SOMOS PRIMOS: Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues

Hero Street U.S. A.
	From the little Mid-West town of Silvis, Illinois is a street that has great history and tradition to uphold its name. It has earned the name with honor and with the blood of eight boys, all of Mexican descent, who tragically gave their young lives on fields of combat for a country they felt was well worth dying for. It has been researched and documented by The Department of Defense in Washington, D.C., that there is no other street of comparable size that has sent as many men and women to serve in the armed forces than this block of approximately twenty-five homes.

Hero Street USA has sent more than 110 men and women into the military. Fifty-seven men went in during World War II & Korea, and over 20 more to Vietnam. These eight men: Joseph Gomez, Peter Macias, Johnny Muños, Tony Pompa, Frank Sandoval, Joe Sandoval, William Sandoval, and Claro Soliz, lost their lives in World War II and Korea. Now, a street remembers them in their honor and a committee, The Hero Street Monument Committee, is building a monument to memorialize these brave men and pay homage to all who have proudly served our country. The Monument will be located at 1st Ave and 2nd Street in Silvis, IL. To see the Hero Street Memorial Site, http://www.herostreetusa.org/index.htm For more information you may contact: THE HERO STREET MONUMENT COMMITTEE P.O. BOX 124, SILVIS, IL 61282 or e-mail us at: HeroStUSA@yahoo.com
		SANTA ANA LITERACY PROMOTER RECEIVES $500,000 Rueben Martinez by James Ricci Los Angeles Times Section: California Metro; Part B; Metro Desk, Sep 28, 2004. pg. B.1 Sent by Barbara Miller bmiller@fullerton.edu All invited to celebrate with Rueben, click for more information.
When a Kansas schoolteacher named Krista Meisel e-mailed Rueben Martinez to make an appointment with him at his Santa Ana bookstore for last Tuesday, the bookseller didn't think much about it. An erstwhile barber turned nationally recognized missionary for Latino literacy, Martinez met with students and teachers almost every day. At the appointed hour, however, there was no Krista Meisel. Instead, the telephone at Libreria Martinez Books & Art Gallery rang, and the man on the other end of the line, Daniel J. Socolow, congratulated Martinez for winning a $500,000, no-strings-attached MacArthur Foundation grant. "I almost hung up on him, because I thought it was a crank call," Martinez recalled. "About a fourth of the way through the conversation, he said, 'Mr. Martinez, don't hang up, because this is the real stuff.' " To prove it, Socolow asked Martinez if he had an appointment with a certain Krista Meisel for this hour." They just wanted to make sure I was here," the bookseller said. Martinez is one of 23 recipients whose names the foundation formally revealed today. Eight live in California. Martinez is the only one in Southern California and no doubt the only one who cut hair for a living for more than 30 years before opening his bookstore in 1993. The thought of half a million dollars, to come in quarterly payments of $25,000 for the next five years, has left Martinez a little dazed, he said. Having accustomed himself to the life of a bookseller -- a small, rented apartment in Santa Ana, a 19-year-old Volvo with 342,000 miles -- he's not sure whether he will invest the money in expanding his business, which includes the main store in Santa Ana, a children's bookstore next door and a satellite store in Lynwood, or save some of it for his old age. "But I'll tell you what, man, the money comes only if I stay alive, so I'm not going to take chances on the road anymore when I ride my bike," he said. At 64, Martinez is a small, trim, muscular man with perfectly cut gray, swept-back hair and apparently inexhaustible energy. When discussing books and Latino literacy, his dark eyes glow with zeal and his steady stream of words accelerates without warning into a whitewater of exhortation. This he typically delivers bent forward from the waist toward his listeners, his hands churning, a style he has demonstrated from podiums at local grade schools, national booksellers' conventions, as well as Harvard and Oxford universities and the Sorbonne. "We Latinos are a large population and we're growing fast, but it doesn't do us any good if we don't get educated so we can help the next generation," he said, growing restive on the couch in the bookstore's office. "So, love education," he commands, leaping to his feet. "Work hard. Don't give up. It's all about learning, all about pride, all about life." The importance of Martinez's mission was underscored by two recent studies showing that about 50% of Latinos graduate from high school nationally, roughly 20 percentage points lower than the overall rate. Moreover, of Latinos entering college, only 23% get bachelor's degrees by age 26, compared with 47% of whites, according to another recent study. Martinez was born in the tough little desert town of Miami, Ariz., where his parents were copper miners. His mother misspelled his first name on his birth certificate, transposing the "e" and "u" and writing "Rueben," his legal name. (Even the MacArthur people got the name wrong, spelling it "Reuben" on their website.) A peripatetic boy, he nonetheless was an enthusiastic reader who moved from Edgar Allan Poe to Dumas to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Hemingway as he grew older. His reading fed a fascination with distant locales, and at 18 Martinez set out for Long Beach, a place he had read about. Once he laid eyes on the Pacific Ocean, he knew he would never return to Arizona to live. Eventually, he built a prosperous life as a hairstylist. He put his three children through college (his son runs a home-remodeling business in Fresno, and his two daughters own an office machine- leasing business in Orange County). With business flourishing, Martinez had money to spare. "I was a Cadillac guy," he said. "I had a Corvette, rings galore -- phony stuff, man." His metamorphosis into a bookman has been decidedly less pecuniary. "Nowadays," he said, "I don't even own a watch." The life change had its origins in two volumes he kept in his barbershop among the usual sporting magazines. As customers paid increasing attention to the books, Martinez slowly added to the collection. When the number of books reached 100, Martinez had no choice but to build a bookcase for them. But buying books and lending them out in such numbers began