Why do we care about Census Bureau figures?

It’s true that I spend more time than most people do in studying the reports coming from the Census Bureau to try to find out as much as possible about the growing Latino population – one of every six people in this country now, and possibly as many as one in three by 2050.

But it is because I think it important for people to understand the reality of our population today that I weed my way through every detail I can find.

I’M STILL TRYING to find out the self-identification of Latinos when it comes to the question of race; which in 2000 was 48 percent white, 42 percent other, 8 percent American Indian and 2 percent African-American.

I guess there just aren’t that many self-identified Latino Aleutian Eskimos.

So I will be among the people watching on Tuesday to see the Census Bureau’s latest statistics related to the Latino population. They’re planning to let it be known more specifically about the geographic distribution of Latino ethnic groups – including the big ones of Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican.

Of course, the Pew Hispanic Center came out with their own study just last week saying that people of Mexican ethnic background comprise nearly 32 million of the roughly 50 million Latinos – even though in places like Miami, Washington and New York, the dominant Latino ethnicities locally are the Cubans, the Salvadorans and the Puerto Ricans.

WE’LL SEE HOW accurate their assessment is. Although quite frankly, their take on the Latino population coincides with what I see and hear. It probably is legitimate.

Which is important for our society as a whole to comprehend. For too many people are basing their sociological and political decisions on beliefs about the Latino population that are out-of-date.

Which is an easy mistake to make, since the Latino population these days is continually evolving. Information accurate as recently as last year may no longer be complete.

Taking information any older than that is outrageous. You might as well be digging up your grandparents’ old sets of World Book encyclopedias (remember the ones that printed the annual update to try to keep up with the latest information) for your information.

WHICH IS WHY I found it interesting to read a report published by Patch.com – AOL.com’s collection of websites meant to get them into the business of reporting community-oriented news.One of their Maryland-based reporter-types took it on herself to find out why we should care that the United States is becoming a less-white nation.

The “majority-minority” concept that will ensure we remain strong as a society. The truth is that if we gave in to the ethnic hang-ups of some members of our society, THAT is what would turn this country into a third-world nation, so to speak.

While it might well be idealistic on my part, I always hope that providing the latest data on the U.S. population will have an impact on swaying at least some of these people to see the truth our country faces.

Which is why I will be studying the latest Census Bureau data the same way some people still scour baseball box scores – and the sports reports for the latest outrageous comments from Venezolano-American manager Ozzie Guillen.

  -30-

Telemundo sees money, gets in the business of sponsoring Indy cars

Personally, I find cheerleading to be more of a “sport” than auto racing.

It may be a huge, noisy spectacle. But cars going round and round and round the racetrack just doesn’t do much for me. Even horseracing is more interesting to me than auto racing.

WHICH MEANS I’M not among those people who anxiously awaits the Indianapolis 500 each year. I didn’t bother to watch it this year – even though this was the year we supposedly got the Latino-themed car in the race.

Or at least that’s the way some are trying to spin it.

For it seems that the Telemundo television network sponsored a car. Working with Newman/Haas Racing, they had the Number Two car – being driven by Oriol Servia of Spain (who happens to be bi-lingual).

It’s the first time that a Latino-themed company has gotten into sponsorship of an auto in the big race. Although there have been Latino drivers before – even Latinas (remember Venezuelan Milka Duno in 2007 and Ana Beatriz this year?).

BUT JUST AS the key to advancing in any field is to rise above the rank-and-file and work one’s way into management, that is the thing taking place here.



DUNO: The first Latina at Indy



Individual drivers may help draw interest among the growing Latino population to auto racing. Yet having one of the big Spanish-language television networks in this country giving the sport significant airtime because it has a financial interest vested in it is going to bolster interest among my ethnic brethren – although I’m pretty sure that I’m too far gone apathetic about auto racing to ever be swayed.

I recall attending an auto race when I was about 5 years old, and sometimes I think I still hear a funky buzz in my ears from the constant rumbles of the motors.

Of course, the true bottom line is money.

TELEMUNDO WANTS TO make money, and they see a chance to get in first in terms of getting Latinos interested in auto racing.

Network officials told the Fox News Latino channel (and its website) that they think Spanish-language broadcasting  in this country currently floods the market with soccer programming.

Which makes sense for those people who want to be able to follow their “old-country” teams and leagues.

