and children's toys -- whether from films based on actual bandits such as 1957's "El Secreto de Pancho Villa," a 1950 wooden hobbyhorse based on fictitious hero the Cisco Kid or the 1999 serigraph"Tierra-O Muerte," in which Edward Gonzales illustrates the land struggles of the American Southwest by showing a rifle-toting Zapata outside the village of Tierra Amarilla, N.M. Music inspired by the folk heroes, such as War's 1972 song "The Cisco Kid" ("Cisco Kid was a friend of mine / He drank whiskey / Pancho'd drink the wine"), serves as a soundtrack.
Although the show focuses on testosterone-fueled caballeros, it also delves into a shift in female cultural norms, making the case that the revolution served as a catalyst in the emancipation of subservient Mexican women, said Gary D. Keller, director of the Hispanic Research Center and co-curator of the exhibit. Women took on new roles as colonels, outlaws and revolutionaries, even on the big screen. After the revolution's end in 1920, heroines often complemented the heroic male outlaws with aggressive roles, such as those of siren María Félix and Barbara Britton, famous for her role as the fictional Bandit Queen.
Inside the exhibition space, a montage of black-and-white snippets from films starring Félix plays on a loop, with Spanish subtitles. Félix, considered the Marilyn Monroe in the golden era of Mexican cinema, often used her smoldering sexuality to offset machismo. But the vigor of Félix and her femme fatale contemporaries wasn't confined to the screen; they also inspired artwork for decades to come.
Hector Silva's "María Félix With Rifle" (2002) shows Félix with a rebozo draped over her head and clutching a rifle against her chest. Her right eyebrow, perfectly shaped, is arched; her lips meet to form a slight grin. And in the 1991 serigraph "Adelita," George Yepes depicts an ivory-skinned woman, hands crossed, gripping pistols pointing upward. Her delicate facial features offset her masculine physique.
With the lasting effect of the myths surrounding these symbols of the revolution, it's no surprise that the exhibition blends the theme with the Day of the Dead to signify the deceased and living commingling.
Eduardo Oropeza's silk-screen print "Héchale," for example, depicts mustachioed skeletons in a mariachi band, each wearing a stylized, colorful sombrero. In José Guadalupe Posada's "Female Calavera With Hat," a female skeleton grins brashly beneath a plumed hat.
"It would be hard to do a show like this, and give it justice, without blending it with the Day of the Dead," Keller said. "The folklore surrounding the outlaws lives on."
Villarreal is a Times staff writer yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com
Latina claims voting rights were violated
County sued for lack of Spanish-language ballot
Related Content
The Associated Press
DELTONA, Fla. -- A Deltona woman has sued Volusia County elections officials, saying her voting rights were violated because they failed to provide a Spanish-language ballot.
Crimilda Perez-Santiago says the county discriminated against Hispanic voters and denied them the ability to effectively participate in the political process.
County attorneys filed a motion last week to dismiss the suit. Assistant County Attorney Nancye Jones says the county doesn't meet the threshold of 5 percent of residents with limited English language abilities, which would require a bilingual ballot. She added that bilingual poll workers were available at predominantly Hispanic precincts.
Related Content
The Associated Press
DELTONA, Fla. -- A Deltona woman has sued Volusia County elections officials, saying her voting rights were violated because they failed to provide a Spanish-language ballot.
Crimilda Perez-Santiago says the county discriminated against Hispanic voters and denied them the ability to effectively participate in the political process.
County attorneys filed a motion last week to dismiss the suit. Assistant County Attorney Nancye Jones says the county doesn't meet the threshold of 5 percent of residents with limited English language abilities, which would require a bilingual ballot. She added that bilingual poll workers were available at predominantly Hispanic precincts.
Hispanic immigrant calls jail 'home'
Paralyzed man remains behind bars in Broward
After serving his sentence for vehicular homicide, a paraplegic immigrant is stuck in jail because no one else will take him in.
BY AMY SHERMAN AND JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA asherman@MiamiHerald.com
Enrique Reyes' immigrant tale is familiar: He grew up in a tightknit family in Cuba with dreams of one day helping his parents. He traveled from Texas to Miami, working in a pipe factory, making friends and dating.
Yet his journey veered abruptly on Aug. 5, 2006, when Reyes, driving after a night of drinking, slammed into another car, killing one of his best friends and leaving him paralyzed.
Today Reyes, 30, is in a permanent holding pattern, stuck in a Broward County jail though he has already served his sentence for vehicular homicide. He is unable to leave for one reason: No one will take the paralyzed, undocumented immigrant.
''They are agreeing to hold him for violation of probation, but he hasn't violated probation,'' said his public defender, Jose Reyes, no relation. ``That is the fiction we are holding him under. He can get out tonight if a halfway house is willing to take care of a paraplegic. He is only being held there because there is no place to go.''
PUBLIC PAYS TAB
So while he remains locked up, the public pays the tab, raising questions about whether jail cells should be used as little more than a safety net for those unable to find a permanent home.
Reyes' journey to the United States began in 2002 when he received a visa and moved to Houston. He loved Texas, but yearned for reminders of his Cuban heritage. The perfect place to find that, he thought, was Miami.
''I missed seeing people who shared my same identity,'' he said, telling his story from the North Broward Jail in Pompano Beach. ``I wanted to eat frijoles and walk into a place like Sedano's where people were talking about Cuba.''
In August 2003, Reyes arrived in South Florida. He rented an apartment in Hialeah and landed a job installing kitchen cabinets. After paying for rent, his car and groceries, Reyes sent the rest of his earnings home to Cuba.
Life was good.
But on Aug. 5, 2006, he made a bad choice.
The previous night, his friend Rolando Sabatier had stopped by Reyes' apartment with a case of beer and keys to his new car. They guzzled a few beers and went out for a night of shooting pool. At about 6 a.m., they stopped for breakfast at a Broward McDonald's.
Sabatier was too tired to drive and handed the keys to Reyes, who headed south on Interstate 95. What happened next is a blur for Reyes.
''I don't remember anything,'' he said.
Police say Reyes was southbound in Deerfield Beach when he drifted into another lane and collided with another vehicle.
Reyes woke up at North Broward Medical Center, surrounded by doctors.
''I couldn't feel my legs,'' he recalled.
Reyes asked about Sabatier. Doctors told him he didn't make it.
He felt numb. Not only had one of his closest friends died, but Reyes knew his life would not be the same.
For the next nine months, he lived at the hospital, learning to use a wheelchair and to go to the bathroom using a bag attached to his body. ''I cried a lot,'' he said. ``All I could do was think about it.''
Reyes was charged with vehicular homicide, possession of cocaine and operating a vehicle without a valid license. He pleaded no contest. In February, Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold granted a downward departure and sentenced him to five years probation.
In explaining his decision, court records show, Gold said Reyes didn't have any significant criminal history, showed remorse for killing his friend and was paralyzed. The victim's family didn't oppose the light sentence.
After serving his sentence for vehicular homicide, a paraplegic immigrant is stuck in jail because no one else will take him in.
BY AMY SHERMAN AND JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA asherman@MiamiHerald.com
Enrique Reyes' immigrant tale is familiar: He grew up in a tightknit family in Cuba with dreams of one day helping his parents. He traveled from Texas to Miami, working in a pipe factory, making friends and dating.
Yet his journey veered abruptly on Aug. 5, 2006, when Reyes, driving after a night of drinking, slammed into another car, killing one of his best friends and leaving him paralyzed.
Today Reyes, 30, is in a permanent holding pattern, stuck in a Broward County jail though he has already served his sentence for vehicular homicide. He is unable to leave for one reason: No one will take the paralyzed, undocumented immigrant.
''They are agreeing to hold him for violation of probation, but he hasn't violated probation,'' said his public defender, Jose Reyes, no relation. ``That is the fiction we are holding him under. He can get out tonight if a halfway house is willing to take care of a paraplegic. He is only being held there because there is no place to go.''
PUBLIC PAYS TAB
So while he remains locked up, the public pays the tab, raising questions about whether jail cells should be used as little more than a safety net for those unable to find a permanent home.
Reyes' journey to the United States began in 2002 when he received a visa and moved to Houston. He loved Texas, but yearned for reminders of his Cuban heritage. The perfect place to find that, he thought, was Miami.
''I missed seeing people who shared my same identity,'' he said, telling his story from the North Broward Jail in Pompano Beach. ``I wanted to eat frijoles and walk into a place like Sedano's where people were talking about Cuba.''
In August 2003, Reyes arrived in South Florida. He rented an apartment in Hialeah and landed a job installing kitchen cabinets. After paying for rent, his car and groceries, Reyes sent the rest of his earnings home to Cuba.
Life was good.
But on Aug. 5, 2006, he made a bad choice.
The previous night, his friend Rolando Sabatier had stopped by Reyes' apartment with a case of beer and keys to his new car. They guzzled a few beers and went out for a night of shooting pool. At about 6 a.m., they stopped for breakfast at a Broward McDonald's.
Sabatier was too tired to drive and handed the keys to Reyes, who headed south on Interstate 95. What happened next is a blur for Reyes.
''I don't remember anything,'' he said.
Police say Reyes was southbound in Deerfield Beach when he drifted into another lane and collided with another vehicle.
Reyes woke up at North Broward Medical Center, surrounded by doctors.
''I couldn't feel my legs,'' he recalled.
Reyes asked about Sabatier. Doctors told him he didn't make it.
He felt numb. Not only had one of his closest friends died, but Reyes knew his life would not be the same.
For the next nine months, he lived at the hospital, learning to use a wheelchair and to go to the bathroom using a bag attached to his body. ''I cried a lot,'' he said. ``All I could do was think about it.''
Reyes was charged with vehicular homicide, possession of cocaine and operating a vehicle without a valid license. He pleaded no contest. In February, Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold granted a downward departure and sentenced him to five years probation.
In explaining his decision, court records show, Gold said Reyes didn't have any significant criminal history, showed remorse for killing his friend and was paralyzed. The victim's family didn't oppose the light sentence.
Latino quarterback is focus of attention
USC quarterback is a cultural icon
MARK SANCHEZ IS THE FOCUS OF LATINO ATTENTION
By Paul Gutierrez pgutierrez@sacbee.com Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
The revelation came as revelations always do – from out of nowhere and with Biblical speed.
"It was my first scrimmage," said Mark Sanchez, USC's junior quarterback. "When I got to the Coliseum, there was this guy wearing a Mexican luchador wrestling mask and he was holding up this huge sign that said 'VIVA SANCHEZ!' That's when it hit me.
"I realized, I need to be careful how to handle this."
Sanchez, Parade Magazine's Player of the Year at Mission Viejo High School, was not merely following in the footsteps of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. He was also a crossover cultural icon for Latinos not only in Los Angeles, but also across the country. And south of the border as well.
Ready or not.
This is what happens when a kid named Sanchez assumes the game's most glamorous position at such an elite school and football powerhouse.
That he is thriving for the No. 6-ranked Trojans (8-1, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) as they face Stanford (5-5, 4-3) in Palo Alto today makes him all the more of an icon at the tender age of 22.
"Mark is a great inspiration to all of us in L.A., but especially for the Latinos that watch collegiate football," actor and activist Edward James Olmos said in an e-mail.
Sanchez was compared to Jim Plunkett early this season, bandied about as a fellow Hispanic Heisman candidate, though that talk has cooled.
Still, Sanchez leads the Pac-10 in passing efficiency (162.2) and total offense (234.3 yards per game). His 2,122 passing yards also lead the conference, and he has completed a league-high 64.8 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Sanchez, whose family emigrated from Zacatecas and Jalisco, is called "Matador" on campus, and the USC band plays the Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' song by the same name in his honor. No wonder Trojan tailgate parties have taken on a Cinco de Mayo feel, what with so many ponchos, sombreros and luchador masks permeating the fiesta.
It's as if Fernandomania is sweeping the Southland again. Difference is, Fern-ando Valenzuela was a rookie from Mexico when he captured the imagination of the national pastime. Sanchez? His is a truly American story.
"My grandfather fought in World War II," Sanchez said, "in the Pacific theater."
His was also among the Chicano families kicked out of Chavez Ravine so Dodger Stadium could be built. Family lore has it his grandfather's home was where second base sits today.
"He became a Giants fan," Sanchez said with a laugh.
What's not a joking matter, though, is the power of persuasion Sanchez wields.
According to a study of Southland schools by Sal Castro, director of the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, just 25 percent of Chicanos who enter college graduate.
"There's a crisis in the community and Sanchez, he's a throwback to Joe Kapp, very much out front with the fact that he's Chicano," Castro said in comparing Sanchez to the former Cal quarterback. "He has the potential to be a tremendous role model."
In fact, author Mario Longoria has found 44 Latino quarterbacks have played in college, Canada and the NFL since 1929, including Tony Romo, Jeff Garcia and Sacramento State's Aaron Garcia.
"It destroys the myth that Mexicanos can't run and play the skill positions," Longoria said. "Sanchez embodies all that. He's a household name now … destined for great things and the Chicanitos (children) are looking up to him.
"Chicanos still have some image issues, some self-esteem problems."
Sanchez has felt the backlash, both on the field and off.
As a freshman, he was arrested for suspicion of sexual assault, but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Last season, filling in for injured starter John David Booty, and after throwing four touchdowns in a 38-0 blowout of Notre Dame, the Internet was awash in criticism of him.
Sanchez had paid tribute to his heritage by wearing a specially designed red, white and green mouthpiece with an eagle on it. A molded replica of Mexico's flag.
"If you celebrate who you are and know who you are," Kapp said, "then it's the other people that have the problem."
It's a lesson taught Sanchez and his older brothers Nick Jr., who played quarterback at Yale, and Brandon, an offensive lineman at DePauw, by their father, Nick, a fireman in Orange County who also played quarterback at East Los Angeles College.
"I'm not trying to offend anyone," said Sanchez, who is learning Spanish. "I'm not trying to make any statements or be political or anything like that. I'm just giving a nod to my heritage.
"More than anything, I need to be what this team needs me to be."
The father recently saw a picture of his son hanging on the wall of a taco stand outside of Ensenada and television stations from Mexico City have come to USC's Heritage Hall to report on him.
"I don't have to do this; I get to do this," Sanchez said. "It's an honor and a privilege."
Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.
MARK SANCHEZ IS THE FOCUS OF LATINO ATTENTION
By Paul Gutierrez pgutierrez@sacbee.com Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
The revelation came as revelations always do – from out of nowhere and with Biblical speed.
"It was my first scrimmage," said Mark Sanchez, USC's junior quarterback. "When I got to the Coliseum, there was this guy wearing a Mexican luchador wrestling mask and he was holding up this huge sign that said 'VIVA SANCHEZ!' That's when it hit me.
"I realized, I need to be careful how to handle this."
Sanchez, Parade Magazine's Player of the Year at Mission Viejo High School, was not merely following in the footsteps of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. He was also a crossover cultural icon for Latinos not only in Los Angeles, but also across the country. And south of the border as well.
Ready or not.
This is what happens when a kid named Sanchez assumes the game's most glamorous position at such an elite school and football powerhouse.
That he is thriving for the No. 6-ranked Trojans (8-1, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) as they face Stanford (5-5, 4-3) in Palo Alto today makes him all the more of an icon at the tender age of 22.
"Mark is a great inspiration to all of us in L.A., but especially for the Latinos that watch collegiate football," actor and activist Edward James Olmos said in an e-mail.
Sanchez was compared to Jim Plunkett early this season, bandied about as a fellow Hispanic Heisman candidate, though that talk has cooled.
Still, Sanchez leads the Pac-10 in passing efficiency (162.2) and total offense (234.3 yards per game). His 2,122 passing yards also lead the conference, and he has completed a league-high 64.8 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Sanchez, whose family emigrated from Zacatecas and Jalisco, is called "Matador" on campus, and the USC band plays the Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' song by the same name in his honor. No wonder Trojan tailgate parties have taken on a Cinco de Mayo feel, what with so many ponchos, sombreros and luchador masks permeating the fiesta.
It's as if Fernandomania is sweeping the Southland again. Difference is, Fern-ando Valenzuela was a rookie from Mexico when he captured the imagination of the national pastime. Sanchez? His is a truly American story.
"My grandfather fought in World War II," Sanchez said, "in the Pacific theater."
His was also among the Chicano families kicked out of Chavez Ravine so Dodger Stadium could be built. Family lore has it his grandfather's home was where second base sits today.
"He became a Giants fan," Sanchez said with a laugh.
What's not a joking matter, though, is the power of persuasion Sanchez wields.
According to a study of Southland schools by Sal Castro, director of the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, just 25 percent of Chicanos who enter college graduate.
"There's a crisis in the community and Sanchez, he's a throwback to Joe Kapp, very much out front with the fact that he's Chicano," Castro said in comparing Sanchez to the former Cal quarterback. "He has the potential to be a tremendous role model."
In fact, author Mario Longoria has found 44 Latino quarterbacks have played in college, Canada and the NFL since 1929, including Tony Romo, Jeff Garcia and Sacramento State's Aaron Garcia.
"It destroys the myth that Mexicanos can't run and play the skill positions," Longoria said. "Sanchez embodies all that. He's a household name now … destined for great things and the Chicanitos (children) are looking up to him.
"Chicanos still have some image issues, some self-esteem problems."
Sanchez has felt the backlash, both on the field and off.
As a freshman, he was arrested for suspicion of sexual assault, but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Last season, filling in for injured starter John David Booty, and after throwing four touchdowns in a 38-0 blowout of Notre Dame, the Internet was awash in criticism of him.
Sanchez had paid tribute to his heritage by wearing a specially designed red, white and green mouthpiece with an eagle on it. A molded replica of Mexico's flag.
"If you celebrate who you are and know who you are," Kapp said, "then it's the other people that have the problem."
It's a lesson taught Sanchez and his older brothers Nick Jr., who played quarterback at Yale, and Brandon, an offensive lineman at DePauw, by their father, Nick, a fireman in Orange County who also played quarterback at East Los Angeles College.
"I'm not trying to offend anyone," said Sanchez, who is learning Spanish. "I'm not trying to make any statements or be political or anything like that. I'm just giving a nod to my heritage.
"More than anything, I need to be what this team needs me to be."
The father recently saw a picture of his son hanging on the wall of a taco stand outside of Ensenada and television stations from Mexico City have come to USC's Heritage Hall to report on him.
"I don't have to do this; I get to do this," Sanchez said. "It's an honor and a privilege."
Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Hispanics losing political power in New York
Bronx Dems. Mark New Era Under Non-Latino Leader
By: Molly Kroon
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Carl Heastie held a rally in Longwood, Bronx, as an orchestrated show of unity and cooperation for the Bronx Democratic Party.
Heastie, who a State Supreme Court judge decided Tuesday is the new leader of the borough's Democratic Party, celebrated the end of a long, bruising battle for power and called for a new era of cooperation.
"People in the borough weren't talking to each other and I think in the end elected officials want to be heard," said Heastie.
Notably absent was Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the man who led the party for the last six years, and his supporters. Rivera succeeded Roberto Ramirez back in 2002, becoming the second Puerto Rican to lead the party.
But Rivera seemed to lose control of the party after some candidates he backed in the last primary lost.
The infighting culminated in a boisterous meeting on September 28, where Rivera and a group of supporters took to the stage in front of hundreds of party members and claimed victory.
Heastie's supporters maintained that so-called victory was unofficial, and in a later vote Heastie won the post. That second vote was the one decided in court.
Questions linger if Rivera's loss signals a larger power vacuum for Latinos. The city's highest-ranking Hispanic official, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, may take a job in Barack Obama's administration.
The dearth of Latino leadership in the state has become the main sticking point for the so-called "Gang of Three," the state senators who have not yet picked a party to back in Albany.
But the new Bronx leadership says all sides will have a seat at the table.
"I think that people are focusing too much on race," said Heastie. "It's about putting together a [coalition] that really works for the people."
"This was never about a Latino leader or an African-American leader," said Bronx Councilwoman Annabel Palma. "This has been about fair and equitable leadership."
But the fight may not be over just yet. A Rivera spokesperson said the defeated assemblyman did not decide Tuesday whether he will appeal the decision.
By: Molly Kroon
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Carl Heastie held a rally in Longwood, Bronx, as an orchestrated show of unity and cooperation for the Bronx Democratic Party.
Heastie, who a State Supreme Court judge decided Tuesday is the new leader of the borough's Democratic Party, celebrated the end of a long, bruising battle for power and called for a new era of cooperation.
"People in the borough weren't talking to each other and I think in the end elected officials want to be heard," said Heastie.
Notably absent was Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the man who led the party for the last six years, and his supporters. Rivera succeeded Roberto Ramirez back in 2002, becoming the second Puerto Rican to lead the party.
But Rivera seemed to lose control of the party after some candidates he backed in the last primary lost.
The infighting culminated in a boisterous meeting on September 28, where Rivera and a group of supporters took to the stage in front of hundreds of party members and claimed victory.
Heastie's supporters maintained that so-called victory was unofficial, and in a later vote Heastie won the post. That second vote was the one decided in court.
Questions linger if Rivera's loss signals a larger power vacuum for Latinos. The city's highest-ranking Hispanic official, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, may take a job in Barack Obama's administration.
The dearth of Latino leadership in the state has become the main sticking point for the so-called "Gang of Three," the state senators who have not yet picked a party to back in Albany.
But the new Bronx leadership says all sides will have a seat at the table.
"I think that people are focusing too much on race," said Heastie. "It's about putting together a [coalition] that really works for the people."
"This was never about a Latino leader or an African-American leader," said Bronx Councilwoman Annabel Palma. "This has been about fair and equitable leadership."
But the fight may not be over just yet. A Rivera spokesperson said the defeated assemblyman did not decide Tuesday whether he will appeal the decision.
Latino Dem Leader joins GOP dominated consulting firm
Fabian Nunez joins Republican-dominated consulting firm
LA Times November 26, 2008
Fabian Nunez Former state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles has found a new job: He will become the Democratic face in California of a Republican-dominated consulting firm, Mercury Public Affairs, after being forced by term limits to leave the Legislature at the end of this month.
After six years in the Legislature, including four as the most influential Assembly leader in recent history, Nunez suggested in a letter to supporters that he would be a valuable asset for clients who deal with state government.
“As I prepare to leave office, it is becoming increasingly clear that what is best about the Legislature are the people you work with and the relationships you build,” he wrote. Known for a youthful charm, Nunez’s ability to build those relationships led to legislative successes and made him a prodigious fundraiser. But he was criticized for using poor judgment in spending tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money on foreign travel, fine wines, expensive meals and luxurious hotel stays.
His new firm has offices nationwide and is run in Sacramento by Republicans tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a consistent Nunez ally. Steve Schmidt, its chief in California, was the consultant at the helm of John McCain’s losing presidential campaign and Schwarzenegger’s successful reelection in 2006. Adam Mendelsohn, another partner, is the governor’s former communications director. Along with former corporate executives, Mercury’s top echelon also features onetime advisers to former Republican Gov. George Pataki of New York.
With a Democrat taking office in the White House and the potential for a Democrat to step into the California statehouse in two years, Nunez, 41, brings Mercury a different kind of background. A gardener’s son who grew up in San Diego, he was political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a lobbyist for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He won the speaker’s post in 2004, two years after his election to the Assembly.
Working with Schwarzenegger, Nunez helped write the nation’s first law restricting greenhouse gas emissions and passed a measure discounting prescription drugs for low-income Californians, among other achievements. His losses were notable as well: A proposal he and the governor championed to broadly extend health insurance to Californians was rejected in January after a year of work. A ballot measure that would have changed the state term limits law and extended his speakership was voted down soon thereafter, leading to Nunez’s replacement as Assembly leader in May by another Angeleno Democrat, Karen Bass.
--Michael Rothfeld
LA Times November 26, 2008
Fabian Nunez Former state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles has found a new job: He will become the Democratic face in California of a Republican-dominated consulting firm, Mercury Public Affairs, after being forced by term limits to leave the Legislature at the end of this month.
After six years in the Legislature, including four as the most influential Assembly leader in recent history, Nunez suggested in a letter to supporters that he would be a valuable asset for clients who deal with state government.
“As I prepare to leave office, it is becoming increasingly clear that what is best about the Legislature are the people you work with and the relationships you build,” he wrote. Known for a youthful charm, Nunez’s ability to build those relationships led to legislative successes and made him a prodigious fundraiser. But he was criticized for using poor judgment in spending tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money on foreign travel, fine wines, expensive meals and luxurious hotel stays.
His new firm has offices nationwide and is run in Sacramento by Republicans tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a consistent Nunez ally. Steve Schmidt, its chief in California, was the consultant at the helm of John McCain’s losing presidential campaign and Schwarzenegger’s successful reelection in 2006. Adam Mendelsohn, another partner, is the governor’s former communications director. Along with former corporate executives, Mercury’s top echelon also features onetime advisers to former Republican Gov. George Pataki of New York.
With a Democrat taking office in the White House and the potential for a Democrat to step into the California statehouse in two years, Nunez, 41, brings Mercury a different kind of background. A gardener’s son who grew up in San Diego, he was political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a lobbyist for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He won the speaker’s post in 2004, two years after his election to the Assembly.
Working with Schwarzenegger, Nunez helped write the nation’s first law restricting greenhouse gas emissions and passed a measure discounting prescription drugs for low-income Californians, among other achievements. His losses were notable as well: A proposal he and the governor championed to broadly extend health insurance to Californians was rejected in January after a year of work. A ballot measure that would have changed the state term limits law and extended his speakership was voted down soon thereafter, leading to Nunez’s replacement as Assembly leader in May by another Angeleno Democrat, Karen Bass.
--Michael Rothfeld
Hispanic immigrants killing has schilling effect across the nation
New York immigrant's killing affects capital-area Latinos
By Susan Ferriss sferriss@sacbee.com Nov. 26, 2008
Horrific news out of suburban New York this month didn't escape Adrian Perez, who lives in Sacramento.
Details keep coming about the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant in Suffolk County, N.Y., and the teenagers charged with attacking him during their day of hate and rage toward Latino immigrants.
Perez, who is Mexican American, posted details about the crime on the Latino Journal, his English-language news blog.
Kevin Johnson, half Mexican American and the dean of the University of California, Davis, Law School, is also following the story, placing news and commentary on an immigration law blog he co-edits.
In workplaces, homes and communication networks, Lucero's killing is big news among Latinos, Perez and Johnson said. And it has ignited concern that years of negative rhetoric targeting Mexican immigrants – combined with an economic downturn – have produced a dangerous atmosphere.
"Unfortunately," Perez said, "it all goes back to the media, and the rhetoric you hear about immigrants on talk radio, the TV shows, from the politicians."
"You're stirring people up. You're getting people angry," Perez said.
He said he understands that there is tension and dismay over illegal immigration.
"I put myself in the shoes of a 75-year-old woman in New York," he said, who fears changes in her community.
But, he adds, "we really need folks to start educating folks on who the (immigrant) population is," he said. "We need to drop the fear."
He pointed specifically at CNN television host Lou Dobbs and others on TV, radio or Web sites who issue harsh opinions and, he said, often untrue remarks about illegal immigrants – blaming them, for example, for causing health insurance and mortgage crises.
Walter Corea, a Nicaraguan immigrant who manages a Ritmo Latino music store in Sacramento, said Lucero's killing made him wonder how much other violence will occur as the economy worsens.
"The problem is when Americans generalize. Yes, there are some immigrants who do come here to do bad things. But really, most don't," he said. "They want to work, and they are mostly in jobs that most Americans don't want."
Johnson, who has written widely about immigration history, recalled eras when immigrants were eagerly used to fill U.S. labor needs and then became victims of lynchings and mass deportations when the economy slowed.
Among other attacks, a Chinese immigrant, he said, was burned at the stake in Chico in the late 19th century during an economic downturn – after Chinese had helped construct the transcontinental railroad.
This summer, in rural Pennsylvania – a region where tensions over an influx of Latino immigrants are high – local teens jumped Mexican Luis Rivera as he was walking with his American fiancée and beat him to death, witnesses say.
On Monday, in response to Lucero's killing, Latino, Asian, Jewish and African American civil rights leaders appeared together in Washington, D.C., to urge civil discussion on resolving illegal immigration.
They highlighted FBI hate crime statistics released in October that show a steady increase in four years in attacks on Latinos.
"Mr. Lucero's death is a direct consequence of the anger and hate spurred on by media outlets that mischaracterize all Latinos," said Janet Murgia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
The rights leaders also criticized political figures in Suffok County and other regions who have urged using local police to raid homes or to interrogate and detain people they suspect are illegal immigrants.
Lucero was killed Nov. 8 by teenagers, prosecutors say, who regularly indulged in a hate-crime sport the boys called "beaner hopping."
Johnson noted that one boy's family claims, in his defense, that because he is half Puerto Rican and half African American, he can't be guilty of hate crimes.
His alleged role in the attacks, Johnson said, "struck me as a disturbing effort to assimilate."
Prosecutors say the accused teens spent Nov. 8 firing a BB gun at one Latino man, beating another and finally assaulting Lucero.
One boy fatally stabbed Lucero and is charged with second-degree murder and hate crimes, authorities say. Six boys have been charged with hate crimes and gang assault.
Call The Bee's Susan Ferriss, (916) 321-1267.
By Susan Ferriss sferriss@sacbee.com Nov. 26, 2008
Horrific news out of suburban New York this month didn't escape Adrian Perez, who lives in Sacramento.
Details keep coming about the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant in Suffolk County, N.Y., and the teenagers charged with attacking him during their day of hate and rage toward Latino immigrants.
Perez, who is Mexican American, posted details about the crime on the Latino Journal, his English-language news blog.
Kevin Johnson, half Mexican American and the dean of the University of California, Davis, Law School, is also following the story, placing news and commentary on an immigration law blog he co-edits.
In workplaces, homes and communication networks, Lucero's killing is big news among Latinos, Perez and Johnson said. And it has ignited concern that years of negative rhetoric targeting Mexican immigrants – combined with an economic downturn – have produced a dangerous atmosphere.
"Unfortunately," Perez said, "it all goes back to the media, and the rhetoric you hear about immigrants on talk radio, the TV shows, from the politicians."
"You're stirring people up. You're getting people angry," Perez said.
He said he understands that there is tension and dismay over illegal immigration.
"I put myself in the shoes of a 75-year-old woman in New York," he said, who fears changes in her community.
But, he adds, "we really need folks to start educating folks on who the (immigrant) population is," he said. "We need to drop the fear."
He pointed specifically at CNN television host Lou Dobbs and others on TV, radio or Web sites who issue harsh opinions and, he said, often untrue remarks about illegal immigrants – blaming them, for example, for causing health insurance and mortgage crises.
Walter Corea, a Nicaraguan immigrant who manages a Ritmo Latino music store in Sacramento, said Lucero's killing made him wonder how much other violence will occur as the economy worsens.
"The problem is when Americans generalize. Yes, there are some immigrants who do come here to do bad things. But really, most don't," he said. "They want to work, and they are mostly in jobs that most Americans don't want."
Johnson, who has written widely about immigration history, recalled eras when immigrants were eagerly used to fill U.S. labor needs and then became victims of lynchings and mass deportations when the economy slowed.
Among other attacks, a Chinese immigrant, he said, was burned at the stake in Chico in the late 19th century during an economic downturn – after Chinese had helped construct the transcontinental railroad.
This summer, in rural Pennsylvania – a region where tensions over an influx of Latino immigrants are high – local teens jumped Mexican Luis Rivera as he was walking with his American fiancée and beat him to death, witnesses say.
On Monday, in response to Lucero's killing, Latino, Asian, Jewish and African American civil rights leaders appeared together in Washington, D.C., to urge civil discussion on resolving illegal immigration.
They highlighted FBI hate crime statistics released in October that show a steady increase in four years in attacks on Latinos.
"Mr. Lucero's death is a direct consequence of the anger and hate spurred on by media outlets that mischaracterize all Latinos," said Janet Murgia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
The rights leaders also criticized political figures in Suffok County and other regions who have urged using local police to raid homes or to interrogate and detain people they suspect are illegal immigrants.
Lucero was killed Nov. 8 by teenagers, prosecutors say, who regularly indulged in a hate-crime sport the boys called "beaner hopping."
Johnson noted that one boy's family claims, in his defense, that because he is half Puerto Rican and half African American, he can't be guilty of hate crimes.
His alleged role in the attacks, Johnson said, "struck me as a disturbing effort to assimilate."
Prosecutors say the accused teens spent Nov. 8 firing a BB gun at one Latino man, beating another and finally assaulting Lucero.
One boy fatally stabbed Lucero and is charged with second-degree murder and hate crimes, authorities say. Six boys have been charged with hate crimes and gang assault.
Call The Bee's Susan Ferriss, (916) 321-1267.
Navarrette: Richardson should be Secretary of State
Opinion: Richardson, not Clinton, should be secretary of state
By Ruben Navarrette Jr. 11/25/2008
Check out this gold-plated résumé: seven-term member of Congress; special envoy to North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan; U.N. ambassador; energy secretary; governor; and five-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
You would think such an overachiever would be a shoo-in for secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration, especially if that person was also a member of a highly sought-after ethnic group that gave two-thirds of its votes to Obama and helped him win four battleground states. And what if that person also happened to be a former presidential candidate who had stuck his neck out to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton and wound up persona non grata among Team Clinton and even likened to "Judas" by ever-loyal Clintonista James Carville?
Finally, what if that person had the backing of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, an association of 26 national and regional Hispanic civil rights and public policy organizations. The NHLA recently sent a letter to President-elect Obama recommending New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as secretary of state. John Trasvina, the group's chairman who also serves as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, wrote: "No one is more qualified to serve as our country's chief diplomat than Gov. Bill Richardson." Board member Janet Murguia, the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, added this about Richardson: "His appointment would send a powerful message to Latinos throughout our country as well as to our neighbors in this hemisphere."
Now I wonder what message it sends that President-elect Obama has apparently passed over Richardson and seems ready to offer the post at state to their former rival, Hillary Clinton. While known the world over from her days as first lady, Clinton doesn't have anywhere near Richardson's level of experience in foreign affairs. Besides, she treated Obama reprehensibly during the primary. Does anyone really think that if Hillary had been elected president that she would be vetting Barack Obama for secretary of state?
After the snub, Richardson turned the other cheek and got slapped again. He is reportedly about to be offered, as a parting gift, a job — secretary of commerce — that someone else turned down. That someone else was Penny Pritzker, the president-elect's chief fundraiser who reportedly was Obama's choice for the post. A billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, Pritzker withdrew her name from consideration.
What a mess. Supporters of both Obama and Richardson, along with a willing media, are spinning like mad to clean it up. They're desperate to convince anyone who will listen that no one was slighted and that everything worked out as planned.
Sadly, that includes those Latinos "leaders" — using the term tentatively — who, just weeks ago, were pressuring Obama to give Richardson an entirely different job.
When I called Trasvina to ask what he thought of recent events, the former Clinton Justice Department official served his disappointment sunny side up.
"Sure, I'm disappointed," Trasvina said. "A lot of people are disappointed. But is Richardson a good fit for the Commerce Department? Yes. And is this a good fit for the community? Yes."
And do you suppose Latino leaders are going easier on a Democrat who ignored them than they would a Republican who did the same? The answer is yes.
Don't fall for the spin. It's humiliating to be second choice for secretary of state. But it is even more humiliating to be second choice for secretary of commerce.
This isn't about Richardson, who might be very happy heading for ribbon cuttings in Toledo while Clinton heads for blue-ribbon summits in Tel Aviv. This is about something larger. Richardson is the nation's only Hispanic governor and the most prominent Hispanic elected official in the country. And the way he was treated doesn't say much about Obama's respect for the Hispanic community. Nor does the fact that Obama seems to have filled his top four Cabinet posts — justice, treasury, defense, and state — and couldn't find a single Hispanic to put in any of them.
America's largest minority took a chance on Obama despite the fact that the president-elect had no track record in reaching out to them and didn't break a sweat trying to win their votes. They deserve better.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
By Ruben Navarrette Jr. 11/25/2008
Check out this gold-plated résumé: seven-term member of Congress; special envoy to North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and Sudan; U.N. ambassador; energy secretary; governor; and five-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
You would think such an overachiever would be a shoo-in for secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration, especially if that person was also a member of a highly sought-after ethnic group that gave two-thirds of its votes to Obama and helped him win four battleground states. And what if that person also happened to be a former presidential candidate who had stuck his neck out to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton and wound up persona non grata among Team Clinton and even likened to "Judas" by ever-loyal Clintonista James Carville?
Finally, what if that person had the backing of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, an association of 26 national and regional Hispanic civil rights and public policy organizations. The NHLA recently sent a letter to President-elect Obama recommending New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as secretary of state. John Trasvina, the group's chairman who also serves as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, wrote: "No one is more qualified to serve as our country's chief diplomat than Gov. Bill Richardson." Board member Janet Murguia, the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, added this about Richardson: "His appointment would send a powerful message to Latinos throughout our country as well as to our neighbors in this hemisphere."
Now I wonder what message it sends that President-elect Obama has apparently passed over Richardson and seems ready to offer the post at state to their former rival, Hillary Clinton. While known the world over from her days as first lady, Clinton doesn't have anywhere near Richardson's level of experience in foreign affairs. Besides, she treated Obama reprehensibly during the primary. Does anyone really think that if Hillary had been elected president that she would be vetting Barack Obama for secretary of state?
After the snub, Richardson turned the other cheek and got slapped again. He is reportedly about to be offered, as a parting gift, a job — secretary of commerce — that someone else turned down. That someone else was Penny Pritzker, the president-elect's chief fundraiser who reportedly was Obama's choice for the post. A billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, Pritzker withdrew her name from consideration.
What a mess. Supporters of both Obama and Richardson, along with a willing media, are spinning like mad to clean it up. They're desperate to convince anyone who will listen that no one was slighted and that everything worked out as planned.
Sadly, that includes those Latinos "leaders" — using the term tentatively — who, just weeks ago, were pressuring Obama to give Richardson an entirely different job.
When I called Trasvina to ask what he thought of recent events, the former Clinton Justice Department official served his disappointment sunny side up.
"Sure, I'm disappointed," Trasvina said. "A lot of people are disappointed. But is Richardson a good fit for the Commerce Department? Yes. And is this a good fit for the community? Yes."
And do you suppose Latino leaders are going easier on a Democrat who ignored them than they would a Republican who did the same? The answer is yes.
Don't fall for the spin. It's humiliating to be second choice for secretary of state. But it is even more humiliating to be second choice for secretary of commerce.