to become financially untenable, and in 1993, when his collection had grown to about 200 volumes, he began selling. Even as a barber, Martinez had been a community and political activist who often spoke to schoolchildren about the value of reading and education in general. "But I started getting more attention to what I was saying because now I was a bookseller." For the first three years, his barbering paid the bookshop's expenses, but gradually rising book sales began to contribute more to the pot, and Martinez found himself with a new career, one that "just gave me a deeper pleasure in my heart." By 1998, when he opened for business at his current location, his barbering had declined from as many as 30 appointments a day to a handful a week. He became a full-time and very noisy apostle of literacy and book-loving among the burgeoning Latino population of Santa Ana. Eventually, he carried the gospel nationwide, helping alert publishers to the growing market for Spanish-language books in this country. He co-founded the Latino Book Festival, which now tours nationally, serves on the board of directors of Critica, a Publishers Weekly guide to Spanish-language titles, and speaks regularly at national conventions of publishers, librarians and teachers. Each Thursday morning, he rises at 4 to drive to Univision studios in Los Angeles, where he has a live, five-minute program called "El Club de Libritos" ("The Little Books Club"). On the program, which is broadcast nationwide at 6:30 a.m., he reads to young children and urges parents, and fathers in particular, to read to their children. At present, Martinez says, he sells about 125,000 books a year, the great majority in Spanish. The 7,000-square-foot Santa Ana store is a colorful, sunlight-filled place where books by eminent Spanish- language authors mingle with English-language classics translated into Spanish and with books in English. On entering the store, a customer comes upon a table bearing bestsellers. Bill Clinton's "My Life" and its Spanish-language version, "Mi Vida," are stacked side by side. Clinton, Martinez said, was to have done a signing at the store but was hospitalized for heart bypass surgery. Other famous authors, including Mexican literary giant Carlos Fuentes, Isabel Allende, Sandra Cisneros and Univision newscaster and author Jorge Ramos, have drawn throngs to the store for signings. Martinez said he will have to expand his business to survive and, accordingly, is considering establishing stores in other densely populated, working-class Latino communities. His original store's reputation as bookshop, community center and artistic and literary hotspot has drawn the interest of numerous mayors who have asked him to open a business in their cities. Expansion should be easier since Libreria Martinez incorporated in January. Martinez believes the publicity surrounding the MacArthur Foundation announcement will increase investors' interest in the business. His ultimate goal, he said, is to become "the Barnes & Noble of Spanish-language books." Even before today's announcement, word of Martinez's selection leaked out in Santa Ana. At the weekly story hour at his children's bookstore, an event that typically draws a score or so of youngsters, nearly 300 turned out last Saturday to congratulate him. On Sunday, however, it was business as usual. Martinez spent the day washing the front windows of his shop and sweeping the long stretch of sidewalk. "Clean windows and a clean sidewalk -- what they say is, 'We're open for business,' " he said. [[Editor: I've known Rueben since he was a full-time barber. The books he loaned were in a single bookcase in the front section of the barber shop. When Rueben opened his first bookstore, it included a large hall which community groups frequently used for free. His second bookstore has a separate children's bookstore, next to it. Rueben schedules children's activities with the many volunteers who support his vision. It is a joy to see that Rueben has received national recognition. Congratulations Ruben. We are all proud of you!! ]] Article URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VInst=PROD&VName=P QD&VType=PQD&Fmt=3&did=000000700780021&clientId=17846
Men's Studies and Fatherhood Program at Akamai University seeks imput http://groups.msn.com/InSearchofFatherhoodR/akamaiuniversity.msnw Diane A. Sears, Member, University Council - Akamai University BSI International, Inc. http:// www.bsi-international.com Akamai University, with world headquarters in Hilo, Hawaii, seeks input concerning its emerging Men’s Studies and Fatherhood Program. The program is now available for public commentary. Knowledgeable individuals working to improve the status of men and the equality of fathers in today’s societies may review the program and submit concerns and suggestions for improving the content and focus of the program.
Let's Have a Talk Robert Olivares GIANTCHEF1@aol.com In movies or in the days of the past young boys and men were to expect a talk from the Father of the girl or woman they wanted to date. In my house it’s me. Some people might say it’s not my place to put my nose into the love life of my sister but I say that my sister’s happiness is my business. Through out my life I have gone through and suffered many pains o due to the foolishness of my youth to the point where death was a true possibility but all that can not compare to the pain I feel when my sister is hurt. I would gladly suffer the pains of my past to keep on tear from washing away her smile. As her brother I want someone to look at my sister and see that she is a beautiful inside and out. I want a stand up guy to want to spend his life making my sister happy and I don’t think that is too much to ask for. Today is August 8th in the year two thousand and four almost twenty-six years after the day my sister was born. Eight pounds and I can’t remember how many inches but that day and every day since until the day that I leave this world my sister is and has been beautiful. So I know I might be stepping over boundaries or infringing on her freedom and I admit that but it’s because I love her and I just want her to be happy. My mom wanted to know if the people we are both seeing right now since they do not get along would effect how my sister and are. I think she is scared that our relationship will suffer but it is impossibility. I love my sister with all of my heart and there is no force in this world including death that would change that.