But those broadcast officials figure (wisely enough) that the passage of time is going to cause more and more assimilation. No matter how much the conservative ideologues want to believe that my ethnic brethren are clinging to their old-country ways, we’re going to pick up on these new-fangled customs.

PARTICULARLY IF IT appears that we have our own stake in the race.

So it will be interesting to see how well the Telemundo car does in the race, particularly if it does so well that it draws attention. I’m sure that will irritate the nativist element of our society, who will be forced to see yet another aspect of our culture where Latinos can compete.

The day will come when all of this will be rather commonplace. I look forward to that day. Until then, it will be the one tidbit I will look up in the agate type, so to speak, when I check on race results.

Which is about the extent to which I care to follow Sunday’s activity. That, and looking up results for Beatriz and pictures of Danica Patrick.

  -30-

All will be able to comprehend Sunday’s ceremonia de graduaciòn

Learning of Swarthmore College’s commencement ceremonies scheduled for Sunday made me recall my own graduation from college nearly a quarter-century ago.

Among the family contingent that made their way down from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., was my grandmother Angelina – who was the one of my four grandparents who never developed a confident command of the English language.

ADMITTEDLY, SHE HAD my father and two of my uncles (all three of her sons) on hand to provide translation. But a part of me always wondered just how much of the academic ritual my paternal grandmother actually comprehended.

Then again, what I remember was an uninspiring commencement speaker (whose name I’d have to look up) and not a word of what he said. I also remember not being alone among the students in feeling that way.

So maybe my grandmother was just as confused as the rest of us.

Now, we move 24 years to the future to this weekend, where at the Philadelphia-based elite college (although not as special as my alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University) officials are anticipating a significant number of people on hand who might not comprehend English enough to follow the ritual of sending students off into the real world.

WHILE IT IS common for colleges to have sign-language interpreters on hand for the hard-of-hearing (although nothing like actor Garrett Morris offering his hearing-impaired interpretation of Saturday Night Live sketches), this may well be a first.

According to an Associated Press dispatch, people attending the ceremony will be offered wireless headphones if they want them. Those who take them will get to listen to a Spanish-language interpreter, doing a simultaneous translation of the academics trying to show just how other-worldly they are capable of being.

It almost sounds like they’re making graduation sound like a session of the United Nations – with everybody wearing headphones to listen to people provide them with the translation needed for us to overcome the many languages spoken around this planet.

Now for all those people who are going to start ranting and raging about how this thought is horrible and that these people ought to listen to English just like everybody else, I’d say that nobody is offering this service out of the goodness of their heart.

NOBODY IS THAT nice.

Swarthmore officials are only bothering because the Latino presence at their commencement ceremonies (due to a growing Latino segment of their student body) is large-enough to warrant such a service.

While I’m not bitter in any way that my alma mater didn’t offer something similar (in all honesty, it wouldn’t have occurred to me for them to do so), I can’t help but think it would have made my grandmother feel like she was more a part of the event.

Making sure everybody can comprehend what is happening only leaves a good impression upon everybody. One has to have a particularly craven view of life and people to see anything bad about this.

  -30-

It’s a long, hard fight ahead of us

Anybody who claims to “know” how the courts ultimately will rule with regards to Arizona and that state Legislature’s attempts to get involved in enforcement of federal law is either lying, or they’re delusional.

Most prominent in this legal battle is a law approved in Arizona last year that gives local cops more authority to involve themselves in federal immigration matters.

THUS FAR, THE relevant appeals courts have stalled that law from taking effect, and have made some comments that might imply they look favorably upon those people who are offended that Arizona officials would even contemplate such actions.

Yet the final decision hasn’t come from that Court of Appeals. We certainly are a long way away from the Supreme Court of the United States imposing its thoughts on the issue (which will happen, since whoever loses at the appeals level is virtually guaranteed of taking the issue up to the next legal level).

And the nation’s high court on Thursday gave an indication that it is willing to allow certain amounts of state involvement in immigration issues.

Specifically, the court ruled in a case involving an Arizona law from 2007 – one that is meant to impose sanctions on businesses who hire people who turn out to be unqualified to work in this country because either they’re not U.S. citizens or don’t have the work permits required of non-citizens to get permanent jobs.

