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PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTS ABOUT DOING TIME AND WHY
For the most part we are creatures of habit. We fall
into lethargy evoked by idle thoughts, wishful thinking, and
capricious flight of the imagination. We shun the discipline of constructive
thought, hold in contempt the doctrines of restraint, hence we
become automations, mechanical things. Finally it becomes a
conditioned reflex, or process, a fixation of habit to which we have
fallen prey. It is at this juncture we lose our identity as
worthwhile human beings. Here lies the fatal turning point of disintegration. We
lamentably isregard that great dowry bequeathed to us, the element
of time. The present is the meeting ground, the breathing spell
between rounds. When I am free I will want to forget this
experience, but God deliver me from ever forgetting completely. For
some it is so hard to remember, for me may it be so hard to forget!
May the white heat of this hour brand itself within my very soul
so that I will remember always. You know, sometimes I look at all these guys around me
and wonder what it’s all about. So many
of them are lost, and the ironic tragedy is, they don’t know it. They’ve
fooled themselves so long that it’s hard for them to
accept reality. Who is to blame for it all? Maybe them, and maybe not.
Some one Failed somewhere, that’s certain. I never thought I’d share a
portion of my life with them, but I have, and it has
given me a more tolerant philosophy toward my fellow man. I have
learned that we humans condemn and judge too quickly. Life is like a painting. You can’t judge it until it
is completed, and all the colors, light and dark have been mixed. Tomorrow, maybe, we will change those colors to blend
with the rainbow. It’s a worthwhile dream, it’s the dream
that keeps me going.
Dave Villarreal
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The King and a Bracero Sang a Duet
Andy Porras
Column No. 4074 HISPANIC LINK 05/22/05 Column 2
Length: 725 words For entertainment section
Hollywood missed a great opportunity to capture part of the lucrative Hispanic market when it recently aired a TV movie based on the life and times of Elvis Presley.
Or maybe it just didn’t know.
You see, once upon a time, in 1956 in Lubbock, Texas, The King and young bracero Pedro Gómez teamed up for a duet of “Love Me Tender.” The latest flurry of interest in Elvis no doubt brought back memories to the former bracero, if the publicity has reached central Mexico, where Gómez now resides.
Some of the Gómez offspring, who live in Woodland, Calif., were surprised last fall when a bilingual newspaper, CAlifas, published a story based on the unique encounter between Gómez and Presley.
According to Carlos Marentes, of the El Paso-based project Proyecto Bracero, Gómez was on his second contracted year as a contract farm laborer. About 21 years old, he worked alongside his father, Pedro Gómez Domínguez, on a ranch in Levelland, Texas.
At that time Pedro knew some English. His girlfriend, Manuela Rivera, was teaching him little by little, according to Marentes, and she had written down the English lyrics to Elvis’ "Love Me Tender" for Pedro to memorize. By Marentes’ account, Pedro learned and delivered the song just as good as The King himself.
Pedro accompanied his father and other braceros to Lubbock, where they would periodically buy food, visit a barber, and of course, send money back to Mexico. Some of them would attend a movie. The more temerarious would seek a tavern that allowed Mexicans and would drink a few beers before heading back to their labor camps.
“It turned out that the main movie house in Lubbock was showing the film ‘Love Me Tender’ and as a special attraction Elvis would be there live,” said Marentes. “Pedro immediately sought his father's permission to go and see Elvis in person.”
The senior Pedro did not think it was too good of an idea, but still gave his permission, counseling his son to “stay out of trouble” while visiting the West Texas town where Buddy Holly was born.
“The theater was packed and young ladies went hysterical every time they heard Elvis’ name or his voice,” recounted Marentes. “It’s safe to assume that Pedro was probably the only Mexican in attendance, and certainly the only bracero there.” Festive and noisy, the ambiance betrayed the true feeling of a conservative town in the Texas panhandle.