This isn't about Richardson, who might be very happy heading for ribbon cuttings in Toledo while Clinton heads for blue-ribbon summits in Tel Aviv. This is about something larger. Richardson is the nation's only Hispanic governor and the most prominent Hispanic elected official in the country. And the way he was treated doesn't say much about Obama's respect for the Hispanic community. Nor does the fact that Obama seems to have filled his top four Cabinet posts — justice, treasury, defense, and state — and couldn't find a single Hispanic to put in any of them.
America's largest minority took a chance on Obama despite the fact that the president-elect had no track record in reaching out to them and didn't break a sweat trying to win their votes. They deserve better.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Hispanics demonstrate against TV station manager's comments
ABC 30 Reaches Agreement with Hispanic Protesters
By: Monty Torres Nov 25, 2008
Dozens from the valley's large Hispanic community showed up in downtown Fresno on Tuesday.
They were there to demonstrate their displeasure over recent comments made by KFSN/ ABC 30's outgoing General Manager, but also to announce some new agreements.
"I felt it was kind of inappropriate, said Derek Asayas.
The focus? Offensive comments made by KFSN's recently resigned General Manager.
Fresno County Democratic Chair Jose Murillo said, "The purpose of this meeting is to express our regret over the comments made by Bob Hall, who was the General Manager of KFSN."
In Fresno County Superior Court last week, Hall reportedly said he couldn't be a fair juror because of research by KFSN's newsroom which showed a propensity for Hispanic's to commit violent crimes.
Hall later apologized and stated no such research existed---an assertion KFSN management also made clear in separate statements.
But outside ABC 30 studios hispanic leaders said, they want to be sure.
Murillo made clear, "We just want to verify that there is no such research and such a story that is going to be brought by Channel 30."
Murillo also called for an investigation into Hall's possible perjury for making the statement about the research under oath, if there really was no such research.
At Fresno State, Associate Professor of Journalism, Dr. Gary Price added some perspective.
"He probably should have kept his mouth shut." But Price was careful to make a distinction between the conduct of KFSN reporters, anchors, news personnel, and it's former General Manager's slip of the tongue.
"I think most working journalists are professional enough that they really don't need someone to set an example for them because they're going to do the right thing anyway," said Price.
Mr. Hall resigned last Saturday. Regarding the incident, Channel 30 released this statement Tuesday.
'We look forward to continuing to work with them and others as part of our historically strong commitment to covering achievements of the Latino community and serving the needs and interests of our Latino viewers. Action News has always been committed to unbiased reporting and upholds the highest journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy."
Murillo said KFSN has come to several new agreements with hispanic leaders, including an investigation to establish that no research correlating Hispanic ethnicity and propensity to crime had been or was being conducted by the station, and a promise to create a weekly show featuring Hispanics in a positive light.
By: Monty Torres Nov 25, 2008
Dozens from the valley's large Hispanic community showed up in downtown Fresno on Tuesday.
They were there to demonstrate their displeasure over recent comments made by KFSN/ ABC 30's outgoing General Manager, but also to announce some new agreements.
"I felt it was kind of inappropriate, said Derek Asayas.
The focus? Offensive comments made by KFSN's recently resigned General Manager.
Fresno County Democratic Chair Jose Murillo said, "The purpose of this meeting is to express our regret over the comments made by Bob Hall, who was the General Manager of KFSN."
In Fresno County Superior Court last week, Hall reportedly said he couldn't be a fair juror because of research by KFSN's newsroom which showed a propensity for Hispanic's to commit violent crimes.
Hall later apologized and stated no such research existed---an assertion KFSN management also made clear in separate statements.
But outside ABC 30 studios hispanic leaders said, they want to be sure.
Murillo made clear, "We just want to verify that there is no such research and such a story that is going to be brought by Channel 30."
Murillo also called for an investigation into Hall's possible perjury for making the statement about the research under oath, if there really was no such research.
At Fresno State, Associate Professor of Journalism, Dr. Gary Price added some perspective.
"He probably should have kept his mouth shut." But Price was careful to make a distinction between the conduct of KFSN reporters, anchors, news personnel, and it's former General Manager's slip of the tongue.
"I think most working journalists are professional enough that they really don't need someone to set an example for them because they're going to do the right thing anyway," said Price.
Mr. Hall resigned last Saturday. Regarding the incident, Channel 30 released this statement Tuesday.
'We look forward to continuing to work with them and others as part of our historically strong commitment to covering achievements of the Latino community and serving the needs and interests of our Latino viewers. Action News has always been committed to unbiased reporting and upholds the highest journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy."
Murillo said KFSN has come to several new agreements with hispanic leaders, including an investigation to establish that no research correlating Hispanic ethnicity and propensity to crime had been or was being conducted by the station, and a promise to create a weekly show featuring Hispanics in a positive light.
Hispanic appointed to lead embattled Fifth Precinct
New Fifth Precinct commander ready for challenge
BY ANDREW STRICKLER | andrew.strickler@newsda November 26, 2008
Sitting in his office at police headquarters in Yaphank yesterday, Aristides Mojica acknowledged that running a precinct will be a serious challenge.
But Mojica, 50, the department's highest-ranking Hispanic member and newly appointed commander of the embattled Fifth Precinct, also voiced confidence in how the department will deal with the ethnically charged atmosphere in the wake of the stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero.
"You can't assume it's an anomaly, you can't assume it will never happen again. You can't assume that bad behavior is localized to Patchogue," he said.
"The distrust factor is not going to go away with the wave of a magic wand," he said. "When there are requests for service, the service has to be consistently good over a period of time ... and we will make some inroads in the amount of distrust that may exist out in the immigrant community."
Recalling his childhood in the South Bronx as the oldest of five, Mojica, now of Commack, said his roots would inform his outlook.
Mojica's parents and grandparents came to New York City from Puerto Rico in the 1940s, when his grandfather found work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. His mother had office jobs while his father was an MTA train dispatcher.
"Some of the work that [new immigrants] do today ... the restaurant, the dishwasher, working in a hotel, the laundromat, those are all jobs that I know my parents and grandparents had," said Mojica.
Mojica speaks some Spanish but isn't fluent. "It's going to be a challenge, but even if I myself can't pull it off on a consistent basis, we have the resources to make it work," he said.
Killing sparks turmoil
The department - and the Fifth Precinct in particular - has been at the center of a storm of criticism since Lucero was stabbed to death Nov. 8, allegedly at the hands of a white teenager. Police say Jeffrey Conroy, who has been charged with murder, killed Lucero after he and six schoolmates assaulted him. All seven have been charged with hate crimes and have pleaded not guilty.
In the wake of the killing, other Hispanics have come forward, saying they were victims of attacks by at least two of the suspects. Advocacy groups, politicians and victims' families have criticized how police have handled immigrant complaints.
Yesterday, the Hispanic advocacy group Latino Justice, led by Cesar Perales, asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the county broke civil rights laws by downplaying or ignoring attacks on Hispanics.
Dan Aug, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, strongly denied the group's charge.
Building bridges
Mojica had no comment about the politics of his sudden appointment. He said the primary challenge of his new post would be to "take the initiative to cultivate relationships that might not exist" and he will rely on his officers to respond properly to every patrol call.
"Although I'm in a situation to provide the tone, provide the direction, [the current officers] are in a position to help me as well. They know what's going on better than I do. I've barely been there," he said.
After graduating from St. John's University in 1980, Mojica joined the department in 1981 and worked in patrol posts, including a short stint in the Fifth Precinct about eight years ago. He was commanding officer of the First Precinct crime section, 1994 to 1998, and second in command in the Third Precinct, 2003 to 2004. Most recently, he has been with the chief of department in an administrative role he compared to being a chief of staff. He was promoted to full inspector in February 2005.
Staff writers Dave Marcus and Reid J. Epstein contributed to this story.
BY ANDREW STRICKLER | andrew.strickler@newsda November 26, 2008
Sitting in his office at police headquarters in Yaphank yesterday, Aristides Mojica acknowledged that running a precinct will be a serious challenge.
But Mojica, 50, the department's highest-ranking Hispanic member and newly appointed commander of the embattled Fifth Precinct, also voiced confidence in how the department will deal with the ethnically charged atmosphere in the wake of the stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero.
"You can't assume it's an anomaly, you can't assume it will never happen again. You can't assume that bad behavior is localized to Patchogue," he said.
"The distrust factor is not going to go away with the wave of a magic wand," he said. "When there are requests for service, the service has to be consistently good over a period of time ... and we will make some inroads in the amount of distrust that may exist out in the immigrant community."
Recalling his childhood in the South Bronx as the oldest of five, Mojica, now of Commack, said his roots would inform his outlook.
Mojica's parents and grandparents came to New York City from Puerto Rico in the 1940s, when his grandfather found work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. His mother had office jobs while his father was an MTA train dispatcher.
"Some of the work that [new immigrants] do today ... the restaurant, the dishwasher, working in a hotel, the laundromat, those are all jobs that I know my parents and grandparents had," said Mojica.
Mojica speaks some Spanish but isn't fluent. "It's going to be a challenge, but even if I myself can't pull it off on a consistent basis, we have the resources to make it work," he said.
Killing sparks turmoil
The department - and the Fifth Precinct in particular - has been at the center of a storm of criticism since Lucero was stabbed to death Nov. 8, allegedly at the hands of a white teenager. Police say Jeffrey Conroy, who has been charged with murder, killed Lucero after he and six schoolmates assaulted him. All seven have been charged with hate crimes and have pleaded not guilty.
In the wake of the killing, other Hispanics have come forward, saying they were victims of attacks by at least two of the suspects. Advocacy groups, politicians and victims' families have criticized how police have handled immigrant complaints.
Yesterday, the Hispanic advocacy group Latino Justice, led by Cesar Perales, asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the county broke civil rights laws by downplaying or ignoring attacks on Hispanics.
Dan Aug, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, strongly denied the group's charge.
Building bridges
Mojica had no comment about the politics of his sudden appointment. He said the primary challenge of his new post would be to "take the initiative to cultivate relationships that might not exist" and he will rely on his officers to respond properly to every patrol call.
"Although I'm in a situation to provide the tone, provide the direction, [the current officers] are in a position to help me as well. They know what's going on better than I do. I've barely been there," he said.
After graduating from St. John's University in 1980, Mojica joined the department in 1981 and worked in patrol posts, including a short stint in the Fifth Precinct about eight years ago. He was commanding officer of the First Precinct crime section, 1994 to 1998, and second in command in the Third Precinct, 2003 to 2004. Most recently, he has been with the chief of department in an administrative role he compared to being a chief of staff. He was promoted to full inspector in February 2005.
Staff writers Dave Marcus and Reid J. Epstein contributed to this story.
Hispanic Catholics interviewed on PBS
COVER . U.S. Hispanic Catholics
PBS WNET
JUDY VALENTE: Many Catholics have never seen anything like this in their local parish — an Aztec dance honoring the mother of Jesus. It is part of the observance of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary, said to have appeared before the Mexican peasant Juan Diego in the 16th century. This feast day, highly important to Hispanic Catholics, is only vaguely known to much of Catholic America. But it may be a glimpse into the future of the U.S. church.
VALENTE: The distinctive forms of worship and devotion among Hispanic Catholics are practiced not by immigrants alone, but by American-born, English-speaking Hispanics as well. The intensity of their religious expression, and their growing numbers, are changing the face of the U.S. Catholic church. Estimates vary, but the percentage of American Catholics who are Hispanic is anywhere from one-third to 40 percent, and because some Hispanics don’t register in their parishes — the undocumented, for example — some say the figure may be as high as 50 percent. What do Hispanics bring to the American church?
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: Certainly the recognition of the presence of God in day-to-day life, in what we call the “quotidiano” — the everyday, day-in routine, humdrum of life.
VALENTE: This is the home of Martin and Victoria Enciso, Mexican immigrants who belong to Good Shepherd parish on Chicago’s West Side.
Victoria Enciso
VICTORIA ENCISO (Congregant, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Chicago): From the moment you wake up, you kneel like a camel, and I wake up like a camel. You know how a camel wakes up, with both knees? I wake up praying.
VALENTE (to Ms. Enciso): So you wake up in the morning and you immediately get down on your knees and pray?
Ms. ENCISO: And I bless my blanket that I have and the house that I have, because if you don’t then what do you have?
VALENTE: The devotional life of Hispanic Catholics takes some dramatic forms. On a frigid December night people from Good Shepherd walk through the streets of Chicago, a procession in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. At five o’clock the next morning, their church is packed for the mananitas, an hour of singing praise to the Virgin.
Father MARCO ANTONIO MERCADO (Pastor, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Chicago): The first thing we want Our Lady to listen to in the morning is the music from her beloved sons and daughters. So that’s the meaning of the mananitas.
VALENTE: Latino Catholics do not attend Mass any more frequently than other Catholics, but there is a fervency to their worship, and essential to that worship is the Spanish language.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: It took me a while before I realized that God understands English, and I think that people like to pray in the language that they’re comfortable in. I think that people like to pray in the language of their heart.
El Día de los Muertos
VALENTE: Processions abound. In November, El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, honors family members who have passed on. Just before Christmas, the posada depicts the struggle of Mary and Joseph to find lodging for the night. And on Good Friday, Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, re-enacts the crucifixion of Christ, sometimes graphically.
Fr. MERCADO: Many of the things that we do is they are not part of the official liturgy of the church. But we do it. Why? Because in the history of the church, especially in Latin America, many times they didn’t have the priests or they didn’t have enough priests –
VALENTE: — which is why so much devotion takes place in the home. Enrique Gonzalez has been in this country 20 years, but tradition persists.
ENRIQUE GONZALEZ: We were always taught that church is part of our home, that we go to church together to pray in unity, but that we also have to be at home and pray by ourselves.
VALENTE: The living room in his small apartment has an altar to deceased family members.
Mr. GONZALEZ: This is my grandmother and this is my grandfather, and both of them are together. They’re having their communion. These were people that took care of me, that took care of my family, that were part of my family.
VALENTE: At church, Martin and Victoria say the rosary with their four children. Martin feels that Hispanics bring a joyfulness to worship and family values to the church. No one in either of their families has ever been divorced. At home, Victoria has a collection of angels and a prayer she learned from her grandmother.
Ms. ENCISO: The angels are always around us.
VALENTE (to Ms. Enciso): What were the words of the prayer?
Ms. ENCISO: “Sweet angel, my sweet angel, pray with me. Pray for me in the morning and in the evening always. Don’t ever leave me alone.”
VALENTE: This neighborhood had long been Polish-American, but by the 1990s it was changing. The old parishioners were leaving Good Shepherd. In fact, Father Marco was brought in just to close it down. But since his arrival, Sunday attendance has more than tripled and is overwhelmingly Hispanic.
Fr. MERCADO: We started to open the doors to the really Hispanic community, which means all the traditions of the Hispanic community.
VALENTE: Those traditions include the quinceanera, sometimes called the blessing of the 15th birthday. Here, a young girl renews her baptismal promises to live out her life according to the teachings of Christ. And in a tradition of his own, Fr. Marco often invites children to the altar during Mass.
Father Marco Antonio Mercado
Fr. MERCADO: I explain to them we’re going to bless the bread and the wine, and it’s going to become the body and blood of Jesus. So for you to know exactly the moment when this is going to happen, I want you to raise your hands when I raise the host.
Ms. ENCISO: All churches follow the same Gospel, but you don’t feel them. But when our pastor walks out there and he preaches the same words, you feel his energy. He comes down to us. He’s there with us. I mean, he knows who he’s talking to.
VALENTE: And yet there is a certain ambivalence toward the clergy, springing from the history of Mexico, which was both evangelized — and conquered — by Christians, and where Catholic priests were once repressed by the government.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: I come from a very anti-clerical family. You know, my grandmother told me she loved me despite the fact that I had become a priest.
VALENTE: But among struggling Latino immigrants, the role of the priest is crucial.
Fr. MERCADO: In Hispanic culture, the priest is everything. We are the priest, we are doctors, we are lawyers, we are counselors. We’re everything.
VALENTE: American priests are already overworked. Others have been recruited from Mexico, but the shortage of clergy in Latin America is even more severe than it is in the U.S.
Cardinal FRANCIS GEORGE (Archdiocese of Chicago): Yo soy el buen pastor, dice el senor. I am the good pastor.
VALENTE: Chicago’s cardinal and several of its bishops speak Spanish, but nationwide only six percent of Catholic clergy can speak the language.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: In 20 years time, if I could dream, you know, I’d like to see 50, over 50 percent of the U.S. Catholic bishops being Latino.
“In Hispanic culture, the priest is everything.”
VALENTE: What concerns the hierarchy right now is that many Latinos are being lured away to the passionate and emotional services in evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Some Latinos who want to remain Catholic also want the Mass to change.
MARTIN ENCISO (Congregant, Good Shepherd Parish, Chicago): We’re going to see a lot more life in church. I think life that’s been missing, because I mean a lot of people, at least a lot of people I knew growing up, said, “Oh yeah, I went to church. We just sat there. We kneeled, prayed.” Church is more than that. You need to feel alive when you go to church. This is the word of God.
VALENTE: There is little doubt about the growing political influence of the Hispanic clergy, especially in the now high-profile issue of immigration.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We expect that the hierarchy of the Church is going to advocate for the poor, for the marginalized, for the outcast, and right now a lot of the poor, the marginalized and the outcast are us.
VALENTE (to Fr. Cavazos Gonzalez): Is there some aspect of what the Hispanics bring to the Catholic Church in America that might be perceived as negative?
Friar Cavazos Gonzalez
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We are accused of being machistas, for example, of being male-dominated, and to a certain extent we are. And yet at the same time, we’re a very matriarchal society or matriarchal culture. Do those things, do those two realities enter into conflict with each other? Yes, they do.
VALENTE: Hispanics will not easily abandon their culture and their practices. How well their culture can meld with that of other U.S. Catholics will be a challenge to the parish priest.
Fr. MERCADO: In many of the churches where the priest is able to integrate both communities and both communities can learn from each other has been a great success.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We’re awakening the U.S. Catholic Church to the realization that it is one part of a church that is so much larger than itself.
VALENTE: Some traditional American parishes have begun to adopt Hispanic practices, though few, if any, would go so far as to re-enact the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the peasant Juan Diego, which was done recently at Good Shepherd. As for the U.S. church –
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: I don’t think we’ll ever have a Latino face. I’d like to think that we will have a culturally diverse face.
VALENTE: Culturally diverse, he says, but also, he hopes, united.
For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this is Judy Valente in Chicago.
PBS WNET
JUDY VALENTE: Many Catholics have never seen anything like this in their local parish — an Aztec dance honoring the mother of Jesus. It is part of the observance of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary, said to have appeared before the Mexican peasant Juan Diego in the 16th century. This feast day, highly important to Hispanic Catholics, is only vaguely known to much of Catholic America. But it may be a glimpse into the future of the U.S. church.
VALENTE: The distinctive forms of worship and devotion among Hispanic Catholics are practiced not by immigrants alone, but by American-born, English-speaking Hispanics as well. The intensity of their religious expression, and their growing numbers, are changing the face of the U.S. Catholic church. Estimates vary, but the percentage of American Catholics who are Hispanic is anywhere from one-third to 40 percent, and because some Hispanics don’t register in their parishes — the undocumented, for example — some say the figure may be as high as 50 percent. What do Hispanics bring to the American church?
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: Certainly the recognition of the presence of God in day-to-day life, in what we call the “quotidiano” — the everyday, day-in routine, humdrum of life.
VALENTE: This is the home of Martin and Victoria Enciso, Mexican immigrants who belong to Good Shepherd parish on Chicago’s West Side.
Victoria Enciso
VICTORIA ENCISO (Congregant, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Chicago): From the moment you wake up, you kneel like a camel, and I wake up like a camel. You know how a camel wakes up, with both knees? I wake up praying.
VALENTE (to Ms. Enciso): So you wake up in the morning and you immediately get down on your knees and pray?
Ms. ENCISO: And I bless my blanket that I have and the house that I have, because if you don’t then what do you have?
VALENTE: The devotional life of Hispanic Catholics takes some dramatic forms. On a frigid December night people from Good Shepherd walk through the streets of Chicago, a procession in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. At five o’clock the next morning, their church is packed for the mananitas, an hour of singing praise to the Virgin.
Father MARCO ANTONIO MERCADO (Pastor, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Chicago): The first thing we want Our Lady to listen to in the morning is the music from her beloved sons and daughters. So that’s the meaning of the mananitas.
VALENTE: Latino Catholics do not attend Mass any more frequently than other Catholics, but there is a fervency to their worship, and essential to that worship is the Spanish language.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: It took me a while before I realized that God understands English, and I think that people like to pray in the language that they’re comfortable in. I think that people like to pray in the language of their heart.
El Día de los Muertos
VALENTE: Processions abound. In November, El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, honors family members who have passed on. Just before Christmas, the posada depicts the struggle of Mary and Joseph to find lodging for the night. And on Good Friday, Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, re-enacts the crucifixion of Christ, sometimes graphically.
Fr. MERCADO: Many of the things that we do is they are not part of the official liturgy of the church. But we do it. Why? Because in the history of the church, especially in Latin America, many times they didn’t have the priests or they didn’t have enough priests –
VALENTE: — which is why so much devotion takes place in the home. Enrique Gonzalez has been in this country 20 years, but tradition persists.
ENRIQUE GONZALEZ: We were always taught that church is part of our home, that we go to church together to pray in unity, but that we also have to be at home and pray by ourselves.
VALENTE: The living room in his small apartment has an altar to deceased family members.
Mr. GONZALEZ: This is my grandmother and this is my grandfather, and both of them are together. They’re having their communion. These were people that took care of me, that took care of my family, that were part of my family.
VALENTE: At church, Martin and Victoria say the rosary with their four children. Martin feels that Hispanics bring a joyfulness to worship and family values to the church. No one in either of their families has ever been divorced. At home, Victoria has a collection of angels and a prayer she learned from her grandmother.
Ms. ENCISO: The angels are always around us.
VALENTE (to Ms. Enciso): What were the words of the prayer?
Ms. ENCISO: “Sweet angel, my sweet angel, pray with me. Pray for me in the morning and in the evening always. Don’t ever leave me alone.”
VALENTE: This neighborhood had long been Polish-American, but by the 1990s it was changing. The old parishioners were leaving Good Shepherd. In fact, Father Marco was brought in just to close it down. But since his arrival, Sunday attendance has more than tripled and is overwhelmingly Hispanic.
Fr. MERCADO: We started to open the doors to the really Hispanic community, which means all the traditions of the Hispanic community.
VALENTE: Those traditions include the quinceanera, sometimes called the blessing of the 15th birthday. Here, a young girl renews her baptismal promises to live out her life according to the teachings of Christ. And in a tradition of his own, Fr. Marco often invites children to the altar during Mass.
Father Marco Antonio Mercado
Fr. MERCADO: I explain to them we’re going to bless the bread and the wine, and it’s going to become the body and blood of Jesus. So for you to know exactly the moment when this is going to happen, I want you to raise your hands when I raise the host.
Ms. ENCISO: All churches follow the same Gospel, but you don’t feel them. But when our pastor walks out there and he preaches the same words, you feel his energy. He comes down to us. He’s there with us. I mean, he knows who he’s talking to.
VALENTE: And yet there is a certain ambivalence toward the clergy, springing from the history of Mexico, which was both evangelized — and conquered — by Christians, and where Catholic priests were once repressed by the government.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: I come from a very anti-clerical family. You know, my grandmother told me she loved me despite the fact that I had become a priest.
VALENTE: But among struggling Latino immigrants, the role of the priest is crucial.
Fr. MERCADO: In Hispanic culture, the priest is everything. We are the priest, we are doctors, we are lawyers, we are counselors. We’re everything.
VALENTE: American priests are already overworked. Others have been recruited from Mexico, but the shortage of clergy in Latin America is even more severe than it is in the U.S.
Cardinal FRANCIS GEORGE (Archdiocese of Chicago): Yo soy el buen pastor, dice el senor. I am the good pastor.
VALENTE: Chicago’s cardinal and several of its bishops speak Spanish, but nationwide only six percent of Catholic clergy can speak the language.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: In 20 years time, if I could dream, you know, I’d like to see 50, over 50 percent of the U.S. Catholic bishops being Latino.
“In Hispanic culture, the priest is everything.”
VALENTE: What concerns the hierarchy right now is that many Latinos are being lured away to the passionate and emotional services in evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Some Latinos who want to remain Catholic also want the Mass to change.
MARTIN ENCISO (Congregant, Good Shepherd Parish, Chicago): We’re going to see a lot more life in church. I think life that’s been missing, because I mean a lot of people, at least a lot of people I knew growing up, said, “Oh yeah, I went to church. We just sat there. We kneeled, prayed.” Church is more than that. You need to feel alive when you go to church. This is the word of God.
VALENTE: There is little doubt about the growing political influence of the Hispanic clergy, especially in the now high-profile issue of immigration.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We expect that the hierarchy of the Church is going to advocate for the poor, for the marginalized, for the outcast, and right now a lot of the poor, the marginalized and the outcast are us.
VALENTE (to Fr. Cavazos Gonzalez): Is there some aspect of what the Hispanics bring to the Catholic Church in America that might be perceived as negative?
Friar Cavazos Gonzalez
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We are accused of being machistas, for example, of being male-dominated, and to a certain extent we are. And yet at the same time, we’re a very matriarchal society or matriarchal culture. Do those things, do those two realities enter into conflict with each other? Yes, they do.
VALENTE: Hispanics will not easily abandon their culture and their practices. How well their culture can meld with that of other U.S. Catholics will be a challenge to the parish priest.
Fr. MERCADO: In many of the churches where the priest is able to integrate both communities and both communities can learn from each other has been a great success.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We’re awakening the U.S. Catholic Church to the realization that it is one part of a church that is so much larger than itself.
VALENTE: Some traditional American parishes have begun to adopt Hispanic practices, though few, if any, would go so far as to re-enact the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the peasant Juan Diego, which was done recently at Good Shepherd. As for the U.S. church –
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: I don’t think we’ll ever have a Latino face. I’d like to think that we will have a culturally diverse face.
VALENTE: Culturally diverse, he says, but also, he hopes, united.
For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this is Judy Valente in Chicago.
Hispanic National Bar Association submits qualified apps for Obama
HNBA Appointments Project Identifies Personnel for President-Elect Obama's New Administration
Market Watch
WASHINGTON, Nov 26, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Since his election, President-Elect Obama's transition teams have been busy seeking key and qualified persons to fill important positions within the new Administration. Many of the several thousand positions listed in the Plum Book (U.S. Government Policy and Supporting Positions 2008 Edition) must be filled by attorneys or by persons with legal skills.
Well before November 4th, the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) established a program to identify persons within its membership with an interest in serving in appointed positions in the federal government. The program, the HNBA Appointments Project, has yielded a significant number of Latina and Latino lawyers who are both interested in and well-qualified for presidential appointments. The HNBA Appointments Project Steering Committee has forwarded their names and resumes to the Obama Presidential Transition Team and is now in communication with them concerning the applicants. Information about the Appointments Project is available on the HNBA website at www.hnba.com.
"The HNBA is in a unique position to be of great service to the country and the incoming Obama administration," said Ramona E. Romero, HNBA National President. "We are taking this opportunity to be of service very seriously and doing all we can to further the candidacies of talented, well-qualified HNBA members who would be great contributors to our Nation's government. Our communications with members of the transition teams indicate that the HNBA applicants are being afforded serious consideration. This is important because of the vast talent, experience, honed skills and much needed diversity that these individuals would bring to the new Administration."
The Hispanic National Bar Association is an incorporated, not-for-profit, national membership organization that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students in the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico. For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.
SOURCE Hispanic National Bar Association
Market Watch
WASHINGTON, Nov 26, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Since his election, President-Elect Obama's transition teams have been busy seeking key and qualified persons to fill important positions within the new Administration. Many of the several thousand positions listed in the Plum Book (U.S. Government Policy and Supporting Positions 2008 Edition) must be filled by attorneys or by persons with legal skills.
Well before November 4th, the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) established a program to identify persons within its membership with an interest in serving in appointed positions in the federal government. The program, the HNBA Appointments Project, has yielded a significant number of Latina and Latino lawyers who are both interested in and well-qualified for presidential appointments. The HNBA Appointments Project Steering Committee has forwarded their names and resumes to the Obama Presidential Transition Team and is now in communication with them concerning the applicants. Information about the Appointments Project is available on the HNBA website at www.hnba.com.
"The HNBA is in a unique position to be of great service to the country and the incoming Obama administration," said Ramona E. Romero, HNBA National President. "We are taking this opportunity to be of service very seriously and doing all we can to further the candidacies of talented, well-qualified HNBA members who would be great contributors to our Nation's government. Our communications with members of the transition teams indicate that the HNBA applicants are being afforded serious consideration. This is important because of the vast talent, experience, honed skills and much needed diversity that these individuals would bring to the new Administration."
The Hispanic National Bar Association is an incorporated, not-for-profit, national membership organization that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students in the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico. For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.
SOURCE Hispanic National Bar Association
Hispanic immigrant workers targeted by robbers
Hispanic workers target of robberies in Terrytown
Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News November 26, 2008
Jefferson Parish deputies are on the lookout for a group of young robbers who deputies claim are targeting Hispanic workers in Terrytown.
"They're happening at various times of the day, so there's no set pattern as far as the time is concerned," said JPSO spokesman Col. John Fortunato. "We have increased patrols in those areas and doing some things with our crime cameras in hopes of trying to apprehend the suspects."
Investigators say there have been 7 robberies in the past 12 days.
All of them happened in the area near Wright Avenue, Belle Chase Highway and Holmes Avenue.
"Many people are under the assumption that these people carry large sums of money in their pockets and that's the reason why they're targeting them," said Fortunato.
Deputies say Friday night the group approached a worker at an apartment complex on Faith Place, flashed a dark colored handgun and took his money.
Orestes Veliz lives in the complex and says he's very concerned he could be the next victim.
"I could be one," said Veliz. "All you have to do is be careful. I hope they focus a little more on what should be done on crime, on robberies, especially young people around without a job."
Veliz says most Hispanic contractors are hard working people, here to help support their families back home.
"They come here to try to make a living," said Veliz. "They help us build the city and get everything back in place again, they they're being victimized by the crime and race, I don't think it's fair," said Veliz.
According to the victims, the robbers are African American, ranging in age from 16 to 22 with slim to medium builds, wearing hooded sweatshirts.
Investigators say in some of the cases, there may have been a teenage girl involved.
Even though all of the victims in this Terrytown crime spree are Hispanic, the sheriff's office says these robberies should serve as a warning to everyone who lives in the area to be on guard, especially during this holiday shopping season.
"They need to be cognizant of the surroundings at all times," said Fortunato. "Be aware of what's going on. Travel in groups if possible."
Anyone with any information in any of these robberies is asked to call JPSO detectives at (504) 364-5300 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News November 26, 2008
Jefferson Parish deputies are on the lookout for a group of young robbers who deputies claim are targeting Hispanic workers in Terrytown.
"They're happening at various times of the day, so there's no set pattern as far as the time is concerned," said JPSO spokesman Col. John Fortunato. "We have increased patrols in those areas and doing some things with our crime cameras in hopes of trying to apprehend the suspects."
Investigators say there have been 7 robberies in the past 12 days.
All of them happened in the area near Wright Avenue, Belle Chase Highway and Holmes Avenue.
"Many people are under the assumption that these people carry large sums of money in their pockets and that's the reason why they're targeting them," said Fortunato.
Deputies say Friday night the group approached a worker at an apartment complex on Faith Place, flashed a dark colored handgun and took his money.
Orestes Veliz lives in the complex and says he's very concerned he could be the next victim.
"I could be one," said Veliz. "All you have to do is be careful. I hope they focus a little more on what should be done on crime, on robberies, especially young people around without a job."
Veliz says most Hispanic contractors are hard working people, here to help support their families back home.
"They come here to try to make a living," said Veliz. "They help us build the city and get everything back in place again, they they're being victimized by the crime and race, I don't think it's fair," said Veliz.
According to the victims, the robbers are African American, ranging in age from 16 to 22 with slim to medium builds, wearing hooded sweatshirts.
Investigators say in some of the cases, there may have been a teenage girl involved.
Even though all of the victims in this Terrytown crime spree are Hispanic, the sheriff's office says these robberies should serve as a warning to everyone who lives in the area to be on guard, especially during this holiday shopping season.
"They need to be cognizant of the surroundings at all times," said Fortunato. "Be aware of what's going on. Travel in groups if possible."
Anyone with any information in any of these robberies is asked to call JPSO detectives at (504) 364-5300 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Latino group claim police failed to investigate murder adequately
Complaint filed over Long Island police policies
By FRANK ELTMAN – The Associated Press
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — Hispanic advocates claimed Tuesday that the Long Island police department that investigated the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant fails to adequately investigate crimes committed by whites against Latinos.
In a complaint to the U.S. Justice Department, the national advocacy group Latino Justice contended that the Suffolk County Police Department discourages Latinos from reporting crimes.
Police and county officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but they have repeatedly said since the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero that crime victims are not asked about their residency status.
Seven Long Island teenagers have pleaded not guilty to charges including gang assault after police say they surrounded Lucero and another man near a train station. The men were targeted by the group because they were Hispanic, police said, and were only the latest victims in what authorities believe was a marauding spree by the teenagers.
Lucero's companion fled and called for help, but the 37-year-old laborer was killed when he was stabbed once in the chest. The 17-year-old accused of inflicting the fatal blow is being held without bail, charged with murder as a hate crime.
Latino Justice also criticized Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, for advocating various initiatives they contend created a hostile environment for Hispanics in Suffolk County. Levy has signed legislation requiring contractors doing business with the county to verify their employees are in the country legally. He also has supported crackdowns on overcrowded housing, which opponents contend unfairly targeted Hispanics.
A spokesman for Levy said the complaint "is coming from the same Cesar Perales who said that the county was engaging in racial politics when the county started to notify the federal government about those here illegally who had committed major crimes in Suffolk."
Perales is the executive director of Latino Justice, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced Monday that the highest-ranking Hispanic officer in the department was taking over as a precinct commander.
By FRANK ELTMAN – The Associated Press
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — Hispanic advocates claimed Tuesday that the Long Island police department that investigated the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant fails to adequately investigate crimes committed by whites against Latinos.
In a complaint to the U.S. Justice Department, the national advocacy group Latino Justice contended that the Suffolk County Police Department discourages Latinos from reporting crimes.
Police and county officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but they have repeatedly said since the Nov. 8 killing of Marcelo Lucero that crime victims are not asked about their residency status.
Seven Long Island teenagers have pleaded not guilty to charges including gang assault after police say they surrounded Lucero and another man near a train station. The men were targeted by the group because they were Hispanic, police said, and were only the latest victims in what authorities believe was a marauding spree by the teenagers.
Lucero's companion fled and called for help, but the 37-year-old laborer was killed when he was stabbed once in the chest. The 17-year-old accused of inflicting the fatal blow is being held without bail, charged with murder as a hate crime.
Latino Justice also criticized Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, for advocating various initiatives they contend created a hostile environment for Hispanics in Suffolk County. Levy has signed legislation requiring contractors doing business with the county to verify their employees are in the country legally. He also has supported crackdowns on overcrowded housing, which opponents contend unfairly targeted Hispanics.
A spokesman for Levy said the complaint "is coming from the same Cesar Perales who said that the county was engaging in racial politics when the county started to notify the federal government about those here illegally who had committed major crimes in Suffolk."
Perales is the executive director of Latino Justice, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced Monday that the highest-ranking Hispanic officer in the department was taking over as a precinct commander.
Hispanic kids targeted to join the Boy Scouts
Scouts hope to recruit more Hispanic kids
by Sean Manget and Stephanie Dembowski – The Arizona Republic Nov. 25, 2008
In two years, the Boy Scouts of America wants to attract about 10,000 more Hispanic children to its metropolitan Phoenix organization.
"We're interested in all kids," said Bob Mazzuca, chief Scout executive of the organization.
Soccer and Scouting, a program initiated nationally to reach out to Hispanics, has been a big hit in Arizona, said Larry C. Abbott, Scout Executive/CEO of the Grand Canyon Council, a local Scouting organization. The program provides soccer training and facilitates tournaments.
At a traditional Scout meeting in a Hispanic area, three or four boys might show up. In the soccer program, 60 to 80 kids participate in each session, Abbot said.
Some undocumented immigrants fear they might be caught by immigration officials, making it difficult for Scouts officials to recruit them. BSA executives consulted with Hispanic and business leaders and as a result the organization will hire more Hispanic staffers to reassure children and their parents. About 25 percent of the Grand Canyon Council's field staff is Hispanic, Abbott said. The staffers will often wear khaki pants and t-shirts to look less like immigration officials.
Information: www.grandcanyon bsa.org
by Sean Manget and Stephanie Dembowski – The Arizona Republic Nov. 25, 2008
In two years, the Boy Scouts of America wants to attract about 10,000 more Hispanic children to its metropolitan Phoenix organization.
"We're interested in all kids," said Bob Mazzuca, chief Scout executive of the organization.
Soccer and Scouting, a program initiated nationally to reach out to Hispanics, has been a big hit in Arizona, said Larry C. Abbott, Scout Executive/CEO of the Grand Canyon Council, a local Scouting organization. The program provides soccer training and facilitates tournaments.
At a traditional Scout meeting in a Hispanic area, three or four boys might show up. In the soccer program, 60 to 80 kids participate in each session, Abbot said.
Some undocumented immigrants fear they might be caught by immigration officials, making it difficult for Scouts officials to recruit them. BSA executives consulted with Hispanic and business leaders and as a result the organization will hire more Hispanic staffers to reassure children and their parents. About 25 percent of the Grand Canyon Council's field staff is Hispanic, Abbott said. The staffers will often wear khaki pants and t-shirts to look less like immigration officials.
Information: www.grandcanyon bsa.org
Latino leaders looking for Obama appointments
Looking For Brown Faces
by Miguel Perez Post Chronicle
As President-elect Barack Obama takes his time to make his first Hispanic appointment, the Latino leaders who supported him are beginning to squirm -- not because they all expect job offers, but because they fear they could end up with egg on their faces.
Just a few days ago, they were saying they expected Obama to repay his debt to Latino voters by naming between two and four Latinos to his Cabinet -- at least one to his executive staff and many others to sub-Cabinet positions.
It was these leaders who persuaded 67 percent of Latino voters to support Obama and helped him win the battleground states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
If the president-elect fails to deliver, he and his Latino surrogates will be held accountable. If Obama doesn't at least match President Bush's good record of Latino appointments, they will have "problemas" explaining it to their own constituents.
Yet as more and more people are appointed -- or reported to be shoo-ins for various nominations -- the cards being drawn have only black and white faces. The brown-faced cards are not coming up!
In fact, the main card Latinos have in this game -- bearing the face of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- has been switched.