ARIZONA OFFICIALS WANT their state law to impose such harsh fines, if not revoke their business licenses outright, in hopes that the cost will discourage companies from hiring non-citizens.

Which in theory doesn’t bother me, because I have always said that the “problem” when it comes to undocumented people working in this country isn’t caused by the worker.

It is caused by the employer.

Because companies that tend to look the other way when it comes to checking a non-citizen’s work papers (if not downright look for the un-visa’ed when they hire people) do so because they want a compliant work force.

THEY WANT PEOPLE working for them who are in a precarious situation who will not be able to complain if (Who am I kidding? I mean ‘when’) their worker rights are violated.

I have heard too many cases of people who were ordered to work extra hours for no extra money, or were not paid properly for their overtime, because a company felt it shouldn’t have to comply with such laws.

If someone wants to focus their attention on the employers, I wouldn’t mind. They ARE the problem in all too many cases. The problem caused by the conservative ideologues is that they want to treat the “victims” in these cases as the problem.

Who knows? Maybe they’re also the types who, deep down, believe the rape victims “asked for it.”

SOME ARE GOING to be claiming that this ruling is evidence that the Supreme Court of the United States is inclined to let the states get involved in federal immigration matters. They may try to claim this as some evidence of their ultimate victory.

I’m not sure I buy that. Because I can see a difference between states creating laws that go along with the intent of federal law (non-citizens needing special permits in order to get jobs in the United States) and laws such as what Arizona did last year – which toss aside any sense of jurisdiction that says law enforcement agencies stick to their respective business and respect boundaries.

NAPOLITANO: Is she the gauge?



The federal government has its own agencies meant to enforce immigration law, and doesn’t need help from local agencies whose officers aren’t properly trained in the nuances of such law.

I also can’t help but note that Janet Napolitano signed the 2007 measure into law when she was Arizona governor. Yet she is a critic of what her home state did once she left that post to become the Homeland Security Department director under President Barack Obama. This truly is a case where predictions are virtually worthless.

  -30-

Will a Mexican gain control of the International Monetary Fund?

It’s too bad this particular political brawl didn’t crop up three weeks ago. Having a Mexican take on a Frenchwoman would have been appropriate on May 5.

CARSTENS: Is the Pope still Italian?



But the fight to see who heads the International Monetary Fund is still a potentially feisty one, because it is a threat to the status quo of the financial world.

THE IMF NEEDS a new leader, on account of the fact that the current leader, Dominque Strauss-Kahn, had to resign the post after being hit with criminal charges for trying to have sex with a hotel chambermaid against her will.

The two people who have come forth thus far are Christine Lagarde, finance minister of France, and Agustin Carstens, governor of Mexico’s central bank.

Officially, the United States is remaining neutral, issuing statements saying that both are highly qualified to be IMF director. But the Dow Jones News Wire on Wednesday reported that U.S. officials were leaning toward trying to back Lagarde as subtly as possible.

Lagarde already has the solid backing of other European nations involved with the International Monetary Fund, in large part because tradition dictates that the IMF is headed by a European.

THE COMPROMISE THAT makes up the international finance status quo is that someone from the United States gets to head the World Bank.

But emerging economic nations are claiming that this practice is absurd. It is “obsolete.” It does not recognize the world as it exists in the 21^st Century. Hence, other nations are throwing their backing behind Carstens – including representatives of Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.

LAGARDE: The status-quo



U.S. officials don’t need to be provoking the nation along their southern border, so a public push for Lagarde won’t happen. But it seems that some U.S. officials fear that if Europeans lose that particular post heading the International Monetary Fund, perhaps the Europeans will try to snatch the World Bank post as a compromise.

The last thing U.S. officials want to lose is their own influence, even if it means ticking off Mexican officials on yet another issue.

SO WHAT IS bound to happen? Will this become a Mexico versus France confrontation, with the United States having the potential to swing the vote based on whatever behind-closed-doors maneuvers it makes in coming weeks?

Or could there be yet another candidate coming forth who might be seen as a worthwhile compromise – thereby dumping on both nations?

Nominations are being accepted for the IMF post through June 10, and officials say the leadership post will be filled some time about June 30.

In short, there is still time for things to change.

THE ISSUE MAY be discussed when the Group of Eight leaders meet in France Thursday and Friday, although no one expects a decision to be reached this week. In fact, it is more likely that sensibilities will be offended than it is that a deal will be reached.