“When Elvis came out from behind the curtain to perform at intermission, a collective roar shook the entire theater and when he greeted the crowd, everyone stood,” Marentes recounted. The applause and the shouting was deafening as the young ladies in the front row were screaming and extending their arms towards their hero, trying to touch him.” Some cried. Several fainted.
Then Elvis called for silence. He asked the crowd if anyone would like to come up and join him in singing the theme song from the film, Marentes continues the story. Pedro waved his arms franticly and screamed, "Yes, I do, I do!"
The very energy of the crowd forced Pedro onto the stage. Elvis greeted him and asked if he spoke English. The boy nervously answered, ”Little bit!”
“The young bracero was star-struck. It all seemed like a dream,” said Marentes. ”Elvis asked him a few more questions and when Pedro told him he was a Mexican bracero, some in the crowd began screaming, “Viva Mexico” until finally the entire audience applauded.”
Elvis and Pedro did the song, and what may have been the most bizarre duet in rock and roll history came to pass. The crowd went even wilder as the duo finished their number.
It was total euphoria, Marentes went on. As sheriff’s deputies struggled to rescue Elvis from his admirers, “Pedro was spinning, and he escaped as best he could.”
The young man’s father, waiting across the street from the theater, immediately asked his son, "Is it true you got up on stage to sing?”
Pedro nodded politely. And like the good son he was, he assured his father he was not violating his bracero contract.
Andy Porras, a native Texan now residing in Sacramento, Calif., is editor and publisher of the bilingual news magazine “CAlifas,” a family enterprise. He may be contacted by e-mail at
andyporras@yahoo.com
Article appeared in
Hispanic Link:
http://www.hispaniclink.org/newsservice/columns/4074e.htm
Go to Anti-Spanish Legends for more
by Andy Porras.
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Minority Businesses Booming
According to 2002 Census figures released yesterday, Hispanics continued
to own the most companies among minorities: 1.6 million, a 31% increase
from 1997. You may unsubscribe at
http://email.hbinc.com/email/
Hispanic Business Inc.
425 Pine Ave
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
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Latinas
going solo
Hispanic women outpacing other groups
in starting businesses,
in part because of inequities at work.
By Regan Morris, The New York Times, via Orange County Register 11-19-04
Hispanic women are opening businesses at a rate far
higher than the national average, a new study shows.
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To entrepreneur Tina Cordova, the reason is obvious: economic desperation. While white women in the work
force make about 77 cents to every dollar earned by white men, according
to data from the 2000 census, Hispanic women are paid 53 cents.
With numbers like those, Cordova, the president,
majority
shareholder and chief executive of Queston Construction in Albuquerque,
N.M., said it was no wonder that so many Hispanic and other minority
women plunge into entrepreneurship.
Steward had owned a construction company, but it failed
because it lacked a good administrator, Cordova said. With Cordova's
administrative skills and Steward's project-rnanagement experience, the
couple decided they had the ingredients for a new company. To learn the
ropes, Cordova worked as a laborer on construction sites with Steward
and her two carpenters, at first lugging wood and tools but eventually
becoming one of the first women in New Mexico to earn a contractor's
license. Another challenge was raising money.
She did not know any bankers and was repeatedly turned
down for loans. She could not even get a $5,000 loan for a used truck,
and instead bought an older one with $1,200 from her savings.
The decision to buy a small fooling company turned their
venture around. Cordova started selling new roofs along with the
remodeling jobs, and the added profit enabled her to employ Steward full
time and buy a property, an office trailer and work space.
Even then, to her great frustration, the bankers would
not loosen their purse strings.
Steward helped Cordova master the roofing business, but
some people were not convinced that a woman could succeed in
construction. She said one potential client told her he would never buy
a roof from a woman.
When another customer-asked why the company hadn't sent
a man to give an estimate, Cordova told him that she owned the business,
was the most educated person in the company and knew just as much about roofing as the men who worked for her.