Instead of secretary of state, which is the job Richardson is most qualified to fill and the high-level appointment Latinos expected from Obama, it looks as if Richardson will be relegated to commerce secretary.
Ironically, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the presidential candidate who enjoyed the most Hispanic support during the primaries, is now the leading candidate for the high-level job that could have gone to a Latino. Richardson, a former Cabinet member under President Clinton, was called a traitor for supporting Obama over Clinton during the Democratic primaries. Now it is Clinton who is getting the secretary of state position, the job Richardson wanted, and it is Latinos who still are waiting for the appointments they feel they earned on Election Day.
To do better than recent presidents, Obama would have to name a significant number of Latinos not only to his inner circle of White House advisers and his Cabinet but also throughout his administration. According to a Brookings Institution study, in 1993, 6 percent of President Clinton's initial round of appointments went to Latinos. In 2001, Latinos got 8 percent of President Bush's appointments.
In 2009, will Obama do better? He should! More Latinos voted for him than for any other president.
by Miguel Perez Post Chronicle
As President-elect Barack Obama takes his time to make his first Hispanic appointment, the Latino leaders who supported him are beginning to squirm -- not because they all expect job offers, but because they fear they could end up with egg on their faces.
Just a few days ago, they were saying they expected Obama to repay his debt to Latino voters by naming between two and four Latinos to his Cabinet -- at least one to his executive staff and many others to sub-Cabinet positions.
It was these leaders who persuaded 67 percent of Latino voters to support Obama and helped him win the battleground states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
If the president-elect fails to deliver, he and his Latino surrogates will be held accountable. If Obama doesn't at least match President Bush's good record of Latino appointments, they will have "problemas" explaining it to their own constituents.
Yet as more and more people are appointed -- or reported to be shoo-ins for various nominations -- the cards being drawn have only black and white faces. The brown-faced cards are not coming up!
In fact, the main card Latinos have in this game -- bearing the face of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- has been switched.
Instead of secretary of state, which is the job Richardson is most qualified to fill and the high-level appointment Latinos expected from Obama, it looks as if Richardson will be relegated to commerce secretary.
Ironically, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the presidential candidate who enjoyed the most Hispanic support during the primaries, is now the leading candidate for the high-level job that could have gone to a Latino. Richardson, a former Cabinet member under President Clinton, was called a traitor for supporting Obama over Clinton during the Democratic primaries. Now it is Clinton who is getting the secretary of state position, the job Richardson wanted, and it is Latinos who still are waiting for the appointments they feel they earned on Election Day.
To do better than recent presidents, Obama would have to name a significant number of Latinos not only to his inner circle of White House advisers and his Cabinet but also throughout his administration. According to a Brookings Institution study, in 1993, 6 percent of President Clinton's initial round of appointments went to Latinos. In 2001, Latinos got 8 percent of President Bush's appointments.
In 2009, will Obama do better? He should! More Latinos voted for him than for any other president.
Hispanics will greet Bush back to a blue state?
As Latinos tilt Democratic, can Texas stay ‘red’?
The Lone Star State is the last big GOP bastion where Hispanics are a sizable voting bloc.
By Michael B. Farrell | Staff writer / November 25, 2008
When President Bush says so long to Washington on Jan. 20, he’ll return to a much different Lone Star State from the one he left eight years ago.
Pickup trucks, Big Oil, and barbecue brisket still reign supreme, but this red state that helped deliver the presidency to Mr. Bush twice and his father once, and that catapulted GOP strategist Karl Rove to the national stage, is suddenly spotted with big pockets of blue.
Dallas is controlled by Democrats; Houston is in their hands, too. It’s all largely because of the state’s growing Hispanic population, which overwhelmingly sided with Democrats this year.
“The tide of demography in Texas is moving against the Republicans,” says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “All the major cities are Democratic and are likely to become more so over time.”
The Pew Hispanic Center reports that Latino voters sided with President-elect Obama over Sen. John McCain by a margin of more than 2 to 1, helping Democrats win crucial states such as Florida, Virginia, Nevada, and Colorado. While the overall Hispanic turnout did not rise much – it accounted for 9 percent of the vote this year and 8 percent in 2004 – Latino support for the GOP dropped nine percentage points, according to Pew.
That has left Republicans panicking and Democrats drooling. Duncan Currie writes in last week’s conservative Weekly Standard that Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R) of Florida says the GOP has a “very, very serious problem” because of diminishing Hispanic support.
Political scientists, sociologists, and activists say that concern reflects a keen awareness of what a growing and increasingly political Latino community could mean in big, traditionally red states like Texas: Those voters could tip Democratic in future national contests.
“We are in the process of watching this remarkable shift,” says Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist at Rice University here, referring to the overall demographic transformation of America. “You can be absolutely certain that every election [to come] in Texas will have a larger percentage of Latino voters.”
In 2005, Texas joined California, New Mexico, and Hawaii as states where minority populations collectively outnumber whites, according to the US Census Bureau. In Texas and California, the second-largest group behind whites, and the fastest-growing population, is Hispanics. Nationwide, Hispanics number about 45.5 million, or 15 percent of the population. In Texas, Latinos make up about 36 percent of the population and about 20 percent of participating voters this year.
“It’s the biggest pool of Hispanic voters left in a state that didn’t vote Democratic in 2008,” not counting Arizona, because it’s Senator McCain’s home state, says Richard Murray, a political scientist at the University of Houston.
For the Democratic Party nationally, the overwhelming Hispanic support presents an inviting opportunity, especially to develop party loyalty among younger Latinos, who backed Mr. Obama 76 percent to 19 percent for McCain, according the Pew analysis.
In Harris Country, which includes Houston, 70 percent of people older than 60 are Anglo, while more than 75 percent of people younger than 30 are non-Anglo, notes Professor Klineberg.
While Bush didn’t carry the Hispanic vote here in 2004, he came close. He captured 49 percent of that bloc, with 50 percent going to Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry. Republicans also lost ground among Hispanics this year in Florida.
Since the advent of his political career, though, Bush found ways to appeal to the Latino community, which saw him favorably for his close relationships with Latin American leaders, his faith-based initiatives, and his ability to speak Spanish.
While Hispanics are not a monolithic bloc, many began turning away from the Republicans in Texas, and elsewhere in the US, amid the harsh rhetoric about immigration reform in 2007, says Professor Murray.
“Even in Texas you can’t just be a party of white folks,” he says. “Nationally and locally, the party is going to have to do some retooling.”
Though the Lone Star State’s spots of blue darkened on Election Day, the state remains solidly Republican (55 percent McCain, 44 percent Obama). McCain scored huge victories in rural Texas, taking as much as 93 percent of the vote in some counties in the Panhandle, helping deliver the state’s 34 electoral votes to the Republicans. The statehouse in Austin also remains in Republican hands.
Associated Press exit polls showed that whites, seniors, Christians, and the affluent largely stayed with the GOP ticket and that McCain took two-thirds of the state’s white vote and about three-fifths of families making more than $50,000 annually.
While rural, suburban, and small-town Texans stick with traditional Republican values, Klineberg says, a new cosmopolitan and high-tech Texas is emerging in cities such as Houston, which is the country’s fourth-largest city, with a population of about 2 million.
Houstonian Judy Craft, a longtime Democratic activist and an environmentalist, is used to swimming against the red tide in Texas. “I was hoping we’d do better, but that’s because I’m really good at suspending my disbelief during the middle of a campaign,” says Ms. Craft, who signed off her e-mails during the campaign with the hopeful wish that Texas would turn blue. “Oh well, at least I got a bluer shade of purple.”
The Lone Star State is the last big GOP bastion where Hispanics are a sizable voting bloc.
By Michael B. Farrell | Staff writer / November 25, 2008
When President Bush says so long to Washington on Jan. 20, he’ll return to a much different Lone Star State from the one he left eight years ago.
Pickup trucks, Big Oil, and barbecue brisket still reign supreme, but this red state that helped deliver the presidency to Mr. Bush twice and his father once, and that catapulted GOP strategist Karl Rove to the national stage, is suddenly spotted with big pockets of blue.
Dallas is controlled by Democrats; Houston is in their hands, too. It’s all largely because of the state’s growing Hispanic population, which overwhelmingly sided with Democrats this year.
“The tide of demography in Texas is moving against the Republicans,” says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “All the major cities are Democratic and are likely to become more so over time.”
The Pew Hispanic Center reports that Latino voters sided with President-elect Obama over Sen. John McCain by a margin of more than 2 to 1, helping Democrats win crucial states such as Florida, Virginia, Nevada, and Colorado. While the overall Hispanic turnout did not rise much – it accounted for 9 percent of the vote this year and 8 percent in 2004 – Latino support for the GOP dropped nine percentage points, according to Pew.
That has left Republicans panicking and Democrats drooling. Duncan Currie writes in last week’s conservative Weekly Standard that Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R) of Florida says the GOP has a “very, very serious problem” because of diminishing Hispanic support.
Political scientists, sociologists, and activists say that concern reflects a keen awareness of what a growing and increasingly political Latino community could mean in big, traditionally red states like Texas: Those voters could tip Democratic in future national contests.
“We are in the process of watching this remarkable shift,” says Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist at Rice University here, referring to the overall demographic transformation of America. “You can be absolutely certain that every election [to come] in Texas will have a larger percentage of Latino voters.”
In 2005, Texas joined California, New Mexico, and Hawaii as states where minority populations collectively outnumber whites, according to the US Census Bureau. In Texas and California, the second-largest group behind whites, and the fastest-growing population, is Hispanics. Nationwide, Hispanics number about 45.5 million, or 15 percent of the population. In Texas, Latinos make up about 36 percent of the population and about 20 percent of participating voters this year.
“It’s the biggest pool of Hispanic voters left in a state that didn’t vote Democratic in 2008,” not counting Arizona, because it’s Senator McCain’s home state, says Richard Murray, a political scientist at the University of Houston.
For the Democratic Party nationally, the overwhelming Hispanic support presents an inviting opportunity, especially to develop party loyalty among younger Latinos, who backed Mr. Obama 76 percent to 19 percent for McCain, according the Pew analysis.
In Harris Country, which includes Houston, 70 percent of people older than 60 are Anglo, while more than 75 percent of people younger than 30 are non-Anglo, notes Professor Klineberg.
While Bush didn’t carry the Hispanic vote here in 2004, he came close. He captured 49 percent of that bloc, with 50 percent going to Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry. Republicans also lost ground among Hispanics this year in Florida.
Since the advent of his political career, though, Bush found ways to appeal to the Latino community, which saw him favorably for his close relationships with Latin American leaders, his faith-based initiatives, and his ability to speak Spanish.
While Hispanics are not a monolithic bloc, many began turning away from the Republicans in Texas, and elsewhere in the US, amid the harsh rhetoric about immigration reform in 2007, says Professor Murray.
“Even in Texas you can’t just be a party of white folks,” he says. “Nationally and locally, the party is going to have to do some retooling.”
Though the Lone Star State’s spots of blue darkened on Election Day, the state remains solidly Republican (55 percent McCain, 44 percent Obama). McCain scored huge victories in rural Texas, taking as much as 93 percent of the vote in some counties in the Panhandle, helping deliver the state’s 34 electoral votes to the Republicans. The statehouse in Austin also remains in Republican hands.
Associated Press exit polls showed that whites, seniors, Christians, and the affluent largely stayed with the GOP ticket and that McCain took two-thirds of the state’s white vote and about three-fifths of families making more than $50,000 annually.
While rural, suburban, and small-town Texans stick with traditional Republican values, Klineberg says, a new cosmopolitan and high-tech Texas is emerging in cities such as Houston, which is the country’s fourth-largest city, with a population of about 2 million.
Houstonian Judy Craft, a longtime Democratic activist and an environmentalist, is used to swimming against the red tide in Texas. “I was hoping we’d do better, but that’s because I’m really good at suspending my disbelief during the middle of a campaign,” says Ms. Craft, who signed off her e-mails during the campaign with the hopeful wish that Texas would turn blue. “Oh well, at least I got a bluer shade of purple.”
Latino students being cheated out of lesson plan
Study: Math teachers a chapter ahead of students
By LIBBY QUAID – The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Math can be hard enough, but imagine the difficulty when a teacher is just one chapter ahead of the students. It happens, and it happens more often to poor and minority students. Those children are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don't know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children's advocacy group.
Studies show the connection between teachers' knowledge and student achievement is particularly strong in math.
"Individual teachers matter a tremendous amount in how much students learn," said Ross Wiener, who oversees policy issues at the organization.
The report looked at teachers with neither an academic major nor certification in the subjects they teach.
Among the findings, which were based on Education Department data:
_In high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.
_In schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.
Math is important because it is considered a "gateway" course, one that leads to greater success in college and the workplace. Kids who finish Algebra II in high school are more likely to get bachelor's degrees. And people with bachelor's degrees earn substantially more than those with high school diplomas.
The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades, 5-8, the report said. That's a crucial time for math, said Ruth Neild, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
"This is a time when kids are making a really important transition from arithmetic to mathematics," Neild said. "It takes careful instruction, and if kids can't get that, and really get it, they're not going to succeed in math in high school."
Yet it can be tougher to find qualified teachers for middle schools, especially in low-income areas, said Neild, who studied the problem in Philadelphia public schools. She did not work on the Education Trust report.
Teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching, the report said. It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline. It can also happen where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.
Congress tried to fix the problem in the sweeping 2002 No Child Left Behind Law. The law insisted that all teachers in core academic subjects be "highly qualified" by 2006.
But the most well-known aspect of No Child Left Behind is its requirement for annual state tests in reading and math, and the penalties it imposes on schools that fail to make progress.
The teacher requirement is less well-known, and also less onerous. States were allowed to come up with their own definitions of "highly qualified." As a result, most teachers in the U.S. today are deemed highly qualified.
When it comes to out-of-field teaching, state officials may be understating the problem, the report said.
Researchers compared two different sets of Education Department data, reports from state officials and a survey of teachers themselves. Teachers said out-of-field teaching happens far more often than states reported for highly qualified purposes.
For example, in Arizona in 2004, the state said 94.4 percent of core classes were taught by highly qualified teachers. But Arizona teachers told the federal government in 2004 that 58.4 percent of core classes were taught by someone certified in the subject he or she was teaching. That was the most recent year in which the teacher data was available.
The report found a similar gap in 16 other states.
The report also called attention to places where people are trying to fix the problem.
Boston and Chicago have teacher residency programs much like medical residencies, with aspiring teachers working alongside mentor teachers before they are assigned their own classrooms.
The University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina system and the university system of Georgia all are trying to develop strong teachers who will teach in local schools.
Louisiana is overhauling its teacher-preparation programs. And Denver and Guilford County, N.C., schools offer financial incentives to attract the best teachers to schools and subjects that are hard to staff.
Wiener, the Education Trust official, said teaching is the key to fulfilling the goal of No Child Left Behind — that every student will be able to read and do math on grade level by 2014.
"We cannot meet our goals for increasing student achievement unless and until we focus on improving teaching quality and the effectiveness of teachers in front of the classroom," Wiener said.
The Education Trust: http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/
By LIBBY QUAID – The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Math can be hard enough, but imagine the difficulty when a teacher is just one chapter ahead of the students. It happens, and it happens more often to poor and minority students. Those children are about twice as likely to have math teachers who don't know their subject, according to a report by the Education Trust, a children's advocacy group.
Studies show the connection between teachers' knowledge and student achievement is particularly strong in math.
"Individual teachers matter a tremendous amount in how much students learn," said Ross Wiener, who oversees policy issues at the organization.
The report looked at teachers with neither an academic major nor certification in the subjects they teach.
Among the findings, which were based on Education Department data:
_In high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.
_In schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.
Math is important because it is considered a "gateway" course, one that leads to greater success in college and the workplace. Kids who finish Algebra II in high school are more likely to get bachelor's degrees. And people with bachelor's degrees earn substantially more than those with high school diplomas.
The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades, 5-8, the report said. That's a crucial time for math, said Ruth Neild, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
"This is a time when kids are making a really important transition from arithmetic to mathematics," Neild said. "It takes careful instruction, and if kids can't get that, and really get it, they're not going to succeed in math in high school."
Yet it can be tougher to find qualified teachers for middle schools, especially in low-income areas, said Neild, who studied the problem in Philadelphia public schools. She did not work on the Education Trust report.
Teachers should not be blamed for out-of-field teaching, the report said. It can happen anywhere there is a teacher shortage in a particular discipline. It can also happen where there is no shortage but where school administrators have planned poorly.
Congress tried to fix the problem in the sweeping 2002 No Child Left Behind Law. The law insisted that all teachers in core academic subjects be "highly qualified" by 2006.
But the most well-known aspect of No Child Left Behind is its requirement for annual state tests in reading and math, and the penalties it imposes on schools that fail to make progress.
The teacher requirement is less well-known, and also less onerous. States were allowed to come up with their own definitions of "highly qualified." As a result, most teachers in the U.S. today are deemed highly qualified.
When it comes to out-of-field teaching, state officials may be understating the problem, the report said.
Researchers compared two different sets of Education Department data, reports from state officials and a survey of teachers themselves. Teachers said out-of-field teaching happens far more often than states reported for highly qualified purposes.
For example, in Arizona in 2004, the state said 94.4 percent of core classes were taught by highly qualified teachers. But Arizona teachers told the federal government in 2004 that 58.4 percent of core classes were taught by someone certified in the subject he or she was teaching. That was the most recent year in which the teacher data was available.
The report found a similar gap in 16 other states.
The report also called attention to places where people are trying to fix the problem.
Boston and Chicago have teacher residency programs much like medical residencies, with aspiring teachers working alongside mentor teachers before they are assigned their own classrooms.
The University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina system and the university system of Georgia all are trying to develop strong teachers who will teach in local schools.
Louisiana is overhauling its teacher-preparation programs. And Denver and Guilford County, N.C., schools offer financial incentives to attract the best teachers to schools and subjects that are hard to staff.
Wiener, the Education Trust official, said teaching is the key to fulfilling the goal of No Child Left Behind — that every student will be able to read and do math on grade level by 2014.
"We cannot meet our goals for increasing student achievement unless and until we focus on improving teaching quality and the effectiveness of teachers in front of the classroom," Wiener said.
The Education Trust: http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/
Latinos informed on identity theft bust
Latino consulates explain rights to those concerned about identity theft bust
By Chris Casey and Maya Gurarie ccasey@greeleytribune.com
More than 200 Latinos packed the basement of a Catholic church in Greeley on Monday night to hear members of three Latino consulates from Denver explain their rights amid a current crackdown on identity theft in Weld County.
The mood was somber as residents, some who’ve had relatives arrested at fast-food restaurants, dairies and in their homes, asked questions for almost two hours. Representatives of the Mexican, Guatemalan and Peruvian consulates discussed the legal rights should any of the attendees or someone they know be arrested in the large-scale sweep.
One woman, who declined to be identified out of fear of being caught up in the sting, said that last Wednesday two police officers knocked on the door of her Greeley home.
“I opened the door, and they walked into the bedroom and arrested him,” she said. “My two oldest boys saw him get arrested. They cry all the time and ask where he is.”
She said her husband, a native of Mexico, worked for 16 years at a Greeley dairy supporting the family of five.
She hoped the consulate representatives would help her retain a lawyer and get her husband, whom she hasn’t spoken with since the arrest, out of jail. She said her brother might be able to provide some financial assistance, as she doesn’t work and doesn’t receive welfare.
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 12 began arresting suspects of identity theft and criminal impersonation, all stemming from tax returns prepared at Amalia’s Translation and Tax Service, 1501 9th St. in Greeley. The investigation began after Weld authorities in August arrested Servando Trejo, a local feedlot employee who was linked to a Texas man who told authorities that someone in northern Colorado was using his Social Security number.
Trejo allegedly used the ID to get loans and jobs and pay taxes, which he most recently filed through Amalia’s Tax Service. After a subsequent interview with owner Amalia Cerrillo, the Weld District Attorney’s Office determined it had probable cause of more cases of identity theft and got a search warrant. After the seizure of thousands of tax returns dating to 2000, authorities said they found about 1,300 returns that involved possible identity theft or criminal impersonation. They plan to continue arrests for at least another year, as warrants are issued by the courts.
Sergio Schwartz, assistant Guatemalan consulate, said his Denver office is fielding about a call a day from Weld residents concerned about the sweep. He said a sting of this magnitude tied to an investigation into one office — the Greeley tax preparer, who attended Monday’s meeting and has not violated any laws, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue — is unprecedented.
“It’s very sad, because these people come, they have paid (income) taxes, but now they’re trying to put them in jail,” Schwartz said. “It’s not fair.”
According to numbers released Monday by the Weld County Sheriff's Office, 29 people have been arrested so far as a part Operation Number Games.
A Weld County employer, who declined to be identified, said he had two employees quit and return to Mexico when they heard of the sweep. He has another employee who, after using the tax preparer, expects to be arrested.
“Everybody’s scared,” he said. “A lot of families are being affected. Pretty much, everybody (arrested) has kids or a wife or a brother or a sister.”
Monday’s meeting was organized by the consulates in conjunction with Latinos Unidos, a Latino advocacy group.
Vickie Lara, a member of Latinos Unidos, said the group hosted a similar meeting last week at the same church, Our Lady of Peace, 1311 3rd St. The meetings, she said, are intended to help residents reach attorneys and allay some of the concerns spreading through the Latino community.
“I think people are feeling better,” Lara said. “I heard a lot of questions, and I think it’s made them a little more at ease.”
By Chris Casey and Maya Gurarie ccasey@greeleytribune.com
More than 200 Latinos packed the basement of a Catholic church in Greeley on Monday night to hear members of three Latino consulates from Denver explain their rights amid a current crackdown on identity theft in Weld County.
The mood was somber as residents, some who’ve had relatives arrested at fast-food restaurants, dairies and in their homes, asked questions for almost two hours. Representatives of the Mexican, Guatemalan and Peruvian consulates discussed the legal rights should any of the attendees or someone they know be arrested in the large-scale sweep.
One woman, who declined to be identified out of fear of being caught up in the sting, said that last Wednesday two police officers knocked on the door of her Greeley home.
“I opened the door, and they walked into the bedroom and arrested him,” she said. “My two oldest boys saw him get arrested. They cry all the time and ask where he is.”
She said her husband, a native of Mexico, worked for 16 years at a Greeley dairy supporting the family of five.
She hoped the consulate representatives would help her retain a lawyer and get her husband, whom she hasn’t spoken with since the arrest, out of jail. She said her brother might be able to provide some financial assistance, as she doesn’t work and doesn’t receive welfare.
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 12 began arresting suspects of identity theft and criminal impersonation, all stemming from tax returns prepared at Amalia’s Translation and Tax Service, 1501 9th St. in Greeley. The investigation began after Weld authorities in August arrested Servando Trejo, a local feedlot employee who was linked to a Texas man who told authorities that someone in northern Colorado was using his Social Security number.
Trejo allegedly used the ID to get loans and jobs and pay taxes, which he most recently filed through Amalia’s Tax Service. After a subsequent interview with owner Amalia Cerrillo, the Weld District Attorney’s Office determined it had probable cause of more cases of identity theft and got a search warrant. After the seizure of thousands of tax returns dating to 2000, authorities said they found about 1,300 returns that involved possible identity theft or criminal impersonation. They plan to continue arrests for at least another year, as warrants are issued by the courts.
Sergio Schwartz, assistant Guatemalan consulate, said his Denver office is fielding about a call a day from Weld residents concerned about the sweep. He said a sting of this magnitude tied to an investigation into one office — the Greeley tax preparer, who attended Monday’s meeting and has not violated any laws, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue — is unprecedented.
“It’s very sad, because these people come, they have paid (income) taxes, but now they’re trying to put them in jail,” Schwartz said. “It’s not fair.”
According to numbers released Monday by the Weld County Sheriff's Office, 29 people have been arrested so far as a part Operation Number Games.
A Weld County employer, who declined to be identified, said he had two employees quit and return to Mexico when they heard of the sweep. He has another employee who, after using the tax preparer, expects to be arrested.
“Everybody’s scared,” he said. “A lot of families are being affected. Pretty much, everybody (arrested) has kids or a wife or a brother or a sister.”
Monday’s meeting was organized by the consulates in conjunction with Latinos Unidos, a Latino advocacy group.
Vickie Lara, a member of Latinos Unidos, said the group hosted a similar meeting last week at the same church, Our Lady of Peace, 1311 3rd St. The meetings, she said, are intended to help residents reach attorneys and allay some of the concerns spreading through the Latino community.
“I think people are feeling better,” Lara said. “I heard a lot of questions, and I think it’s made them a little more at ease.”
Latino group critized for not being open
Centro Latino board should start talking
THE NEWS TRIBUNE November 25th, 2008
Centro Latino officials, hit with a lawsuit alleging improper conduct, aren’t talking. They should rethink that decision.
The agency’s former executive director, Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, isn’t just casting doubt on the integrity of a social service organization that serves a growing population.
Her charges prompt valid concern about how the Tacoma-based agency is using public funds.
Gomez-Gonzalez, the latest in a string of executives to lead Centro Latino in recent years, was on the job four months before the board fired her in October. She sued in Pierce County Superior Court last week.
Gomez-Gonzalez claims that her job was going well until she started raising concerns about the board’s contracting practices. She alleges in court filings that a board member tried to use the renovation of Centro Latino’s building to benefit his business and a friend’s.
That’s a serious charge. If true, it could be a violation of basic governance standards if not the organization’s nonprofit status.
Such a conflict of interest would be particularly egregious given that taxpayer money is at issue. The Centro Latino building on Tacoma’s Hilltop was purchased for $1 million of state money. It is being remodeled with another $1 million of state money.
On those grounds alone, the public is due some answers from the Centro Latino board.
As are Centro Latino donors and clients. Either the board made a bad hire, or it booted its executive director for rocking the boat. Neither inspires faith in the organization.
And even if Gomez-Gonzalez’s allegations prove false, her departure is another upheaval for a nonprofit that has already had more than its share of turnover at the top.
Voids in leadership don’t put the organization in a good position to address the needs of the Latino population. They also hobble efforts to build strategic and fiscal stability necessary to ensure a good use of donor money, which is growing scarcer with every hit to the economy.
The board shouldn’t kid itself that this dispute will only play out in court. Clamming up might be a good legal strategy, but in this case it will come at the expense of the public trust.
THE NEWS TRIBUNE November 25th, 2008
Centro Latino officials, hit with a lawsuit alleging improper conduct, aren’t talking. They should rethink that decision.
The agency’s former executive director, Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, isn’t just casting doubt on the integrity of a social service organization that serves a growing population.
Her charges prompt valid concern about how the Tacoma-based agency is using public funds.
Gomez-Gonzalez, the latest in a string of executives to lead Centro Latino in recent years, was on the job four months before the board fired her in October. She sued in Pierce County Superior Court last week.
Gomez-Gonzalez claims that her job was going well until she started raising concerns about the board’s contracting practices. She alleges in court filings that a board member tried to use the renovation of Centro Latino’s building to benefit his business and a friend’s.
That’s a serious charge. If true, it could be a violation of basic governance standards if not the organization’s nonprofit status.
Such a conflict of interest would be particularly egregious given that taxpayer money is at issue. The Centro Latino building on Tacoma’s Hilltop was purchased for $1 million of state money. It is being remodeled with another $1 million of state money.
On those grounds alone, the public is due some answers from the Centro Latino board.
As are Centro Latino donors and clients. Either the board made a bad hire, or it booted its executive director for rocking the boat. Neither inspires faith in the organization.
And even if Gomez-Gonzalez’s allegations prove false, her departure is another upheaval for a nonprofit that has already had more than its share of turnover at the top.
Voids in leadership don’t put the organization in a good position to address the needs of the Latino population. They also hobble efforts to build strategic and fiscal stability necessary to ensure a good use of donor money, which is growing scarcer with every hit to the economy.
The board shouldn’t kid itself that this dispute will only play out in court. Clamming up might be a good legal strategy, but in this case it will come at the expense of the public trust.
Hispanic Immigrants studied on healthcare access
Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health
Study Examines Recent Hispanic Immigrants' Access to Care
Kaiser Network Nov 25, 2008
"Strangers in a Strange Land: Health Care Experiences for Recent Latino Immigrants in Midwest Communities," Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved: Researchers conducted 50 in-depth interviews of recent Hispanic immigrants in southeast Michigan to examine their perceptions on access to health care. The study analyzed respondents' assessments of their own health status, social and health needs, use of health care services, barriers to care and strategies they used to address such barriers, and ways they believe are best to address immigrants' health needs. Researchers found that Hispanic immigrants often are not utilizing or are unaware of local public health programs. Immigrants identified various barriers to care, including a lack of health insurance, language and isolation. To overcome such barriers, immigrants adopted payment plans, used community members as resources, requested the use of an interpreter or used another strategy.
Researchers recommend that health outreach efforts targeting immigrants should be "continuously renewed and re-oriented to reach new arrivals" (Harari et al., Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, November 2008).
Study Examines Recent Hispanic Immigrants' Access to Care
Kaiser Network Nov 25, 2008
"Strangers in a Strange Land: Health Care Experiences for Recent Latino Immigrants in Midwest Communities," Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved: Researchers conducted 50 in-depth interviews of recent Hispanic immigrants in southeast Michigan to examine their perceptions on access to health care. The study analyzed respondents' assessments of their own health status, social and health needs, use of health care services, barriers to care and strategies they used to address such barriers, and ways they believe are best to address immigrants' health needs. Researchers found that Hispanic immigrants often are not utilizing or are unaware of local public health programs. Immigrants identified various barriers to care, including a lack of health insurance, language and isolation. To overcome such barriers, immigrants adopted payment plans, used community members as resources, requested the use of an interpreter or used another strategy.
Researchers recommend that health outreach efforts targeting immigrants should be "continuously renewed and re-oriented to reach new arrivals" (Harari et al., Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, November 2008).
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hispanic immigrants leaving Las Vegas and Nevada
Immigrants leaving Nevada as economy sours
By Cyndi Loza and Mark Robison • immigration@rgj.com • November 23, 2008
Local Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal, are heading back to their home countries as the U.S. economic climate worsens, community members, advocates and school officials said.
Those who remain are sending less money to their families abroad as construction and service industry jobs dry up.
"What traditionally happens is that people come here to work when the economy is thriving," said Leslie A. Mix, former general manager for Univision. "People will work two, three jobs at any given time to save whatever they can and then send that money home to any family they've left behind.
"In the current economic times, we're currently losing a portion of the (Hispanic) population. People have to move on to find jobs or they'll move back to their families."
Marino Lemus, Mexican consul in Las Vegas, said immigrants in Clark County are leaving because of the construction slump, although he said solid figures were unavailable.
In Northern Nevada, the number of immigrant students has dropped in school district programs designed for them.
Mary Ann Robinson, with the Washoe County School District's English as a Second language program, said she's seen a drop in students in the program's newcomer centers for middle and high schools, where the kids are usually immigrants.
The number of foreign-born students in ESL dropped nearly 13 percent from 2007-08 to the 2008-09 school year, according to district statistics.
The exodus is seen nationwide.
"Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously," Enrique Hubbard, Mexican consul general in Dallas, told Fox News about people seeking information on returning to Mexico. "In fact, it's almost 100 percent more this year than it was the previous two years."
The National Confederation of Farm Workers warned Mexico to expect the return of 350,000 people from the United States. Mexico City's municipal government predicts between 20,000 and 30,000 immigrants above the usual number will return from the U.S. in the next few months because they cannot find work.
Mexican consulates in Chicago and California said about 4,000 more Mexican immigrants than usual have already left for Mexico City because of the economic crisis.
At the same time, the increasing number of illegal immigrants entering the United States ground to a halt this year, for the first time in a decade falling below the number of those entering the country legally, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington research group.
This summer, the Center for Immigration Studies said that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States had declined by 1.3 million, down to 11.2 million.
In another indication of less illegal immigration, the Border Patrol has reported big decreases in arrests along the southwest border, including a more than 60 percent drop in El Paso, Texas.
"The people I've met are driving back because they can't afford to fly anymore," said Leydi Cottrill, who leads the immigration program for Catholic Community Services of Northern Nevada. "A lot of them are really fighting to stay."
One hint that the economy may be largely to blame comes in another recent Pew Hispanic study, this one on household income. It found that household income for noncitizen immigrants -- 45 percent of which are estimated to be headed by those in the country without proper documentation -- plunged 7.3 percent in 2007.
Further, the study found that immigrant households showing the biggest income declines were households headed by Hispanics, immigrants from Mexico, recent arrivals, unmarried men, those who haven't graduated high school, and those in construction, production or service jobs -- industries with large numbers of illegal immigrants in Nevada.
"A lot of people get desperate and go back to Mexico," said Joaquin Arista, 43, of Reno, who moved to the country in 1987 from Mexico.
Maria Rodriguez, 22, of Reno, agreed.
"There's no other way," said Rodriguez, who's been unemployed for five months. "The only option we have is to go back but then, the situation over there is the same as here."
The Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that between July and September this year, 24,700 workers returned to Oaxaca because of the downturn in the U.S. construction industry. This happened against the backdrop of new-home building falling to its lowest level in decades in September, according to the U.S. Commerce Department
Rodriguez came to the U.S. in 1999 to work and send money back to her family in Guanajuato. She sent $70 in November.
"They way things are there's nothing to send," said Rodriguez, who is legally in the country.
Mexican migrants living in the U.S. took advantage of a weakening peso and sent home more money in September, but Mexico's central bank said remittances will still fall an estimated 2.5 percent this year.
Total remittances in 2008 are expected to be $23.5 billion, down from $24 billion last year, Bank of Mexico President Guillermo Ortiz said. It would be the first yearlong decline since record-keeping began 12 years ago.
But most immigrants -- illegal and legal -- will do what they can to help their families financially aboard, said Marco Lopez, 38, of Reno.
"That's why there are so many remittances to Mexico," said Lopez, who is a legal immigrant. "We have to maintain our family. It's not a tradition, it's a necessity."
-- RGJ reporter Frank X. Mullen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
By Cyndi Loza and Mark Robison • immigration@rgj.com • November 23, 2008
Local Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal, are heading back to their home countries as the U.S. economic climate worsens, community members, advocates and school officials said.
Those who remain are sending less money to their families abroad as construction and service industry jobs dry up.
"What traditionally happens is that people come here to work when the economy is thriving," said Leslie A. Mix, former general manager for Univision. "People will work two, three jobs at any given time to save whatever they can and then send that money home to any family they've left behind.
"In the current economic times, we're currently losing a portion of the (Hispanic) population. People have to move on to find jobs or they'll move back to their families."
Marino Lemus, Mexican consul in Las Vegas, said immigrants in Clark County are leaving because of the construction slump, although he said solid figures were unavailable.
In Northern Nevada, the number of immigrant students has dropped in school district programs designed for them.
Mary Ann Robinson, with the Washoe County School District's English as a Second language program, said she's seen a drop in students in the program's newcomer centers for middle and high schools, where the kids are usually immigrants.
The number of foreign-born students in ESL dropped nearly 13 percent from 2007-08 to the 2008-09 school year, according to district statistics.
The exodus is seen nationwide.
"Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously," Enrique Hubbard, Mexican consul general in Dallas, told Fox News about people seeking information on returning to Mexico. "In fact, it's almost 100 percent more this year than it was the previous two years."
The National Confederation of Farm Workers warned Mexico to expect the return of 350,000 people from the United States. Mexico City's municipal government predicts between 20,000 and 30,000 immigrants above the usual number will return from the U.S. in the next few months because they cannot find work.
Mexican consulates in Chicago and California said about 4,000 more Mexican immigrants than usual have already left for Mexico City because of the economic crisis.
At the same time, the increasing number of illegal immigrants entering the United States ground to a halt this year, for the first time in a decade falling below the number of those entering the country legally, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington research group.
This summer, the Center for Immigration Studies said that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States had declined by 1.3 million, down to 11.2 million.
In another indication of less illegal immigration, the Border Patrol has reported big decreases in arrests along the southwest border, including a more than 60 percent drop in El Paso, Texas.
"The people I've met are driving back because they can't afford to fly anymore," said Leydi Cottrill, who leads the immigration program for Catholic Community Services of Northern Nevada. "A lot of them are really fighting to stay."
One hint that the economy may be largely to blame comes in another recent Pew Hispanic study, this one on household income. It found that household income for noncitizen immigrants -- 45 percent of which are estimated to be headed by those in the country without proper documentation -- plunged 7.3 percent in 2007.
Further, the study found that immigrant households showing the biggest income declines were households headed by Hispanics, immigrants from Mexico, recent arrivals, unmarried men, those who haven't graduated high school, and those in construction, production or service jobs -- industries with large numbers of illegal immigrants in Nevada.
"A lot of people get desperate and go back to Mexico," said Joaquin Arista, 43, of Reno, who moved to the country in 1987 from Mexico.
Maria Rodriguez, 22, of Reno, agreed.
"There's no other way," said Rodriguez, who's been unemployed for five months. "The only option we have is to go back but then, the situation over there is the same as here."
The Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that between July and September this year, 24,700 workers returned to Oaxaca because of the downturn in the U.S. construction industry. This happened against the backdrop of new-home building falling to its lowest level in decades in September, according to the U.S. Commerce Department
Rodriguez came to the U.S. in 1999 to work and send money back to her family in Guanajuato. She sent $70 in November.
"They way things are there's nothing to send," said Rodriguez, who is legally in the country.
Mexican migrants living in the U.S. took advantage of a weakening peso and sent home more money in September, but Mexico's central bank said remittances will still fall an estimated 2.5 percent this year.
Total remittances in 2008 are expected to be $23.5 billion, down from $24 billion last year, Bank of Mexico President Guillermo Ortiz said. It would be the first yearlong decline since record-keeping began 12 years ago.
But most immigrants -- illegal and legal -- will do what they can to help their families financially aboard, said Marco Lopez, 38, of Reno.
"That's why there are so many remittances to Mexico," said Lopez, who is a legal immigrant. "We have to maintain our family. It's not a tradition, it's a necessity."
-- RGJ reporter Frank X. Mullen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Latino study shows election of Obama a good thing
Fidel “Butch” Montoya
The National Institute for Latino Policy just recently completed a survey on what the Obama victory may mean to the Latino community. With over 950 responses from Latino leaders from across the United States, the National Latino Opinion Leaders Survey (NLOLS) gives some interesting insight as to what the Latino community is expecting from the Obama administration for lending its support during the election.
While the survey was not a scientific poll, the fact that close to a 1000 Latino leaders took part in the survey should not mean the poll does not adequately represent the general mood in the Latino community at this point in time.