So what do I think of the possibility that we will have a Mexican as head of the International Monetary Fund? Or any non-European heading the organization that represents 187 nations around the world to try to bolster financial security and international trade?

Some might think it absurd.

Although I wonder if these same people are the ones who once would have thought it ludicrous that anyone other than an Italian would serve as pope of the Catholic Church.

YET IT HAS been over three decades since an Italian last rose to that post. The current pope is of German ethnic descent, while no one other than a few buffoons looks down upon John Paul II because he was Polish.

I can’t help but think that a Mexican heading the International Monetary Fund has the potential to be the equivalent of a Polish pope.

  -30-

The times, they are a changin’ everywhere, even down in Georgia

Cobb County, Ga., is the place where county government officials recently settled a lawsuit that claimed local police harassed a Latino man in ways that were meant to encourage his removal from this country by federal Immigration officials.

HINOJOSA: Marching down to Georgia



Which must be a concern to a segment of that suburban Atlanta county’s population, since it is also developing a significant Latino population.

IT MEANS WE have a tension taking place there that certain people are simply going to have to overcome. “Get over it!,” is the key phrase that needs to be reiterated to those individuals.

And it seems that some people are moving in ways that are meant to help those people get over their hang-ups.

For it was in recent days that officials with the public school system in Cobb County picked a new school superintendent. And he’s a Latino.

Specifically, Michael Hinojosa was hired away from his most recent job as head of the public schools in Dallas, where he was named Superintendent of the Year by the University of Texas AND Texas Superintendent of the Year by the Texas Association of School Boards.

HINOJOSA IS THE son of Mexican immigrants, which means the lifestyle of the Latino population – which comprises about 16 percent of the total student enrollment of just over 100,000.

I know some people are going to say that’s only one in six. But it is the part that is growing. Within a couple of years, it is going to be higher – no matter how much some people want to think the Georgia Legislature’s attempt to impose new laws allowing local police to crack down on people they suspect of violating federal immigration laws will somehow restore the “good ol’ days” when no Latinos lived anywhere in the area.

Hinojosa is moving into the job come July, and tells reporter-types he plans to spend his first few months listening to the public to get a handle on what they expect of their school system.

Which is all fine and dandy, so to speak.

BECAUSE HE WILL be in a prime position to influence the way that the Latino population assimilates into the society – despite the efforts of those who want to halt such assimilation.

The key is to reaching out to the growing Latino population is making people realize the benefits to be derived from education and how it can help people rise above any problems they may have in their lives.

Schoolchildren also have the potential to learn now how ridiculous some of these hang-ups are that dominate too much of the rhetoric about this particular set of issues.

Train children now not to listen to nonsense, and perhaps many of them will overcome their parents’ hang-ups.

THAT MAY WELL be particularly important in a place like the deep south, where outside of Texas there simply haven’t been many Latinos living around and some people may well let their confusion about the “newcomers” get the best of them.

Seeing someone like Hinojosa behave like a professional will be what helps many of the adults work their way through their hang-ups about ethnicity.

Now I know some people may be too far gone, and that there will always be some crackpots who persist in spewing nonsense-talk. These are the people who push for rewriting the laws to reinforce their harsh views. In short, to push for measures that are downright un-American.

So I find it encouraging to learn that someone like Hinojosa is moving into a place where I think he’s desperately needed – even if it’s just to set an example for the local society.

  -30-

How much authority should local cops have?

I recall the old television series “Hill Street Blues,” in particular for one character, Lt. Howard Hunter.

SIKKING: As Howard Hunter



That character played by actor James B. Sikking was the head of the S.W.A.T.-like team maintained by the fictional police department, and he had this one quirk.

IT SEEMS LIKE just about every time he encountered somebody on the streets of his particular city who didn’t look WASP-y enough for his satisfaction, he’d bark an order to a subordinate to have that particular person’s immigration status checked on.

In the world of Hill Street Blues, I wonder how many “not white enough” people had to cope with a visit from INS just because a cop’s sensibilities were offended.

But whenever I hear about political people trying to pass laws giving local law enforcement greater authority to check on federal immigration status, I wonder if what those political people want are more cops like the mythical Howard Hunter.