"And it was really bizarre ;because he bought the
roof ! from me that day, which rarely ; happens," she said. Even without outside capital,
the company flourished and today employs 28 full-time I workers.
Queston still does residential work but now gets most of
its business from government contracts - a result of her direct,
aggressive marketing. Cordova, who missed just five days of work while
battling thyroid cancer six years ago, said her talent lay in turning
what appeared to be disadvantages into advantages.
"If I had listened to every-body who told me we
wouldn't make it, of course, we wouldn't be here today," she said.
She said entrepreneurs need to be stubborn but should
not stick rigidly to business plans.
"I wish I could say I had this business plan, we
followed it and everything just fell into place," she said.
"That is not true. Because it's more often than not being in the
right place at, the right time. I started a business at the right
time."
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The Orange County Register 11-12-04
Nonprofit
shines light on women's success stories
Who: The Center for Women's Business Research is a
nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. It has provided data
on women's business to policy-makers since 1989.
Some of its recent research:
• Businesses owned by women drive economic health in
top metropolitan areas.
• Female business owners are willing to take financial
risks. 'Women of color' report:
• Underwritten by Bank of America.
• In California, the number of companies owned by
minority women increased by 44 per-cent, to 317,309. Their combined
revenue climbed by more than 72 percent, to $42 billion.
• The number of privately held companies that are 51
percent or more owned by minority women rose by 54.6 percent, compared
with a 9 percent in-crease in the number of all privately held companies
in the United States.
• About 1.4 million companies are owned by minority
women in the United States, generating nearly $147 billion in sales.
Hispanics accounted for 39 percent of that number, while blacks
accounted for 29 per-cent. Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, who
were grouped together, accounted for 29 percent. American Indians and
native Alaskans made up about 6 percent, the study said. (The numbers
add up to more than 100 percent be-cause some business owners were
classified in more than one category.)
Methodology for 'women of color' report: Estimates
derived from the Census Bureau's most recent published data in the
"1997 Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises" as well
as supplemental unpublished census data. The estimates are projections
based on a linear model ex-tending 1992-1997 growth into 2004. Web site:
http://www.womensbusinessresearch.orq
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Social Security Risk Greater for Hispanics
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?fpa=0&id=24045,
Source: San Antonio Express-News June 30, 2005
Sent by Rafael Ojedo rsnojeda@aol.com
Lisa Marie Gomez
Latinos disproportionately benefit from Social Security because they tend to earn less money over their lifetimes, live longer, have larger families and are more likely to suffer a disability than any other racial or ethnic group, according to a study released Tuesday.
That's why any proposal to reform Social Security that cuts benefits, or replaces it with private investment accounts, has the potential to hit the Latino community hardest, according to the findings of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.
The report, titled "Hispanics and Social Security: The Implications of Reform Proposals," examined various proposals to revamp the current system, which has been in place for more than 70 years.
Saying that the system's long-range viability is in jeopardy, President Bush has called for allowing younger workers to shift some of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Many Democrats oppose such a plan because they believe it would be a first step toward privatizing Social Security.
"We hope from this report that we will point out in an objective manner why Social Security is so crucial as the safety net for the Latino community as a whole and as a retirement plan for older Latinos," said Fernando Torres-Gil, a co-author of the report and director of the UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging.
He also hopes that over coming months and years, Latinos make it a point to understand the proposed changes to Social Security and their potential impact.
Places with large Hispanic populations such as Los Angeles, Miami, the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio, which has a Latino population of almost 60 percent, should pay close attention to the various proposals to reform Social Security, the Center found.
If Social Security doesn't continue to provide a basic safety net for Latinos, the responsibility will fall on others.
"Those municipalities have to be concerned as to the extent that their elderly Latinos find that their reliance on Social Security becomes tenuous, then those communities will be forced to pick up the slack," Torres-Gil said.