Seventy eight percent of the Latinos surveyed believe the election of Obama as President is “a good thing” for our community. Only four percent felt it was “a bad thing.” There was a large percentage, eighteen percent of those surveyed, who felt they were not sure or did not know.
However, the NLOLS survey also raised some interesting issues that Obama must address if he is to keep the honeymoon mood alive with the Latino community. For example, Latino leaders “are skeptical of the Obama transition and the Democratic Party responsiveness to the Latino community.”
When asked if the Obama transition team was including strong Latino leaders in the transition process, “only twenty two percent said yes. Thirty three percent said no, and forty six percent were not sure of did not know.”
An interesting point of discussion that must be addressed by the national Democratic leadership is to just assume that they have the Latino voter locked up and end up taking the Latino vote for granted. There are some serious misgivings by the Latino leaders who answered the survey.
Fifty three percent of Latino opinion leaders “felt that the Democratic Party was not being responsive to the needs of the Latino community, compared to twenty one percent who felt it was being responsive.”
Even though Latino voters gave their overwhelming support to the Democratic Party and President-elect Obama, a majority of the survey participants believe the Party has a long way to go before Latino leaders will give the party leadership a blank check when it comes to addressing issues important to Latino voters.
There is plenty of interesting data when it comes to identifying the top priority issues for the Latino community. The economy was one of the top issues Obama must address according to seventy five percent of the opinion leaders in the Latino community. This issue included the need for more jobs and strong leadership to break the cycle of poverty faced by Latino families.
It was especially noteworthy to find that the participants of the NLOLS survey did not feel “that the issues of racism, voting rights, housing, or US relations with Latin America needed to be a priority for the Obama Administration.”
I believe more research and in depth discussion is necessary before we simply accept this data, particularly when it comes to racism and immigration, housing and high foreclosures in the Latino community. I would agree that much has been done to register more Latino voters, and because of the educational process taken to increase Latino voters, most Latinos are up to speed when it comes to voting rights.
The top priority issues identified by Latino leaders that must be addressed by the Obama Administration start with immigration (twenty percent), the economy (twenty percent), education (seventeen percent), and seventeen percent said “the same as those for the country in general.”
When it comes to addressing comprehensive immigration reform, eighty four percent “do not believe or are not sure”, that Obama will introduce any immigration reform legislation in his first 100 days. However, sixty-nine percent are very hopeful and believe that Obama will call for “a moratorium on immigration raids,” with thirty percent saying they do not believe it will happen in the first 100 days.
Interestingly enough, the survey asked if immigration was the most important issue facing the Latino community. Fifty-eight percent disagreed that it was the most important, with only thirty-six percent who thought it was the most important issue.
While the survey has more information on other issues of the day, there is one important issue I believe facing our community warrants further discussion. The issue of Black-Latino relations during the elections was always a point of contention by the news pundits and commentators and what affect they felt it would have on the election.
Several polls and exit polling demonstrated that Latinos voted in large numbers for Obama, however, seventy-one percent of the survey participants felt Black-Latino relations were “only fair or poor.” Two percent believed relations were “excellent,” and twenty-five percent said they were “good.”
The NLOLS survey has more information and is worthwhile reading to get a glimpse at what Latino opinion leaders from across the United States believe. The survey helps to put many issues facing our community in perspective and can be helpful in developing strategies to move forward, and most importantly, the survey gives each of us an idea where we stand nationally in relationship to other Latino community members in our country.
For more information, contact Angelo Falcon, the President and Founder of National Institute for Latino Policy. editor@latinopolicy.org
Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Initiative
The National Institute for Latino Policy just recently completed a survey on what the Obama victory may mean to the Latino community. With over 950 responses from Latino leaders from across the United States, the National Latino Opinion Leaders Survey (NLOLS) gives some interesting insight as to what the Latino community is expecting from the Obama administration for lending its support during the election.
While the survey was not a scientific poll, the fact that close to a 1000 Latino leaders took part in the survey should not mean the poll does not adequately represent the general mood in the Latino community at this point in time.
Seventy eight percent of the Latinos surveyed believe the election of Obama as President is “a good thing” for our community. Only four percent felt it was “a bad thing.” There was a large percentage, eighteen percent of those surveyed, who felt they were not sure or did not know.
However, the NLOLS survey also raised some interesting issues that Obama must address if he is to keep the honeymoon mood alive with the Latino community. For example, Latino leaders “are skeptical of the Obama transition and the Democratic Party responsiveness to the Latino community.”
When asked if the Obama transition team was including strong Latino leaders in the transition process, “only twenty two percent said yes. Thirty three percent said no, and forty six percent were not sure of did not know.”
An interesting point of discussion that must be addressed by the national Democratic leadership is to just assume that they have the Latino voter locked up and end up taking the Latino vote for granted. There are some serious misgivings by the Latino leaders who answered the survey.
Fifty three percent of Latino opinion leaders “felt that the Democratic Party was not being responsive to the needs of the Latino community, compared to twenty one percent who felt it was being responsive.”
Even though Latino voters gave their overwhelming support to the Democratic Party and President-elect Obama, a majority of the survey participants believe the Party has a long way to go before Latino leaders will give the party leadership a blank check when it comes to addressing issues important to Latino voters.
There is plenty of interesting data when it comes to identifying the top priority issues for the Latino community. The economy was one of the top issues Obama must address according to seventy five percent of the opinion leaders in the Latino community. This issue included the need for more jobs and strong leadership to break the cycle of poverty faced by Latino families.
It was especially noteworthy to find that the participants of the NLOLS survey did not feel “that the issues of racism, voting rights, housing, or US relations with Latin America needed to be a priority for the Obama Administration.”
I believe more research and in depth discussion is necessary before we simply accept this data, particularly when it comes to racism and immigration, housing and high foreclosures in the Latino community. I would agree that much has been done to register more Latino voters, and because of the educational process taken to increase Latino voters, most Latinos are up to speed when it comes to voting rights.
The top priority issues identified by Latino leaders that must be addressed by the Obama Administration start with immigration (twenty percent), the economy (twenty percent), education (seventeen percent), and seventeen percent said “the same as those for the country in general.”
When it comes to addressing comprehensive immigration reform, eighty four percent “do not believe or are not sure”, that Obama will introduce any immigration reform legislation in his first 100 days. However, sixty-nine percent are very hopeful and believe that Obama will call for “a moratorium on immigration raids,” with thirty percent saying they do not believe it will happen in the first 100 days.
Interestingly enough, the survey asked if immigration was the most important issue facing the Latino community. Fifty-eight percent disagreed that it was the most important, with only thirty-six percent who thought it was the most important issue.
While the survey has more information on other issues of the day, there is one important issue I believe facing our community warrants further discussion. The issue of Black-Latino relations during the elections was always a point of contention by the news pundits and commentators and what affect they felt it would have on the election.
Several polls and exit polling demonstrated that Latinos voted in large numbers for Obama, however, seventy-one percent of the survey participants felt Black-Latino relations were “only fair or poor.” Two percent believed relations were “excellent,” and twenty-five percent said they were “good.”
The NLOLS survey has more information and is worthwhile reading to get a glimpse at what Latino opinion leaders from across the United States believe. The survey helps to put many issues facing our community in perspective and can be helpful in developing strategies to move forward, and most importantly, the survey gives each of us an idea where we stand nationally in relationship to other Latino community members in our country.
For more information, contact Angelo Falcon, the President and Founder of National Institute for Latino Policy. editor@latinopolicy.org
Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Initiative
Hispanic remarks get ABC exec terminated
KFSN exec resigns after racial remarks in court
The Associated Press 11/24/2008
FRESNO, Calif.—The president and general manager of Fresno's ABC affiliate has resigned for making disparaging comments about minorities as he sat in a jury pool.
Bob Hall announced Saturday that he's stepping down after issuing an on-air apology the day before.
Hall had said in Fresno County Superior Court last week that he couldn't be fair in a Hispanic man's carjacking trial because research by his newsroom showed Hispanic men have a propensity to commit violent crimes. He also said the district attorney would not spend money on cases unless the defendant was guilty.
The comments forced the judge to dismiss Hall and the entire jury pool of nearly 50 people.
KFSN news director Tracey Watkowski says the newsroom had conducted "no such research."
The Associated Press 11/24/2008
FRESNO, Calif.—The president and general manager of Fresno's ABC affiliate has resigned for making disparaging comments about minorities as he sat in a jury pool.
Bob Hall announced Saturday that he's stepping down after issuing an on-air apology the day before.
Hall had said in Fresno County Superior Court last week that he couldn't be fair in a Hispanic man's carjacking trial because research by his newsroom showed Hispanic men have a propensity to commit violent crimes. He also said the district attorney would not spend money on cases unless the defendant was guilty.
The comments forced the judge to dismiss Hall and the entire jury pool of nearly 50 people.
KFSN news director Tracey Watkowski says the newsroom had conducted "no such research."
Latino organizations trying to silence immigration debate
FAIR Denounces Manipulation of Crime Data for Political Gain
Market Watch
WASHINGTON, Nov 24, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Today, the National Council of La Raza, MALDEF and other organizations are holding yet another news conference to try to silence the immigration policy debate in this country, reports the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR claims this outrageous behavior is part of a calculated strategy initiated after the defeat of the Senate's immigration amnesty bill last year. FAIR states these groups have three major goals:
1. Silence legitimate immigration policy debate by claiming efforts to
advance interior immigration enforcement and state-local cooperation
cause "hate crimes." They provide no proof whatsoever.
2. Manipulate the data regarding anti-Hispanic crime in this country in
order to deflect from real immigration issues facing the American people.
3. Pressure the incoming Obama Administration first to halt all interior and
worksite enforcement and then to endorse amnesty legislation and an
increase in overall immigration.
"Let me be clear," said Dan Stein, President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), "that we join with all responsible Americans in condemning the murder of Marcelo Lucero." Stein points out that La Raza and their allies maintain silence about ethnic and race-based gang violence and brutally violent crimes carried out by international drug cartels inside the United States.
Today these irresponsible advocacy groups are cynically using Mr. Lucero's murder to promote their own policy agenda in an attempt to silence those they oppose. FAIR cites the following facts that refute their contentions:
-- According to FBI data there were 595 anti-Hispanic hate crime incidents
committed in 2007 - an increase of 19 incidents, or 3.3 percent over
2006.
-- The number of law enforcement agencies participating in hate crime
reporting in 2007 increased by 621 or 5 percent.
-- The Hispanic population in 2007 increased by 1.45 million, or 3.3
percent.
-- With the Hispanic population currently at 45.2 million, a Hispanic in
the U.S. has about a 1.3 chance in 100,000 to be a hate crime victim.
According to the National Weather Service, the odds of being struck by
lightning are 1 in 5,000.
-- By contrast, there were 969 hate crimes incidents against Jews (out of
an estimated population of about 5.5 million) and 772 incidents directed
at homosexuals.
No link between anti-Hispanic hate crime and immigration debate.
"The organizations and individuals claiming that the small increase in the number of anti-Hispanic hate crimes have never presented one piece of evidence connecting these crimes to the debate about immigration," says Stein. "There is none. Nor is there any reason to believe that even if there were no debate about immigration policy that the same crimes would not have occurred," Stein says. FAIR challenges those making the accusations to present evidence of cause and effect.
A clear and orchestrated effort to silence debate about immigration policy.
From the very moment the Bush-Kennedy amnesty legislation was defeated in the senate in June 2007, pro-amnesty advocacy groups began making spurious accusations that the defeat of the bill was due to "a wave of hate." In truth, amnesty was defeated by the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens was wrong and did not serve the best interests of the country.
"The irresponsible conduct of these organizations is reprehensible," said Stein. "They simply do not want the immigration laws of this nation enforced. Rather than try to promote responsible solutions to today's immigration crisis, they persist in trying to stifle vital public debate in a manner that is directly fueling widespread frustration and anger," Stein concluded.
About FAIR
Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest and oldest immigration reform group. With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.
SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
Market Watch
WASHINGTON, Nov 24, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Today, the National Council of La Raza, MALDEF and other organizations are holding yet another news conference to try to silence the immigration policy debate in this country, reports the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR claims this outrageous behavior is part of a calculated strategy initiated after the defeat of the Senate's immigration amnesty bill last year. FAIR states these groups have three major goals:
1. Silence legitimate immigration policy debate by claiming efforts to
advance interior immigration enforcement and state-local cooperation
cause "hate crimes." They provide no proof whatsoever.
2. Manipulate the data regarding anti-Hispanic crime in this country in
order to deflect from real immigration issues facing the American people.
3. Pressure the incoming Obama Administration first to halt all interior and
worksite enforcement and then to endorse amnesty legislation and an
increase in overall immigration.
"Let me be clear," said Dan Stein, President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), "that we join with all responsible Americans in condemning the murder of Marcelo Lucero." Stein points out that La Raza and their allies maintain silence about ethnic and race-based gang violence and brutally violent crimes carried out by international drug cartels inside the United States.
Today these irresponsible advocacy groups are cynically using Mr. Lucero's murder to promote their own policy agenda in an attempt to silence those they oppose. FAIR cites the following facts that refute their contentions:
-- According to FBI data there were 595 anti-Hispanic hate crime incidents
committed in 2007 - an increase of 19 incidents, or 3.3 percent over
2006.
-- The number of law enforcement agencies participating in hate crime
reporting in 2007 increased by 621 or 5 percent.
-- The Hispanic population in 2007 increased by 1.45 million, or 3.3
percent.
-- With the Hispanic population currently at 45.2 million, a Hispanic in
the U.S. has about a 1.3 chance in 100,000 to be a hate crime victim.
According to the National Weather Service, the odds of being struck by
lightning are 1 in 5,000.
-- By contrast, there were 969 hate crimes incidents against Jews (out of
an estimated population of about 5.5 million) and 772 incidents directed
at homosexuals.
No link between anti-Hispanic hate crime and immigration debate.
"The organizations and individuals claiming that the small increase in the number of anti-Hispanic hate crimes have never presented one piece of evidence connecting these crimes to the debate about immigration," says Stein. "There is none. Nor is there any reason to believe that even if there were no debate about immigration policy that the same crimes would not have occurred," Stein says. FAIR challenges those making the accusations to present evidence of cause and effect.
A clear and orchestrated effort to silence debate about immigration policy.
From the very moment the Bush-Kennedy amnesty legislation was defeated in the senate in June 2007, pro-amnesty advocacy groups began making spurious accusations that the defeat of the bill was due to "a wave of hate." In truth, amnesty was defeated by the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens was wrong and did not serve the best interests of the country.
"The irresponsible conduct of these organizations is reprehensible," said Stein. "They simply do not want the immigration laws of this nation enforced. Rather than try to promote responsible solutions to today's immigration crisis, they persist in trying to stifle vital public debate in a manner that is directly fueling widespread frustration and anger," Stein concluded.
About FAIR
Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest and oldest immigration reform group. With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.
SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
Hispanics, Police have fun game of soccer
Newburgh police meet Hispanic-American Soccer League team in game to boost community relations
Soccer game in Newburgh brings lessons
By Meghan E. Murphy Times Herald-Record November 24, 2008
CITY OF NEWBURGH — Warming up on one end of the field, Newburgh police Lt. William Rose said he hadn't played soccer since little league. On the other side, Juan Romero rapidly kicked up his knees and said he's been juggling balls since he was 8.
"Winning isn't everything," Rose said.
Newburgh's police force faced off against members of the Hispanic-American Soccer League Sunday on a frigid field at Delano Hitch Park. The game is the first in what Rose hopes is a renewed series of community-building games by local cops. In the past the department has vied against youth leagues in basketball and other sports, but it's been while since the last game, Rose said.
Wearing gray police T-shirts, long black shorts and socks to their knees, the police looked different than when suited up in patrol cars. That's the point.
"A soccer field brings us to the same level — they have two legs, two hands," said Armando Aguilar, who helped organize the game as president of the Hispanic-American league.
Aguilar wants to create common ground between police and the Hispanic community, which distrusts police partly because of corrupt law enforcement in their native countries. "A lot of people are scared to call the police department," Romero agreed.
Aguilar also hoped the officers learned too, by seeing that the Hispanic Americans in Newburgh are not just visitors. The newcomers to the city are building a community, which includes a thriving 16-team soccer league.
On the field, the officers definitely learned some new footwork. The Hispanic-American team scored in the first two minutes and kept the cops running for two 45-minute halves.
The police defended their goal well but couldn't carry through on offense. Officer Chris Lahar scored the police department's only goal, knocking in a corner kick late in the second half.
Final score: Hispanic-American Soccer League 4, Newburgh Police 1.
From the sidelines, one cop called for a rematch.
Soccer game in Newburgh brings lessons
By Meghan E. Murphy Times Herald-Record November 24, 2008
CITY OF NEWBURGH — Warming up on one end of the field, Newburgh police Lt. William Rose said he hadn't played soccer since little league. On the other side, Juan Romero rapidly kicked up his knees and said he's been juggling balls since he was 8.
"Winning isn't everything," Rose said.
Newburgh's police force faced off against members of the Hispanic-American Soccer League Sunday on a frigid field at Delano Hitch Park. The game is the first in what Rose hopes is a renewed series of community-building games by local cops. In the past the department has vied against youth leagues in basketball and other sports, but it's been while since the last game, Rose said.
Wearing gray police T-shirts, long black shorts and socks to their knees, the police looked different than when suited up in patrol cars. That's the point.
"A soccer field brings us to the same level — they have two legs, two hands," said Armando Aguilar, who helped organize the game as president of the Hispanic-American league.
Aguilar wants to create common ground between police and the Hispanic community, which distrusts police partly because of corrupt law enforcement in their native countries. "A lot of people are scared to call the police department," Romero agreed.
Aguilar also hoped the officers learned too, by seeing that the Hispanic Americans in Newburgh are not just visitors. The newcomers to the city are building a community, which includes a thriving 16-team soccer league.
On the field, the officers definitely learned some new footwork. The Hispanic-American team scored in the first two minutes and kept the cops running for two 45-minute halves.
The police defended their goal well but couldn't carry through on offense. Officer Chris Lahar scored the police department's only goal, knocking in a corner kick late in the second half.
Final score: Hispanic-American Soccer League 4, Newburgh Police 1.
From the sidelines, one cop called for a rematch.
Latino organization threatened by recession
Recession threatens Latino program
By: Geoff Berkheimer 11/24/08
The future of the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) program remains uncertain due to the possibility of a university-wide rescission, according to a State Legislature proposal.
Although not yet official, the State Legislature proposed a rescission of approximately five percent of the UIC operating budget for the 2009-2010 school year. The budget cut has the possibility of affecting the LARES program.
The LARES program was founded in 1975 to "assist UIC in the recruitment of Latinos and to provide academic support to increase their chances for success." Over the years, LARES has built a strong reputation for dedication to their students and to the Latino community.
Today, more Latinos graduate from UIC than any other university in the Midwest. Roughly 74 percent of the university's 3,400 Latino students receive some kind of aid or counseling from the LARES program.
Yet according to Huge Teruel, Associate Director of LARES, the program's operating budget fails to cover such basics as phone bills and copier costs. Most of the overall budget, he says is allocated to salaries for 11 counselors and "has not covered cost of living increases."
LARES overall budget is currently $600,000, an increase of 21 percent over the past five years according to Mark Rosati, vice provost of Public Affairs. LARES's operating budget, however, is about $9,000, one half of what that budget was 15 years ago.
LARES budget problems and community influence were front and center during the Latino Legislative Caucus on Oct. 28, held at the UIC Forum.
The caucus was called in an attempt to open dialogue between Chicago-area State Legislators and UIC administrators including Chancellor Eric Gislason, Vice Chancellor R. Michael Tanner and Vice Provost Carole Snow. Attendees wore T-shirts that read "LARES: Keep the Doors Open."
Those present voiced concern that UIC's stagnant annual enrollment of about 550 Latino freshmen has come to be unrepresentative of the Latino population both in the city and in the state of Illinois.
Latino population in Illinois grew almost 70 percent between 1990 and 2000. The legislative hearing also cited that the number of Latino high school graduates increased dramatically in recent years.
Yet, Latino enrollment at UIC rose by about 70 percent in 20 years, according to a statement from Vice Provost Rosati.
Citing outreach efforts, 12th district State Senator Martin Sandoval has called LARES "a critical institution […] it is the only bridge, the only lifeline for some Latino high school graduates. For many it is their last hope at the American Dream. Many may not have gone on to college without it."
During the caucus, UIC officials promised that LARES would not be merged with a multicultural program and that it would retain its influential position at the school under the Office of Academic Affairs. There were no promises made on issues of future funding.
In a recent statement for The Chicago Flame, Tanner referred to the $600,000 budget noting, "Few other units have fared as well in the stagnant budget environment of recent years."
The CHANCE Learning Center, a multicultural learning resource center on campus, currently holds a budget of $1.2 million while counseling 120 students. But, according to those interviewed, CHANCE counselors do not fully address the needs of Latino students.
Studies have shown that students are more comfortable and more successful when working with people of their own race.
"My counselor is like an older sister," says economics major Gerardo DeAnda. "They bond on you, and you bond on them. They know who you are. They know everything about you."
LARES is well known for their exceptional dedication to students, often continuing to hold counseling sessions until 6 or 7 p.m., if the need arises. Counselors sometimes represent LARES to Chicago-area high schools on weekends as volunteers.
"It's not just a paycheck, they're dedicated to serve," says Tanya Cabrera, postsecondary education coach at Benito Juarez Community Academy.
With the possibility of a rescission, the future of the LARES program remains uncertain.
"In general, throughout the turbulent and painful budget climate of recent years, the campus has done everything possible to shield academic units and those that support them, and have administrative units absorb the larger share of the reductions," reported Tanner. "But cuts of the magnitude being discussed by the State would cause pain across the board."
By: Geoff Berkheimer 11/24/08
The future of the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) program remains uncertain due to the possibility of a university-wide rescission, according to a State Legislature proposal.
Although not yet official, the State Legislature proposed a rescission of approximately five percent of the UIC operating budget for the 2009-2010 school year. The budget cut has the possibility of affecting the LARES program.
The LARES program was founded in 1975 to "assist UIC in the recruitment of Latinos and to provide academic support to increase their chances for success." Over the years, LARES has built a strong reputation for dedication to their students and to the Latino community.
Today, more Latinos graduate from UIC than any other university in the Midwest. Roughly 74 percent of the university's 3,400 Latino students receive some kind of aid or counseling from the LARES program.
Yet according to Huge Teruel, Associate Director of LARES, the program's operating budget fails to cover such basics as phone bills and copier costs. Most of the overall budget, he says is allocated to salaries for 11 counselors and "has not covered cost of living increases."
LARES overall budget is currently $600,000, an increase of 21 percent over the past five years according to Mark Rosati, vice provost of Public Affairs. LARES's operating budget, however, is about $9,000, one half of what that budget was 15 years ago.
LARES budget problems and community influence were front and center during the Latino Legislative Caucus on Oct. 28, held at the UIC Forum.
The caucus was called in an attempt to open dialogue between Chicago-area State Legislators and UIC administrators including Chancellor Eric Gislason, Vice Chancellor R. Michael Tanner and Vice Provost Carole Snow. Attendees wore T-shirts that read "LARES: Keep the Doors Open."
Those present voiced concern that UIC's stagnant annual enrollment of about 550 Latino freshmen has come to be unrepresentative of the Latino population both in the city and in the state of Illinois.
Latino population in Illinois grew almost 70 percent between 1990 and 2000. The legislative hearing also cited that the number of Latino high school graduates increased dramatically in recent years.
Yet, Latino enrollment at UIC rose by about 70 percent in 20 years, according to a statement from Vice Provost Rosati.
Citing outreach efforts, 12th district State Senator Martin Sandoval has called LARES "a critical institution […] it is the only bridge, the only lifeline for some Latino high school graduates. For many it is their last hope at the American Dream. Many may not have gone on to college without it."
During the caucus, UIC officials promised that LARES would not be merged with a multicultural program and that it would retain its influential position at the school under the Office of Academic Affairs. There were no promises made on issues of future funding.
In a recent statement for The Chicago Flame, Tanner referred to the $600,000 budget noting, "Few other units have fared as well in the stagnant budget environment of recent years."
The CHANCE Learning Center, a multicultural learning resource center on campus, currently holds a budget of $1.2 million while counseling 120 students. But, according to those interviewed, CHANCE counselors do not fully address the needs of Latino students.
Studies have shown that students are more comfortable and more successful when working with people of their own race.
"My counselor is like an older sister," says economics major Gerardo DeAnda. "They bond on you, and you bond on them. They know who you are. They know everything about you."
LARES is well known for their exceptional dedication to students, often continuing to hold counseling sessions until 6 or 7 p.m., if the need arises. Counselors sometimes represent LARES to Chicago-area high schools on weekends as volunteers.
"It's not just a paycheck, they're dedicated to serve," says Tanya Cabrera, postsecondary education coach at Benito Juarez Community Academy.
With the possibility of a rescission, the future of the LARES program remains uncertain.
"In general, throughout the turbulent and painful budget climate of recent years, the campus has done everything possible to shield academic units and those that support them, and have administrative units absorb the larger share of the reductions," reported Tanner. "But cuts of the magnitude being discussed by the State would cause pain across the board."
Monday, November 24, 2008
YWCA Survey: Young Latinas want equal chances
YWCA survey reveals women's priorities for Obama
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 11/23/08
More than three-fourths of young women, those ages 18-29 and known as Generation Y, want incoming President Barack Obama to make civil rights and racial justice top priorities of his administration, a survey says.
While Obama's election as the nation's first black president was interpreted by many as a sign of racial progress, findings in the survey done for YWCA USA suggest that much work remains to be done.
The survey, which was to be formally released Monday, also found a generational divide among women.
Younger women will demand and expect more from the new administration than their older counterparts on such pressing domestic matters as health care, the cost and quality of education, the housing crisis, and HIV and AIDS.
Lorraine Cole, chief executive officer of YWCA USA, said she didn't know why 77 percent of Generation Y women want civil rights and racial justice to be top priorities in Obama's first year - again, more than older women. Slightly more than half, or 54 percent, of women ages 30-70 said the same.
Cole noted the organization's 150-year history of empowering women and working for racial justice and said the YWCA can enlist like-minded younger women "as allies in our mission toward eliminating racism."
"Older women have seen more progress and are therefore more optimistic about racial status, race relations and racial justice issues in this country, so that may be part of the explanation," she told The Associated Press.
"Young women do not have that firsthand knowledge, but only go on their personal experiences and experiences of women like them," she said.
The survey also found that half of these younger women say ethnic- or religious-based discrimination will be a "major obstacle" to their progress as a whole, compared with 31 percent of older women.
"I don't think that the election of Obama in anyone's eyes has given anyone the belief that racism has ended in this country," Cole added.
Obama's transition office had no comment.
The telephone survey of 1,000 women ages 18-70 was conducted Oct. 28-Nov. 2, two days before Obama's election, by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The survey was commissioned to mark the social advocacy organization's 150th year - YWCA USA was founded in 1858 - and the launch of its new campaign to reach out to Generation Y women during the coming year.
Among other survey findings:
-Most women say personal economic problems present the biggest barriers to their success in the next decade, including lack of retirement savings (10 percent), major illness or medical expense (68 percent), job losses because of layoffs or jobs sent overseas (63 percent) and the cost of higher education (60 percent).
-Nine in 10 women, or 92 percent, say Obama and the new Congress should make solving the U.S. financial crisis the No. 1 priority in the first year. Obama has said the economy will be his top priority.
-Nearly three in four women, or 73 percent, say violence against women in the U.S. should be another first-year priority for Obama.
-One in three women of Generation Y, or 36 percent, say they are very worried about becoming a victim of or knowing someone who is a victim of domestic violence. Among older women, it was one in four, or 23 percent.
-Younger women are more likely than older women to say discrimination against blacks (42 percent versus 24 percent) and Hispanics (28 percent versus 18 percent) is a very serious problem.
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 11/23/08
More than three-fourths of young women, those ages 18-29 and known as Generation Y, want incoming President Barack Obama to make civil rights and racial justice top priorities of his administration, a survey says.
While Obama's election as the nation's first black president was interpreted by many as a sign of racial progress, findings in the survey done for YWCA USA suggest that much work remains to be done.
The survey, which was to be formally released Monday, also found a generational divide among women.
Younger women will demand and expect more from the new administration than their older counterparts on such pressing domestic matters as health care, the cost and quality of education, the housing crisis, and HIV and AIDS.
Lorraine Cole, chief executive officer of YWCA USA, said she didn't know why 77 percent of Generation Y women want civil rights and racial justice to be top priorities in Obama's first year - again, more than older women. Slightly more than half, or 54 percent, of women ages 30-70 said the same.
Cole noted the organization's 150-year history of empowering women and working for racial justice and said the YWCA can enlist like-minded younger women "as allies in our mission toward eliminating racism."
"Older women have seen more progress and are therefore more optimistic about racial status, race relations and racial justice issues in this country, so that may be part of the explanation," she told The Associated Press.
"Young women do not have that firsthand knowledge, but only go on their personal experiences and experiences of women like them," she said.
The survey also found that half of these younger women say ethnic- or religious-based discrimination will be a "major obstacle" to their progress as a whole, compared with 31 percent of older women.
"I don't think that the election of Obama in anyone's eyes has given anyone the belief that racism has ended in this country," Cole added.
Obama's transition office had no comment.
The telephone survey of 1,000 women ages 18-70 was conducted Oct. 28-Nov. 2, two days before Obama's election, by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The survey was commissioned to mark the social advocacy organization's 150th year - YWCA USA was founded in 1858 - and the launch of its new campaign to reach out to Generation Y women during the coming year.
Among other survey findings:
-Most women say personal economic problems present the biggest barriers to their success in the next decade, including lack of retirement savings (10 percent), major illness or medical expense (68 percent), job losses because of layoffs or jobs sent overseas (63 percent) and the cost of higher education (60 percent).
-Nine in 10 women, or 92 percent, say Obama and the new Congress should make solving the U.S. financial crisis the No. 1 priority in the first year. Obama has said the economy will be his top priority.
-Nearly three in four women, or 73 percent, say violence against women in the U.S. should be another first-year priority for Obama.
-One in three women of Generation Y, or 36 percent, say they are very worried about becoming a victim of or knowing someone who is a victim of domestic violence. Among older women, it was one in four, or 23 percent.
-Younger women are more likely than older women to say discrimination against blacks (42 percent versus 24 percent) and Hispanics (28 percent versus 18 percent) is a very serious problem.
Latino voters in sights of GOP
LEONARD PITTS JR.: GOP already plotting its return
Fresno Bee 11/23/08
They'll be back. Don't think for a minute that they won't.
These things run in cycles, and death in politics is about as permanent as death in Marvel Comics, which is to say, not very.
Yes, Team Red had its butt kicked and its lunch money taken a few weeks back. Yes, Team Blue stands at the prow of the ship, arms wide, screaming "king of the world!" Yes, the GOP slinks off into the wilderness now amid grumbles of recrimination and remonstration.
They'll be back. Count on it.
Indeed, they are already plotting their return, pundits and polls debating the best way of regaining favor. Shall they be more like Reagan or less; less socially conservative or more? Shall they groom Sarah Palin or forget they ever heard the name?
Allow me to insert into the discussion one tiny hope. Namely, that the GOP will plot a path back to power that does not require stepping on scapegoats to get there.
Ever since Richard Nixon's infamous "Southern strategy" of 1968, Republicans have won power largely by convincing voters that strange and exotic others were to blame for all their ills. It's the feminists' fault, they said. Or the blacks. Or the Hispanics, the Muslims or the gays.
The names change, but the playbook remains the same, the appeal to fear unchanging: Your way of life is threatened by these people and only we, the GOP, can save you.
That was the message when Jesse Helms ran a TV ad showing a white man's hands crumpling a rejection letter for a job that had to be given "to a minority because of a racial quota," and when George H.W. Bush ran for office against a black career criminal named Willie Horton.
It was the message during the debate over illegal immigration and it was the message when Rep. Tom Tancredo advocated bombing Mecca and called Miami a Third World city.
It was the message when President Bush thought the Constitution needed amending because of the threat posed by gay people in love.
Indeed, "let us save you from them" has been arguably the GOP's most enduring message for four decades, a promise to people shaken by change that the party will repeal the '60s and reinstate the '50s. And never mind that this would mean returning women to the kitchen, Muslims to invisibility, gays to the closet and blacks to the back of the bus. Never mind that it was about as likely as returning toothpaste to the tube.
Consider the recent rallies around the country in response to the passage of anti-gay initiatives in several states. Consider the defiant signs and the upraised voices in the face of setback and ask yourself if those look like people who are about to go meekly and complaisantly back to the shadows.
They do not. Even the archest of arch conservatives must realize this by now.
So the GOP broke its implicit promise, but maybe the more pertinent truth is that the promise was impossible to keep in the first place and maybe never intended to be kept, never anything more than a cynical manipulation of manufactured fears. But in an era of terror, dual wars and economic downturn, there is no need to manufacture.
That multicultural coalition celebrating Barack Obama's victory in a Chicago park two weeks ago underscores this and underscores, too, that hope will always, eventually, triumph over fear.
As Christmas once came to Whoville regardless of the machinations of the Grinch, the future has come to America regardless of GOP promises to restore sepia yesterdays.
It is past time the party recognized this, that it chucked the old playbook and evolved a new strategy that asks people to vote for their hopes and not just against their fears.
I'd like to think Republicans will at least give it some thought. It's not like they have a whole lot else to do.
Leonard Pitts Jr. writes for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may e-mail him at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Fresno Bee 11/23/08
They'll be back. Don't think for a minute that they won't.
These things run in cycles, and death in politics is about as permanent as death in Marvel Comics, which is to say, not very.
Yes, Team Red had its butt kicked and its lunch money taken a few weeks back. Yes, Team Blue stands at the prow of the ship, arms wide, screaming "king of the world!" Yes, the GOP slinks off into the wilderness now amid grumbles of recrimination and remonstration.
They'll be back. Count on it.
Indeed, they are already plotting their return, pundits and polls debating the best way of regaining favor. Shall they be more like Reagan or less; less socially conservative or more? Shall they groom Sarah Palin or forget they ever heard the name?
Allow me to insert into the discussion one tiny hope. Namely, that the GOP will plot a path back to power that does not require stepping on scapegoats to get there.
Ever since Richard Nixon's infamous "Southern strategy" of 1968, Republicans have won power largely by convincing voters that strange and exotic others were to blame for all their ills. It's the feminists' fault, they said. Or the blacks. Or the Hispanics, the Muslims or the gays.
The names change, but the playbook remains the same, the appeal to fear unchanging: Your way of life is threatened by these people and only we, the GOP, can save you.
That was the message when Jesse Helms ran a TV ad showing a white man's hands crumpling a rejection letter for a job that had to be given "to a minority because of a racial quota," and when George H.W. Bush ran for office against a black career criminal named Willie Horton.
It was the message during the debate over illegal immigration and it was the message when Rep. Tom Tancredo advocated bombing Mecca and called Miami a Third World city.
It was the message when President Bush thought the Constitution needed amending because of the threat posed by gay people in love.
Indeed, "let us save you from them" has been arguably the GOP's most enduring message for four decades, a promise to people shaken by change that the party will repeal the '60s and reinstate the '50s. And never mind that this would mean returning women to the kitchen, Muslims to invisibility, gays to the closet and blacks to the back of the bus. Never mind that it was about as likely as returning toothpaste to the tube.
Consider the recent rallies around the country in response to the passage of anti-gay initiatives in several states. Consider the defiant signs and the upraised voices in the face of setback and ask yourself if those look like people who are about to go meekly and complaisantly back to the shadows.
They do not. Even the archest of arch conservatives must realize this by now.
So the GOP broke its implicit promise, but maybe the more pertinent truth is that the promise was impossible to keep in the first place and maybe never intended to be kept, never anything more than a cynical manipulation of manufactured fears. But in an era of terror, dual wars and economic downturn, there is no need to manufacture.
That multicultural coalition celebrating Barack Obama's victory in a Chicago park two weeks ago underscores this and underscores, too, that hope will always, eventually, triumph over fear.
As Christmas once came to Whoville regardless of the machinations of the Grinch, the future has come to America regardless of GOP promises to restore sepia yesterdays.
It is past time the party recognized this, that it chucked the old playbook and evolved a new strategy that asks people to vote for their hopes and not just against their fears.
I'd like to think Republicans will at least give it some thought. It's not like they have a whole lot else to do.
Leonard Pitts Jr. writes for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may e-mail him at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Hispanic organizations push to name streets after minorities
Push on in Arlington to add minorities to street names
By MONIKA DIAZ / WFAA-TV November 23, 2008
ARLINGTON — There's a move in Arlington to add the names of four historic leaders from different cultures to four different streets.
Community leaders in Dallas lost a similar street-naming battle, but a group in Tarrant County believes it has an acceptable compromise plan.
Members of three Hispanic organizations met in Arlington on Saturday night to discuss creating a committee to push the city to add the name of labor leader Cesar Chavez to a street.
Earlier this week, the city decided to move forward on a proposal that would add names to four major roads for the city's minority groups.
A final vote on the measures is still months away.
"I think it is important, because in Arlington we've taken the position — like some of our neighboring cities — of celebrating our diversity," said Teresa Meza, president of the Arlington League of United Latin American Citizens. "We have four major ethnic groups in Arlington: African-Americans, Hispanic, Muslims and the Vietnamese community."
If approved, New York Avenue would have a supplemental name to honor Cesar Chavez; Center Street would add a tribute to Martin Luther King; Arkansas Lane would also be known as "Saigon Lane"; and another street would be designated Al-Salam, meaning "peace" in Arabic.
Tax dollars will not be required for this project. Community organizations will raise money for the changes, if they are approved.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
By MONIKA DIAZ / WFAA-TV November 23, 2008
ARLINGTON — There's a move in Arlington to add the names of four historic leaders from different cultures to four different streets.
Community leaders in Dallas lost a similar street-naming battle, but a group in Tarrant County believes it has an acceptable compromise plan.
Members of three Hispanic organizations met in Arlington on Saturday night to discuss creating a committee to push the city to add the name of labor leader Cesar Chavez to a street.
Earlier this week, the city decided to move forward on a proposal that would add names to four major roads for the city's minority groups.
A final vote on the measures is still months away.
"I think it is important, because in Arlington we've taken the position — like some of our neighboring cities — of celebrating our diversity," said Teresa Meza, president of the Arlington League of United Latin American Citizens. "We have four major ethnic groups in Arlington: African-Americans, Hispanic, Muslims and the Vietnamese community."
If approved, New York Avenue would have a supplemental name to honor Cesar Chavez; Center Street would add a tribute to Martin Luther King; Arkansas Lane would also be known as "Saigon Lane"; and another street would be designated Al-Salam, meaning "peace" in Arabic.