Now on that program, the Hunter character was not regarded as a typical cop. He was played by Sikking as being a bit extreme, even by comparison to his colleagues.

I’D HOPE THAT in the real world, most police officers would not be so eager to have people checked by the modern-day Immigration and Customs Enforcement just because they dared to be both ethnic AND vocal in their complaints about police behavior.

But there are bound to be a few. Which is why so many of us are concerned about giving local police too much authority in an area of the law for which they’re not properly trained (because it isn’t their jurisdiction).

And why so many of us are shifting our attention to Austin, Texas – where the Texas Legislature is considering a new law that offends our sensibilities.

It’s not so much that the Texas Senate is considering a bill that gives police more authority. It’s that the Texas Senate is trying to undermine the authority of local officials who specifically don’t want their police getting involved in immigration matters.

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT the concept of “sanctuary” cities, where local government officials are prohibited from asking people about their immigration status and from routinely passing along certain personal information to federal immigration authorities.

The attitude of those local governments is that Immigration has a job to do, and they can do it themselves. Those local officials passed such laws as a symbolic gesture that their residents shouldn’t have to fear contact with the police.

What the Texas Senate is trying to do is pass a state law that would allow ALL local police to inquire about immigration status when making arrests. Even those police officers in departments representing “sanctuary” cities.

This is a bill that is entirely about partisan politics and pandering to those individuals whose ethnic hang-ups are so intense that they want the letter of the law crafted in such a manner that it backs up their beliefs.

THAT IS WHEN we push into an area of the political spectrum where government becomes the problem. The letter of the law is supposed to protect people from being able to abuse each other. It’s not supposed to allow one group to harass another.

The situation is such that Latino activists made the trip to the Texas Statehouse this weekend to protest the bill – which is still pending in a legislative committee and whose ultimate fate remains uncertain. The outcome will be known by early next week – the Texas Legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the summer come May 30.

Until then, we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the Lone Star State. Will “Howard Hunter” remain a fictional character whose buffoonish ways we can laugh at on re-runs?

Or is there potential for real-life versions to be given some encouragement by the actions of a government body once described by the late commentator Molly Ivins as having, “a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people.”

  -30-

Who really wins in these non-admission lawsuits?

A lawsuit filed by a Latino against police in suburban Atlanta ended recently in an all-too-predictable outcome.

Local government threw some money at the problem to make it go away, and everybody is going to want to believe that they are the ones who prevailed in this fight.

THIS PARTICULAR LAWSUIT was filed against Cobb County, Ga., by Angel Castro Torres, who last year was stopped by two officers who thought his clothing made him look (to them, at least) like some type of gang member.

When they say he tried to flee on bicycle (and almost hit their squad car with his bike), they used force. He says they beat him up and arrested him – then tried to notify all the relevant federal immigration authorities to see if they could get Castro deported.

They also filed criminal charges against Castro, although he has since had the charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer dismissed.

Castro’s response was that lawsuit against the county, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported was settled last week.

THE NEWSPAPER REPORTED that Castro will receive $32,500 to compensate him for the beating. In return, the settlement specifically says that county officials admit to no wrongdoing in the way they handled themselves on that day in March 2010 when Castro was in their police custody.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Immigration Project, both of which assisted Castro with legal representation during his time suing the county, both say this is a blow against Cobb County, which they say is harassing people in hopes that the resulting arrest will get them deported from this country.

Law Center officials say they want to believe this settlement will “send a clear message” that such behavior by police is wrong.

Yet I can’t help but think that such thoughts are overly optimistic because of the fact that there is no admission of wrong-doing in this particular case.

I HAVE BEEN around enough government officials at various levels to know how they all invariably respond to such lawsuits. When the attorney bills for challenging a lawsuit become larger than the cost of a settlement, they vote to settle, particularly if they get the "no wrongdoing" provision.

They are going to want to think that the “problem” is that they had to give money to this person – taxpayer dollars that could have better gone to some other program or purpose.

They’re going to argue that we’re in an “overly litigious” society, which means that Castro is the problem. After all, if he weren’t the problem, they wouldn’t have been able to get away with a settlement instead of a judgment that would have assessed blame for this incident.

Which means that for the county, they got a “win” when they got the settlement. Heck, $32,500 isn’t even all that much money to have to pay out for a result that allows them to avoid accepting blame for this incident.