Extract: Legendary Federal Judge, Reynaldo Garza, Laid to Rest Jesse Bogan, San Antonio Express-News Border Bureau Obituary, Web Posted: 09/19/2004 Sent by George Gause ggause@panam.edu Source: Roberto Calderon beto@unt.edu BROWNSVILLE - Reynaldo Garza, the nation's first Mexican American federal judge and a local icon, was buried Saturday beneath a reaching ebano tree. About 1,000 people turned out for Garza's funeral at Fort Brown Memorial Center, just a few blocks from the border. Many of them then went to Buena Vista Cemetery for his burial. Tony Garza, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said Reynaldo Garza was a towering figure in the community. "Very few people who die take a bit of the soul of the community with them," said Tony Garza, who grew up here and is not related to the judge. "His presence was that large." When President Kennedy appointed Garza to the federal bench in 1961, the young judge worked hard to set a standard for more Hispanics to follow. "He felt that by being the first Mexican American to serve as a federal judge, he had a responsibility to do a good job so it would help others have the opportunity to be appointed to similar positions, like myself," said U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ed Prado of San Antonio. Garza passed up an opportunity to be President Carter's attorney general. Instead, in 1979, he accepted Carter's appointment to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Garza, 89, had been fighting pneumonia for several weeks, but those close to him said his mind was sharp until the end. He died Tuesday. In August, from his hospital bed, Garza swore in U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Hinojosa of McAllen as chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. "At the end of our careers, we all should feel very lucky to have accomplished just a fraction of what Judge Garza accomplished in his lifetime," Hinojosa said. Garza, born here in 1915 to parents from Matamoros, Mexico, received a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Garza's father managed the only bank in Brownsville for a while and owned a downtown hardware store, family said. After serving in the Air Force from 1942 to 1945, he returned to private practice and eventually became the first Hispanic to serve on the Brownsville City Commission. Meanwhile, he was a state leader with the Knights of Columbus, an advocate for education and a campaigner for Lyndon B. Johnson, who recommended Garza's appointment to the federal bench. Garza's son David, 56, an attorney here, said his father was comfortable in his job, except when it came to sentencing people. Back then, judges had much more leeway when it came to punishment, he said. "My dad hated to sentence people, because he knew he had the power to put somebody behind bars and separate them from their families," he said. jbogan@express-news.net Online at: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091904.1B.judge_funeral.97bb47e0.html
Extract: America's Diversity and Assimilation by Sal Osio http://www.hispanicvista.com/HVC/Columnist/sosio/101104sosio.htm The evolution of acculturation and assimilation is very evident among American Hispanics. The McKinsey Quarterly (1998) and a similar study by VNV Spectra in 2003, found that only 28% of America’s 40 million Hispanics are Spanish language mono-cultural – the foreign born 1st generation – and that 59% are acculturated (2nd generation) and become assimilated, wherein the English language and American culture is dominant, from the 3rd generation onward. The Pew Hispanic Center, National Survey of Latinos, 2002, relying on the 2000 U.S. Census, finds that 78% of 3rd generation Hispanics are English language dominant and 22% are bilingual. The same study found that the overwhelming majority, 71%, of U.S. born Hispanics (2nd generation onward) preferred the English language with another 20% selecting both languages equally. After the 2nd generation the studies found that an estimated one-half of Hispanics marry outside their ethnicity. The experience of Hispanics in climbing up the economic ladder in successive generations is similar to the experience of other immigration groups according to the RAND Corporation study published in 2003.
Extract: Millions of Latinos added to voting rolls BY JOHN MORENO GONZALES NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER, October 7, 2004 Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com "The Latino community has reached a critical mass," said Victor Landa, central regional director of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, a national nonprofit based in San Antonio, Texas, that helped to set the benchmark of 2 million. "The politicians are taking note of us. But we've been here all along, little by little, increasing our numbers." The boon has come through a variety of efforts, including a $12-million program of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration. It was criticized by the Commonwealth taxpayers who funded it as a misallocation of public money because it incidentally registered Hispanic voters from other backgrounds. Still, the campaign reported 322,000 voters added to the rolls over the last three years, 80 percent of them Puerto Rican and many in New York and pivotal Florida. Meanwhile, Landa's organization reported some 90,000 new Latino voters over it's yearlong effort in 16 states. And the Manhattan-based Hispanic Federation reported 12,000 voters signed in the tri-state area during a campaign that began only two months ago. . . . . . the battleground state of New Mexico reported nearly 1 million new registered voters for the 2004 ballot in an area where 40 percent of the electorate is Latino. America's Families United, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that funded programs in 24 states, said it has registered some 2 million underrepresented voters of all ethnic backgrounds, estimating 700,000 of them to be Latino. "Take our 700,000 and add that to the 300,000 by the PRFAA [Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration] and that's a million new voters alone," said Juan Marcos Vilar, executive director of America's Families. . . . . organizers credited the registration increase to the work of bilingual foot soldiers, some paid, some volunteers, who went door-to-door or to public places to corral voters. Elena Parreno, who is paid $11 an hour by the Hispanic Federation, armed herself with a clipboard and sought late registrants at a Westbury shopping center on Tuesday. Days before, she had been in Corona, Long Beach and Hempstead. "If they don't register, someone else will cast a vote for them," Parreno, 34, of Queens Village said, explaining that Latino concerns would be overshadowed if they don't engage in the political process. Parreno, the voter registration worker, explained that she -- like many Hispanic immigrants -- had taken years of English courses and would not rely on Spanish-language materials at the polls. She emigrated from Ecuador six years ago, and said she was taking her citizenship test in November, eager to become registered herself. "I'll elect my government like I did my old country," she said. "Because I'm part of this country now."