Tax dollars will not be required for this project. Community organizations will raise money for the changes, if they are approved.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
Hispanic leader to head Commerce
Richardson to be commerce secretary
Ron Edmonds / Associated Press November 23, 2008
NEW YORK -- President-elect Barack Obama has chosen New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary, adding a prominent Hispanic and one-time Democratic rival to his expanding Cabinet.
Obama planned to announce the nomination after Thanksgiving, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations and did so on condition of anonymity.
Richardson, 61, had a distinguished and visible career in Washington before returning to New Mexico, where he was elected governor in 2002. Richardson served as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton and later as energy secretary. He was in the House from 1983 to 1997.
Clinton sent Richardson on several high-level diplomatic missions while he was in Congress, including direct talks with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out in January after a poor showing in early contests. He went on to endorse Obama at the height of the Illinois senator's primary contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton, angering many Clinton's supporters who viewed the endorsement as a disloyal snub.
Obama considered Richardson to be secretary of state and brought him to Chicago to discuss the job. The president-elect is on track to name Hillary Rodham Clinton to the top diplomatic post and was expected to announce the pick after Thanksgiving.
Obama was set to name New York Federal Reserve Bank president Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary on Monday, in his first official Cabinet announcement. Obama also planned to name Lawrence Summers to lead the National Economic Council.
Several other candidates for Cabinet posts have emerged in recent days.
Obama's choice for attorney general is Eric Holder, who held the No. 2 slot in the Justice Department under Bill Clinton. The president-elect's aides have also encouraged speculation that Defense Secretary Robert Gates would remain in office for an interim period.
Other selections include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as homeland security secretary.
Additionally, retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander, appeared to be the top contender to be national security adviser.
Ron Edmonds / Associated Press November 23, 2008
NEW YORK -- President-elect Barack Obama has chosen New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary, adding a prominent Hispanic and one-time Democratic rival to his expanding Cabinet.
Obama planned to announce the nomination after Thanksgiving, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations and did so on condition of anonymity.
Richardson, 61, had a distinguished and visible career in Washington before returning to New Mexico, where he was elected governor in 2002. Richardson served as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton and later as energy secretary. He was in the House from 1983 to 1997.
Clinton sent Richardson on several high-level diplomatic missions while he was in Congress, including direct talks with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Richardson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out in January after a poor showing in early contests. He went on to endorse Obama at the height of the Illinois senator's primary contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton, angering many Clinton's supporters who viewed the endorsement as a disloyal snub.
Obama considered Richardson to be secretary of state and brought him to Chicago to discuss the job. The president-elect is on track to name Hillary Rodham Clinton to the top diplomatic post and was expected to announce the pick after Thanksgiving.
Obama was set to name New York Federal Reserve Bank president Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary on Monday, in his first official Cabinet announcement. Obama also planned to name Lawrence Summers to lead the National Economic Council.
Several other candidates for Cabinet posts have emerged in recent days.
Obama's choice for attorney general is Eric Holder, who held the No. 2 slot in the Justice Department under Bill Clinton. The president-elect's aides have also encouraged speculation that Defense Secretary Robert Gates would remain in office for an interim period.
Other selections include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as homeland security secretary.
Additionally, retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander, appeared to be the top contender to be national security adviser.
Preventative healthcare for Latinos available through the internet
Websites offer healthcare advice in English and Spanish
The new websites create an interactive connection with licensed physicians
PRESS RELEASE
Sacramento, Ca – As Congress ponders on a universal healthcare program, C. A. Sardinas, President and CEO of a company called Medical Advice Services (MAS) is taking the next steps toward implementing affordable healthcare through his websites, www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com. What Sardinas is offering is healthcare to millions of individuals and families who would not normally be able to afford an initial doctor visit.
The bilingual (English/Spanish) websites combine human care and technology to provide an efficient and humane approach toward addressing medical concerns by those who cannot afford the cost or the time for an out patient clinic or emergency room visit.
“As globalization plays a major role in our daily activities, bilingual physicians will play an integral part toward eliminating cultural and linguistic barriers,” says Sardinas, whose project has been a labor of love for the last few years. “Our goal is making certain that the users of this service understand their medical needs and treatment. For example, should they go see a doctor? Should they go to an emergency room? Or, should they stay at home and rest? These are preventative measures.”
In the U.S., there are over 47 million Americans that are uninsured and do not have resources to out patient clinics or emergency rooms. There are over 11 million undocumented people that add to the cost of healthcare. And, there are 18 thousand preventable deaths each year in the U.S. that is due to a lack of insurance. Sardinas’ websites are an alternative to these statistics by offering initial preventative information.
The premise of www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com, is based on an individual taking the critical first step in the continuum of care, where an initial doctor visit determines the next steps that individual will need to take to resolve their medical concerns. When using the website, each user will have available an opportunity for a one-on-one consultation with a licensed physician, in a sympathetic, concise, consistent and accurate manner.
But, do these websites work?
During the “beta” testing phase of www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com, an individual who had already seen his doctor was found to be healthy, yet he continued to feel ill and his wife used the website to contact one of the physicians. After only one consultation, she was advised her husband should seek immediate emergency care. They followed the advice, and after having several tests, her husband was told he had a malignant tumor in his liver. Because it was caught on time, it increased his chances for survival.
“This is just one of many examples where users of the websites have both, saved money and saved themselves,” says Sardinas. “And, don’t get me wrong, we do not diagnose or treat any website user, we only create the connection between the person using the website and one of our physicians with years of experience in recognizing symptoms and recommending treatments that are able to provide needed advice.”
The MAS websites are different from others because they do not offer scripted possible scenarios for symptoms and treatments. They provide actionable advice on a one-on-one basis with licensed physicians that care and listen to the website users.
“In the event of an emergency, our doctors will advise the user to seek immediate hospital or physician care,” says Sardinas. “Our websites serve a triage function alerting users to visit a doctor or hospital if the physician determines it is beyond the ‘take two aspirins’ treatment recommendation. This website has already saved a life during its initial testing and I believe we are going to save many more as people learn about these wonderful and useful websites.”
For more information, including costs, visit www.masadv.com or www.tudoctor.com.
The new websites create an interactive connection with licensed physicians
PRESS RELEASE
Sacramento, Ca – As Congress ponders on a universal healthcare program, C. A. Sardinas, President and CEO of a company called Medical Advice Services (MAS) is taking the next steps toward implementing affordable healthcare through his websites, www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com. What Sardinas is offering is healthcare to millions of individuals and families who would not normally be able to afford an initial doctor visit.
The bilingual (English/Spanish) websites combine human care and technology to provide an efficient and humane approach toward addressing medical concerns by those who cannot afford the cost or the time for an out patient clinic or emergency room visit.
“As globalization plays a major role in our daily activities, bilingual physicians will play an integral part toward eliminating cultural and linguistic barriers,” says Sardinas, whose project has been a labor of love for the last few years. “Our goal is making certain that the users of this service understand their medical needs and treatment. For example, should they go see a doctor? Should they go to an emergency room? Or, should they stay at home and rest? These are preventative measures.”
In the U.S., there are over 47 million Americans that are uninsured and do not have resources to out patient clinics or emergency rooms. There are over 11 million undocumented people that add to the cost of healthcare. And, there are 18 thousand preventable deaths each year in the U.S. that is due to a lack of insurance. Sardinas’ websites are an alternative to these statistics by offering initial preventative information.
The premise of www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com, is based on an individual taking the critical first step in the continuum of care, where an initial doctor visit determines the next steps that individual will need to take to resolve their medical concerns. When using the website, each user will have available an opportunity for a one-on-one consultation with a licensed physician, in a sympathetic, concise, consistent and accurate manner.
But, do these websites work?
During the “beta” testing phase of www.masadv.com/www.tudoctor.com, an individual who had already seen his doctor was found to be healthy, yet he continued to feel ill and his wife used the website to contact one of the physicians. After only one consultation, she was advised her husband should seek immediate emergency care. They followed the advice, and after having several tests, her husband was told he had a malignant tumor in his liver. Because it was caught on time, it increased his chances for survival.
“This is just one of many examples where users of the websites have both, saved money and saved themselves,” says Sardinas. “And, don’t get me wrong, we do not diagnose or treat any website user, we only create the connection between the person using the website and one of our physicians with years of experience in recognizing symptoms and recommending treatments that are able to provide needed advice.”
The MAS websites are different from others because they do not offer scripted possible scenarios for symptoms and treatments. They provide actionable advice on a one-on-one basis with licensed physicians that care and listen to the website users.
“In the event of an emergency, our doctors will advise the user to seek immediate hospital or physician care,” says Sardinas. “Our websites serve a triage function alerting users to visit a doctor or hospital if the physician determines it is beyond the ‘take two aspirins’ treatment recommendation. This website has already saved a life during its initial testing and I believe we are going to save many more as people learn about these wonderful and useful websites.”
For more information, including costs, visit www.masadv.com or www.tudoctor.com.
Hispanic Outreach Network works toward bridging gaps
Where To Turn?
Hispanic Outreach Coalition Tries To Provide Answers
By Robert Rizzuto, rrizzuto@post-journal.com November 23, 2008
The Hispanic Outreach Network meets monthly, but is working daily to help bridge the gap between services available in the community and the people who need them.
It has been said that a system divided cannot stand on its own and that no man is an island.
While services for Spanish-speaking people do exist in the community, how effective are they without one central point of reference? Are people's needs going unmet?
Ruben Santos, a 38-year-old man who moved to Jamestown to escape the demons of his past, ran into a brick wall last week as he was turned away from what he thought was his last place for refuge - a local shelter.
Santos doesn't speak English, but he recently had what most would consider a respectable adult life in the area. He worked, paid his taxes and retained his own residence. This ended once he was laid off and, a short while later, was injured.
He was evicted from his apartment on Veterans Day and that's when his neighbor, Jesus Caraballo, took him into his home rather than see him move onto the cold city streets.
But as a single father in a one-bedroom apartment, he can't house Santos forever, especially since the landlord is asking for increased rent money and wants Caraballo to sign a lease, he explained.
Santos was turned away at the Union Gospel Mission because he doesn't speak English, according to Rev. John Steinhauser, the mission's director, who said there isn't money to hire a translator.
But why didn't Steinhauser refer Santos to another organization that could help him?
Members of the local Hispanic Outreach Coalition feel that it could be for the same reason that other Hispanic people's needs in the community go unmet, because people don't know where to turn.
Coalition members feel the solution to this problem is the creation of a navigator position, a person who would serve as the central hub between agencies.
But since there is currently no funding available to create such a position, the coalition is brainstorming other ways to bridge the gap.
The group recently discussed recruiting a floating translator who could be called into an organization in order to assess someone's needs and make sure they get proper assistance.
Another idea is to create an internal directory, which explains the services and opportunities each organization can offer to different people.
With this in place, member agencies of the Hispanic Outreach Network would be able to easily refer a client to the right person at the right place.
Although these creations have the potential to bridge the gap to a degree, what is next for Santos?
After hearing his story, members of the coalition are taking action.
The Joint Neighborhood Project began working with Santos on Friday to help him find a home, according to JNP's executive director Patty Perlee.
"JNP along with family services are working together to help find a place for him to live," Ms. Perlee said. "We're glad that he came down here so we could at least get the ball rolling. For any of us in that situation, this would be an awful time."
Caraballo said that the folks at JNP drove him and Santos around Friday, checking out a few different apartments.
Billy Torres, the Eastside YMCA executive director, also offered to help Santos find housing.
Other organizations represented in the network also said that later down the line, they would be able to provide assistance for santos, including help getting a job, learning the English language, after his primary need of housing has been handled.
Caraballo said that he is hopeful that things will start looking up for his friend and that the roadblock he encountered last week will become a thing of the past sooner rather than later.
"Everyone should realize that we need to find the funding for another men's shelter that can take care of everyone," Caraballo said. "You shouldn't be sent to live on the street just because you don't speak English."
According to Richard Fleurant, director of community building for the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County, the situation Santos encountered is not truly unique.
"There is a problem in our community because there really is only one place for men who need shelter to go," he said. "We have other shelters for women and children, but there isn't much out there for men, especially those who only speak Spanish."
As far as a central place to go to get hooked up with services, citizens, even Spanish-speaking ones, may want to look to their phone.
For information on health and human services in Western New York, in English and Spanish, even if you don't exactly know what you are looking for, all you have to do is dial 211.
Cindy Schnelzer, the Western New York 211 partner site coordinator, said the service has a lot to offer and can help connect people with organizations that can help them.
"When someone calls in, we talk to them about what they need and then make a referral," she said. "If there isn't a referral, that means someone's needs are going unmet."
She said that the service received only two calls from Chautauqua County in August, none in September, but had four in October
"Although four is a small number it is 100 percent more than two, and people were helped," Ms. Schnelzer said. "And I believe as we keep working to get the word out there more people will use it as a resource."
She said that there will be posters going up around town soon which will explain the service in Spanish, and that she is hopeful it makes a difference for people.
Caraballo said Santos is cautiously optimistic about the way things seem to be going now. The caution comes from being let down when he was already at his lowest point, he explained, but the optimism is simply the hope that everything will be alright once again, with the help of a few good people.
Hispanic Outreach Coalition Tries To Provide Answers
By Robert Rizzuto, rrizzuto@post-journal.com November 23, 2008
The Hispanic Outreach Network meets monthly, but is working daily to help bridge the gap between services available in the community and the people who need them.
It has been said that a system divided cannot stand on its own and that no man is an island.
While services for Spanish-speaking people do exist in the community, how effective are they without one central point of reference? Are people's needs going unmet?
Ruben Santos, a 38-year-old man who moved to Jamestown to escape the demons of his past, ran into a brick wall last week as he was turned away from what he thought was his last place for refuge - a local shelter.
Santos doesn't speak English, but he recently had what most would consider a respectable adult life in the area. He worked, paid his taxes and retained his own residence. This ended once he was laid off and, a short while later, was injured.
He was evicted from his apartment on Veterans Day and that's when his neighbor, Jesus Caraballo, took him into his home rather than see him move onto the cold city streets.
But as a single father in a one-bedroom apartment, he can't house Santos forever, especially since the landlord is asking for increased rent money and wants Caraballo to sign a lease, he explained.
Santos was turned away at the Union Gospel Mission because he doesn't speak English, according to Rev. John Steinhauser, the mission's director, who said there isn't money to hire a translator.
But why didn't Steinhauser refer Santos to another organization that could help him?
Members of the local Hispanic Outreach Coalition feel that it could be for the same reason that other Hispanic people's needs in the community go unmet, because people don't know where to turn.
Coalition members feel the solution to this problem is the creation of a navigator position, a person who would serve as the central hub between agencies.
But since there is currently no funding available to create such a position, the coalition is brainstorming other ways to bridge the gap.
The group recently discussed recruiting a floating translator who could be called into an organization in order to assess someone's needs and make sure they get proper assistance.
Another idea is to create an internal directory, which explains the services and opportunities each organization can offer to different people.
With this in place, member agencies of the Hispanic Outreach Network would be able to easily refer a client to the right person at the right place.
Although these creations have the potential to bridge the gap to a degree, what is next for Santos?
After hearing his story, members of the coalition are taking action.
The Joint Neighborhood Project began working with Santos on Friday to help him find a home, according to JNP's executive director Patty Perlee.
"JNP along with family services are working together to help find a place for him to live," Ms. Perlee said. "We're glad that he came down here so we could at least get the ball rolling. For any of us in that situation, this would be an awful time."
Caraballo said that the folks at JNP drove him and Santos around Friday, checking out a few different apartments.
Billy Torres, the Eastside YMCA executive director, also offered to help Santos find housing.
Other organizations represented in the network also said that later down the line, they would be able to provide assistance for santos, including help getting a job, learning the English language, after his primary need of housing has been handled.
Caraballo said that he is hopeful that things will start looking up for his friend and that the roadblock he encountered last week will become a thing of the past sooner rather than later.
"Everyone should realize that we need to find the funding for another men's shelter that can take care of everyone," Caraballo said. "You shouldn't be sent to live on the street just because you don't speak English."
According to Richard Fleurant, director of community building for the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County, the situation Santos encountered is not truly unique.
"There is a problem in our community because there really is only one place for men who need shelter to go," he said. "We have other shelters for women and children, but there isn't much out there for men, especially those who only speak Spanish."
As far as a central place to go to get hooked up with services, citizens, even Spanish-speaking ones, may want to look to their phone.
For information on health and human services in Western New York, in English and Spanish, even if you don't exactly know what you are looking for, all you have to do is dial 211.
Cindy Schnelzer, the Western New York 211 partner site coordinator, said the service has a lot to offer and can help connect people with organizations that can help them.
"When someone calls in, we talk to them about what they need and then make a referral," she said. "If there isn't a referral, that means someone's needs are going unmet."
She said that the service received only two calls from Chautauqua County in August, none in September, but had four in October
"Although four is a small number it is 100 percent more than two, and people were helped," Ms. Schnelzer said. "And I believe as we keep working to get the word out there more people will use it as a resource."
She said that there will be posters going up around town soon which will explain the service in Spanish, and that she is hopeful it makes a difference for people.
Caraballo said Santos is cautiously optimistic about the way things seem to be going now. The caution comes from being let down when he was already at his lowest point, he explained, but the optimism is simply the hope that everything will be alright once again, with the help of a few good people.
Latino voters encouraged to unite and take action
An agenda for action
La Opinion
Latino voters came out to the polls several weeks back with a clear sense of the change they wanted for the country. They voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, defying all the doubts spread about the supposed difficulties Hispanics would have in supporting an African-American. The candidate's race was secondary; far more important was his vision and especially his agenda for the nation.
A recent national survey of Latino voters conducted by ImpreMedia and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) showed that upwards of 72% of Hispanic voters backed the Illinois senator, and the support was due to a set of concrete priorities that the candidate had addressed positively throughout the campaign.
Without a doubt, the economy was the top concern of Latinos, as it was for the majority of all voters. The mortgage crisis has hit construction and other employment sectors that have a particularly high concentration of Hispanics.
The Iraq war and the lack of access to adequate medical care were next among the top concerns. The latter issue has been a serious problem in our community for a long time, and it has now turned into a public outcry.
Also, comprehensive immigration reform was among the top priorities with Latino voters. Obama has promised to address this issue in his first year in the White House.
We believe the Hispanic electorate's agenda should be incorporated into the incoming Administration’s blueprint for action. Latino interests are similar to those of the average voter, as are the shared expectations for Obama's fulfillment of his promises.
Latino voters came out to the polls several weeks back with a clear sense of the change they wanted for the country. They voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, defying all the doubts spread about the supposed difficulties Hispanics would have in supporting an African-American. The candidate's race was secondary; far more important was his vision and especially his agenda for the nation.
A recent national survey of Latino voters conducted by ImpreMedia and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) showed that upwards of 72% of Hispanic voters backed the Illinois senator, and the support was due to a set of concrete priorities that the candidate had addressed positively throughout the campaign.
Without a doubt, the economy was the top concern of Latinos, as it was for the majority of all voters. The mortgage crisis has hit construction and other employment sectors that have a particularly high concentration of Hispanics.
The Iraq war and the lack of access to adequate medical care were next among the top concerns. The latter issue has been a serious problem in our community for a long time, and it has now turned into a public outcry.
Also, comprehensive immigration reform was among the top priorities with Latino voters. Obama has promised to address this issue in his first year in the White House.
We believe the Hispanic electorate's agenda should be incorporated into the incoming Administration’s blueprint for action. Latino interests are similar to those of the average voter, as are the shared expectations for Obama's fulfillment of his promises.
La Opinion
Latino voters came out to the polls several weeks back with a clear sense of the change they wanted for the country. They voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, defying all the doubts spread about the supposed difficulties Hispanics would have in supporting an African-American. The candidate's race was secondary; far more important was his vision and especially his agenda for the nation.
A recent national survey of Latino voters conducted by ImpreMedia and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) showed that upwards of 72% of Hispanic voters backed the Illinois senator, and the support was due to a set of concrete priorities that the candidate had addressed positively throughout the campaign.
Without a doubt, the economy was the top concern of Latinos, as it was for the majority of all voters. The mortgage crisis has hit construction and other employment sectors that have a particularly high concentration of Hispanics.
The Iraq war and the lack of access to adequate medical care were next among the top concerns. The latter issue has been a serious problem in our community for a long time, and it has now turned into a public outcry.
Also, comprehensive immigration reform was among the top priorities with Latino voters. Obama has promised to address this issue in his first year in the White House.
We believe the Hispanic electorate's agenda should be incorporated into the incoming Administration’s blueprint for action. Latino interests are similar to those of the average voter, as are the shared expectations for Obama's fulfillment of his promises.
Latino voters came out to the polls several weeks back with a clear sense of the change they wanted for the country. They voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, defying all the doubts spread about the supposed difficulties Hispanics would have in supporting an African-American. The candidate's race was secondary; far more important was his vision and especially his agenda for the nation.
A recent national survey of Latino voters conducted by ImpreMedia and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) showed that upwards of 72% of Hispanic voters backed the Illinois senator, and the support was due to a set of concrete priorities that the candidate had addressed positively throughout the campaign.
Without a doubt, the economy was the top concern of Latinos, as it was for the majority of all voters. The mortgage crisis has hit construction and other employment sectors that have a particularly high concentration of Hispanics.
The Iraq war and the lack of access to adequate medical care were next among the top concerns. The latter issue has been a serious problem in our community for a long time, and it has now turned into a public outcry.
Also, comprehensive immigration reform was among the top priorities with Latino voters. Obama has promised to address this issue in his first year in the White House.
We believe the Hispanic electorate's agenda should be incorporated into the incoming Administration’s blueprint for action. Latino interests are similar to those of the average voter, as are the shared expectations for Obama's fulfillment of his promises.
Hispanic community loses trust of local police
Police misconduct charge stems from Hispanic community
By TREY CHRISTY trey.christy@newssun.com
AVON PARK -- Complaints about police misconduct in Avon Park stemmed from within the Hispanic community, officials have said.
The allegations include extortion.
An undercover operation that led to the Wednesday arrest of Avon Park Police Officer Adam Willis, 30, used a vehicle that was "suggestive that the owner of the vehicle was of Hispanic dissent [sic]," the arrest report stated.
According to court documents generated in the case of the State of Florida v. Adam Willis, an investigation started in June 2008 in reference to complaints that officers within the Avon Park Police Department were stealing from citizens, "namely those of a Hispanic background."
During the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Willis was determined to be one of the officers involved, said Yolanda Carbia, resident agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sebring field office.
The FDLE investigation eventually focused on two officers, Willis and Alberto Perez, court documents said.
Perez has yet to be charged, but has since been put on paid administrative leave by the APPD.
Patricia Austin, president of Council Three of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said she fielded many complaints from the Hispanic community.
"(Avon Park Police Chief Matthew Doughney) said (the complaints) would definitely be looked into and taken care of," she said Friday. "He got right on it ... I was really impressed with the chief on that."
Some of the complaints included extorting money.
"Hispanics talked about how they had been pulled over and told if they would pay a certain amount, (officers) wouldn't write them a ticket," she said, citing examples of individuals being pulled over for infractions such as having a headlight out or window tint too dark.
"I was furious. I couldn't believe it ... everyone knows you don't pay officers for a ticket," she said. "Some of them, from what they had told me, had given the officers cash."
Two separate individuals told her they paid between $200 and $300 to officers.
Carbia said she had no comment on whether or not the officers extorted money in this manner, but did say that LULAC officials provided both the FDLE and APPD with information.
Austin recalled witnessing one of her Hispanic neighbors being pulled over for running a stop sign from the front porch of her house.
"He did not run that stop sign," she recalled.
Austin went to help the officer deal with a language barrier, as she said her neighbor didn't speak English very well. The officer let the alleged offender go with a warning.
Austin remembers who that officer was, but wouldn't give a name.
"It was one of the officers they are questioning now," she said.
The Undercover Operation
The operation involved an unlocked vehicle parked on the shoulder of North Central Avenue in Avon Park with $310 in marked bills inside a wallet, a package of cigarette rolling papers and a fake temporary registration.
Willis arrived on scene in response to an anonymous complaint regarding a suspicious vehicle.
Electronic surveillance from inside the vehicle reportedly recorded Willis taking the wallet and rolling papers. He also reportedly found the temporary registration.
"The registration's purpose was to see if the officer would make an effort to locate the owner of the vehicle, which Willis did not do," the arrest report stated. "He located the registration, simply looked at it, and then placed it back in the center console."
Newly released court records indicate there was information in the wallet not investigated by Willis.
They stated he put the wallet into his pocket after flipping through it "without looking at the names and telephone numbers written on pieces of paper inside the wallet in an attempt to identify the owner of the vehicle."
Willis locked the car and radioed dispatch, stating he did not find any identification in the vehicle, and without mentioning the found property, reports stated.
Officials from the FDLE and APPD searched in and around the vehicle after Willis left, reportedly unable to find the wallet, money, or rolling papers.
On Monday, the APPD temporary evidence hold was checked, but none of the items allegedly removed by Willis were found.
The serial numbers of the bills in the wallet were all recorded by the FDLE and when Willis was arrested, $40 of the missing money was found in his front pants pocket.
He allegedly admitted to FDLE agents that he spent the additional $270.
Reduction of bail
Initially Willis was held without bond until first appearance.
After his first appearance on Thursday, bond was set at $100,000 for the charge of armed burglary, and $25,000 for the charge of grand theft, at the request of the state.
"Namely stating that the alleged crime was horrible in that an officer of the law had violated the public's trust, and that the State Attorney's Office feared that the Defendant may interfere with further investigations and possibly tamper with witnesses," court documents from Judge Anthony Ritenour said.
At continued first appearance, granted so the judge could hear testimony from both the state and the defense on the amount set for bond, it was lowered to $1,000 for grand theft and $15,000 for armed burglary.
"The issue remains, though, as to whether the defendant can be charged with armed burglary as, in fact, it would be impossible for him not to be armed at the time of entering the vehicle, due to his being a law enforcement officer," Ritenour said.
The judge mentioned in the documents that the state failed to prove any possibility that Willis would harass potential victims or witnesses.
"The court cannot set bond based on innuendo," he said.
The Highlands County Sheriffs Office Web site indicated Willis was released from jail at 6:30 p.m. Friday on the reduced $16,000 bond.
His next scheduled court date is set for Dec. 15.
By TREY CHRISTY trey.christy@newssun.com
AVON PARK -- Complaints about police misconduct in Avon Park stemmed from within the Hispanic community, officials have said.
The allegations include extortion.
An undercover operation that led to the Wednesday arrest of Avon Park Police Officer Adam Willis, 30, used a vehicle that was "suggestive that the owner of the vehicle was of Hispanic dissent [sic]," the arrest report stated.
According to court documents generated in the case of the State of Florida v. Adam Willis, an investigation started in June 2008 in reference to complaints that officers within the Avon Park Police Department were stealing from citizens, "namely those of a Hispanic background."
During the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Willis was determined to be one of the officers involved, said Yolanda Carbia, resident agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sebring field office.
The FDLE investigation eventually focused on two officers, Willis and Alberto Perez, court documents said.
Perez has yet to be charged, but has since been put on paid administrative leave by the APPD.
Patricia Austin, president of Council Three of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said she fielded many complaints from the Hispanic community.
"(Avon Park Police Chief Matthew Doughney) said (the complaints) would definitely be looked into and taken care of," she said Friday. "He got right on it ... I was really impressed with the chief on that."
Some of the complaints included extorting money.
"Hispanics talked about how they had been pulled over and told if they would pay a certain amount, (officers) wouldn't write them a ticket," she said, citing examples of individuals being pulled over for infractions such as having a headlight out or window tint too dark.
"I was furious. I couldn't believe it ... everyone knows you don't pay officers for a ticket," she said. "Some of them, from what they had told me, had given the officers cash."
Two separate individuals told her they paid between $200 and $300 to officers.
Carbia said she had no comment on whether or not the officers extorted money in this manner, but did say that LULAC officials provided both the FDLE and APPD with information.
Austin recalled witnessing one of her Hispanic neighbors being pulled over for running a stop sign from the front porch of her house.
"He did not run that stop sign," she recalled.
Austin went to help the officer deal with a language barrier, as she said her neighbor didn't speak English very well. The officer let the alleged offender go with a warning.
Austin remembers who that officer was, but wouldn't give a name.
"It was one of the officers they are questioning now," she said.
The Undercover Operation
The operation involved an unlocked vehicle parked on the shoulder of North Central Avenue in Avon Park with $310 in marked bills inside a wallet, a package of cigarette rolling papers and a fake temporary registration.
Willis arrived on scene in response to an anonymous complaint regarding a suspicious vehicle.
Electronic surveillance from inside the vehicle reportedly recorded Willis taking the wallet and rolling papers. He also reportedly found the temporary registration.
"The registration's purpose was to see if the officer would make an effort to locate the owner of the vehicle, which Willis did not do," the arrest report stated. "He located the registration, simply looked at it, and then placed it back in the center console."
Newly released court records indicate there was information in the wallet not investigated by Willis.
They stated he put the wallet into his pocket after flipping through it "without looking at the names and telephone numbers written on pieces of paper inside the wallet in an attempt to identify the owner of the vehicle."
Willis locked the car and radioed dispatch, stating he did not find any identification in the vehicle, and without mentioning the found property, reports stated.
Officials from the FDLE and APPD searched in and around the vehicle after Willis left, reportedly unable to find the wallet, money, or rolling papers.
On Monday, the APPD temporary evidence hold was checked, but none of the items allegedly removed by Willis were found.
The serial numbers of the bills in the wallet were all recorded by the FDLE and when Willis was arrested, $40 of the missing money was found in his front pants pocket.
He allegedly admitted to FDLE agents that he spent the additional $270.
Reduction of bail
Initially Willis was held without bond until first appearance.
After his first appearance on Thursday, bond was set at $100,000 for the charge of armed burglary, and $25,000 for the charge of grand theft, at the request of the state.
"Namely stating that the alleged crime was horrible in that an officer of the law had violated the public's trust, and that the State Attorney's Office feared that the Defendant may interfere with further investigations and possibly tamper with witnesses," court documents from Judge Anthony Ritenour said.
At continued first appearance, granted so the judge could hear testimony from both the state and the defense on the amount set for bond, it was lowered to $1,000 for grand theft and $15,000 for armed burglary.
"The issue remains, though, as to whether the defendant can be charged with armed burglary as, in fact, it would be impossible for him not to be armed at the time of entering the vehicle, due to his being a law enforcement officer," Ritenour said.
The judge mentioned in the documents that the state failed to prove any possibility that Willis would harass potential victims or witnesses.
"The court cannot set bond based on innuendo," he said.
The Highlands County Sheriffs Office Web site indicated Willis was released from jail at 6:30 p.m. Friday on the reduced $16,000 bond.
His next scheduled court date is set for Dec. 15.
Latino voters should be catered to by GOP
My View: GOP must win back Latino vote
By Tony Quinn Special To The Bee Nov. 23, 2008
Of all the disasters that befell Republicans this November, none was worse than their drubbing in the Western states. John McCain's showing in California was the worst in a two-candidate race since Franklin Roosevelt beat Alf Landon in 1936.
Republicans lost badly in the formerly GOP states of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado – and would have lost Arizona had McCain not headed the ticket.
This terrible Republican showing in the West is the direct result of the GOP's alienation of Latino voters. According to exit polls, the shift of Latino voters who supported President George W. Bush in 2004 to Barack Obama in 2008 accounts for the GOP losses in Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico – all states Bush carried in 2004.
The numbers tell the story. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials estimates that between 9.6 million and 11 million Latinos voted in 2008, compared with 7.6 million in 2004. In 2004, Bush won well over 40 percent of the Latino vote – he had championed comprehensive immigration reform and had good rapport with Latinos from his years as governor of Texas, This year, Obama won 66 percent of Latino votes, according to exit polls. He won Florida Latinos – that includes both Cuban Americans and other Latinos – by 15 points. Bush had carried the Florida Latino vote by 12 points in 2004, and solid Cuban American support was responsible for Bush's tiny Florida margin in 2000. Obama's Latino margin was enough to give him Florida's 27 electoral votes.
It was even worse in other heavily Latino states. Not only did Obama carry New Mexico by a wide margin, but Republicans lost every federal office in that state: both of their congressional districts and their U.S. Senate seat. For the first time in four decades, there are no New Mexico Republicans in Congress.
In Colorado, another state with a growing Latino population, Republicans have lost both U.S. Senate seats, the governorship and a majority in the congressional delegation in just the past four years. Obama carried Nevada in a landslide, and Republicans lost one of their two House seats there. While McCain carried his home state of Arizona, Democrats have picked up three congressional districts in the past two cycles.
What can Republicans do to reverse this trend? Well, they are lucky; the voters seem to be doing it for them. One of the more avid immigrant-bashers this cycle was Lou Barletta, the GOP mayor of Hazelton, Pa. He ran against a weak Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, highlighting his opposition to immigration in Pennsylvania. He was expected to win. He lost. A number of other hard-line conservatives, including Reps. Bill Sali in Idaho and Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado, were also defeated.
The huge Democratic numbers in both the U.S. House and Senate mean that some sort of immigration reform with amnesty for workers illegally in this country will pass and be signed into law by President Obama. Republicans will play no role in government for the next two years, so Democratic votes will be sufficient to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
That will help, and the natural conservatism of many Latino voters may draw them back to Republican candidates once amnesty for illegal immigrants recedes. There are opportunities for Republicans to build bridges with Latinos. Exit polls show that Latinos narrowly approved Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage, and they probably voted heavily for Proposition 4, for parental notification on abortion (Latinos certainly have in the past). There is strong social conservatism among California Latinos.
Ronald Reagan's blend of conservative values and economic opportunity appealed to emerging middle-class Latinos in the 1970s and 1980s, and they rewarded him with hefty votes.
But before this happens, Republicans must rid themselves of their nativist impulses. "It's hard to vote for a party that says they are going to deport your loved ones," says Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigrant advocacy group.
And defeat may be the best disinfectant. It is an open question whether California Republicans will seriously contest for the governorship or Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat in 2010, but it is readily apparent that they have no chance to win without attracting a major share of California's Latino voters.
In fact, no Republican has ever won statewide in California without about 35 percent of the Latino vote, and that was true when Latinos were a small slice of California voters. That is certainly true today when Latinos accounted for 18 percent of California voters in 2008, according to exit polls.
So the die is cast. If Republicans are to be a significant political party in America, and certainly in California, they must find a way to attract conservative, middle-class Latino voters. If they don't, history's trash heap surely awaits them.
Tony Quinn is co-editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan analysis of legislative and congressional elections.
By Tony Quinn Special To The Bee Nov. 23, 2008
Of all the disasters that befell Republicans this November, none was worse than their drubbing in the Western states. John McCain's showing in California was the worst in a two-candidate race since Franklin Roosevelt beat Alf Landon in 1936.
Republicans lost badly in the formerly GOP states of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado – and would have lost Arizona had McCain not headed the ticket.
This terrible Republican showing in the West is the direct result of the GOP's alienation of Latino voters. According to exit polls, the shift of Latino voters who supported President George W. Bush in 2004 to Barack Obama in 2008 accounts for the GOP losses in Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico – all states Bush carried in 2004.
The numbers tell the story. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials estimates that between 9.6 million and 11 million Latinos voted in 2008, compared with 7.6 million in 2004. In 2004, Bush won well over 40 percent of the Latino vote – he had championed comprehensive immigration reform and had good rapport with Latinos from his years as governor of Texas, This year, Obama won 66 percent of Latino votes, according to exit polls. He won Florida Latinos – that includes both Cuban Americans and other Latinos – by 15 points. Bush had carried the Florida Latino vote by 12 points in 2004, and solid Cuban American support was responsible for Bush's tiny Florida margin in 2000. Obama's Latino margin was enough to give him Florida's 27 electoral votes.
It was even worse in other heavily Latino states. Not only did Obama carry New Mexico by a wide margin, but Republicans lost every federal office in that state: both of their congressional districts and their U.S. Senate seat. For the first time in four decades, there are no New Mexico Republicans in Congress.
In Colorado, another state with a growing Latino population, Republicans have lost both U.S. Senate seats, the governorship and a majority in the congressional delegation in just the past four years. Obama carried Nevada in a landslide, and Republicans lost one of their two House seats there. While McCain carried his home state of Arizona, Democrats have picked up three congressional districts in the past two cycles.
What can Republicans do to reverse this trend? Well, they are lucky; the voters seem to be doing it for them. One of the more avid immigrant-bashers this cycle was Lou Barletta, the GOP mayor of Hazelton, Pa. He ran against a weak Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, highlighting his opposition to immigration in Pennsylvania. He was expected to win. He lost. A number of other hard-line conservatives, including Reps. Bill Sali in Idaho and Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado, were also defeated.
The huge Democratic numbers in both the U.S. House and Senate mean that some sort of immigration reform with amnesty for workers illegally in this country will pass and be signed into law by President Obama. Republicans will play no role in government for the next two years, so Democratic votes will be sufficient to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
That will help, and the natural conservatism of many Latino voters may draw them back to Republican candidates once amnesty for illegal immigrants recedes. There are opportunities for Republicans to build bridges with Latinos. Exit polls show that Latinos narrowly approved Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage, and they probably voted heavily for Proposition 4, for parental notification on abortion (Latinos certainly have in the past). There is strong social conservatism among California Latinos.
Ronald Reagan's blend of conservative values and economic opportunity appealed to emerging middle-class Latinos in the 1970s and 1980s, and they rewarded him with hefty votes.
But before this happens, Republicans must rid themselves of their nativist impulses. "It's hard to vote for a party that says they are going to deport your loved ones," says Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigrant advocacy group.
And defeat may be the best disinfectant. It is an open question whether California Republicans will seriously contest for the governorship or Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat in 2010, but it is readily apparent that they have no chance to win without attracting a major share of California's Latino voters.
In fact, no Republican has ever won statewide in California without about 35 percent of the Latino vote, and that was true when Latinos were a small slice of California voters. That is certainly true today when Latinos accounted for 18 percent of California voters in 2008, according to exit polls.
So the die is cast. If Republicans are to be a significant political party in America, and certainly in California, they must find a way to attract conservative, middle-class Latino voters. If they don't, history's trash heap surely awaits them.
Tony Quinn is co-editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan analysis of legislative and congressional elections.
Latino attacks on the rise FBI says
FBI finds attacks against Latinos on rise
BY SUMATHI REDDY November 23, 2008
In a Pennsylvania coal mining town last July, four high school football players were accused of shouting ethnic slurs at a Mexican immigrant before a brawl erupted and Luis Ramirez, 25, was killed.