IF THERE IS anything surprising about this particular case, it is that the financial portion of this settlement was actually disclosed. I have written about far too many lawsuits where the settlement’s dollar amount is kept secret – thereby allowing the government-types to toss out hints that they had to pay out much more money than they really did.

Now I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of this particular case. I don’t know how solid Castro’s details were – although I think the fact that the criminal charges did NOT result in a conviction is a “plus” in his favor. But perhaps the amount of time it would have taken to draw this case out to trial made Castro want to take the settlement offered now.

But what would actually send a message to officials that such behavior is not appropriate is some sort of public admission that the behavior WAS wrong. Police having to live with this on their permanent record, so to speak, is what would make a public statement.

For what we have now is something that will quickly recede into the background. That is, until the next incident that results in a lawsuit against a police department somewhere in this country.

  -30-

Cabrera becoming a citizen doesn’t mean current system works all that well

Orlando Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians is now a U.S. citizen, taking the oath of naturalization this week where he formally renounced his ties to his native Colombia and officially became a full-fledged part of our society.

Not that I have any problem with Cabrera becoming a part of this country. We are by our very nature a conglomeration of the world. The fact that Cabrera doesn’t want to have to worry about someday being forced to leave this country likely will make his life much easier.

YET WHAT AMAZES me is some of the news coverage I have read about Cabrera’s situation. Actually, what I have noticed is some of the reader “comments” in response to this coverage.

It seems that the conservative ideologues who like to claim that they’re all for “legal” immigration and merely oppose it in “illegal” forms are trying to say that Cabrera is proof that our country’s current immigration system is not flawed.

They want to say that Orlando did things the “legal” way, and that he ought to now join their cause against the many Latin Americans they want to believe are criminals just by their existence within the U.S. borders.

That’s nonsense.

IT IS TRUE that Cabrera came to this country with a valid visa some two decades ago, and has consistently had a legal status that has allowed him to openly exist while playing his way through the minor leagues and his 15 seasons of playing in the U.S. major leagues.

But that is because Major League Baseball franchises get a certain number of visas that they can issue to the players they want to sign for their big club AND all of their minor league affiliates.

In short, Cabrera never had to endure the bureaucratic mess that confronts the ordinary individual who has aspirations of someday living in the United States.

The fact that he can hit a curveball with some regularity IS the reason he got that visa, and has consistently had the papers necessary to not have to fear the sight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

I DON’T HAVE a problem with Cabrera and other ballplayers getting those visas. As a fan of the U.S. major leagues, I enjoy the fact that professional baseball in this country is the highest level of the sport.

I also realize the fact that the U.S. has the highest level of professional baseball is BECAUSE the game here is not limited to U.S.-born athletes. If it were, then baseball likely would be another aspect of life in which our nation had been surpassed by the Japanese.

What we need to remember is that Cabrera, and other ballplayers who comprise the roughly one-quarter of Major League Baseball players who come from other countries, are special cases.

If anything, the fact that it takes being such a special case in order to go through the residency process without having to endure a hassle (and I know of the stories every spring of ballplayers whose arrival at spring training camps are delayed because of visa issues) is the evidence of how much of a mess our current immigration status is.

SO HERE’S HOPING that Cabrera enjoys his newfound citizenship (he formally was naturalized Friday during ceremonies held in his adopted home state of South Carolina) status.

The bulk of his professional athletic career is behind him. But at age 36, he likely has the bulk of his life ahead of him. The fact that he has options will improve the quality of that life. Which ultimately is what every person from around the globe who decides they’d like a chance to live in the United States is shooting for.

I’d hate to think that our nation should only give that opportunity for a better life to those individuals from around the world who are capable of entertaining us with a song or dance, or because they can field ground balls without bobbling them about too often.

  -30-

Cesar Chavez becoming the token Latino to name things after

Just where are we, the growing Latino population of this nation, in the overall process of assimilation into its society?

It would seem we have enough significance to force some visible (some would argue superficial) changes. But often I have to wonder how much the people who make these moves comprehend the real people – and are engaged in cheap symbolism.

THAT IS THE thought I contemplate as United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez is on the verge of getting his name put on two significant entities.

City government officials in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday formally voted to rename a street (Durango Boulevard, if you want to be exact) for Chavez. There also are plans for the U.S. Navy to name a new cargo ship under construction for him.