A History of the Mexican-American People http://www.jsri.msu.edu/museum/pubs/MexAmHist Sent by Johanna De Soto [[ Johanna sent chapter 18 which focused on mutual support organizations and the formation of unions. Quite insightful. It appears that our grandfathers were actively involved in seeking just treatment.]] When A History of The Mexican-American People was first published in 1977 it was greeted with enthusiasm for its straightforward, objective account of the Mexican-American role in U.S, history. Since that time the text has been used with great success in high school and university courses such as United States History, Chicano History, and the history of the American southwest. This new, revised edition of the book brings up to date the history of these invisible people and their continuing struggle for social justice. The opening section covers the years of exploration and northward Spanish expansion into what is the present-day United States. The book then scans the North American continent in the 1 19th century, highlighting Mexico's achievement of independence from Spain and consequent loss of its northernmost territories to the United States. Samora examines the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War, U.S. violations of the treaty, and contemporary repercussions. The third part of the book evaluates the impact of the Mexican Revolution on both sides of the border and the effect of mass migrations from Mexico. Samora then tackles the complex and decisive events from The mid-1950 through the present such as the problems of transition from rural to urban life, the question of discrimination, and the search for civil rights. This new edition contains a revised chapter on Chicano contributions to art, literature, music, and theater, and a completely new chapter on the religious life of Mexican-Americans. An extensive bibliography of Chicano literature covering the past 50 years is also included. Julian Samora is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Los Mojados: The Wetback story (Notre Dame Press, 1971) is one of many books he has published.
Department of Defense Aims to Attract More Hispanics to Its Work Force By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service Sent by Brent Wilkes bwilkes@lulac.org WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 - The Defense Department is increasingly reaching out to Hispanic organizations to get the word out about the broad range of military and civil service opportunities open to Hispanics, the Pentagon's top personnel officer told the American Forces Press Service today. Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S.C. Chu said Hispanic representation in the armed forces has grown steadily during the past 10 years, and that DoD is continuing to make a concerted effort to attract more Hispanics to its work force. Hispanics represent 9.9 percent of the active-duty enlisted force and 4.7 percent of the active-duty officer corps. In the reserve components, Hispanics make up 9.1 percent of enlisted service members and 4.3 percent of officers. In contrast, Hispanics make up 16 percent of the 18-to-24-year-olds in the U.S. population. Chu said Hispanic representation isn't shared equally by the military services. The Marine Corps is doing the best job of attracting Hispanics, he said, with Hispanics making up 14.5 percent of its enlisted force and 6.4 percent of its officer corps. The Army follows closely behind, trailed by the Navy. But with Hispanics making up just 6 percent of its enlisted force and 3.6 percent of its officers, the Air Force faces "the biggest challenge," Chu said. Hispanics make up 6.2 percent of DoD's civil service work force, officials reported. Chu said DoD is working with several Hispanic organizations to help overcome roadblocks in attracting Hispanics into military and civilian jobs in the department. One problem, he said, is that the Hispanic community doesn't tend to put as much emphasis as some other groups on finishing high school -- a virtual prerequisite to enlisting in the military. Chu said the military's requirement that enlistees receive a high school diploma "isn't about smarts," but rather, provides an indicator of the person's ability to function in a structured environment. Similarly, Chu said, Hispanics are less likely than some other groups to go on to college, possibly because they don't know about programs such as ROTC available to help them. Because all military officers must have a four-year degree under their belt, Chu said this means fewer Hispanics qualify to earn commissions. At the same time, Chu said, Hispanic youth are facing the same phenomenon he said young people in other cultural groups are experiencing: their parents, teachers and other role models aren't necessarily supporting their interest in military service. In response, the Defense Department is using a far-reaching strategy to attract Hispanics, from partnering with Hispanic groups to running ads directed at young people as well as adults in a position to influence their decisions, to sponsoring stay-in-school campaigns directed at Hispanic youth. For the first time this year, DoD and all the military services participated in the League of United Latin American Citizen's annual training conference and convention, held in July in San Antonio. During the session, DoD entered into a memorandum of understanding with the league supporting efforts to recruit and employ more Hispanics, showcased Hispanic military heroes from the past as well as on the battlefield today in Afghanistan and Iraq, and sponsored a career fair luncheon. The Army also has a "You Soy El Army" advertising campaign, the Spanish-language counterpart to the "Army of One" program, which airs nationally on the Univision and Telemundo cable networks as well as on radio stations in key Hispanic markets. "We must appeal to the full cross-section of young Americans with sufficient encouragement so they are interested in considering a tour of military duty or perhaps a career," he said.