Three of the teens were charged with ethnic intimidation, and the attack became part of a growing category of crimes reported in the U.S.: hate attacks against Hispanics.
Attacks on Hispanics grew 40 percent from 2003 to 2007, outpacing the estimated 16 percent increase in the Hispanic population in the U.S., according to FBI statistics. Over the same time period, the total number of hate-crime incidents reported nationwide has remained steady.
"We do know from reports and from hate-group activity that there's a new focus on the Latino and immigrant populations," said Randy Blazak, director of the Hate Crimes Research Network at Portland State University in Oregon.
Since 2004, Blazak said, Ku Klux Klan rhetoric has take an "incredible shift from anti-black diatribes" toward hatred directed at Latinos.
Experts say the increase in violence targeting Hispanics nationally is likely even larger because hate crimes are underreported. They caution, however, that the FBI statistics are drawn from local law enforcement agencies, which have widely disparate standards for labeling crimes as hate crimes. Nassau and Suffolk counties have both reported substantial decreases in hate crimes against Hispanics in recent years.
Seven Patchogue-Medford High School students are accused in the fatal attack on Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero on Nov. 8, a death that has been classified as a bias crime. Mark Potok, head of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., a nonprofit organization that combats discrimination and bias crimes, said there also has been a sharp increase in the number of groups the organization labels as "hate groups," rising from 602 in 2000 to 888 last year.
"Our analysis is that the growth of these groups was driven almost entirely by their exploitation of the immigration issue," Potok said, referring to the contentious debate over the nation's porous borders and the number of nonresident immigrants in the United States.
The increase in hate crimes targeting Latinos, experts said, can be largely attributed to anti-immigrant rhetoric, and to the recent declining economy, which has led to fierce job competition, as well as anti-immigrant rhetoric.
In both Patchogue and Shenandoah, Pa., the attacks took place against the backdrop of inflammatory debates about undocumented immigrants.
Shenandoah is just 20 minutes away from the town of Hazleton, which passed a controversial ordinance to discourage residents from renting to or hiring undocumented immigrants. The ordinance did not withstand a court challenge.
In Shenandoah, a similar measure was proposed but tabled because of the legal challenge to Hazelton's ordinance.
It's been more than four months since Ramirez was killed, but some residents say tension still simmers between Hispanics and other members of the community, despite the formation of a task force and outreach programs.
"The situation essentially has not changed," said Agapito Lopez, a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Pennsylvania's long-established advocacy agency for Latino residents. "There's still fear in the Latino communities that they'll be subject to other harassment."
Last month, Shenandoah Mayor Thomas O'Neill, who was praised by the Latino community for his outreach efforts, abruptly tendered his resignation, effective Jan. 1. Some residents believe he was pressured to resign. O'Neill did not return calls last week.
Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, predicted the climate nationally will only get worse.
"I think you will see that hate crimes against Latinos will be on the rise for the next few years," he said. "You can see this throughout history. Every time the economy sours, we blame the newcomers."
BY SUMATHI REDDY November 23, 2008
In a Pennsylvania coal mining town last July, four high school football players were accused of shouting ethnic slurs at a Mexican immigrant before a brawl erupted and Luis Ramirez, 25, was killed.
Three of the teens were charged with ethnic intimidation, and the attack became part of a growing category of crimes reported in the U.S.: hate attacks against Hispanics.
Attacks on Hispanics grew 40 percent from 2003 to 2007, outpacing the estimated 16 percent increase in the Hispanic population in the U.S., according to FBI statistics. Over the same time period, the total number of hate-crime incidents reported nationwide has remained steady.
"We do know from reports and from hate-group activity that there's a new focus on the Latino and immigrant populations," said Randy Blazak, director of the Hate Crimes Research Network at Portland State University in Oregon.
Since 2004, Blazak said, Ku Klux Klan rhetoric has take an "incredible shift from anti-black diatribes" toward hatred directed at Latinos.
Experts say the increase in violence targeting Hispanics nationally is likely even larger because hate crimes are underreported. They caution, however, that the FBI statistics are drawn from local law enforcement agencies, which have widely disparate standards for labeling crimes as hate crimes. Nassau and Suffolk counties have both reported substantial decreases in hate crimes against Hispanics in recent years.
Seven Patchogue-Medford High School students are accused in the fatal attack on Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero on Nov. 8, a death that has been classified as a bias crime. Mark Potok, head of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., a nonprofit organization that combats discrimination and bias crimes, said there also has been a sharp increase in the number of groups the organization labels as "hate groups," rising from 602 in 2000 to 888 last year.
"Our analysis is that the growth of these groups was driven almost entirely by their exploitation of the immigration issue," Potok said, referring to the contentious debate over the nation's porous borders and the number of nonresident immigrants in the United States.
The increase in hate crimes targeting Latinos, experts said, can be largely attributed to anti-immigrant rhetoric, and to the recent declining economy, which has led to fierce job competition, as well as anti-immigrant rhetoric.
In both Patchogue and Shenandoah, Pa., the attacks took place against the backdrop of inflammatory debates about undocumented immigrants.
Shenandoah is just 20 minutes away from the town of Hazleton, which passed a controversial ordinance to discourage residents from renting to or hiring undocumented immigrants. The ordinance did not withstand a court challenge.
In Shenandoah, a similar measure was proposed but tabled because of the legal challenge to Hazelton's ordinance.
It's been more than four months since Ramirez was killed, but some residents say tension still simmers between Hispanics and other members of the community, despite the formation of a task force and outreach programs.
"The situation essentially has not changed," said Agapito Lopez, a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Pennsylvania's long-established advocacy agency for Latino residents. "There's still fear in the Latino communities that they'll be subject to other harassment."
Last month, Shenandoah Mayor Thomas O'Neill, who was praised by the Latino community for his outreach efforts, abruptly tendered his resignation, effective Jan. 1. Some residents believe he was pressured to resign. O'Neill did not return calls last week.
Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, predicted the climate nationally will only get worse.
"I think you will see that hate crimes against Latinos will be on the rise for the next few years," he said. "You can see this throughout history. Every time the economy sours, we blame the newcomers."
Latino group gets donation to help students
Chalk Talk: Peninsula outdoor schools win grants
By Neil Gonzales San Mateo County Times 11/23/2008
DONATION TO HELP LATINO STUDENTS: A $5,000 donation last week will boost efforts to help Latino students pursue higher education.
The Hermanos Club at Skyline College in San Bruno received the contribution
Advertisement
from local law enforcement.
In a ceremony, South San Francisco Police Chief Mark Raffaelli and San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks presented the check to college president Victoria Morrow and club representatives.
The club addresses the academic, psychological and social needs of young Latino men through instructional support, mentoring and other services. It seeks to enroll Latinos in college upon high school graduation.
By Neil Gonzales San Mateo County Times 11/23/2008
DONATION TO HELP LATINO STUDENTS: A $5,000 donation last week will boost efforts to help Latino students pursue higher education.
The Hermanos Club at Skyline College in San Bruno received the contribution
Advertisement
from local law enforcement.
In a ceremony, South San Francisco Police Chief Mark Raffaelli and San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks presented the check to college president Victoria Morrow and club representatives.
The club addresses the academic, psychological and social needs of young Latino men through instructional support, mentoring and other services. It seeks to enroll Latinos in college upon high school graduation.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Hispanic musical prodigy arrives in L.A.
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel is riding a wave of Dudamania
The Venezuelan, who will take over the Los Angeles Philharmonic next year, brings youth and experience, exuberance and gravitas, along with an affinity for pop culture.
By Reed Johnson November 23, 2008
Reporting from Caracas, Venezuela — The new global poster boy for classical music and his wife are salsa-stepping across the ballroom of the Alba Hotel. Calm, precise and seemingly always sure of their next move, Gustavo Dudamel and Eloisa Maturen grin at each other and the dozens of other couples around them as they execute perfect copas and "spot turns."
Barely two hours earlier, Dudamel, the 27-year-old conducting prodigy who will take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in September, was beaming and waving to a packed auditorium after leading the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra through a thunderous performance of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. The concert last summer, marking the orchestra's 30th anniversary, was a rousingly nostalgic occasion, with Dudamel's elderly artistic mentor, Jose Antonio Abreu, joining his protege on stage amid a fusillade of flashing cellphone cameras, air kisses and lusty cheers.
Dudamel's seamless transition from virtuoso black-suited maestro to good-time party guy speaks volumes about why many in the classical music world believe the L.A. Phil has scored the coup of the decade by signing him to a five-year contract. When the charismatic South American takes over from Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is stepping down after 17 years at the podium to further his composing career, he will bring a rare combination of youth and experience, gravitas and exuberance, old-school European repertory knowledge and a New World willingness to break with fusty practices when necessary.
It's a dualistic outlook that Dudamel himself expresses best, in response to the frequently heard remark that he and his photogenic 28-year-old wife, a journalist and former dancer, are so, well, young to be so accomplished.
"Well, how cool, how good, that we are young!" says Dudamel, who will be in Southern California over the next two weeks conducting the Phil and the Israel Philharmonic. "Young, but I believe that we have a very mature soul. We are young, but we are old!"
The ability to embrace many qualities at once, and represent many things to different people, is a defining trait of Dudamel, the son of a trombone player and a voice teacher. From his fellow players in the Bolivar Youth Orchestra he elicits equal amounts of respect, affection and pride. From his professional peers, arts administrators and music critics he has earned glowing reviews not only for his technique but also for his poise and consideration.
"Watching him rehearse our orchestra, watching him rehearse other orchestras, showed me a lot about his ability to lead, his ability to interpret," says Deborah Borda, the L.A. Phil's president. "But it always goes back, as E.M. Forster said, to connection, his ability to connect, on many different levels."
When Dudamel takes up residence in Los Angeles next fall, Borda and the Phil want to give him time to "breathe the air," to take the pulse of the city and gradually figure out how to put his imprint on the community. Fat chance. Dudamel will immediately step into a klieg light's glare of advance publicity, carrying a massive load of expectations, not only as the public face of one of the nation's top orchestras but also as an instantly prominent Latin American cultural figure in a region with 5 million Spanish-speaking residents.
Dudamel appears to be cottoning as much to L.A. as it has to him. A lifelong basketball aficionado, he has become a Lakers fan (he attended a game and met Phil Jackson), but he doesn't see why he couldn't root for the Clippers as well. ¿Por qué no? he says, characteristically -- "Why not?"
Asked if he and Maturen want to live by the beach or in the mountains, he replies in a mock-declamatory tone, "In the mountains, with a beach!" (The couple plan to start house-hunting in January.)
That outlook comes through in Dudamel's eclectic affinity for popular culture. He segues easily between the street and the salon. Last November, he took part in a photo-op wiener-eating binge at Pink's hot dog stand, which has named one of its trademark concoctions the Dude Dog in his honor.
"I want to try this!" exclaimed the man who's memorized all of Mahler's symphonies, as his namesake platter was served. "I want to try me!"
A full plate
These days, practically everyone in classical music wants to try Dudamel, wants a piece of his time, a spot in his datebook. Many world-class conductors are notoriously over-committed, but Dudamel may set a new standard. Already piling up frequent-flier miles at a furious pace, he recently extended his contract through the 2010-11 season as music director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, where he'll be spending about 10 weeks each year. His first season in Los Angeles will be announced in January.
The Deutsche Grammophon label showed its faith in the young conductor by signing him to a deal that already has yielded a recording with the L.A. Phil of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" that topped Billboard's classical music chart in June. His flurry of concerts in recent months has drawn nearly unanimous praise, with only the occasional grumble, like the one from a critic for the Guardian of London who lamented what he called Dudamel's "hyperactive conducting style."
In the United States, the hum of anticipation has been nearly as loud outside as inside Southern California. "Gustavo Dudamel, Better Than the Hype" read a Washington Post review of a concert last week in Virginia.
Although the Philharmonic will try to shield its new prize from getting the full Hollywood paparazzi treatment, it hasn't exactly been trying to put a lid on the buzz surrounding the man the musical blogosphere has dubbed "the Dude." "How many of you have Dudamania?" Borda asked the crowd at a post-concert talk-back last spring, to a roaring response.
Dudamel has been called the most prodigiously gifted young conductor in the world by the likes of Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. His admirers inevitably compare him to Leonard Bernstein, arguably the last maestro who was able through creative energy and force of personality to bridge the often estranged worlds of classical and popular music while attracting broad new audiences.
The young Venezuelan is conscious of the comparison. Once, he reportedly borrowed one of Bernstein's old batons to conduct a concert.
In Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, Dudamel receives the kind of adulation normally reserved for telenovela stars and soccer players.
"Gustavo Dudamel is an inspiration, because he used to be a poor kid in Venezuela until Maestro Abreu discovered his potentials and unlocked them, and today he's one of the most important conductors in the world," says Shakira, the Colombian pop diva and philanthropic entrepreneur, who says Dudamel has offered to assist her with future charity projects.
Alejandro Carreno, 23, the Bolivar orchestra's concertmaster and a longtime friend, says Dudamel's international success can only benefit his homeland. "Gustavo is a director who belongs to the world," says Carreno. "And if there is one thing I'm sure about Gustavo, that I would put my hand in the fire about, he never will forget his roots, and that he will never forget Venezuela, and that he will never forget our orchestra."
Strong roots
Indeed, although he's now a globe-trotting world citizen, Dudamel retains a strong sense of identification with his own country and the idea of giving young people the chance to make music. Raised in low-income surroundings in provincial Barquisimeto, he possesses an instinctive preference for democratic inclusiveness, especially when it comes to classical music.
"There needs to be repaired this paradigm that always existed, that classical music is for an elite, a select group of people," he says, moving easilybetween Spanish and English, "and I believe that we have the opportunity, with the Hollywood Bowl, with the programming of the Bowl, and now, well, that the orchestra can take on this problem directly."
To further that objective, Dudamel is assisting the Philharmonic's ambitious effort to build three to five youth orchestras in the next eight to 10 years, modeled on El Sistema, Venezuela's remarkable national youth music training program. Dudamel will conduct a Dec. 6 rehearsal of the EXPO Center Youth Orchestra, which is part of the Phil's Youth Orchestra LA initiative.
Dudamel himself wouldn't be where he is today without benefit of such an orchestra, at such an early age. He was hand-picked for success by Abreu, El Sistema's founder and guiding light for the past 33 years, who spotted Dudamel's gifts, first as a violinist, then more spectacularly as a conductor when he was 11 years old. "He's an outstanding talent and a select spirit," Abreu says of his star pupil.
Edward Smith, the Gothenburg Symphony's chief executive, says Dudamel's artistic maturity and temperamental steadiness were obvious from the night in 2005 when the orchestra's then-principal conductor, Neeme Jarvi, fell ill, and Dudamel was hired on short notice to perform at London's Royal Albert Hall.
As the young maestro took the stage, an ambient noise caused by an electrical fault started buzzing throughout the cavernous building. Unruffled, Dudamel calmly walked off the stage and waited 45 minutes for the problem to be fixed before returning and ripping through a dazzling performance of Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius.
"I've never come across anything like Gustavo. Never. Anywhere," Smith says, citing the conductor's ability not only to quickly absorb vast numbers of scores, but also to assimilate the widely differing sounds and textures of various orchestras. "It's a quiet self-confidence. It's not an arrogance, and it's not a cockiness." And though Dudamel is best known for his richly expressionistic conducting of late-19th century composers, he has mastered an extraordinarily large repertory for such a young artist, Smith says.
Dudamel's low-key assurance has always been part of her husband's makeup, says Maturen. "He's just such a humble person, and he's very kind with people. And he's exactly the same as the first time I met him."
Maturen says the couple, who plan to start a family someday, are looking forward to living in Los Angeles as "a very beautiful challenge." Still, she acknowledges some trepidation about the city's celebrity -- or rather, celebrity-eating -- culture. "It worries me," she says. "We have the objective of trying to keep ourselves outside the public eye that's curious and at times morbid, no? Because the good thing is that all classical music is a little separate from this world."
When the Phil announced that it was hiring Dudamel, the widespread chorus of approval contained a faint falsetto descant suggesting that he represented something of an unknown commodity, given his relative youth and the fact that he had never hired a musician or worked within the strict union rules of a U.S. orchestra.
"People used to say to me, 'Well, it was a real risk you took, taking a guy that age,' " Borda says. "It never seemed like a risk to me. Because I knew, I was so convinced of the depth of his musical talent and understanding, and I was also so deeply convinced and committed to innovation and risk-taking on our part that I didn't lose any sleep over it.
"The possibilities are enormous," she says, "but we have to see how they grow. He's his own man, and we have to let him be that."
No one appears more patient in awaiting those possibilities than the young maestro.
"There are many things," he says about the prospects ahead. "But I don't like to speak about them, because sometimes when you start to talk and to talk, it's better to have a conversation here" -- he points to his head -- "and it's going to be fulfilled, you know? Promises and promises are terrible, and this is something we're very accustomed to in this modern world. I try to maintain what I'm doing and I try to protect the things I dream about. Only deeds are important."
Johnson is a Times staff writer.
reed.johnson@latimes.com
The Venezuelan, who will take over the Los Angeles Philharmonic next year, brings youth and experience, exuberance and gravitas, along with an affinity for pop culture.
By Reed Johnson November 23, 2008
Reporting from Caracas, Venezuela — The new global poster boy for classical music and his wife are salsa-stepping across the ballroom of the Alba Hotel. Calm, precise and seemingly always sure of their next move, Gustavo Dudamel and Eloisa Maturen grin at each other and the dozens of other couples around them as they execute perfect copas and "spot turns."
Barely two hours earlier, Dudamel, the 27-year-old conducting prodigy who will take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in September, was beaming and waving to a packed auditorium after leading the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra through a thunderous performance of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. The concert last summer, marking the orchestra's 30th anniversary, was a rousingly nostalgic occasion, with Dudamel's elderly artistic mentor, Jose Antonio Abreu, joining his protege on stage amid a fusillade of flashing cellphone cameras, air kisses and lusty cheers.
Dudamel's seamless transition from virtuoso black-suited maestro to good-time party guy speaks volumes about why many in the classical music world believe the L.A. Phil has scored the coup of the decade by signing him to a five-year contract. When the charismatic South American takes over from Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is stepping down after 17 years at the podium to further his composing career, he will bring a rare combination of youth and experience, gravitas and exuberance, old-school European repertory knowledge and a New World willingness to break with fusty practices when necessary.
It's a dualistic outlook that Dudamel himself expresses best, in response to the frequently heard remark that he and his photogenic 28-year-old wife, a journalist and former dancer, are so, well, young to be so accomplished.
"Well, how cool, how good, that we are young!" says Dudamel, who will be in Southern California over the next two weeks conducting the Phil and the Israel Philharmonic. "Young, but I believe that we have a very mature soul. We are young, but we are old!"
The ability to embrace many qualities at once, and represent many things to different people, is a defining trait of Dudamel, the son of a trombone player and a voice teacher. From his fellow players in the Bolivar Youth Orchestra he elicits equal amounts of respect, affection and pride. From his professional peers, arts administrators and music critics he has earned glowing reviews not only for his technique but also for his poise and consideration.
"Watching him rehearse our orchestra, watching him rehearse other orchestras, showed me a lot about his ability to lead, his ability to interpret," says Deborah Borda, the L.A. Phil's president. "But it always goes back, as E.M. Forster said, to connection, his ability to connect, on many different levels."
When Dudamel takes up residence in Los Angeles next fall, Borda and the Phil want to give him time to "breathe the air," to take the pulse of the city and gradually figure out how to put his imprint on the community. Fat chance. Dudamel will immediately step into a klieg light's glare of advance publicity, carrying a massive load of expectations, not only as the public face of one of the nation's top orchestras but also as an instantly prominent Latin American cultural figure in a region with 5 million Spanish-speaking residents.
Dudamel appears to be cottoning as much to L.A. as it has to him. A lifelong basketball aficionado, he has become a Lakers fan (he attended a game and met Phil Jackson), but he doesn't see why he couldn't root for the Clippers as well. ¿Por qué no? he says, characteristically -- "Why not?"
Asked if he and Maturen want to live by the beach or in the mountains, he replies in a mock-declamatory tone, "In the mountains, with a beach!" (The couple plan to start house-hunting in January.)
That outlook comes through in Dudamel's eclectic affinity for popular culture. He segues easily between the street and the salon. Last November, he took part in a photo-op wiener-eating binge at Pink's hot dog stand, which has named one of its trademark concoctions the Dude Dog in his honor.
"I want to try this!" exclaimed the man who's memorized all of Mahler's symphonies, as his namesake platter was served. "I want to try me!"
A full plate
These days, practically everyone in classical music wants to try Dudamel, wants a piece of his time, a spot in his datebook. Many world-class conductors are notoriously over-committed, but Dudamel may set a new standard. Already piling up frequent-flier miles at a furious pace, he recently extended his contract through the 2010-11 season as music director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, where he'll be spending about 10 weeks each year. His first season in Los Angeles will be announced in January.
The Deutsche Grammophon label showed its faith in the young conductor by signing him to a deal that already has yielded a recording with the L.A. Phil of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" that topped Billboard's classical music chart in June. His flurry of concerts in recent months has drawn nearly unanimous praise, with only the occasional grumble, like the one from a critic for the Guardian of London who lamented what he called Dudamel's "hyperactive conducting style."
In the United States, the hum of anticipation has been nearly as loud outside as inside Southern California. "Gustavo Dudamel, Better Than the Hype" read a Washington Post review of a concert last week in Virginia.
Although the Philharmonic will try to shield its new prize from getting the full Hollywood paparazzi treatment, it hasn't exactly been trying to put a lid on the buzz surrounding the man the musical blogosphere has dubbed "the Dude." "How many of you have Dudamania?" Borda asked the crowd at a post-concert talk-back last spring, to a roaring response.
Dudamel has been called the most prodigiously gifted young conductor in the world by the likes of Simon Rattle, music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. His admirers inevitably compare him to Leonard Bernstein, arguably the last maestro who was able through creative energy and force of personality to bridge the often estranged worlds of classical and popular music while attracting broad new audiences.
The young Venezuelan is conscious of the comparison. Once, he reportedly borrowed one of Bernstein's old batons to conduct a concert.
In Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, Dudamel receives the kind of adulation normally reserved for telenovela stars and soccer players.
"Gustavo Dudamel is an inspiration, because he used to be a poor kid in Venezuela until Maestro Abreu discovered his potentials and unlocked them, and today he's one of the most important conductors in the world," says Shakira, the Colombian pop diva and philanthropic entrepreneur, who says Dudamel has offered to assist her with future charity projects.
Alejandro Carreno, 23, the Bolivar orchestra's concertmaster and a longtime friend, says Dudamel's international success can only benefit his homeland. "Gustavo is a director who belongs to the world," says Carreno. "And if there is one thing I'm sure about Gustavo, that I would put my hand in the fire about, he never will forget his roots, and that he will never forget Venezuela, and that he will never forget our orchestra."
Strong roots
Indeed, although he's now a globe-trotting world citizen, Dudamel retains a strong sense of identification with his own country and the idea of giving young people the chance to make music. Raised in low-income surroundings in provincial Barquisimeto, he possesses an instinctive preference for democratic inclusiveness, especially when it comes to classical music.
"There needs to be repaired this paradigm that always existed, that classical music is for an elite, a select group of people," he says, moving easilybetween Spanish and English, "and I believe that we have the opportunity, with the Hollywood Bowl, with the programming of the Bowl, and now, well, that the orchestra can take on this problem directly."
To further that objective, Dudamel is assisting the Philharmonic's ambitious effort to build three to five youth orchestras in the next eight to 10 years, modeled on El Sistema, Venezuela's remarkable national youth music training program. Dudamel will conduct a Dec. 6 rehearsal of the EXPO Center Youth Orchestra, which is part of the Phil's Youth Orchestra LA initiative.
Dudamel himself wouldn't be where he is today without benefit of such an orchestra, at such an early age. He was hand-picked for success by Abreu, El Sistema's founder and guiding light for the past 33 years, who spotted Dudamel's gifts, first as a violinist, then more spectacularly as a conductor when he was 11 years old. "He's an outstanding talent and a select spirit," Abreu says of his star pupil.
Edward Smith, the Gothenburg Symphony's chief executive, says Dudamel's artistic maturity and temperamental steadiness were obvious from the night in 2005 when the orchestra's then-principal conductor, Neeme Jarvi, fell ill, and Dudamel was hired on short notice to perform at London's Royal Albert Hall.
As the young maestro took the stage, an ambient noise caused by an electrical fault started buzzing throughout the cavernous building. Unruffled, Dudamel calmly walked off the stage and waited 45 minutes for the problem to be fixed before returning and ripping through a dazzling performance of Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius.
"I've never come across anything like Gustavo. Never. Anywhere," Smith says, citing the conductor's ability not only to quickly absorb vast numbers of scores, but also to assimilate the widely differing sounds and textures of various orchestras. "It's a quiet self-confidence. It's not an arrogance, and it's not a cockiness." And though Dudamel is best known for his richly expressionistic conducting of late-19th century composers, he has mastered an extraordinarily large repertory for such a young artist, Smith says.
Dudamel's low-key assurance has always been part of her husband's makeup, says Maturen. "He's just such a humble person, and he's very kind with people. And he's exactly the same as the first time I met him."
Maturen says the couple, who plan to start a family someday, are looking forward to living in Los Angeles as "a very beautiful challenge." Still, she acknowledges some trepidation about the city's celebrity -- or rather, celebrity-eating -- culture. "It worries me," she says. "We have the objective of trying to keep ourselves outside the public eye that's curious and at times morbid, no? Because the good thing is that all classical music is a little separate from this world."
When the Phil announced that it was hiring Dudamel, the widespread chorus of approval contained a faint falsetto descant suggesting that he represented something of an unknown commodity, given his relative youth and the fact that he had never hired a musician or worked within the strict union rules of a U.S. orchestra.
"People used to say to me, 'Well, it was a real risk you took, taking a guy that age,' " Borda says. "It never seemed like a risk to me. Because I knew, I was so convinced of the depth of his musical talent and understanding, and I was also so deeply convinced and committed to innovation and risk-taking on our part that I didn't lose any sleep over it.
"The possibilities are enormous," she says, "but we have to see how they grow. He's his own man, and we have to let him be that."
No one appears more patient in awaiting those possibilities than the young maestro.
"There are many things," he says about the prospects ahead. "But I don't like to speak about them, because sometimes when you start to talk and to talk, it's better to have a conversation here" -- he points to his head -- "and it's going to be fulfilled, you know? Promises and promises are terrible, and this is something we're very accustomed to in this modern world. I try to maintain what I'm doing and I try to protect the things I dream about. Only deeds are important."
Johnson is a Times staff writer.
reed.johnson@latimes.com
Will Hispanic Christians lead Supreme Court recall?
Gay marriage foes threaten to recall California Supreme Court justices
LA Times November 19, 2008
Last week, the aggressive tactics of Prop. 8 opponents -- street protests, boycotts of business -- made headlines. This week, it appears that backers of the ban on gay marriage are the ones making threats. Yes on 8 forces are talking about a recall against members of the California Supreme Court if they throw out the measure.
To some, the recall talk marks another increase in the post-election battle and a response to the No on 8 protests:
"This push-back in the last two weeks has actually mobilized the Yes on 8 people," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. If the California Supreme Court were to overturn Proposition 8, "you will see a mobilized group like you have never seen in the state of California." Rodriguez said in an interview Tuesday that some religious leaders are discussing a potential recall of Supreme Court justices. He expects the Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, and if that happens, "there are grounds for a recall. We saw that with Gray Davis," he said. "We have an oligarchy, an oligarchy in judges' role in the state of California."
Remember the Gray Davis recall? Well, one of the figures behind it thinks a Prop. 8 recall effort if the justices toss the measure out is a real possibility. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:
If that happens, watch out for a "barn-burner of an election -- the biggest thing this state has ever seen," says recall election guru Ted Costa. Costa says he's already been contacted by some of the folks who would seek to recall Ronald George, Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno if Prop. 8 is scrapped. He thinks it's premature and risky because talk of a recall "would just (bleep) off the judges." Costa also doesn't sound like he's too thrilled about such a recall, saying it wouldn't be "healthy." Citing all the financial turmoil in California, he said, "If someone's going to do some recalling, that should be the focus."
When it comes to judicial recalls, one woman's name says it all. And Jon Fleischman utters it: "No government official is immune from the voters’ will, whether they be in the executive, legislative or, yes, even in the judicial branch. Remember Rose Bird?"
-- Shelby Grad
LA Times November 19, 2008
Last week, the aggressive tactics of Prop. 8 opponents -- street protests, boycotts of business -- made headlines. This week, it appears that backers of the ban on gay marriage are the ones making threats. Yes on 8 forces are talking about a recall against members of the California Supreme Court if they throw out the measure.
To some, the recall talk marks another increase in the post-election battle and a response to the No on 8 protests:
"This push-back in the last two weeks has actually mobilized the Yes on 8 people," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. If the California Supreme Court were to overturn Proposition 8, "you will see a mobilized group like you have never seen in the state of California." Rodriguez said in an interview Tuesday that some religious leaders are discussing a potential recall of Supreme Court justices. He expects the Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, and if that happens, "there are grounds for a recall. We saw that with Gray Davis," he said. "We have an oligarchy, an oligarchy in judges' role in the state of California."
Remember the Gray Davis recall? Well, one of the figures behind it thinks a Prop. 8 recall effort if the justices toss the measure out is a real possibility. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:
If that happens, watch out for a "barn-burner of an election -- the biggest thing this state has ever seen," says recall election guru Ted Costa. Costa says he's already been contacted by some of the folks who would seek to recall Ronald George, Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno if Prop. 8 is scrapped. He thinks it's premature and risky because talk of a recall "would just (bleep) off the judges." Costa also doesn't sound like he's too thrilled about such a recall, saying it wouldn't be "healthy." Citing all the financial turmoil in California, he said, "If someone's going to do some recalling, that should be the focus."
When it comes to judicial recalls, one woman's name says it all. And Jon Fleischman utters it: "No government official is immune from the voters’ will, whether they be in the executive, legislative or, yes, even in the judicial branch. Remember Rose Bird?"
-- Shelby Grad
Hispanic may get Commerce Department
Clearer picture emerges of Obama's Cabinet
By Liz Sidoti and David Espo Associated Press 11/21/2008
A picture of President-elect Barack Obama"s Cabinet became clearer Friday, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson emerging as a likely pick for commerce secretary.
As word spread Friday that Sen. Hillary Clinton was expected to accept the secretary of state position, senior Democratic officials said Obama intended to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his Treasury secretary to confront the nation"s intense economic turmoil.
Obama has moved with unusual speed to select officials for his administration. One Democrat said John Podesta, a leader of the transition team, had told Senate aides Friday that Obama hoped for speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly after Jan. 20.
The president-elect, who has repeatedly referred to the economic crisis as the top priority for his new administration, was considering Lawrence Summers "” a former Treasury secretary and onetime Harvard University president "” as an economic adviser. Economic posts also seemed likely for Obama"s top two economic advisers during his campaign, Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman.
While speculation has been rampant about most top-level appointments, there has been relatively little about Obama"s choice for defense secretary. His aides encouraged speculation before the election that Robert Gates, who now holds the position, would remain in office for an interim period.
Other Cabinet selections so far include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Napolitano was an early supporter of candidate Obama among the ranks of Democratic governors, as was Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. Sebelius has figured prominently in recent days in speculation as possible secretary of labor.
Additionally, retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander, was among those under consideration for national security adviser. James Steinberg, an Obama campaign aide who served in Clinton"s White House, was another possibility, according to officials.
The possible Cabinet role for Richardson may calm anxiety that is running high among Latino leaders because Obama has yet to name a Latino to a top White House or Cabinet position.
This is also on the minds of senior transition officials "” including Obama"s designated chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel "” who are said to be considering Latino candidates for several Cabinet posts.
"The Obama transition team and the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, understand the role that the Latino vote played in this election, and I think we will see representation in the Obama Cabinet and at the White House," said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
At least four Latino candidates are said to be under consideration to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development: Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Adolfo Carrion Jr., a longtime New York pol and Bronx borough president; Saul Ramirez Jr., a former deputy HUD secretary; and Nelson Diaz, who has been a judge and a HUD general counsel.
With Cabinet positions up in the air, Obama"s team has been filling out the ranks of the White House staff.
Obama named Patrick Gaspard as his political director. Gaspard was Obama"s national political director during the general election campaign, and has long ties to labor.
Other appointments included: Jackie Norris as chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama; Catherine M. Russell as chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joe Biden"s wife Jill; Cynthia Hogan, as counsel to the vice president, and Moises V. Vela Jr. as director of administration for the vice president.
By Liz Sidoti and David Espo Associated Press 11/21/2008
A picture of President-elect Barack Obama"s Cabinet became clearer Friday, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson emerging as a likely pick for commerce secretary.
As word spread Friday that Sen. Hillary Clinton was expected to accept the secretary of state position, senior Democratic officials said Obama intended to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his Treasury secretary to confront the nation"s intense economic turmoil.
Obama has moved with unusual speed to select officials for his administration. One Democrat said John Podesta, a leader of the transition team, had told Senate aides Friday that Obama hoped for speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly after Jan. 20.
The president-elect, who has repeatedly referred to the economic crisis as the top priority for his new administration, was considering Lawrence Summers "” a former Treasury secretary and onetime Harvard University president "” as an economic adviser. Economic posts also seemed likely for Obama"s top two economic advisers during his campaign, Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman.
While speculation has been rampant about most top-level appointments, there has been relatively little about Obama"s choice for defense secretary. His aides encouraged speculation before the election that Robert Gates, who now holds the position, would remain in office for an interim period.
Other Cabinet selections so far include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely to be named as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Napolitano was an early supporter of candidate Obama among the ranks of Democratic governors, as was Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. Sebelius has figured prominently in recent days in speculation as possible secretary of labor.
Additionally, retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander, was among those under consideration for national security adviser. James Steinberg, an Obama campaign aide who served in Clinton"s White House, was another possibility, according to officials.
The possible Cabinet role for Richardson may calm anxiety that is running high among Latino leaders because Obama has yet to name a Latino to a top White House or Cabinet position.
This is also on the minds of senior transition officials "” including Obama"s designated chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel "” who are said to be considering Latino candidates for several Cabinet posts.
"The Obama transition team and the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, understand the role that the Latino vote played in this election, and I think we will see representation in the Obama Cabinet and at the White House," said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
At least four Latino candidates are said to be under consideration to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development: Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Adolfo Carrion Jr., a longtime New York pol and Bronx borough president; Saul Ramirez Jr., a former deputy HUD secretary; and Nelson Diaz, who has been a judge and a HUD general counsel.
With Cabinet positions up in the air, Obama"s team has been filling out the ranks of the White House staff.
Obama named Patrick Gaspard as his political director. Gaspard was Obama"s national political director during the general election campaign, and has long ties to labor.
Other appointments included: Jackie Norris as chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama; Catherine M. Russell as chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joe Biden"s wife Jill; Cynthia Hogan, as counsel to the vice president, and Moises V. Vela Jr. as director of administration for the vice president.
Hispanic immigrants feel bias in the U.S.
Immigrants Say Slaying Brings Bias to the Fore
By ROBIN FINN
AT the murder site vigil for Marcelo Lucero, suddenly a national symbol for what law enforcement officials say can go tragically wrong when a gang of teenagers fueled by hate, booze and ignorance embarks on a vigilante rampage, intolerance was notable by its absence. So was racism. The word hate? Not in evidence, except on homemade signs, distributed by sweetly smiling, bilingual elementary schoolchildren, asking for an end to it.
After removing a Bluetooth from his ear, Mr. Lucero’s preternaturally dignified younger brother, Joselo, 34, confronted a scrum of television cameras and articulated a similar message, eloquently, in Spanish and English. “We come here for peace,” he said, lamenting the unforeseen loss of a brother who “was killed here for no reason.” A brother who left a grief-stricken family behind; immigrants, Mr. Lucero noted, are not inhuman aliens.
He called for posthumous justice for Marcelo, not out of vengefulness toward the attackers, “but to make an example so this never happens to anyone again.”
Joselo Lucero stood at a makeshift lectern next to a spot-lit shrine here on Nov. 14 — besides flowers, flags, balloons and a beatific mural of Marcelo, who was stabbed to death on Nov. 8, it held a teddy bear cradling a soccer ball — and spoke softly but forcefully about the inexcusably cruel fate his brother met merely for his ethnicity. The big brother he followed from poverty in Ecuador to an apartment in the poorest patch of Patchogue in search of a more lucrative life. The brother who, inside a metal casket — a local donation — returned to Ecuador last week just as a grand jury was scheduled to unveil its indictments against seven teenagers accused of taking part in his killing. All seven pleaded not guilty at an arraignment after their arrests.
In front of the shrine was the outline of a heart painstakingly composed of purple and white votive candles. Mr. Lucero was 37 when he died and had, his friends say, been thinking of selling his Honda Accord — a modest status symbol in a community where rusty bicycles are the ubiquitous transit workhorse — and returning to Ecuador. He was homesick. Mr. Lucero, who moved here 16 years ago, missed his mother and wanted to see the house his wages had built for her.
But on Nov. 8, the seven teenagers, all from Patchogue-Medford High School but none from Patchogue Village, a longtime ethnic melting pot and of late a locus for Ecuadorean and Salvadoran immigrants, apparently made it their mission to “jump a Mexican,” according to the police. Mr. Lucero, a convenient victim, fit the bill closely enough. He tried to defend himself, the police said, but one hatemonger had a knife and chose to use it.
According to village officials, this is the first known instance of a bias murder in their village; according to Hispanic residents, it is not the first instance of biased behavior.
“These kids are coming here and harassing us more often,” said one careworn, bike-riding mourner from a neighborhood that seems less of a haven than it used to. Old enough to qualify for AARP membership, he disclosed that he is Salvadoran but refused to give his name “because the kids see me around and know who I am.”
“At night they throw rocks and bottles,” he said. “They heckle us and try to engage us; they want a fight.” Sometimes the kids do worse things. “They slashed my tires outside the library one afternoon. A lot of them carry knives. The ones who did this to Marcelo had no compassion, no morals, no nothing.”
Christopher Capobianco, a 17-year resident, called Mr. Lucero’s death “a punch in the stomach.”
“I’m a 50-year-old white guy,” he said, “and I’m angry that these little punks came into our village and attacked one of our brothers.”
At the Friday-night vigil, Joselo Lucero, his eyes puffy from tears, wore a button with a poignant message: I Am Marcelo. He had plenty of company.
More than 500 people huddled in a chilly, slanting rain on the north side of the railroad tracks where Mr. Lucero, who worked at a dry cleaner in Riverhead, was battered, stabbed in the chest and left to die.