The U.S.N.S. Cesar Chavez. To go along with Cesar Chavez Boulevard in the city of the Alamo. What should we think of all this?

There are critics of both moves. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is going so far as to fire off letters to federal officials claiming that other people deserve to be honored by the Navy more than Chavez – who during his life was characterized as a “peace” activist when he wasn’t involved in labor issues.

HUNTER WENT SO far as to claim he thinks this move is a “political statement,” just like the people who  are now turning up in Letters to the Editor sections of newspapers and Internet reader comment sections to say this is all part of President Barack Obama’s strategy to gain the Latino vote come the 2012 election cycle.

The rhetoric against San Antonio renaming its street is less intense. People are publicly saying they do not like the cost associated with renaming the entire length of a prominent city street, and also try to claim sympathy for those who live or work there and will now have administrative expenses to endure as a result.

All those change-of-address cards can be quite the hassle! Don’t you think?

Although I suspect the hang-ups these people have also include unspoken thoughts similar to those who have a problem with naming a naval ship for Chavez.

PERSONALLY, I DON’T care about either of these actions. They’re nice gestures. And I understand that Chavez’ survivors like the idea of a cargo ship being named for him.

Perhaps the idea of Chavez’ name getting into the rotation of names used for naval vessels now and in the future will help ensure that his name is remembered for decades (if not centuries) to come.

If some person of the future sees the name U.S.N.S. Cesar Chavez, wonders to himself ‘Who the h@#% is Cesar Chavez?” and feels compelled to look up the name, then it could be worthwhile if that person learns something in the process.

But Hunter, in his own objections, made one point that is semi-legitimate. He suggests naming a ship for Rafael Peralta, a Marine who happens to be Latino and died in Iraq from actions that many believe should have gained him a Medal of Honor.

I’D LIKE TO see more things named for Latinos other than Chavez. It’s not an objection to Chavez. It’s just that I’m wondering if many people are using Cesar as a Latino fallback.

As in, “We want to honor a Latino? How about Chavez?” It’s as though Cesar is a generic Latino whose name and image can be trotted out, and we’re all supposed to get extremely excited – as though he’s the only Latino of note.

That goes for putting his name on a ship, a street or just about anything else, although I must admit to enjoying the Cesar Chavez stamp that came out nearly a decade ago. It’s just too bad postage is no longer 37 cents.

There is, however, one aspect of a Chavez ship that I enjoy – the fact that Cesar himself served in the U.S. Navy in the years right after World War II (a time of his life that he later said was its roughest period).

HOW MANY LOWLY seamen get their name on a ship someday? And how many naval officers of that period would absolutely choke on it – the very thought that the navy would have a U.S.N.S. Cesar Chavez?

If there’s any real justice in life, then perhaps some of those officers could have wound up retiring to San Antonio and Durango Boulevard – which now also bears his name!

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Confusing rhetoric is simple; just Mexico-bash

ISSA: Wha'd he say?

I got my kick on Wednesday from a Washington Post piece that tried to get to the bottom of just what did Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., say when he spoke on a radio station recently about Mexico and firearms entering that nation from the United States.

Did he say “act of war” on the part of the United States against Mexico? Or are his press aides correct when they say he said “active war” and that those who are repeating the more aggressive phrase are just trying to stir up trouble?

THESE KIND OF moments occur occasionally when it comes to dealing with political people. Somebody says something that they wish they hadn’t said, then tries to claim we all mis-heard them and they really said something rather innocuous.

Issa probably hopes his comments about a Justice Department program that is supposed to track the movement of firearms from the United States into Mexico wind up with the same fate. Just a little bit of confusion, before we all move on.

What caught my attention about the Post’s attempt on their website to get at the truth (it was part of their “Fact Checker” feature that claims to get at “the truth behind the rhetoric”) is that it left me all the more confused about what Issa may have said or meant when he opened his mouth.

I’m not about to claim that I know what he said. The bits of audio that now exist on the Internet are – to me – so inaudible that I can’t make out clearly what is being spoken. If you can tell me definitively, pass along what you know. I’d enjoy hearing a definitive answer – if one exists.

I DOUBT IT does. I doubt Issa really cares. My guess would be that he was just making some innocuous comments that were meant to tie the idea of “firearms” and “Mexico” in the same sentence.