Extract: Untapped home-loan market: immigrants By Macario Juarez Jr. Denver Post, October 04, 2004 Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com Billions of dollars in new home mortgages could have been generated nationally in 2000 if lenders would have taken a chance on thousands of undocumented Hispanic immigrants. That's according to a new report to be released today by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, an industry group that commissioned the study. "Until now, no one has attempted to quantify the positive impact these consumers can have on our nation's marketplace," said Gary Acosta, the group's chairman and co-founder. Today's report - derived from 2000 census and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services data - estimates that some 216,000 undocumented Hispanic immigrants could have qualified for some type of home mortgage, based on their household income. No law prohibits undocumented immigrants from owning real estate - if they have cash or private financing. But they can find themselves ineligible for most favorable types of financing like an FHA or conventional loan because of their immigration status and lack of adequate identification and credit history. "As homeowners, these people would make enormous contributions to local communities all across America," Acosta said. Rob Paral, a research fellow with the American Immigration Law Foundation in Washington, D.C., prepared the study as an independent consultant. He described his results as conservative and most likely lower than the number of undocumented Hispanic immigrants today who could afford a home. "If you take the population that I looked at, they are now a little older, probably have a higher income and are more likely to want to be a homeowner," Paral said. Paral estimated that $44 billion in new mortgages could have been generated in 2000 by undocumented Hispanic immigrants.

Extract: Assimilation Happens -- Deal With It The lower birthrate among second-generation Latinos has huge import for California. By Gregory Rodriguez, Gregory Rodriguez, a contributing editor of Opinion, is an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2004 Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com Last week, The Times reported that California demographers had scaled back their state population projections for 2040, citing a sharp decline in the Latino birthrate. They had overestimated population growth in part because their assumptions incorporated a 1970s nostalgia that treated culture the same way that Americans have always regarded race. As a result, the demographers didn't properly take into account assimilation and its effect on fertility across generations of immigrants. As with previous newcomers, today's second generation tends to have fewer children than the first, and the third fewer still. Americans traditionally considered race as unchangeable and biologically determined. Culture and ethnicity, by contrast, were seen as less innate and more malleable; they changed and adapted over time. Though it was scandalous for a black man to "pass" for white, it was always more acceptable for a Jew to pass for a WASP (think Ralph Lauren) or a Mexican to identify herself as Italian or Spanish (think New Mexico). Incorporating this idea into its questions, the Census Bureau asked Americans about their parents' place of birth. This allowed analysts to sort the data across at least three generations. The first generation reported being foreign-born, the second native-born to foreign-born parents and the third and beyond were native-born to native-born parents. In 1970, ancestry replaced parent's place of birth in the bureau's decennial questionnaire. This shift was a product of the times. Only 5% of the U.S. population was foreign-born then, the lowest percentage in American history. Many latter-generation Americans felt alienated from their ethnic roots; others reacted to the emergence of black nationalism. The new ideology of multiculturalism attracted them. Though many of its adherents were thoroughly assimilated, an increasing number of Americans of all backgrounds came to see the U.S. as less of a melting pot and more of a confederation of permanently separate races, ethnicities and cultures. Multiculturalism emphasized and celebrated cultural continuity across generations. It preached that a third-generation Japanese American had more in common with his foreign-born grandmother than with his fifth-generation Polish American neighbor. Assimilation was a dirty word in such a scheme. It was viewed as necessarily coercive rather than as a process by which people of diverse origins gradually achieved a "cultural solidarity sufficient at least to sustain a national existence," as sociologist Robert E. Park wrote in the 1930s. Because assimilation was said to promote ethnic self-hatred and homogenization, it was assumed that if immigrants were not forced to assimilate, they wouldn't. For African Americans, railing against assimilation was another way to reject a mainstream culture that had long rejected them. But for many whites and Mexican Americans — there was no such thing as a Latino in 1970 — the driving force behind their rebuff of assimilation was nostalgia. The typical white American was several generations removed from the immigrant experience. The majority of Mexican Americans were at least third generation. Multiculturalism and its sentimental emphasis on cultural continuity allowed these latter-generation Americans to reclaim a culture, and sometimes an identity, they felt had slipped through their fingers. Highly assimilated, English-dominant Mexican Americans could reclaim a strong Mexican identity. A sixth-generation white suburbanite of mixed European ancestry could call herself Irish and thus enjoy a sense of intimacy that whiteness never bestowed. Ironically, just as the U.S. was about to receive one of the largest immigrant waves in its history, Americans began to view ethnicity and culture in terms of preservation rather than change. Multiculturalism did allow contemporary immigrants the space to retain and adapt new and old behaviors and styles as they wished. One result was that the nation became more comfortable with cultural differences. Gone were the days when the children of immigrants were punished for uttering a foreign language in school. The sometimes humiliating Americanization programs of the 1910s and 1920s were no more than bad memories. But over time, multiculturalism also kept us from understanding how the United States was changing. The celebration of