Mr. Lucero, known around this closely knit Hispanic neighborhood as Primo — Cousin — by friends like Jose Bonilla, who runs the nearby Bravo supermarket and La Confianza cafe, had been on his way to watch a movie at a buddy’s apartment. He was, according to those who knew him, the absolute opposite of a troublemaker, but trouble certainly found him that night.
And now it is hovering over Patchogue, refusing to leave. Or maybe it was already here, and it took an act of graphic violence to bring attention to something widespread but less visible: a toxic attitude.
“It makes you think twice when you are alone locking up your store at midnight,” said Mr. Bonilla, whose grocery and cafe are two blocks from the scene. “Marcelo was the same age as me, the same skin as me, and now he is dead for doing nothing more than walking down the street in his own neighborhood.”
Mr. Bonilla was sent here at age 14 by his parents to escape gang violence in El Salvador. He worked for five years at a Brentwood pizzeria where, he recalled, the Italian owner treated him like family. He took night courses at Suffolk County Community College to learn English and became a United States citizen. He and his brother, Rogelio, have been in the grocery business in Patchogue Village for 12 years; first came a tiny convenience store for Hispanic shoppers, later the 6,000-square-foot supermarket with a wide-ranging fan base.
“The mayor’s mother shops here,” said Mr. Bonilla, alluding to Mayor Paul V. Pontieri, a champion of conciliatory policies toward the immigrant populace. Mr. Lucero patronized the grocery and bought his daily coffee at the cafe: “He’d say, ‘O.K., Primo, here’s your money, now hand over my coffee.’ ” Not anymore.
In the days following Mr. Lucero’s killing there have been umpteen community/ecumenical meetings featuring a “bridge-building” theme; a sparsely attended news conference by the Patchogue-Medford Board of Education (racism is not taught in our classrooms, was its gist); predictable statements from politicians; predictable statements rescinded by politicians. Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive with an anti-illegal immigration platform, scolded himself for initially playing down the murder as “a one-day story,” and then switched gears by condemning the accused teenagers as “white supremacists.”
Not the national recognition he, Suffolk or Patchogue sought.
“I want to think this terrible thing could have happened anywhere to anyone,” Mr. Bonilla said. He is, like most village residents, holding fast to the aberration theory. “But if anything like it happens here again, then yes, it’s time for us to do more than worry.” Already is.
E-mail: theisland@nytimes.com
By ROBIN FINN
AT the murder site vigil for Marcelo Lucero, suddenly a national symbol for what law enforcement officials say can go tragically wrong when a gang of teenagers fueled by hate, booze and ignorance embarks on a vigilante rampage, intolerance was notable by its absence. So was racism. The word hate? Not in evidence, except on homemade signs, distributed by sweetly smiling, bilingual elementary schoolchildren, asking for an end to it.
After removing a Bluetooth from his ear, Mr. Lucero’s preternaturally dignified younger brother, Joselo, 34, confronted a scrum of television cameras and articulated a similar message, eloquently, in Spanish and English. “We come here for peace,” he said, lamenting the unforeseen loss of a brother who “was killed here for no reason.” A brother who left a grief-stricken family behind; immigrants, Mr. Lucero noted, are not inhuman aliens.
He called for posthumous justice for Marcelo, not out of vengefulness toward the attackers, “but to make an example so this never happens to anyone again.”
Joselo Lucero stood at a makeshift lectern next to a spot-lit shrine here on Nov. 14 — besides flowers, flags, balloons and a beatific mural of Marcelo, who was stabbed to death on Nov. 8, it held a teddy bear cradling a soccer ball — and spoke softly but forcefully about the inexcusably cruel fate his brother met merely for his ethnicity. The big brother he followed from poverty in Ecuador to an apartment in the poorest patch of Patchogue in search of a more lucrative life. The brother who, inside a metal casket — a local donation — returned to Ecuador last week just as a grand jury was scheduled to unveil its indictments against seven teenagers accused of taking part in his killing. All seven pleaded not guilty at an arraignment after their arrests.
In front of the shrine was the outline of a heart painstakingly composed of purple and white votive candles. Mr. Lucero was 37 when he died and had, his friends say, been thinking of selling his Honda Accord — a modest status symbol in a community where rusty bicycles are the ubiquitous transit workhorse — and returning to Ecuador. He was homesick. Mr. Lucero, who moved here 16 years ago, missed his mother and wanted to see the house his wages had built for her.
But on Nov. 8, the seven teenagers, all from Patchogue-Medford High School but none from Patchogue Village, a longtime ethnic melting pot and of late a locus for Ecuadorean and Salvadoran immigrants, apparently made it their mission to “jump a Mexican,” according to the police. Mr. Lucero, a convenient victim, fit the bill closely enough. He tried to defend himself, the police said, but one hatemonger had a knife and chose to use it.
According to village officials, this is the first known instance of a bias murder in their village; according to Hispanic residents, it is not the first instance of biased behavior.
“These kids are coming here and harassing us more often,” said one careworn, bike-riding mourner from a neighborhood that seems less of a haven than it used to. Old enough to qualify for AARP membership, he disclosed that he is Salvadoran but refused to give his name “because the kids see me around and know who I am.”
“At night they throw rocks and bottles,” he said. “They heckle us and try to engage us; they want a fight.” Sometimes the kids do worse things. “They slashed my tires outside the library one afternoon. A lot of them carry knives. The ones who did this to Marcelo had no compassion, no morals, no nothing.”
Christopher Capobianco, a 17-year resident, called Mr. Lucero’s death “a punch in the stomach.”
“I’m a 50-year-old white guy,” he said, “and I’m angry that these little punks came into our village and attacked one of our brothers.”
At the Friday-night vigil, Joselo Lucero, his eyes puffy from tears, wore a button with a poignant message: I Am Marcelo. He had plenty of company.
More than 500 people huddled in a chilly, slanting rain on the north side of the railroad tracks where Mr. Lucero, who worked at a dry cleaner in Riverhead, was battered, stabbed in the chest and left to die.
Mr. Lucero, known around this closely knit Hispanic neighborhood as Primo — Cousin — by friends like Jose Bonilla, who runs the nearby Bravo supermarket and La Confianza cafe, had been on his way to watch a movie at a buddy’s apartment. He was, according to those who knew him, the absolute opposite of a troublemaker, but trouble certainly found him that night.
And now it is hovering over Patchogue, refusing to leave. Or maybe it was already here, and it took an act of graphic violence to bring attention to something widespread but less visible: a toxic attitude.
“It makes you think twice when you are alone locking up your store at midnight,” said Mr. Bonilla, whose grocery and cafe are two blocks from the scene. “Marcelo was the same age as me, the same skin as me, and now he is dead for doing nothing more than walking down the street in his own neighborhood.”
Mr. Bonilla was sent here at age 14 by his parents to escape gang violence in El Salvador. He worked for five years at a Brentwood pizzeria where, he recalled, the Italian owner treated him like family. He took night courses at Suffolk County Community College to learn English and became a United States citizen. He and his brother, Rogelio, have been in the grocery business in Patchogue Village for 12 years; first came a tiny convenience store for Hispanic shoppers, later the 6,000-square-foot supermarket with a wide-ranging fan base.
“The mayor’s mother shops here,” said Mr. Bonilla, alluding to Mayor Paul V. Pontieri, a champion of conciliatory policies toward the immigrant populace. Mr. Lucero patronized the grocery and bought his daily coffee at the cafe: “He’d say, ‘O.K., Primo, here’s your money, now hand over my coffee.’ ” Not anymore.
In the days following Mr. Lucero’s killing there have been umpteen community/ecumenical meetings featuring a “bridge-building” theme; a sparsely attended news conference by the Patchogue-Medford Board of Education (racism is not taught in our classrooms, was its gist); predictable statements from politicians; predictable statements rescinded by politicians. Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive with an anti-illegal immigration platform, scolded himself for initially playing down the murder as “a one-day story,” and then switched gears by condemning the accused teenagers as “white supremacists.”
Not the national recognition he, Suffolk or Patchogue sought.
“I want to think this terrible thing could have happened anywhere to anyone,” Mr. Bonilla said. He is, like most village residents, holding fast to the aberration theory. “But if anything like it happens here again, then yes, it’s time for us to do more than worry.” Already is.
E-mail: theisland@nytimes.com
Latino from Bronx could get cabinet appointment
President of Bronx Could Get Cabinet Post
By JONATHAN P. HICKS November 22, 2008
Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Bronx borough president, is being considered for a senior position in the Obama administration, possibly as secretary of housing and urban development, people involved in the transition said on Saturday.
Mr. Carrión was elected Bronx borough president in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. He is one of several prominent Hispanic officials reportedly under consideration for a cabinet post; Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is considered the country’s most influential Hispanic politician, is a contender for secretary of commerce.
Mr. Carrión, 47, met with transition officials last week, but a decision on the selection of a housing secretary is not expected to be made before next month, people involved with the transition said.
Besides Mr. Carrión, the others being considered for housing secretary are believed to be Manny Diaz, the mayor of Miami, and Saul N. Ramirez Jr., the former mayor of Laredo, Tex., who was deputy housing secretary in the Clinton administration.
Initially, Mr. Carrión had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, as had many other elected officials in New York. However, after Senator Barack Obama secured the nomination, Mr. Carrión became an active supporter, campaigning on his behalf throughout the country, particularly in states with large Hispanic populations. He has also been mentioned as a possible appointee to Mrs. Clinton’s seat if she becomes secretary of state.
Before his election as borough president, Mr. Carrión was a member of the City Council. When he was elected to the Council in 1997, he operated a nonprofit health agency in the Bronx.
Mr. Carrión, who is also the president of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, has an extensive background in urban planning. He earned a master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College and worked for several years in the Bronx office of the Department of City Planning. He was also district manager of Community Board 5 in the Bronx.
Since becoming borough president, Mr. Carrión has emphasized making homeownership more affordable and developing new housing, particularly for moderate- and low-income residents of the Bronx.
The son of a minister, Mr. Carrión was an associate pastor at a church in the Bronx and later a public school teacher.
Though he had the support of the Bronx Democratic organization in the borough president race, he has not been particularly close to its leadership. He has been criticized by some party leaders in the Bronx, especially during his 2001 race for borough president, as trying to set his sights higher too quickly and without consulting party leaders.
The city’s now-amended term-limits law would have forced Mr. Carrión to leave his post at the end of next year, and he had planned to run for mayor in 2009, but he changed his mind a year ago and opted instead to run for comptroller. The City Council passed a bill in October sponsored by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to revise term limits and allow city officials to run for a third term.
Mr. Carrión did not return telephone messages on Saturday. But last week, apparently before meeting with transition officials, Mr. Carrion said that that his plans to run for comptroller were unchanged and that he would not run for re-election as borough president.
Since the term-limits vote, many Bronx Democrats wondered if Mr. Carrión would abandon his plans to run for comptroller and seek to keep his current position. Mr. Carrión said that he would not oppose the incumbent comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., but added that Mr. Thompson seemed firm in his plans to run for mayor next year.
Should Mr. Carrión become the housing secretary, his appointment would immediately alter the political landscape in New York City, recalibrating the races for both comptroller and Bronx borough president next year.
An appointment would remove a well-financed contender from the list of candidates for comptroller if Mr. Thompson continues with his plan to run for mayor next year.
By JONATHAN P. HICKS November 22, 2008
Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Bronx borough president, is being considered for a senior position in the Obama administration, possibly as secretary of housing and urban development, people involved in the transition said on Saturday.
Mr. Carrión was elected Bronx borough president in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. He is one of several prominent Hispanic officials reportedly under consideration for a cabinet post; Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is considered the country’s most influential Hispanic politician, is a contender for secretary of commerce.
Mr. Carrión, 47, met with transition officials last week, but a decision on the selection of a housing secretary is not expected to be made before next month, people involved with the transition said.
Besides Mr. Carrión, the others being considered for housing secretary are believed to be Manny Diaz, the mayor of Miami, and Saul N. Ramirez Jr., the former mayor of Laredo, Tex., who was deputy housing secretary in the Clinton administration.
Initially, Mr. Carrión had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, as had many other elected officials in New York. However, after Senator Barack Obama secured the nomination, Mr. Carrión became an active supporter, campaigning on his behalf throughout the country, particularly in states with large Hispanic populations. He has also been mentioned as a possible appointee to Mrs. Clinton’s seat if she becomes secretary of state.
Before his election as borough president, Mr. Carrión was a member of the City Council. When he was elected to the Council in 1997, he operated a nonprofit health agency in the Bronx.
Mr. Carrión, who is also the president of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, has an extensive background in urban planning. He earned a master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College and worked for several years in the Bronx office of the Department of City Planning. He was also district manager of Community Board 5 in the Bronx.
Since becoming borough president, Mr. Carrión has emphasized making homeownership more affordable and developing new housing, particularly for moderate- and low-income residents of the Bronx.
The son of a minister, Mr. Carrión was an associate pastor at a church in the Bronx and later a public school teacher.
Though he had the support of the Bronx Democratic organization in the borough president race, he has not been particularly close to its leadership. He has been criticized by some party leaders in the Bronx, especially during his 2001 race for borough president, as trying to set his sights higher too quickly and without consulting party leaders.
The city’s now-amended term-limits law would have forced Mr. Carrión to leave his post at the end of next year, and he had planned to run for mayor in 2009, but he changed his mind a year ago and opted instead to run for comptroller. The City Council passed a bill in October sponsored by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to revise term limits and allow city officials to run for a third term.
Mr. Carrión did not return telephone messages on Saturday. But last week, apparently before meeting with transition officials, Mr. Carrion said that that his plans to run for comptroller were unchanged and that he would not run for re-election as borough president.
Since the term-limits vote, many Bronx Democrats wondered if Mr. Carrión would abandon his plans to run for comptroller and seek to keep his current position. Mr. Carrión said that he would not oppose the incumbent comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., but added that Mr. Thompson seemed firm in his plans to run for mayor next year.
Should Mr. Carrión become the housing secretary, his appointment would immediately alter the political landscape in New York City, recalibrating the races for both comptroller and Bronx borough president next year.
An appointment would remove a well-financed contender from the list of candidates for comptroller if Mr. Thompson continues with his plan to run for mayor next year.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Hispanics waiting for Obama appointments
Hispanic representation on the Obama leadership team?
La Prensa San Diego
President elect Barack Obama is going through the process of filling his high level Cabinet positions, positions that are being filled rapidly and to date no Hispanic representation. Does this surprise? Yes and no.
Yes, we are surprised that no Hispanic has been selected to serve in a high level Cabinet position, Hispanics did come out and vote in support of Obama and they did deliver in those battleground states: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida targeted by the Obama camp. So Hispanics did deliver for Obama. Hispanics are the largest minority group, and if you are talking about change, how can you move forward with change and not include the Hispanic community!
Since the election we have heard of the importance of the Hispanic vote, with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson leading this community and whose name was quickly bantered about as a possible selection for Secretary of State. Since those first few days we have heard Richardson’s name less and less as Sen. Hillary Clinton has become the odds on favorite for this Cabinet position.
Should we be surprised that no Hispanics have been selected to date? No! As we had editorialized before the election the Hispanic community had not held Obama accountable. During the election Obama did not address Hispanic issues, immigration issues, nor has he traveled to Mexico to learn of their issues. Obama did not speak of incorporating the Hispanic community into the power structure or the economic structure. On issues of importance to the Hispanic community Obama only spoke in generalities. So are we really surprised now that the election is over that Obama is still taking the Hispanic community for granted?
And the talk of the battleground states and the overwhelming Hispanic support from those states, they lost their luster with Obama’s strong showing in Ohio and Illinois, and when you add in California this made those electoral votes in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico icing on the cake and they didn’t really play a crucial role.
Obama has shown a tendency to select long time supporters and advisors to his top positions who have demonstrated loyalty to Obama. Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, came onto the Obama scene late into the game long after he abandoned his Presidential run. Richardson may have jumped on the bandwagon of the winning team but he didn’t display much loyalty to the Clintons when it was President Bill Clinton who made Rich-ardson the politician he is today.
Hispanics will eventually get appointed to sub-Cabinet positions and you will find more Hispanics being hired by the Federal government but as far as political power is concerned, Hispanics will be left outside looking in. Political power only comes to those who take it, it is never given.
La Prensa San Diego
President elect Barack Obama is going through the process of filling his high level Cabinet positions, positions that are being filled rapidly and to date no Hispanic representation. Does this surprise? Yes and no.
Yes, we are surprised that no Hispanic has been selected to serve in a high level Cabinet position, Hispanics did come out and vote in support of Obama and they did deliver in those battleground states: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida targeted by the Obama camp. So Hispanics did deliver for Obama. Hispanics are the largest minority group, and if you are talking about change, how can you move forward with change and not include the Hispanic community!
Since the election we have heard of the importance of the Hispanic vote, with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson leading this community and whose name was quickly bantered about as a possible selection for Secretary of State. Since those first few days we have heard Richardson’s name less and less as Sen. Hillary Clinton has become the odds on favorite for this Cabinet position.
Should we be surprised that no Hispanics have been selected to date? No! As we had editorialized before the election the Hispanic community had not held Obama accountable. During the election Obama did not address Hispanic issues, immigration issues, nor has he traveled to Mexico to learn of their issues. Obama did not speak of incorporating the Hispanic community into the power structure or the economic structure. On issues of importance to the Hispanic community Obama only spoke in generalities. So are we really surprised now that the election is over that Obama is still taking the Hispanic community for granted?
And the talk of the battleground states and the overwhelming Hispanic support from those states, they lost their luster with Obama’s strong showing in Ohio and Illinois, and when you add in California this made those electoral votes in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico icing on the cake and they didn’t really play a crucial role.
Obama has shown a tendency to select long time supporters and advisors to his top positions who have demonstrated loyalty to Obama. Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, came onto the Obama scene late into the game long after he abandoned his Presidential run. Richardson may have jumped on the bandwagon of the winning team but he didn’t display much loyalty to the Clintons when it was President Bill Clinton who made Rich-ardson the politician he is today.
Hispanics will eventually get appointed to sub-Cabinet positions and you will find more Hispanics being hired by the Federal government but as far as political power is concerned, Hispanics will be left outside looking in. Political power only comes to those who take it, it is never given.
Latino vote analyzed in-depth
New Post-Election Survey Provides In-Depth Analysis of Latino Vote
Market Watch
LOS ANGELES, Nov 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A new post-election analysis of record turnout among Latino voters shows strong support for President-elect Obama and Democrats, but also reveals high expectations in the Latino community. The survey, commissioned by ImpreMedia in conjunction with the NALEO Educational Fund and Latino Decisions polling firm, found a significant increase in turnout among registered Latinos. Ninety-two percent of registered Latinos surveyed in the poll said they voted in this election, compared to 81.5% in 2004, the percentage cited in the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
"The record turnout among Latinos solidifies this emerging electorate as an important voting bloc among U.S. voters," said Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the NALEO Educational Fund. "The survey also finds that naturalized immigrant voters and first time voters played a significant role in shaping the Latino vote. However, the Democratic Party should heed the message of Latino voters in our survey: with their strong support of President-elect Obama and his party, come high expectations," Vargas concluded.
"These survey results provide a clear roadmap for the new Administration as the Latino electorate spoke loudly in this election and articulated its priorities," said Monica Lozano, Senior Vice President of Newspapers for ImpreMedia. "ImpreMedia is honored to work in conjunction with Latino Decisions and hopes that our elected policymakers are responsive to these priorities as they develop their agenda."
For this survey, Latino Decisions interviewed 800 Latino registered voters from November 7 - 14, in the 21 states with the largest Latino voter populations, and accounting for 93% of the Latino electorate. Overall, the survey carries a 3.5% margin of error and is meant to be nationally representative of the Latino electorate.
About the NALEO Educational Fund.
Market Watch
LOS ANGELES, Nov 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A new post-election analysis of record turnout among Latino voters shows strong support for President-elect Obama and Democrats, but also reveals high expectations in the Latino community. The survey, commissioned by ImpreMedia in conjunction with the NALEO Educational Fund and Latino Decisions polling firm, found a significant increase in turnout among registered Latinos. Ninety-two percent of registered Latinos surveyed in the poll said they voted in this election, compared to 81.5% in 2004, the percentage cited in the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
"The record turnout among Latinos solidifies this emerging electorate as an important voting bloc among U.S. voters," said Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the NALEO Educational Fund. "The survey also finds that naturalized immigrant voters and first time voters played a significant role in shaping the Latino vote. However, the Democratic Party should heed the message of Latino voters in our survey: with their strong support of President-elect Obama and his party, come high expectations," Vargas concluded.
"These survey results provide a clear roadmap for the new Administration as the Latino electorate spoke loudly in this election and articulated its priorities," said Monica Lozano, Senior Vice President of Newspapers for ImpreMedia. "ImpreMedia is honored to work in conjunction with Latino Decisions and hopes that our elected policymakers are responsive to these priorities as they develop their agenda."
For this survey, Latino Decisions interviewed 800 Latino registered voters from November 7 - 14, in the 21 states with the largest Latino voter populations, and accounting for 93% of the Latino electorate. Overall, the survey carries a 3.5% margin of error and is meant to be nationally representative of the Latino electorate.
About the NALEO Educational Fund.
Hispanics getting taste of Southern prejudice
Hispanic church in Livingston Parish destroyed by fire
By Tyana Williams - bio | email Nov 21, 2008
DENHAM SPRINGS, LA (WAFB) - There have been four fires in just three weeks and they all happened within four blocks of each other at Eastover Trailer Park in Livingston Parish.
The latest blaze brought volunteer firefighters to a predominantly Hispanic church Thursday morning.
The fire department has handed the investigation over to the state Fire Marshal's Office. Investigators say the fact that the fires are all in a fairly confined area raises red flags. Crews have not connected any of them yet, but the church pastor's family says it believes someone was out to get them.
"I feel bad to know they came here to destroy because this is for the community and we are not doing any harm to anyone," said Pastor Rodolfo Gonzalez. For a year-and-a-half, Gonzalez has been the pastor at the Light of the World Church. He says he knows someone intentionally set fire to his church. "They burned our sign, our little sign that we have," he said.
Gonzalez's wife, Nora, said her family has been tormented since it moved here. Now, they have the fire to deal with. Gonzalez says around 2:00 a.m., he heard sirens and found his church on fire. The state fire marshal calls the fire suspicious. "To us, it is a holy place because this is where we play, where we look for comfort, refuge. I haven't even gone in. I'm afraid I'm gonna cry if I go in there," Nora said. Her first steps to look at the damage was the saddest walk inside her sanctuary she's ever taken. "Very sad for me," she said. But there was something inside she needed. "It's my English bible. At least nobody was in here, thank God. Nobody was in here."
The next steps, Pastor Gonzalez says, is to pick up the pieces. "We are thinking of construction again so we can continue worshipping here." The pastor's wife said services might be held outside until they figure out the plan. The state Fire Marshal's Office says if anyone knows or sees anything suspicious, call Crime Stoppers at 344-7867.
By Tyana Williams - bio | email Nov 21, 2008
DENHAM SPRINGS, LA (WAFB) - There have been four fires in just three weeks and they all happened within four blocks of each other at Eastover Trailer Park in Livingston Parish.
The latest blaze brought volunteer firefighters to a predominantly Hispanic church Thursday morning.
The fire department has handed the investigation over to the state Fire Marshal's Office. Investigators say the fact that the fires are all in a fairly confined area raises red flags. Crews have not connected any of them yet, but the church pastor's family says it believes someone was out to get them.
"I feel bad to know they came here to destroy because this is for the community and we are not doing any harm to anyone," said Pastor Rodolfo Gonzalez. For a year-and-a-half, Gonzalez has been the pastor at the Light of the World Church. He says he knows someone intentionally set fire to his church. "They burned our sign, our little sign that we have," he said.
Gonzalez's wife, Nora, said her family has been tormented since it moved here. Now, they have the fire to deal with. Gonzalez says around 2:00 a.m., he heard sirens and found his church on fire. The state fire marshal calls the fire suspicious. "To us, it is a holy place because this is where we play, where we look for comfort, refuge. I haven't even gone in. I'm afraid I'm gonna cry if I go in there," Nora said. Her first steps to look at the damage was the saddest walk inside her sanctuary she's ever taken. "Very sad for me," she said. But there was something inside she needed. "It's my English bible. At least nobody was in here, thank God. Nobody was in here."
The next steps, Pastor Gonzalez says, is to pick up the pieces. "We are thinking of construction again so we can continue worshipping here." The pastor's wife said services might be held outside until they figure out the plan. The state Fire Marshal's Office says if anyone knows or sees anything suspicious, call Crime Stoppers at 344-7867.
Latino students in Florida doing better
Florida graduation rate at 75%
Orlando Business Journal
Florida’s high school graduation rate reached its highest point ever last year at 75.4 percent, according to results released Nov. 20 by the Florida Department of Education.
This rate exceeds the previous year’s rate by three percentage points and represents an overall improvement of 15.2 percentage points since the 1998-99 school year.
The results also indicate rising numbers of minority graduates play a significant role in the improvement of Florida’s overall graduation rate.
Similar to last year, graduation rates for African-American, which increased by 3.8 percentage points, and Hispanic students, which increased by 3.1 percentage points, showed some of the largest growth this year. White students also showed sizeable growth, with a 2.6 point increase when compared to 2006-07.
The state’s dropout rate also continues to decline. According to the results, Florida’s annual high school dropout rate dropped to its lowest point ever this year at 2.6 percent. This rate is a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared to last year’s rate, and a decrease of 2.8 points since 1998-99.
From 2006-07 to 2007-08, the dropout rate decreased for African-American, Hispanic, American Indian and multiracial students, with African-American students showing the most significant improvements in dropout reduction.
The state bases its graduation rate on data that follows every student from ninth grade to graduation, a method the state contends more accurately calculates the number of students who graduate high school.
Florida currently stands alone nationally in its practice of compiling and following individual student records to determine a four-year graduation rate.
In October, the United States Department of Education announced that all states must adopt a uniform graduation rate calculation by the year 2010-11. Florida is reviewing its graduation rate to determine what changes are needed to meet the new federal requirement.
Orlando Business Journal
Florida’s high school graduation rate reached its highest point ever last year at 75.4 percent, according to results released Nov. 20 by the Florida Department of Education.
This rate exceeds the previous year’s rate by three percentage points and represents an overall improvement of 15.2 percentage points since the 1998-99 school year.
The results also indicate rising numbers of minority graduates play a significant role in the improvement of Florida’s overall graduation rate.
Similar to last year, graduation rates for African-American, which increased by 3.8 percentage points, and Hispanic students, which increased by 3.1 percentage points, showed some of the largest growth this year. White students also showed sizeable growth, with a 2.6 point increase when compared to 2006-07.
The state’s dropout rate also continues to decline. According to the results, Florida’s annual high school dropout rate dropped to its lowest point ever this year at 2.6 percent. This rate is a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared to last year’s rate, and a decrease of 2.8 points since 1998-99.
From 2006-07 to 2007-08, the dropout rate decreased for African-American, Hispanic, American Indian and multiracial students, with African-American students showing the most significant improvements in dropout reduction.
The state bases its graduation rate on data that follows every student from ninth grade to graduation, a method the state contends more accurately calculates the number of students who graduate high school.
Florida currently stands alone nationally in its practice of compiling and following individual student records to determine a four-year graduation rate.
In October, the United States Department of Education announced that all states must adopt a uniform graduation rate calculation by the year 2010-11. Florida is reviewing its graduation rate to determine what changes are needed to meet the new federal requirement.
Latino Official appointed to NALEO Board
Balderas named to national Latino board
Associated Press - November 21, 2008
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - State Auditor Hector Balderas was appointed to the board of directors for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials during a meeting in Washington, D.C.
The group is a national nonpartisan organization with a network of more than 6,000 governmental, political, and business leaders who conduct civic projects, training and technical assistance for the Latino community.
There are 24 members on the board of directors.
Balderas, 35, called the appointment an honor and said his focus will be on educational outreach to Hispanic communities in an effort to reduce high school dropout rates and promote higher educational standards.
Associated Press - November 21, 2008
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - State Auditor Hector Balderas was appointed to the board of directors for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials during a meeting in Washington, D.C.
The group is a national nonpartisan organization with a network of more than 6,000 governmental, political, and business leaders who conduct civic projects, training and technical assistance for the Latino community.
There are 24 members on the board of directors.
Balderas, 35, called the appointment an honor and said his focus will be on educational outreach to Hispanic communities in an effort to reduce high school dropout rates and promote higher educational standards.
Latina Congresswoman may create controversy
California Rep. Linda Sanchez's baby announcement
It was planned, and so is a wedding in the future with the father.
Patt Morrison November 20, 2008
When was the last time you read a baby announcement on the Op-Ed pages?
Exactly. So this is obviously more than baby news. It's about how far we've come, and where we may still fall short.
California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is pregnant. Ordinarily, this would not make headlines, except to the Sanchez family and maybe in a newsletter to the 39th Congressional District in southeast L.A. County, which just elected her to her fourth term. It's no big deal nowadays when members of Congress give birth. The first was Mrs. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, 35 years ago.
What makes Sanchez's pregnancy news is that she is not married to the baby's father -- not yet, anyway.
You're practically the first to know. Even her sister and fellow congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez, didn't know until a few days ago.
The baby's father and Sanchez's "unofficially engaged" beau of a year and a half is Jim Sullivan, a government and PR consultant and the divorced father of three boys.
Washington is a back-fence-gossip kind of town, and Sanchez expects there to be some fuss and bother.
"I don't know how it'll be received," she said. "I hope people will recognize that to be able to plan that in your life -- I don't think that marriage and childbirth are black and white. There are certain instances in which you have to do things in reverse order."
Twenty years ago, it simply wouldn't have been possible -- pregnant, single and a member of Congress? Oh, the scandal! But Hester Prynne has morphed into Juno MacGuff, the culture wars have been fought to a truce of exhaustion, and "unwed mother" has been recast as "single mom."
Who do we have to thank for that? Thousands, from Madonna to Dan Quayle. In 1992, Quayle waged moral warfare on the sitcom character "Murphy Brown" -- famous, rich, single and pregnant.
And, of course, Bristol Palin. With an act of lower-case congress, she and her boyfriend shushed a censorious chorus on the right that had demonized unwed motherhood and appeared to believe that the only thing more morally dangerous than unplanned single parenthood was Planned Parenthood.
I witnessed this speedy shift with my own eyes. The day after Sarah Palin announced Bristol's pregnancy, I was at the Republican National Convention and saw a conventioneer wearing a homemade button that read: "Support Unwed Mothers."
Of course, "unwed" for Sanchez, like Bristol Palin, is meant to be a temporary circumstance. What helped Sarah Palin through a potentially dicey matter could also benefit Sanchez. "I'm hopeful there won't be this sort of ugliness about something that for me is really a blessed event," she told me. Sanchez said she waited until after the election to break the news because she wanted the first trimester to have passed safely.
So how might Sanchez's pregnancy play out in her district, which is 61% Latino? The national Latina teenage pregnancy rate is twice the country's average. Could a teenager point to her and say, "If she can do it, why can't I?"
The differences, Sanchez thinks, are substantial, and that's a big teachable moment. She's not a "surprised pregnant teenager," 15 or 16, poor, jobless, a dropout. "I'm established in my life. I have a career. I'm financially stable. I have a loving, committed partner. This is something that was planned, not something that was accidental."
Sanchez is 39 and divorced, and early this year, her doctor told her that "if your intention is to become a mother, I wouldn't put it off." So she and Sullivan didn't. They haven't yet set a wedding date. As he told me, "We have the rest of our lives to get engaged and married -- we don't have the rest of our lives" for Sanchez to become pregnant.
There's one point on which Sanchez and Sullivan (and President-elect Barack Obama) would agree with Quayle: fathers, and having a "supportive and nurturing environment with two parents who will love" the baby very much.
Sanchez's mother, Maria -- a "pretty traditional Latin woman," says her daughter -- had just about given up on Sanchez having a child. Now Maria is "over the moon." When Sanchez and Sullivan visited her recently, she taught him to make tamales and bought celebratory beer just for him: "How about a Gwee-ness?"
Baby Sullivan is due May 21. The waiting list for day care on Capitol Hill is so long that you have to sign up long before the baby's born. Congresswoman, the news embargo is broken -- now you can.
Do I hear a mazel tov?
patt.morrison@latimes.com
It was planned, and so is a wedding in the future with the father.
Patt Morrison November 20, 2008
When was the last time you read a baby announcement on the Op-Ed pages?
Exactly. So this is obviously more than baby news. It's about how far we've come, and where we may still fall short.
California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is pregnant. Ordinarily, this would not make headlines, except to the Sanchez family and maybe in a newsletter to the 39th Congressional District in southeast L.A. County, which just elected her to her fourth term. It's no big deal nowadays when members of Congress give birth. The first was Mrs. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, 35 years ago.
What makes Sanchez's pregnancy news is that she is not married to the baby's father -- not yet, anyway.
You're practically the first to know. Even her sister and fellow congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez, didn't know until a few days ago.
The baby's father and Sanchez's "unofficially engaged" beau of a year and a half is Jim Sullivan, a government and PR consultant and the divorced father of three boys.
Washington is a back-fence-gossip kind of town, and Sanchez expects there to be some fuss and bother.
"I don't know how it'll be received," she said. "I hope people will recognize that to be able to plan that in your life -- I don't think that marriage and childbirth are black and white. There are certain instances in which you have to do things in reverse order."
Twenty years ago, it simply wouldn't have been possible -- pregnant, single and a member of Congress? Oh, the scandal! But Hester Prynne has morphed into Juno MacGuff, the culture wars have been fought to a truce of exhaustion, and "unwed mother" has been recast as "single mom."
Who do we have to thank for that? Thousands, from Madonna to Dan Quayle. In 1992, Quayle waged moral warfare on the sitcom character "Murphy Brown" -- famous, rich, single and pregnant.
And, of course, Bristol Palin. With an act of lower-case congress, she and her boyfriend shushed a censorious chorus on the right that had demonized unwed motherhood and appeared to believe that the only thing more morally dangerous than unplanned single parenthood was Planned Parenthood.
I witnessed this speedy shift with my own eyes. The day after Sarah Palin announced Bristol's pregnancy, I was at the Republican National Convention and saw a conventioneer wearing a homemade button that read: "Support Unwed Mothers."
Of course, "unwed" for Sanchez, like Bristol Palin, is meant to be a temporary circumstance. What helped Sarah Palin through a potentially dicey matter could also benefit Sanchez. "I'm hopeful there won't be this sort of ugliness about something that for me is really a blessed event," she told me. Sanchez said she waited until after the election to break the news because she wanted the first trimester to have passed safely.
So how might Sanchez's pregnancy play out in her district, which is 61% Latino? The national Latina teenage pregnancy rate is twice the country's average. Could a teenager point to her and say, "If she can do it, why can't I?"
The differences, Sanchez thinks, are substantial, and that's a big teachable moment. She's not a "surprised pregnant teenager," 15 or 16, poor, jobless, a dropout. "I'm established in my life. I have a career. I'm financially stable. I have a loving, committed partner. This is something that was planned, not something that was accidental."
Sanchez is 39 and divorced, and early this year, her doctor told her that "if your intention is to become a mother, I wouldn't put it off." So she and Sullivan didn't. They haven't yet set a wedding date. As he told me, "We have the rest of our lives to get engaged and married -- we don't have the rest of our lives" for Sanchez to become pregnant.
There's one point on which Sanchez and Sullivan (and President-elect Barack Obama) would agree with Quayle: fathers, and having a "supportive and nurturing environment with two parents who will love" the baby very much.
Sanchez's mother, Maria -- a "pretty traditional Latin woman," says her daughter -- had just about given up on Sanchez having a child. Now Maria is "over the moon." When Sanchez and Sullivan visited her recently, she taught him to make tamales and bought celebratory beer just for him: "How about a Gwee-ness?"
Baby Sullivan is due May 21. The waiting list for day care on Capitol Hill is so long that you have to sign up long before the baby's born. Congresswoman, the news embargo is broken -- now you can.
Do I hear a mazel tov?
patt.morrison@latimes.com
Latina secretary of state in Texas has her hands full
House 105 hopeful Romano, Democrats take recount fight to court
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
bformby@dallasnews.com November 21, 2008
Texas House hopeful Bob Romano and Democratic Party officials took their fight for the House District 105 seat to Dallas County courts on Friday. They argue in separate lawsuits that state elections officials erred in their orders to county elections officials on how to conduct a recount in the tight race.
Bob Romano
Party leaders want a Dallas County judge to order the recount committee to ignore state officials’ guidelines and count for each candidate the straight-party votes where people using electronic machines may have accidentally de-selected the candidates.
The lawsuits, which are likely to be combined into one suit and heard on Monday, come on the heels of what’s already been a heated contest with implications for both parties and Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick’s future.
Linda Harper-Brown
The race for the State House 105 seat, which covers most of Irving, came down to 20 votes in three-term Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown’s favor. With Ms. Harper-Brown’s win, Republicans have a 76-74 majority in the House. But earlier this week Mr. Romano requested the recount of the more than 40,000 ballots cast in District 105.
Democrats on Friday accused Republican Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade’s office of trying to influence the results of the recount by telling Dallas County elections officials not to count some votes.
“They’re allowing partisanship to come into play,” Dallas County Democratic Party chairman Darlene Ewing said.
Republican Party officials did not return phone calls seeking comment late Friday. A Secretary of State spokesman said he could not comment because he had not seen the lawsuits.
Last week, Republicans accused Democrats of impropriety over a review of provisional and overseas ballots in Dallas County. GOP leaders said ballot board judge Chorsia Davis, a Democrat, accepted ballots that should not have been counted and used white correction fluid to improperly change rulings about which ballots to accept or reject. Ms. Davis denied those claims.
The acceptance of 61 provisional ballots narrowed Ms. Harper-Brown’s lead from 34 votes to 20 votes. Republicans are hoping to review ballot affidavits for signs that they should not have been counted in the House District 105 race.
In the lawsuits filed Friday, the Democrats’ argument centers on a contentious circumstance that occurs with electronic voting machines. If a voter casts a straight-party ballot, but then selects a candidate from another party in a specific race, the machine counts a vote for that particular candidate from the opposing party.
But if a voter casts a straight-party ballot, then selects the name of a candidate from within that same party in a specific race, that candidate is actually de-selected and no votes are counted in that race.
Some call that practice emphasis voting because, they argue, the voter wanted to vote straight-party and then put extra emphasis on a particular candidate from within that party. Others, however, argue there is no way to tell whether the voter wanted to emphasize that candidate or simply did not want to vote for anyone in that race.