We were supposed to skip the details and just think of Mexico as a dangerous place – which would fit the mental picture that Issa has often tried presenting during his time in Congress with his words and actions.

This is the same House of Representatives member who earlier this year came up with a bill that proposed giving permanent Visas to non-citizens who graduate from U.S. universities if they are able to find work with U.S.-based companies upon graduation.

He wants that as an alternative to the current visa lottery – by which people from around the world are picked at random each year to receive the visas that give them “resident alien” status and makes it possible for them to live openly in this nation.

OF COURSE, THAT lottery made it into the news last week when it turns out that a computer error caused the wrong people to get those visas – the lottery wasn’t random enough. Officials are going to have to do over the whole thing later this summer.

Whatever it was Issa had to say, my guess is that it was meant to stoke the confusion that all too many of us experience on these issues.

That concept, to me at least, is more offensive than anything that Issa might actually have said.

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No matter the locale, disputes over Latino assimilation moving to the feds

I’m sure the day will come several decades from now when people will look back on us and the way the Latino population grew into a significant force in this country and wonder how we could ever have made such simple issues so complex.

But complex is what some people make of the fact that there isn’t any legitimate reason to be thwarting this increase – that likely will top out at about one-third of the population by about 2050.

BY COMPLEX, IT seems that so many court cases these days relate to the fact that some people are just anxious to get someone to impose restrictions meant to keep the Latino population from being a part of this country.

Even though we have been a part of it ever since the early days of the 19^th Century when the United States expanded itself into areas of the southwest where we were the natives.

A couple of those court cases have crept their way into the news reports these days, and the scary part is that they probably aren’t the least bit unique. We’re going to keep getting law suits and legal challenges filed in the court systems across the country so long as some people are just dreadfully stubborn when it comes to their ethnic hang-ups.

Just as during the 1960s and the Civil Rights era how it was the federal courts that wound up having to block the efforts of people to impose restrictions on black people, it seems the federal courts are again being turned to in cases involving Latinos.

ONE SUCH CASE is in the U.S. District Court around Rochester, N.Y., where the city is being sued by eight employees who are Latino.

They claim that their supervisor in the Public Works department has told them city policy forbids them to speak Spanish at any time on the job. The Democrat & Chronicle newspaper reported this week that city officials are denying that any such policy exists.

So it is going to be up to the federal court system to figure out if the city really has such a policy, or if it is just a lone supervisor trying to impose his own view.

And even if that is the case, is his behavior on the job inappropriate enough that the city will be forced to pay for it?

ATTORNEYS FOR ROCHESTER, N.Y., try to defend themselves by saying this relates to an incident in the “break room” at work and not during any incident in which people were working.

Yet I can’t help but think that makes this all the more offensive – workers getting that obligatory “15 minute” break in mid-day who are sitting and chatting with each other being told how to speak.

It seems so obvious. Except that some people want to think they can impose their closed vision. As American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees officials told the newspaper about the lawsuit, “Telling people that they can’t speak Spanish, it’s just crazy.”

Yet it’s not just in Rochester. Durham, N.C., also is a place where the federal government is being asked to study local operations – specifically the Durham Public Schools and the way that Latino students and their families are treated.

THE SOUTHERN POVERTY Law Center filed a federal complaint last week with the Department of Education that claims the district is not complying with federal laws requiring that all children be given access to public education.

They say that the district is not hiring enough interpreters (only three of just over 6,000 households, with just over 5,300 students who are primarily Spanish speakers) to properly serve the students who comprise the growing Latino population in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C.-area.

You can claim what you want about their need to learn the English language. But expecting them to survive by being thrown into the system cold is just ridiculous.

The complaint also claims a specific teacher at a middle school in the district specifically singles out students of Latino ethnic backgrounds in a negative manner, and says that a potential high school student was asked to produce a passport and valid Visa – a request that would not have been made of a non-Latino student and one that is irrelevant even if the young person did not have “resident alien” status.

THOSE MAY WELL be local issues that local officials would best be suited to address. Unless they try to brush those complaint away without tending to them.

In which case, we literally will rely upon the federal government to ensure that some sense of justice remains in place. Perhaps that is why some people claim to be anti-government, or anti-federal.

Because inherently, it won’t impose their vision of what they want our society to be.

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