difference hasn't allow us to see how immigrant and the majority cultures so often influence each other and converge. The cult of cultural preservation encouraged us to believe that contemporary immigrant ethnicity and culture are constant, if not static, over time. New immigrants and their children were expected to continue playing their assigned roles. We're astonished and disappointed when a third-generation Mexican American politician speaks poor Spanish, yet we'd never think of scolding Rudy Giuliani for his poor Italian skills or Barbara Boxer for her nonexistent Yiddish. Some post-ethnic Americans even romanticize new immigrants, particularly Latinos, as symbols of resistance to the anomie and cold commercialism of contemporary American life. But like it or not, assimilation happens. In a 2002 study by the Public Policy Institute of California, demographers Laura Hill and Hans Johnson discovered that higher educational achievement, lower rates of marriage and less poverty accounted for the decline in fertility among second-generation Latinas. In fact, it is the fast growth of the second generation of Latinos that has state demographers lowering their estimates of Latino population growth. Even as government, business and organizations strive to better reach the first-generation immigrant by crafting new messages and speaking their languages, they may soon have to reconsider their approaches because the number of American-born children of immigrants is exploding. Korean immigrant churches must offer services in English to hold on to their second-generation parishioners. Marketing firms are studying the eclectic consumer and entertainment tastes of the children of immigrants. The question of whether we view ethnicity as fluid or rigid is not merely academic. State population projections, for instance, help planners determine the long-term needs for schools and other public services. There is serious money at stake. The assumption that immigrant cultures remain static over time is a quaint relic from another era. We cannot properly plan for the future if we don't understand that culture is as ever-changing and dynamic as it has always been
"La Página del Idioma Español (elcastellano.org): Portada" Sent by Viola Sadler Vrsadler@aol.com Here is an article that has this respected academician declare how watching telenovelas enrich our language. Interesting reading. La Real Academia Española y las telenovelas Barcelona (dpa) Å\ El profesor Gregorio Salvador, vicedirector de la Real Academia Española, opinó que la telenovela "es un vehículo de cohesión lingüística para los hispanohablantes", según declaró en la II Cumbre Mundial de la Industria de la Telenovela y Ficción aportando su visión como lingüista. Salvador, que en 1994 publicó el libro "Un vehículo para la cohesión lingüística: el español hablado en los culebrones", relató que se sintió motivado a escribir esa obra cuando en 1990, en el marco de una reunión de las veintidós academias de la lengua española, alguien comentó el esfuerzo que se hacía en las telenovelas por utilizar un español comprensible para todos. Ese mismo día, oyó a una joven española comentar a una amiga ante un escaparate: "¡Qué chéveres esos zapatos!". En esa época en España se emitía la telenovela venezolana "Cristal". "Una muchachita de una ciudad castellana estaba utilizando una expresión venezolana. Me di cuenta de que las telenovelas enriquecían el vocabulario", contó Salvador. Al presentar en la Cumbre su ponencia sobre "El uso del español en los medios", el académico citó un ejemplo más reciente. En un autobús, también en España, una joven le dijo a otra: "Voy a pololear un rato". La expresión chilena, que se refiere a estar un rato con el novio (pololo), había sido tomada de la telenovela "Machos". Ahora un montón de hispanohablantes saben lo que es pololear. "Todo esto ayuda a ampliar la riqueza de la lengua", comentó Salvador, quien destacó asimismo que el lenguaje de los culebrones intenta evitar expresiones que en algunos países tienen conotaciones sexuales. "Me llamó la atención que en una cena una señora española decía ‘agarrar la copa‘ en vez de ‘coger la copa‘, como es normal en España. Después descubrí que había estado viendo una telenovela argentina. Me parece un acierto que las telenovelas hayan sabido huir de esas palabras que pueden resultar desagradables en otros países", expresó el académico.
Con la Misma Gallardía/With the Same Elegance By Viola Rodriguez Sadler Interview, September 21, 2004


It was a great treat to meet a young man who exuded charm, elegance and enthusiasm all at the same time. Rafael Jorge Negrete is a proud descendant of one of the biggest icons of Mexican films. His grandfather, Jorge Negrete, had only one daughter, Diana Negrete. She in turn had three daughters and two sons by her marriage to Manuel García. Rafael Jorge Negrete is the fourth child of this marriage. He has not only inherited his grandfather’s handsome looks, but also the unmistakable voice that has the ability to sing operatic arias as well as rancheras and baladas. Although Rafael Jorge is aware of how big an icon his grandfather was in Mexico during its cinematic ‘Golden Era’, he is probably prouder of another accomplishment. Jorge Negrete was the responsible force in the restructuring of Mexico’s actors’ equity known as ANDA. The elder Negrete became aware of the exploitation of the movie crews and extras during the filmings. Under his leadership those groups were protected by their inclusion in ANDA. Although this made him unpopular with producers, Negrete was still popular at the box office. The adoration of Negrete’s fans made producers and directors bend, and cast him in his latter films. Rafael Jorge started his training at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City and went on to Europe where he continued his studies. He spoke of a German teacher and other projects that included some acting as well as singing. Back in Mexico he pursues his major interests which are singing and teaching. He shared that he enjoys the music of Revueltas as well as the folklore music of Mexico. He is well versed in the history of the mariachi and the sones. Among some of his favorite songwriters are those that also wrote songs for his grandfather. They include Manuel Esperón, Jose Alfredo Jiménez, Tomás Méndez, Humberto Estrada and Martín Urieta. Young Negrete is well aware that his grandfather’s name may open a door for him, but it is his own talent that the public will accept. He is ready for the opportunity to prove himself. We wish him the best of luck!