Andy Hernandez, director of the 21st Century Leadership Center at St. Mary's University, said the kind of changes being proposed to reform Social Security would have a direct impact on the economy of San Antonio.
"This study is more evidence that we should go slow," said Hernandez, an expert on Latino political affairs. "People really need to study the question (of whether Social Security should be changed) because sometimes changes aren't for the better."
It's harder for Latinos to invest in a 401(k) or other pension plan because they often have jobs lacking such benefits.
"Latinos are very entrepreneurial," Torres-Gil said. "This is a population that is more likely to have a small business, to work in service industries, or agriculture where they're less likely to have a defined benefit plan and/or opportunities for a defined contribution plan."
Not to mention undocumented workers, who get Social Security money taken out of their paychecks, but never see that money again, he said.
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Rooting Out Injustice in the Forestry Industry
Sent by Howard Shorr
To: howardshorr@msn.com
June 27, 2005 -- A lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project seeks to change how the forestry industry treats migrant laborers like Escolastico De Leon Granados. By Carrie Kilman | Staff Writer, Tolerance.org
In his native Guatemala, Escolastico De Leon Granados worked odd jobs: as a day laborer at a coffee plant, as a handyman around town.
"There is no other way to earn money there," he says. He owns land but struggled to earn enough money to feed his family.
In 1997, Escolastico gave more than $1,000 and the deed to his land to a recruiter for Eller and Sons, a Georgia-based forestry contractor, in exchange for a temporary work visa and a plane ticket to the United States.
Each year since, he leaves his wife and four children and travels to the United States for eight-month stints to plant pine and oak trees in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. He comes, he says, "to earn money so our family can live better."
But it hasn't quite worked out that way.
Bordering on slavery
Earlier this month, Escolastico became the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit, filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project, against Eller and Sons, the largest forestry contractor in the nation. It's the third such lawsuit filed by the Immigrant Justice Project this year.
Escolastico is one of an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 migrant tree planters working in the southeastern United States — more workers than any other crop in the region.
Coming from places like Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras, the workers — typically poor and male — are lured here by the promise of wages better than what they could earn in their home countries.
And they come here legally, on H-2B visas allowing U.S. companies to import temporary labor when they can't find workers in the United States. Migrant forestry workers typically work up to 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week. They earn about $25 for every 1,000 trees planted and usually plant between 1,500 and 3,000 trees a day.
It is arduous labor, requiring workers to dig a hole, plant a seedling, pack down the dirt, and move eight feet to the next planting site an average of once every 10 seconds.
The law guarantees H-2B tree-planters overtime pay, reimbursement for travel expenses and visa fees, and an hourly "prevailing wage," usually $8 to $10 an hour, depending on the state.
Yet H-2B forestry workers usually earn between $200 and $300 a week, roughly equivalent to $3 to $5 an hour for a 60-hour work week.
This is because forestry contractors almost never comply with the law, say immigration advocates. And, because the contractors control the visas and often require deeds in exchange for jobs, workers almost never complain.
"People don't have freedom of movement because of the huge power the employer has over them," says Greg Schell, a lawyer with the Florida Migrant Farmworker Justice Project who's worked with migrant laborers for more than 20 years. "Forestry workers are probably the single most neglected group of migrant workers in the country." It's a system, Schell says, that "borders on slavery."
Fighting for our families
Escolastico wears a faded plaid shirt and a "Korean Veteran" baseball cap over curly dark-brown hair. He is 34 years old, the father of two boys and two girls, ages 4 to 11. He speaks almost no English, although he says he hopes someday to learn.
Like other forestry workers, Escolastico receives an H-2B visa to plant trees from November to July. Then he returns home for four months, before returning to Georgia to repeat the cycle.
Through an interpreter, he says he came to the United States "to watch out for my family. ... They told me the work would be hard. My people work in the fields and it's always hard — we expect it and can handle it. But it was much worse than we thought it would be."