In a letter to Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet this week, state elections director Ann McGeehan instructed his office not count votes for any candidate in the race where a voter cast a straight-party vote on an electronic voting machine but ended up deselecting the House 105 candidate from within that same party.
“We can’t count them, and the state even verified that,” Mr. Sherbet said Friday.
Mr. Sherbet said people who used one of the electronic voting machines during early voting were given a review screen once they made their way through the entire ballot. If they chose a straight-party vote then later deselected a candidate in a particular race, whether intentionally or not, the review screen showed that they had not chosen any candidate for that race. Mr. Sherbet also said that every voting booth had posters warning voters of the potential of de-selecting candidates.
“It’s been an ongoing issue with electronic voting that’s been batted about,” Mr. Sherbet said.
On Election Day, Dallas County used only paper ballots, which eliminated any confusion.
Ms. Ewing said she realized that it is impossible to tell whether voters meant to emphasize particular candidates or just didn’t want to vote in that particular race. But she said her party’s interpretation of the law says that votes that the electronic machines discount in such instances should be counted.
“Once again the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise voters, and we’re saying every vote gets counted regardless of the outcome,” Ms. Ewing said.
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
bformby@dallasnews.com November 21, 2008
Texas House hopeful Bob Romano and Democratic Party officials took their fight for the House District 105 seat to Dallas County courts on Friday. They argue in separate lawsuits that state elections officials erred in their orders to county elections officials on how to conduct a recount in the tight race.
Bob Romano
Party leaders want a Dallas County judge to order the recount committee to ignore state officials’ guidelines and count for each candidate the straight-party votes where people using electronic machines may have accidentally de-selected the candidates.
The lawsuits, which are likely to be combined into one suit and heard on Monday, come on the heels of what’s already been a heated contest with implications for both parties and Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick’s future.
Linda Harper-Brown
The race for the State House 105 seat, which covers most of Irving, came down to 20 votes in three-term Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown’s favor. With Ms. Harper-Brown’s win, Republicans have a 76-74 majority in the House. But earlier this week Mr. Romano requested the recount of the more than 40,000 ballots cast in District 105.
Democrats on Friday accused Republican Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade’s office of trying to influence the results of the recount by telling Dallas County elections officials not to count some votes.
“They’re allowing partisanship to come into play,” Dallas County Democratic Party chairman Darlene Ewing said.
Republican Party officials did not return phone calls seeking comment late Friday. A Secretary of State spokesman said he could not comment because he had not seen the lawsuits.
Last week, Republicans accused Democrats of impropriety over a review of provisional and overseas ballots in Dallas County. GOP leaders said ballot board judge Chorsia Davis, a Democrat, accepted ballots that should not have been counted and used white correction fluid to improperly change rulings about which ballots to accept or reject. Ms. Davis denied those claims.
The acceptance of 61 provisional ballots narrowed Ms. Harper-Brown’s lead from 34 votes to 20 votes. Republicans are hoping to review ballot affidavits for signs that they should not have been counted in the House District 105 race.
In the lawsuits filed Friday, the Democrats’ argument centers on a contentious circumstance that occurs with electronic voting machines. If a voter casts a straight-party ballot, but then selects a candidate from another party in a specific race, the machine counts a vote for that particular candidate from the opposing party.
But if a voter casts a straight-party ballot, then selects the name of a candidate from within that same party in a specific race, that candidate is actually de-selected and no votes are counted in that race.
Some call that practice emphasis voting because, they argue, the voter wanted to vote straight-party and then put extra emphasis on a particular candidate from within that party. Others, however, argue there is no way to tell whether the voter wanted to emphasize that candidate or simply did not want to vote for anyone in that race.
In a letter to Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet this week, state elections director Ann McGeehan instructed his office not count votes for any candidate in the race where a voter cast a straight-party vote on an electronic voting machine but ended up deselecting the House 105 candidate from within that same party.
“We can’t count them, and the state even verified that,” Mr. Sherbet said Friday.
Mr. Sherbet said people who used one of the electronic voting machines during early voting were given a review screen once they made their way through the entire ballot. If they chose a straight-party vote then later deselected a candidate in a particular race, whether intentionally or not, the review screen showed that they had not chosen any candidate for that race. Mr. Sherbet also said that every voting booth had posters warning voters of the potential of de-selecting candidates.
“It’s been an ongoing issue with electronic voting that’s been batted about,” Mr. Sherbet said.
On Election Day, Dallas County used only paper ballots, which eliminated any confusion.
Ms. Ewing said she realized that it is impossible to tell whether voters meant to emphasize particular candidates or just didn’t want to vote in that particular race. But she said her party’s interpretation of the law says that votes that the electronic machines discount in such instances should be counted.
“Once again the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise voters, and we’re saying every vote gets counted regardless of the outcome,” Ms. Ewing said.
Immigrant policy group supports Az Governor as Homeland chief
Immigration Policy Center Applauds Selection of Governor Janet Napolitano for DHS Secretary
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC- The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) Director, Ben Johnson and Immigration Policy Center (IPC) Director, Angela Kelley issued the following joint statement in response to the recent selection of Governor Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nominee.
"Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano is an outstanding choice to head the Department of Homeland Security. In choosing Napolitano, the incoming administration has tapped a leader with a deft combination of political saavy and policy know-how. As a border governor, Napolitano has been in the eye of the immigration storm and has shown that she understands that it is in our nation's interest to not only secure our borders, but also to provide for a realistic and practical immigration system that is in tune with our country's economic needs. Napolitano has been a leading voice for comprehensive immigration reform, including improved border security measures and a system to bring undocumented immigrants 'out of the economic shadows.' Her lifetime of public service is a testament to her incredible integrity, aptitude, and commitment to the American people."
For more information and background on the nomination, visit www.ImmigrationImpact.org
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC- The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) Director, Ben Johnson and Immigration Policy Center (IPC) Director, Angela Kelley issued the following joint statement in response to the recent selection of Governor Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nominee.
"Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano is an outstanding choice to head the Department of Homeland Security. In choosing Napolitano, the incoming administration has tapped a leader with a deft combination of political saavy and policy know-how. As a border governor, Napolitano has been in the eye of the immigration storm and has shown that she understands that it is in our nation's interest to not only secure our borders, but also to provide for a realistic and practical immigration system that is in tune with our country's economic needs. Napolitano has been a leading voice for comprehensive immigration reform, including improved border security measures and a system to bring undocumented immigrants 'out of the economic shadows.' Her lifetime of public service is a testament to her incredible integrity, aptitude, and commitment to the American people."
For more information and background on the nomination, visit www.ImmigrationImpact.org
Friday, November 21, 2008
Latinos, Asians have money during economic downturn
In Ethnic Enclaves, The U.S. Economy Thrives
by Joel Kotkin 11/21/2008
Dr. Alethea Hsu has a strange-seeming prescription for terrible times: She is opening a new shopping center on Saturday. In addition, more amazingly, the 114,000 square foot Irvine, Calif., retail complex, the third for the Taiwan native's Diamond Development Group, is just about fully leased.
How can this be in the midst of a consumer crack-up, with credit card defaults and big players like General Growth struggling for their existence? The answer is simple: Hsu's mostly Asian customers – Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese – still have cash. "These are people who have savings and money to spend," she explains. "Asians in Orange County are mostly professionals and don't have the subprime business."
To Hsu, culture explains the growing divergence between ethnic markets and that of the general population. Asians, she notes, whether in their native lands or here in California, tend to be big savers. In tough times, they still have the cash to buy goods, while others stay home or go way down-market.
Nor is the Diamond Development Group's experience an isolated case. Throughout the country, ethnic-based businesses continue to expand, even as mainstream centers suffer or go out of business. The key difference, notes Houston real estate investor Andrew Segal, lies in the immigrants' greater reliance on cash. "When cash is king," observers Segal, president of Boxer Properties, "immigrants rule."
This is true not just of well-heeled Asians or Middle Easterners, but also for Hispanics, who generally have lower incomes, notes Segal's partner, Latino retail specialist Jose de Jesus Legaspi. For example, the recession has barely taken hold at La Gran Plaza, the recently opened 1.1 million square foot retail center in Ft. Worth, Texas, where Legaspi serves as part owner and operating partner.
The center, reconstructed from a failing old mainstream mall purchased in 2005, is now roughly 90% occupied. "We are doing so well that we are expanding the mercado," Legaspi says, referring to the thriving centers dominated by very small businesses run from attached stalls that are a popular feature of many Latino-themed centers. "It's all cash economy. They pay their bills with cash. The banks and credit card companies are not involved. It's true capitalism, and it works."
Latino shoppers, he suggests, also have been less impacted by the stock market collapse than other consumers. After all, relatively few, particularly immigrants, have large investments on Wall Street. In addition, even if they have lost their jobs, particularly in construction, Legaspi adds, they tend to pick up other employment, even at lower wages, often in the underground economy. "They get paid in cash, and they pay in cash."
Another key advantage lies in close connections many ethnic merchants have to economies such as Korea, China, Taiwan and India, where enormous amounts of cash have accumulated in recent years. "Many of these merchants have family and other ties to the international economy," observes Thomas Tseng, a principal at New American Dimensions, a multicultural marketing group in Los Angeles.
The media focuses on huge surpluses spent by major corporations or sovereign wealth funds, but a substantial amount of the money being made in places like China or India also accumulates into family networks. They often funnel this cash to relatives' enterprises in North America, where many also retain second homes and often educate their children.
This combination of cash-spending customers and well-endowed investors explains why in many places, the immigrant market remains one of the few still aggressively expanding. Even in thriving Houston, notes architect Tim Cisneros, the credit crunch has stopped many projects by clients from the mainstream real estate development community. In contrast, Cisneros' Chinese, Indian and other Asian clients continue to build and expand.
"I am doing an Asian-Mexican sushi chain that isn't hurt by the credit crunch since they are doing this out of the checkbook," Cisneros told me. "And the Indian reception hall I am building is doing well. The action is from these developing companies much more than the old Anglo groups."
If the immigrant markets helping Cisneros through the credit crush represent one of the few bright spots in the present, they also will likely become even more important in the future – even if immigration slows down dramatically. By 2000, one in five American children already were the progeny of immigrants, mostly Asian or Latino; by 2015, they will make up as much as one-third of American kids.
Given these underlying trends, look for developers like Dr. Hsu to keep prescribing more of what she calls "multicultural shopping centers," focused both on immigrants and their children. As long as these newcomers, both affluent and working class, continue to save, covet cash and work hard, they are likely to continue thriving through the recession and beyond.
"We are leased up, and we think the supply [of shopping] is not enough," Hsu says. "We are ready to go Saturday and feel great trust in the future." At a time when most mainstream American retailers are hiding under their desks, such sentiments are not only welcome; they may also indicate who might be leading the retail recovery when it finally comes.
This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.
Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History and is finishing a book on the American future.
by Joel Kotkin 11/21/2008
Dr. Alethea Hsu has a strange-seeming prescription for terrible times: She is opening a new shopping center on Saturday. In addition, more amazingly, the 114,000 square foot Irvine, Calif., retail complex, the third for the Taiwan native's Diamond Development Group, is just about fully leased.
How can this be in the midst of a consumer crack-up, with credit card defaults and big players like General Growth struggling for their existence? The answer is simple: Hsu's mostly Asian customers – Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese – still have cash. "These are people who have savings and money to spend," she explains. "Asians in Orange County are mostly professionals and don't have the subprime business."
To Hsu, culture explains the growing divergence between ethnic markets and that of the general population. Asians, she notes, whether in their native lands or here in California, tend to be big savers. In tough times, they still have the cash to buy goods, while others stay home or go way down-market.
Nor is the Diamond Development Group's experience an isolated case. Throughout the country, ethnic-based businesses continue to expand, even as mainstream centers suffer or go out of business. The key difference, notes Houston real estate investor Andrew Segal, lies in the immigrants' greater reliance on cash. "When cash is king," observers Segal, president of Boxer Properties, "immigrants rule."
This is true not just of well-heeled Asians or Middle Easterners, but also for Hispanics, who generally have lower incomes, notes Segal's partner, Latino retail specialist Jose de Jesus Legaspi. For example, the recession has barely taken hold at La Gran Plaza, the recently opened 1.1 million square foot retail center in Ft. Worth, Texas, where Legaspi serves as part owner and operating partner.
The center, reconstructed from a failing old mainstream mall purchased in 2005, is now roughly 90% occupied. "We are doing so well that we are expanding the mercado," Legaspi says, referring to the thriving centers dominated by very small businesses run from attached stalls that are a popular feature of many Latino-themed centers. "It's all cash economy. They pay their bills with cash. The banks and credit card companies are not involved. It's true capitalism, and it works."
Latino shoppers, he suggests, also have been less impacted by the stock market collapse than other consumers. After all, relatively few, particularly immigrants, have large investments on Wall Street. In addition, even if they have lost their jobs, particularly in construction, Legaspi adds, they tend to pick up other employment, even at lower wages, often in the underground economy. "They get paid in cash, and they pay in cash."
Another key advantage lies in close connections many ethnic merchants have to economies such as Korea, China, Taiwan and India, where enormous amounts of cash have accumulated in recent years. "Many of these merchants have family and other ties to the international economy," observes Thomas Tseng, a principal at New American Dimensions, a multicultural marketing group in Los Angeles.
The media focuses on huge surpluses spent by major corporations or sovereign wealth funds, but a substantial amount of the money being made in places like China or India also accumulates into family networks. They often funnel this cash to relatives' enterprises in North America, where many also retain second homes and often educate their children.
This combination of cash-spending customers and well-endowed investors explains why in many places, the immigrant market remains one of the few still aggressively expanding. Even in thriving Houston, notes architect Tim Cisneros, the credit crunch has stopped many projects by clients from the mainstream real estate development community. In contrast, Cisneros' Chinese, Indian and other Asian clients continue to build and expand.
"I am doing an Asian-Mexican sushi chain that isn't hurt by the credit crunch since they are doing this out of the checkbook," Cisneros told me. "And the Indian reception hall I am building is doing well. The action is from these developing companies much more than the old Anglo groups."
If the immigrant markets helping Cisneros through the credit crush represent one of the few bright spots in the present, they also will likely become even more important in the future – even if immigration slows down dramatically. By 2000, one in five American children already were the progeny of immigrants, mostly Asian or Latino; by 2015, they will make up as much as one-third of American kids.
Given these underlying trends, look for developers like Dr. Hsu to keep prescribing more of what she calls "multicultural shopping centers," focused both on immigrants and their children. As long as these newcomers, both affluent and working class, continue to save, covet cash and work hard, they are likely to continue thriving through the recession and beyond.
"We are leased up, and we think the supply [of shopping] is not enough," Hsu says. "We are ready to go Saturday and feel great trust in the future." At a time when most mainstream American retailers are hiding under their desks, such sentiments are not only welcome; they may also indicate who might be leading the retail recovery when it finally comes.
This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.
Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History and is finishing a book on the American future.
Latino Voters expect great things from Obama
Poll: Latino Voters Expect Great Things from Obama
La Opinión, News Digest Nov 20, 2008
Latino voters, who turned out in record numbers on Election Day to support Barack Obama, also have very high expectations for his presidency, according to a national bilingual poll by ImpreMedia and the NALEO Educational Fund. The poll, conducted by Latino Decisions between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, offers an in-depth look at the hopes, expectations and key concerns of Latino voters. Some 800 Latino registered voters were surveyed, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. These are some of the key findings:
The Latino Vote at the Polls
Immigrant voters and new voters comprised a sizeable share of the Latino vote this November. Nearly half (46 percent) of Latino voters were born outside of the United States or in Puerto Rico. One in every four (26 percent) Latino voters this election was voting in a presidential election for the very first time.
Partisanship and Candidate Choice
Nearly three in four Latino registered voters in 2008 identified themselves as “strong partisans” (70 percent). Among Latino registered voters 61 percent identified as Democrats, 17 percent Republicans, and 14 percent Independents. But only 8 percent of Latinos say they believe the Republican Party has more concern for the Latino community. Twenty-seven percent of Latino voters believe neither party is more concerned about the Latino community. This skepticism was more pronounced among Spanish speakers, where 31 percent believe there is no difference between either party in concern for Latinos.
Latino support for President-elect Barack Obama may have been higher than initially reported in exit poll data: 72 percent of Latino voters said they voted for Barack Obama and 25 percent reported voting for John McCain. Candidate support did vary by demographic group, with second-generation children of immigrants and Spanish speakers showing the strongest support for Obama, nearly 80 percent. John McCain received his strongest support, about one-third of the vote (34 percent), among third generation Latinos.
Post-Election Expectations and Priorities
Nearly two-thirds of Latino voters (67 percent) in this November’s election say fixing the economy is the most important issue they expect the new president and Congress to address. The economy ranked over other prevalent issues like health care (5 percent), immigration (6 percent), and the war in Iraq (6 percent).
However, expectations are still high when it comes to dealing with immigration reform. Overall, 68 percent of voters say that it is extremely important (41 percent) or very important (27 percent) for the immigration issue to be addressed within the first year of the new Democratic government.
Strong support for the president-elect and the new Democratic Congress comes with high expectations on the part of Latinos to see their communities do better over the next four years. Nearly 70 percent of Latino voters expect the situation for Latinos to improve under the Obama administration. Among immigrants these hopes are higher, with three of every four immigrant voters expecting their situation to improve under President Barack Obama.
La Opinión, News Digest Nov 20, 2008
Latino voters, who turned out in record numbers on Election Day to support Barack Obama, also have very high expectations for his presidency, according to a national bilingual poll by ImpreMedia and the NALEO Educational Fund. The poll, conducted by Latino Decisions between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, offers an in-depth look at the hopes, expectations and key concerns of Latino voters. Some 800 Latino registered voters were surveyed, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. These are some of the key findings:
The Latino Vote at the Polls
Immigrant voters and new voters comprised a sizeable share of the Latino vote this November. Nearly half (46 percent) of Latino voters were born outside of the United States or in Puerto Rico. One in every four (26 percent) Latino voters this election was voting in a presidential election for the very first time.
Partisanship and Candidate Choice
Nearly three in four Latino registered voters in 2008 identified themselves as “strong partisans” (70 percent). Among Latino registered voters 61 percent identified as Democrats, 17 percent Republicans, and 14 percent Independents. But only 8 percent of Latinos say they believe the Republican Party has more concern for the Latino community. Twenty-seven percent of Latino voters believe neither party is more concerned about the Latino community. This skepticism was more pronounced among Spanish speakers, where 31 percent believe there is no difference between either party in concern for Latinos.
Latino support for President-elect Barack Obama may have been higher than initially reported in exit poll data: 72 percent of Latino voters said they voted for Barack Obama and 25 percent reported voting for John McCain. Candidate support did vary by demographic group, with second-generation children of immigrants and Spanish speakers showing the strongest support for Obama, nearly 80 percent. John McCain received his strongest support, about one-third of the vote (34 percent), among third generation Latinos.
Post-Election Expectations and Priorities
Nearly two-thirds of Latino voters (67 percent) in this November’s election say fixing the economy is the most important issue they expect the new president and Congress to address. The economy ranked over other prevalent issues like health care (5 percent), immigration (6 percent), and the war in Iraq (6 percent).
However, expectations are still high when it comes to dealing with immigration reform. Overall, 68 percent of voters say that it is extremely important (41 percent) or very important (27 percent) for the immigration issue to be addressed within the first year of the new Democratic government.
Strong support for the president-elect and the new Democratic Congress comes with high expectations on the part of Latinos to see their communities do better over the next four years. Nearly 70 percent of Latino voters expect the situation for Latinos to improve under the Obama administration. Among immigrants these hopes are higher, with three of every four immigrant voters expecting their situation to improve under President Barack Obama.
Latino students given help for FAFSA
Government, Community, Business and School Leaders Launch New FAFSA Latino Long Beach Initiative
Market Watch
LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- $96 Billion in Aid Available for Students
On a foggy morning, a broad coalition of leaders and community members from Long Beach came out to show their support at the first-ever FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Latino Summit at the Westin Long Beach on Nov. 20.
From 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. PST, the attendees of the Summit gathered together to celebrate and learn more about the FAFSA Latino Initiative in Long Beach, which aims to recruit 3,000 high school students to fill out the FAFSA online by March 2, 2009.
Keynote speakers included Christopher Steinhauser, Superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District; Fred Stennis, Federal Student Aid Underrepresented Pilot Lead; and Calvin Thomas, Federal Student Aid Division Outreach Lead.
"We're not only going to meet our target, we're going to be a role model for the rest of the nation," said Superintendent Steinhauser. He, along with Federal Student Aid, pledged to secure 300 new volunteers this year to help students and families complete the FAFSA.
Attendees were given a Web Tour of the FAFSA and were introduced to the new FAFSA Latino Long Beach materials, which include public service announcements, posters, point of purchase displays and postcards. These materials will be distributed throughout the community to help raise awareness about the FAFSA and its key messages.
During the panel discussion, which included Elder Eddie Pierson from Academic UpRise, Carol Ortega from the Long Beach Unified School District, Jessica Quintana from Centro CHA, Inc., and a parent and student, panelists shared their experiences with the FAFSA and addressed challenges and barriers in the community.
The FAFSA Latino Initiative started today with the Summit, and the Initiative continues tonight at Academic UpRise's 7th Annual Education Symposium and President's Forum on Friday, Nov. 21 at Cal State beginning at 9 a.m.
In January, Federal Student Aid will hit the streets of Long Beach to continue grassroots marketing and outreach to raise awareness of the FAFSA.
Said Stennis, "It's the final year of our pilot program, and we'll be focusing on Long Beach -- so we want to go out with a bang."
For more on FAFSA, visit www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov
Market Watch
LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- $96 Billion in Aid Available for Students
On a foggy morning, a broad coalition of leaders and community members from Long Beach came out to show their support at the first-ever FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Latino Summit at the Westin Long Beach on Nov. 20.
From 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. PST, the attendees of the Summit gathered together to celebrate and learn more about the FAFSA Latino Initiative in Long Beach, which aims to recruit 3,000 high school students to fill out the FAFSA online by March 2, 2009.
Keynote speakers included Christopher Steinhauser, Superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District; Fred Stennis, Federal Student Aid Underrepresented Pilot Lead; and Calvin Thomas, Federal Student Aid Division Outreach Lead.
"We're not only going to meet our target, we're going to be a role model for the rest of the nation," said Superintendent Steinhauser. He, along with Federal Student Aid, pledged to secure 300 new volunteers this year to help students and families complete the FAFSA.
Attendees were given a Web Tour of the FAFSA and were introduced to the new FAFSA Latino Long Beach materials, which include public service announcements, posters, point of purchase displays and postcards. These materials will be distributed throughout the community to help raise awareness about the FAFSA and its key messages.
During the panel discussion, which included Elder Eddie Pierson from Academic UpRise, Carol Ortega from the Long Beach Unified School District, Jessica Quintana from Centro CHA, Inc., and a parent and student, panelists shared their experiences with the FAFSA and addressed challenges and barriers in the community.
The FAFSA Latino Initiative started today with the Summit, and the Initiative continues tonight at Academic UpRise's 7th Annual Education Symposium and President's Forum on Friday, Nov. 21 at Cal State beginning at 9 a.m.
In January, Federal Student Aid will hit the streets of Long Beach to continue grassroots marketing and outreach to raise awareness of the FAFSA.
Said Stennis, "It's the final year of our pilot program, and we'll be focusing on Long Beach -- so we want to go out with a bang."
For more on FAFSA, visit www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov
Latino Leaders look beyond Secretary of State
Latino Leaders Looking Beyond Richardson
By Philip Rucker
As Hillary Rodham Clinton inches toward the secretary of state chair, many Latino advocates are asking: whither Bill Richardson?
The New Mexico governor, who endorsed President-elect Barack Obama after dropping out of the presidential primary campaign, has been the most likely Latino contender for a high-ranking post in the new administration. But now Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the Untied Nations and energy secretary, may lose out to Clinton -- and though the governor could land another Cabinet post, such as interior secretary, anxiety is high among Latino leaders that Obama has not yet named a Latino to a top White House or Cabinet position.
Senior transition officials -- including Obama's designated chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- are said to be aware of such concerns and considering Latino candidates for several other Cabinet posts.
"The Obama transition team and the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, understand the role that the Latino vote played in this election, and I think we will see representation in the Obama Cabinet and at the White House," said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a member of the House Democratic leadership, said he has been giving Obama's transition aides the names of Latino candidates "for every type of position you can think of in the federal government, from Cabinet on down."
"We can remember the days when people said we had no applications, or there's no one qualified," Becerra said. "Everyone understands that the days of excuses are over."
Becerra has been mentioned as a candidate for labor secretary. When asked if he wants a job in the administration, he said, "I'm not looking for one."
The Obama team is zeroing in on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where at least four Latino candidates are said to be under consideration: Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Adolfo Carrion Jr., a longtime figure in New York politics and borough president of the Bronx; Saul Ramirez Jr., a former deputy HUD secretary; and Judge Nelson A. Diaz, a former HUD general counsel.
As for Richardson, Murguia suggested he could serve as secretary of commerce or interior. "Perhaps there's an ambassador role to China," she added.
By Philip Rucker
As Hillary Rodham Clinton inches toward the secretary of state chair, many Latino advocates are asking: whither Bill Richardson?
The New Mexico governor, who endorsed President-elect Barack Obama after dropping out of the presidential primary campaign, has been the most likely Latino contender for a high-ranking post in the new administration. But now Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the Untied Nations and energy secretary, may lose out to Clinton -- and though the governor could land another Cabinet post, such as interior secretary, anxiety is high among Latino leaders that Obama has not yet named a Latino to a top White House or Cabinet position.
Senior transition officials -- including Obama's designated chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- are said to be aware of such concerns and considering Latino candidates for several other Cabinet posts.
"The Obama transition team and the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, understand the role that the Latino vote played in this election, and I think we will see representation in the Obama Cabinet and at the White House," said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a member of the House Democratic leadership, said he has been giving Obama's transition aides the names of Latino candidates "for every type of position you can think of in the federal government, from Cabinet on down."
"We can remember the days when people said we had no applications, or there's no one qualified," Becerra said. "Everyone understands that the days of excuses are over."
Becerra has been mentioned as a candidate for labor secretary. When asked if he wants a job in the administration, he said, "I'm not looking for one."
The Obama team is zeroing in on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where at least four Latino candidates are said to be under consideration: Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Adolfo Carrion Jr., a longtime figure in New York politics and borough president of the Bronx; Saul Ramirez Jr., a former deputy HUD secretary; and Judge Nelson A. Diaz, a former HUD general counsel.
As for Richardson, Murguia suggested he could serve as secretary of commerce or interior. "Perhaps there's an ambassador role to China," she added.
Hispanic couple connect Spanish speakers and interpreters
Kinston couple works to assist Latino residents
Luis and Lidia Guzman developing La Voz ENC to connect Spanish speakers with local interpreters
David Anderson Staff Writer November 20, 2008
It's an idea 20 years in the making: create an organization to help Spanish-speaking residents of Eastern North Carolina get in touch with interpreters so they can get the services they need.
Luis and Lidia Guzman are doing just that; they are currently laying the groundwork for La Voz (The Voice) ENC by talking with representatives of local government agencies, businesses and service organizations and gauging their need for interpreters to serve their Hispanic clientele.
"We had a vision to do something like this 20 years ago, but it was just not the right time to do that at that point in our lives," Luis Guzman said Thursday.
Guzman and his wife Lidia, who is also the public information officer for the Lenoir County schools system, have been married for 32 years.
They have lived all around the United States and have been part of local bilingual institutions wherever they lived, including a singing group in Rochester, N.Y., and a church in Virginia Beach, Va.
Luis said he first thought of the idea when he and Lidia were living in Virginia Beach in the late 1980s. The Hispanic population there and elsewhere in the U.S. was growing at the time.
Many Latino families came to their area through military bases in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, and while the immediate family members were cared for by the military, the Guzmans noticed that other friends and relatives or Spanish-speaking residents outside the military did not have easy access to interpreters and translators.
They discussed starting an organization that could set these people up with that service, but they did not have the appropriate technology and resources at the time.
"We've always been service-oriented or community-minded," Lidia said. "It was like another need that we saw."
Their idea did not seriously take off until about two years ago when Luis applied in Raleigh to be a part-time interpreter with the local court system.
He has since become an interpreter registered with the state, and interprets for Spanish speakers in the local courts. He wanted to assist them after they left the courthouse, though.
"You interpret for that person in the courts, but what happens after that?" he asked. "There are a lot of organizations out there, but a lot of us don't know about or can't get to them because of the language barrier."
Luis and his wife have spent recent months visiting local institutions, introducing La Voz and asking if they needed the assistance it could provide.
They spoke before the Kinston City Council earlier this week, and met with a number of the groups last month, including Lenoir County Emergency Services, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, Kinston Interchurch Outreach (ICOR), SAFE in Lenoir County, Bank of America, the American Red Cross and Lenoir Community College.
"Everybody seems to see that there is a need (for interpreters) and everybody seems to want to do something for the community," Luis said.
The Guzmans are building a pool of interpreters who work for the various groups they have contacted. Anyone who needed their service could call La Voz and be connected with an interpreter.
They are incorporated as a nonprofit group, and have established a five-member board. They are now seeking a facility, financing and a staff. Once all that is in place, they will begin reaching out to the local and regional Hispanic community.
"We're looking forward to breaking into everything east of I-95 once we get settled in Kinston," Lidia said.
David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.
Luis and Lidia Guzman developing La Voz ENC to connect Spanish speakers with local interpreters
David Anderson Staff Writer November 20, 2008
It's an idea 20 years in the making: create an organization to help Spanish-speaking residents of Eastern North Carolina get in touch with interpreters so they can get the services they need.
Luis and Lidia Guzman are doing just that; they are currently laying the groundwork for La Voz (The Voice) ENC by talking with representatives of local government agencies, businesses and service organizations and gauging their need for interpreters to serve their Hispanic clientele.
"We had a vision to do something like this 20 years ago, but it was just not the right time to do that at that point in our lives," Luis Guzman said Thursday.
Guzman and his wife Lidia, who is also the public information officer for the Lenoir County schools system, have been married for 32 years.
They have lived all around the United States and have been part of local bilingual institutions wherever they lived, including a singing group in Rochester, N.Y., and a church in Virginia Beach, Va.
Luis said he first thought of the idea when he and Lidia were living in Virginia Beach in the late 1980s. The Hispanic population there and elsewhere in the U.S. was growing at the time.
Many Latino families came to their area through military bases in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, and while the immediate family members were cared for by the military, the Guzmans noticed that other friends and relatives or Spanish-speaking residents outside the military did not have easy access to interpreters and translators.
They discussed starting an organization that could set these people up with that service, but they did not have the appropriate technology and resources at the time.
"We've always been service-oriented or community-minded," Lidia said. "It was like another need that we saw."
Their idea did not seriously take off until about two years ago when Luis applied in Raleigh to be a part-time interpreter with the local court system.
He has since become an interpreter registered with the state, and interprets for Spanish speakers in the local courts. He wanted to assist them after they left the courthouse, though.
"You interpret for that person in the courts, but what happens after that?" he asked. "There are a lot of organizations out there, but a lot of us don't know about or can't get to them because of the language barrier."
Luis and his wife have spent recent months visiting local institutions, introducing La Voz and asking if they needed the assistance it could provide.
They spoke before the Kinston City Council earlier this week, and met with a number of the groups last month, including Lenoir County Emergency Services, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, Kinston Interchurch Outreach (ICOR), SAFE in Lenoir County, Bank of America, the American Red Cross and Lenoir Community College.
"Everybody seems to see that there is a need (for interpreters) and everybody seems to want to do something for the community," Luis said.
The Guzmans are building a pool of interpreters who work for the various groups they have contacted. Anyone who needed their service could call La Voz and be connected with an interpreter.
They are incorporated as a nonprofit group, and have established a five-member board. They are now seeking a facility, financing and a staff. Once all that is in place, they will begin reaching out to the local and regional Hispanic community.
"We're looking forward to breaking into everything east of I-95 once we get settled in Kinston," Lidia said.
David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.
Latino student leaders elected at Penn State
Latino Coalitions elects new leaders
Rachel Baye
When College sophomore Cris Barrios and Wharton sophomore Wendy De La Rosa take over as the new chairman and vice chairwoman of the Latino Coalition next year, they hope to promote unity among the various Latino groups at Penn.
Barrios and De La Rosa, who were elected on Wednesday, discussed their vision for the LC with the DP last night.
Daily Pennsylvanian: What are your goals for next year?
Cris Barrios: One of them would be maintaining the cohesiveness between the groups in the Latino Coalition and also reaching out to other University … groups and collaborating with them.
Wendy De La Rosa: Unity is the most important thing that should be addressed.
DP: Why did you run for a position on the LC board?
CB: I was co-head delegate for the Latino Ivy League Conference. It really motivated me to become a little more active in Penn's campus, in particular the Latino Coalition.
WD: I spear-headed the Wharton recruitment initiative, and it was just shocking to see how much progress we still needed to make.
DP: What would you like LC to do differently next year?
CB: We have Latino Heritage Month in the fall and Festival Latino in the spring. I would like to cut down on the number of events [at Festival Latino] and make the remaining ones bigger. That would increase turnout.
Penn is only 7-percent Latino, and I feel that with such a small percentage, we need as many people as we have to come out and show support.
WD: We want to deepen the ties to individual groups - with LC and with each other. One of the ways that I want to do that is simulating the [Student Activity Council] model, in the way that they have individual liaisons to different groups. The groups want and need that individual attention.
DP: What plans do you have to work with other groups on campus?
WD: We want to increase our involvement within the University Council and the [five minority coalition groups]. We definitely want to try to put on group events together.
DP: How do you propose to encourage communication and collaboration among the constituent groups of the LC?
WD: We want to create a big sis, little sis program, so groups that are already more established on campus … can pair off with start-up Latino groups.
DP: What is the greatest problem facing the Latino community at Penn?
CB: Indifference from the Latinos that are on campus. We hope to … reach out a little more to those people, particularly freshmen when they first come in.
WD: Another big issue is many Latinos on campus may not know what resources are available to them. If you don't know who can help you, then you can never be helped.
DP: How would you describe the presence of LC at Penn?
WD: We've made great strides from where we used to be to now. I think LC has really started to pull its own weight within the 5B, and we moved away from just being the little sister to becoming an adult within the community.
Rachel Baye
When College sophomore Cris Barrios and Wharton sophomore Wendy De La Rosa take over as the new chairman and vice chairwoman of the Latino Coalition next year, they hope to promote unity among the various Latino groups at Penn.
Barrios and De La Rosa, who were elected on Wednesday, discussed their vision for the LC with the DP last night.
Daily Pennsylvanian: What are your goals for next year?
Cris Barrios: One of them would be maintaining the cohesiveness between the groups in the Latino Coalition and also reaching out to other University … groups and collaborating with them.
Wendy De La Rosa: Unity is the most important thing that should be addressed.
DP: Why did you run for a position on the LC board?
CB: I was co-head delegate for the Latino Ivy League Conference. It really motivated me to become a little more active in Penn's campus, in particular the Latino Coalition.
WD: I spear-headed the Wharton recruitment initiative, and it was just shocking to see how much progress we still needed to make.
DP: What would you like LC to do differently next year?
CB: We have Latino Heritage Month in the fall and Festival Latino in the spring. I would like to cut down on the number of events [at Festival Latino] and make the remaining ones bigger. That would increase turnout.
Penn is only 7-percent Latino, and I feel that with such a small percentage, we need as many people as we have to come out and show support.
WD: We want to deepen the ties to individual groups - with LC and with each other. One of the ways that I want to do that is simulating the [Student Activity Council] model, in the way that they have individual liaisons to different groups. The groups want and need that individual attention.
DP: What plans do you have to work with other groups on campus?
WD: We want to increase our involvement within the University Council and the [five minority coalition groups]. We definitely want to try to put on group events together.
DP: How do you propose to encourage communication and collaboration among the constituent groups of the LC?
WD: We want to create a big sis, little sis program, so groups that are already more established on campus … can pair off with start-up Latino groups.
DP: What is the greatest problem facing the Latino community at Penn?
CB: Indifference from the Latinos that are on campus. We hope to … reach out a little more to those people, particularly freshmen when they first come in.
WD: Another big issue is many Latinos on campus may not know what resources are available to them. If you don't know who can help you, then you can never be helped.
DP: How would you describe the presence of LC at Penn?
WD: We've made great strides from where we used to be to now. I think LC has really started to pull its own weight within the 5B, and we moved away from just being the little sister to becoming an adult within the community.
Latino youth learn to handle bullies
Berks Latino youths learn to handle bullies with care
By Erin Negley Reading Eagle
Bullying in schools can be like organized crime, perpetuated by groups of students who exercise power over others.
To combat it, victims need to speak up and find a mediator to confront the problem, students were told Thursday at the third annual Latino Youth Conference in Reading.
About 115 Latino students in eighth through 12th grades from Reading, Muhlenberg, Wyomissing, Central Catholic and Holy Name schools took part in the event at Reading Area Community College.
The conference focuses on educating Latino students on diversity, risky behaviors and building their futures after graduation.
At a workshop on bullying, students learned the importance of awareness and handling matters the right way.
"It's really important, no matter what, not to take any of this from anyone," said Johann Moncada, a program assistant for Community Prevention Partnership's Kids Against Pressure program. "Speak up to your parents or your guidance counselors because it does help your life."
Moderator David Jims, a West Chester University student, said bullying can lead to self-esteem issues, truancy and even dropping out of school.
He asked students to act out different types of bullying, such as physical, emotional, cyber and subtle bullying.
One group's skit showed the right way to handle a subtle bully who is eggi
By Erin Negley Reading Eagle
Bullying in schools can be like organized crime, perpetuated by groups of students who exercise power over others.
To combat it, victims need to speak up and find a mediator to confront the problem, students were told Thursday at the third annual Latino Youth Conference in Reading.
About 115 Latino students in eighth through 12th grades from Reading, Muhlenberg, Wyomissing, Central Catholic and Holy Name schools took part in the event at Reading Area Community College.
The conference focuses on educating Latino students on diversity, risky behaviors and building their futures after graduation.
At a workshop on bullying, students learned the importance of awareness and handling matters the right way.
"It's really important, no matter what, not to take any of this from anyone," said Johann Moncada, a program assistant for Community Prevention Partnership's Kids Against Pressure program. "Speak up to your parents or your guidance counselors because it does help your life."
Moderator David Jims, a West Chester University student, said bullying can lead to self-esteem issues, truancy and even dropping out of school.
He asked students to act out different types of bullying, such as physical, emotional, cyber and subtle bullying.
One group's skit showed the right way to handle a subtle bully who is eggi