Hispanic Heritage Month 2004 Part 2, What Does It Mean to be a Hispanic? Sun Oct 17 16:33:02 PDT 2004 http://www.washingtonhispanic.com/html/crossover.html Washington Hispanic; Washington, Maryland, Virginia - Metro Sent by Dr. Carlos B. Vega Today’s Hispanics are on the march. They are beginning to realize their self-worth and place in history. Indeed Hispanics are making big strides in pulling themselves up and preparing for a brighter tomorrow. We see it all the time in schools. Day after day, Hispanics, with great effort and sacrifice, fill the classrooms across the nation to pursue a career, to become more skillful and compete in the marketplace. This is indeed admirable. They are also recognizing the inherent right of women to become equal partners and aspire to the same goals. They are becoming more condescending, more understanding, more willing to give and share than to take. As a result, the nation is getting stronger and we are becoming better people. We wish, however, that some Hispanics would follow this example, specially those holding the reins of power, such as the media and television. Nothing could be more disheartening and depressing, more painful and offensive than to see the image they portray of Hispanics in most, if not all, television programs. To those unfamiliar with the Hispanic culture, such an avalanche of grotesque and distorted images would lead to an abhorrence, to a loathing of anything Hispanic; and to us, knowing who we are, to a deep depression and a deep sense of unworthiness. We fight, hit one another, curse, yell-- mothers against daughters, fathers against sons. It is all over the news, the novelas, the talk-shows, except, of course, in the commercials, where we seem to love each other deeply, whether we are buying a car, talking on the phone, or sitting around the dinner table. Here we are portrayed as noble and loving, holding hands, embracing and kissing each other as if apart for years. Schools should also become aware of the disservice they are doing to Hispanics, by distorting their history and emphasizing false values and virtues. Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez (we have intentionally left out the accent mark on her name [“ó”]) and the like, are not, repeat, are not, true icons of Hispaninism, neither are Hidalgo, Martí, or Bolívar our only heroes, nor our only food black beans and fried bananas, all of our men machos and all of our women damsels in distress, nor all of our people live in poverty, are plagued by social and political unrest, nor are our only music salsa and mariachi. The same applies to textbooks.A word about the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These are documents that frame the lofty ideals and aspirations of a new breed of people born in America, setting forth a revolutionary new concept aimed at establishing the inherent right of the common man to everlasting liberty, self-government, and justice. They are noble documents, exuding a candor and humanity unequaled in the long trajectory of civilization. They place man at the center of the universe and the sole master of his own actions and destinity, rejecting any notion of God-given rights to a chosen few to shackle the mind and spirit of the downtrodden and the meek. The Declaration of Independence is a gut-felt outcry denouncing the injustice perpetrated on people bonded by the same consanguinity, on the brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, specially by an despotic and insentitive monarch, and detailing the causes for which, regrettably, a separation is both justified and imminent. The language and style in which it is written set a milestone in American historical and literary writing, never again surpassed. In fact, it has withstood the scrutiny of thousands of so-called linguistic purists to their total surprise and frustration. Not a single word has been found out of place, nor any word misused to express a given thought or sentiment. And if we would add the circumstances in which it was written by its creator, Thomas Jefferson, we would conclude that it was indeed a work inspired by Divine Providence. The Constitution, written about a decade later, and still the oldest-living among all nations, resembles the creation of the human body in its total perfection. Here we suspect again the hand of Divine Providence, as nothing has ever been created by man without flaw in one aspect or another. It is an amazing document in multiple ways. First, it shows a political maturity and breadth of purpose uncanny for a nation barely ten years old. Second, it sets forth a system of government in which every citizen bears equal and direct responsibility. Third, it balances power so as not to rest on any given institution or individual but on several; Fourth, and this is most extraordinary, it allows to future generations the flexibility to amend any of its provisions, meaning that the framers had the wisdom and foresight to realize that no work of man is infallible. Something they did not foresee, however, in our opinion, was the social evolution of the nation, a matter to us of some concern. Hence, these two questions to ponder: First question: Was the Constitution primarily intended for a social elite or for all of the people? Second question: Was the Constitution intended for an ethnically cohesive society or for ethnically-diverse one? These are questions that only time can answer. We do know that the Constitution has weathered many storms, so we are hopeful that it will weather many more. However, the challenges are enormous as we face a new society at home and an hostile world abroad.