During the planting season, Escolastico's crew of 15 to 25 men travels from site to site across the Southeast, living in motels with four to six men to a room.
"We leave the motel at 5 or 6 (a.m.)," he says. "We go to the cooler to pick up the saplings to plant that day. Sometimes we would have to drive two or three hours to get to the field. Then we plant all day, as long as it's light outside."
Eller and Sons provides the tools, but deducts the cost from workers' paychecks. Workers are required to return the tools at the end of the planting season and buy them back when they return each November.
Escolastico plants more than 1,000 trees a day and makes roughly $240 a week. At the end of each growing season, he's able to send about $500 home. When he's in the U.S., Escolastico calls home once a week.
"It's hard for the kids, because their fathers aren't at home with them," he says. "The majority of men in my town are here, working to make things better for their families, fighting for the lives of our children."
No free passes
The lawsuit against Eller and Sons claims the company has systematically denied its workers millions of dollars in wages, overtime pay and reimbursed travel expenses. The company has until July 5 to respond.
Mary Bauer, director of the SPLC's Immigrant Justice Project, said the forestry industry was targeted "because it's so universally bad. There are a lot of industries where immigrant workers get treated badly, but forestry really stands out because violations of the law are really the norm."
Part of the problem, Bauer says, is the competitive bidding process forcing forestry contractors to cut costs in order to win contracts with large timber companies like International Paper and Weyerhaeuser.
Adds Schell: "You cannot pay your workers properly and stay in business. It's impossible. If all the timber contractors got together and said, 'No we're going to insist on a price that will allow us to follow the law and pay our workers,' then things would change."
That's exactly what Bauer hopes will happen. In addition to the suit against Eller and Sons, the Immigrant Justice Project recently filed two others, against Arkansas-based Express Forestry and Idaho-based Alpha Services.
"We want to use these lawsuits to reform the forestry industry, to pressure companies to change," she says. "We're saying that you don't get a free pass because you choose to hire immigrants. You don't get to exploit people and treat them this way."
Knowing their rights
Escolastico decided to participate in the lawsuit, he says, "so that others will see our struggle."
Yet he knows his participation comes with a risk.
"I don't think they will give us a visa again," he says. "But I already decided that if that happens, I will go (back to Guatemala) and work there and do good things for my country."
Through the lawsuit, Escolastico says he hopes tree planters will win back the money they deserve. But more than that, he says he hopes it will teach other migrant workers that they can organize for equal rights.
"I want to win something of what we're fighting for," he says. "If we don't, some of our co-workers will say, 'That didn't really do anything for us.' But if we win, the community will want to fight for our rights."
Escolastico learned about the lawsuit when outreach workers from the Immigrant Justice Project visited the motel where he and his crew were staying.
"I learned I had a right to be paid fairly," he says. "I didn't know I had the right to receive money for travel expenses. I didn't know I was supposed to be getting paid per hour. I felt a support from them (the outreach workers) that was reassuring — I felt more motivated to do something about the injustice."
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Into
The Mix
By James B. Kelleher
The Orange County Register, July 10, 2005
According to the U.S. Census, minorities are starting
businesses in the country at a rate three times faster than whites.
…And growing power
The average Hispanic household makes about 29 percent
less than the national average of $58,000 but that's changing. Here's a
projection of Hispanics' growing market clot, billions of dollars:
Growing income… Total income of Hispanic households in the United
States is projected to grow from about $470 billion in 2002 to about
$670 billion five years form now, with families of Mexican origin
accounting for the biggest share.
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Hispanic Link Weekly Report
July, 4, 2005 Vol. 23 No.26
Ad
money up in Latino media:
Advertising spending is growing
faster in Hispanic Medias than in the mainstream media, according to a
study by TNS Media Intelligence. Spending in Hispanic media is expected
to increase by 10.5 percent from last year, while advertising dollars
spent in the mainstream English-language press is expected to grow by
only 3.4 percent.
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