Percent of People 5 Years and Over Who Speak Spanish at Home Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2003 American Community Survey
Rank Place Percentage Lower Upper Bound Bound

1	El Paso city, TX	74.4	72.5	76.3
2	Miami city, FL	73.0	70.0	76.0
3	Santa Ana city, CA	71.7	66.6	76.7
4	Los Angeles city, CA	43.7	42.2	45.1
5	San Antonio city, TX	42.7	40.8	44.5
6	Anaheim city, CA	41.7	35.5	47.8
7	Dallas city, TX	37.4	35.5	39.4
8	Riverside city, CA	36.9	31.1	42.6
9	Corpus Christi city, TX	36.2	32.3	40.1
10	Houston city, TX	35.6	34.1	37.1
11	Long Beach city, CA	34.8	29.6	40.0
12	Newark city, NJ	33.3	28.7	37.8
13	Phoenix city, AZ	30.2	28.0	32.3
14	Tucson city, AZ	28.1	26.8	29.5
15	Bakersfield city, CA	28.0	23.1	32.9
16	Austin city, TX	26.7	24.9	28.5
17	Fresno city, CA	25.7	22.4	28.9
18	New York city, NY	25.2	24.8	25.6
19	San Jose city, CA	24.6	22.2	27.0
20	Chicago city, IL	23.7	22.5	24.8
21	Fort Worth city, TX	23.1	20.5	25.8
22	Stockton city, CA	22.7	17.8	27.6
22	Las Vegas city, NV	22.7	19.8	25.6
24	San Diego city, CA	22.6	20.7	24.6
25	Oakland city, CA	21.9	18.1	25.7
26	Albuquerque city, NM	21.0	18.4	23.6
27	Arlington city, TX	20.9	17.4	24.4
28	Denver city, CO	20.6	17.8	23.4
29	Aurora city, CO	19.8	16.5	23.2
30	Mesa city, AZ	19.0	14.9	23.1
31	Tampa city, FL	17.2	13.7	20.6
32	Boston city, MA	15.5	13.1	17.9
33	Milwaukee city, WI	12.6	11.4	13.7
34	Sacramento city, CA	11.8	8.4	15.2
35	San Francisco city, CA	11.1	10.6	11.6
36	Washington city, DC	9.7	9.2	10.3
37	Wichita city, KS	9.3	7.4	11.1
38	St. Paul city, MN	8.7	7.1	10.4
39	Charlotte city, NC	8.3	7.1	9.5
40	Oklahoma City city, OK	8.2	6.8	9.6
40	Philadelphia city, PA	8.2	7.6	8.7
42	Omaha city, NE	7.6	7.0	8.1
43	Minneapolis city, MN	7.5	5.2	9.8
44	Colorado Springs city, CO	7.1	5.3	8.8
45	Buffalo city, NY	7.0	5.7	8.4
46	Raleigh city, NC	6.9	4.4	9.5
47	Cleveland city, OH	6.6	5.1	8.1
48	Tulsa city, OK	6.0	4.6	7.5
49	Indianapolis city (balance), IN	5.9	5.3	6.4
50	Portland city, OR	5.8	5.1	6.6
51	Atlanta city, GA	5.7	4.0	7.4
51	Detroit city, MI	5.7	4.8	6.6
53	Nashville-Davidson (balance), TN	5.6	5.0	6.2
54	Kansas City city, MO	4.4	3.2	5.5
55	Anchorage municipality, AK	4.2


"A Challenge to America's Political Leaders: Earning the Hispanic-Latino Votes"
Editor: This is a 74-page report, a non-partisan perspective on issues of concern for Hispanic-Latinos. I am serving as National Issues and Platform Coordinator for the area of Arts, Heritage and Culture. I am in complete agreement with the recommendations for that component I will be happy to email the file to anyone. Just send an email with the word REPORT in the subject window. The comments the report has gotten are . . Wow. . . Excellent . . Tremendous undertaking. . . Good job . . . congratulations !!
Peter Fontanes,	Peter Fontanes, National Coordinator-Founder says. . ."We need for this report to be read by everyone who is even remotely involved with the economic, political, cultural and social life of our people. We believe that, as we raise the level of debate and truth seeking, the level of participation and involvement will increase for our people thus contributing to our economic and political empowerment. This, by itself, would be the greatest tribute that we can give to this report." Website: http://www.hispanicagendasummit.org/home.htm

Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don't stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Upon receiving this, please say a prayer for our soldiers that give (and give up) so unselfishly for us. If your would like to do soften their load, please read the email below. Below is an email received October 23rd from a soldier in Iraq. I hope some readers will respond. "Hello There Mrs. Lozano. I saw your e-mail address on "somos primos". Just wondering if you could find us some "hispanic" sponsors?? We're currently in Iraq. There are just a few of us but we would appreciate care packages from our "ethnic" group. We miss our music, food, and families. Don't know what you can do or who would be willing to help but here we are:
Michael Rodriguez (Dominican) Lilly Amador (Honduras) Victor Hernandez (Puerto Rico) Jayson Osorio (Dominican) Amanda Graves (Mexican)	Chai Perez (Dominican) Thank You, Rachel Contreras all the same address: HHC 1-25 AVN REGT CAMP TAJI, IRAQ APO AE 09313"