Some salsa with your Cinco de Mayo

For those of you who celebrate Cinco de Mayo--yes, we all know it's a manufactured holiday, invented to sell salsa and Taco Bell to the gringos--here are some facts and figures about Aztlán in a (not so?) strange land that may be fun to pull of the hat at that Cinco de Mayo barbecue I'm sure you'll be invited to.

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• March 5, 2008

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the legendary Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which a Mexican force of 4,500 men faced 6,000 well-trained French soldiers. The battle lasted four hours and ended in a victory for the Mexican army under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Along with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, Cinco de Mayo has become a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture.

28.3 million

Number of U.S. residents of Mexican origin in 2006. These residents constituted 9 percent of the nation’s total population and 64 percent of the Hispanic population.

17.86 million
Number of people of Mexican origin who lived either in California (10.84 million) or Texas (7.02 million). People of Mexican origin made up more than one-quarter of the residents of these two states. (The unrounded total for California and Texas combined is 17,866,191.)

25.7
Median age of people in the United States of Mexican descent. This compares with 36.4 years for the population as a whole.

630,000
Number of Mexican-Americans who are U.S. military veterans.

1.2 million
Number of people of Mexican descent 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This includes about 350,000 who have a graduate degree.

37%
Among households where a householder was of Mexican origin, the percentage of married-couple families with own children younger than 18. For all households, the corresponding percentage was 22 percent.

4.1
Average size for families with a householder of Mexican origin. This compares to 3.2 people in all families.

14%
Percentage of employed civilians 16 and older of Mexican heritage who worked in managerial, professional or related occupations. In addition, 23 percent worked in service occupations; 20 percent in sales and office occupations; 19 percent in construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations; and 20 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.

$37,661
Median household income in 2006 for households with a householder of Mexican origin.

23%
Poverty rate in 2006 for people of Mexican heritage.

69%
Percentage of civilians 16 and older of Mexican origin in the labor force. The percentage was 65 percent for the population as a whole. There were 13 million people of Mexican heritage in the labor force, comprising 9 percent of the total.

51%
Percentage of householders of Mexican origin who owned the home in which they lived.

Source for the preceding statements: 2006 American Community Survey <http://factfinder.census.gov>

Trade With Mexico

$347.3 billion
The value of goods traded between the United States and Mexico in 2007. Mexico was our nation’s third-leading trading partner, after Canada and China.
Source: Foreign Trade Statistics <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

Businesses

701,078
Number of firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2002. They comprised almost 45 percent of all Hispanic-owned firms. Among these Mexican-owned firms, 275,896 were in California and 235,735 in Texas. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif., combined statistical area had 174,292.

$96.7 billion
Sales and receipts for firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2002.

Source for statements in this section: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002 <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cshisp.pdf>

Mexican Food

$100.4 million
Product shipment value of tamales and other Mexican food specialties (not frozen or canned) produced in the United States in 2002.
Source: 2002 Economic Census <http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/guide/INDRPT31.HTM>

337
Number of U.S. tortilla manufacturing establishments in 2005. The establishments that produce this unleavened flat bread employed nearly 14,000 people. Tortillas, the principal food of the Aztecs, are known as the “bread of Mexico.” About one in three of these establishments was in Texas.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2005 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/county_business_patterns/010192.html>

Editor’s note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-763-3762; or e-mail: <pio@census.gov>.

Hip, hip, Latinas!

Hispanic Business magazine lauds successful Latinas making an impact on America's workplace by naming 20 to their Winner's Circle of Elite Women. They include an astronaut (Ellen Ochoa, already on our Wall of Fame), a California State Senator (Gloria Romero), IT entrepreneur (Nina Vaca), and a university president (Dr. Elsa Murano, Texas A and M).
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?idx=94479

(Brief, but not) Close Encounters with Junot Diaz

Some years ago, let’s say 4, I was in Jamaica for the Calabash Literary Festival, a yearly throw-down of writers, most of them Caribbean-rooted. The affair takes place at a now-trendy, but once funky complejo of sunny-colored bungalows overlooking the sea on the island’s south coast. Jake’s is where my many Jamaican adventures began nearly 15 years ago, and will always have deep associations for me.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Junot Diaz’ name on the roster of presenters, who’ve numbered, over the years, major leaguers like Sonia Sanchez and Derek Wolcott. I’d been clocking his rising star through his edgy, sometimes irritating, but always engaging short stories published in the New Yorker with enough regularity to pay the rent. They referenced dominicanos trying to get it on, get over, get smart and get out. While I wasn’t always captivated by his surrogates’ predicaments—but maybe that was his ploy: to get me to struggle with my sympathies—his characters were always fully-formed and deeply penetrated; the dialog was snap your fingers true and oftentimes hysterical.

I can’t remember what Junot read (nor did I know that he was then, as he would be for 10 long years, in agony over a hiccoughing first novel that needed to expire several times before being birthed). But, I remember he wore a fly Panama hat that made him look, at the same time, muy caribeño and positively Princess Line, and that he made us all crack up.

Back in New York less than a week later, near my home, I spied Diaz on the street, unmistakable this time in his wire frames and face and pate powdered in fuzz.

I approached, uncharacteristically bold, probably in unconscious acceptance of a generally inviting vibe. “Hey, I know you. I saw you read at the Calabash Festival last week.” We talked easily, not so much about our craft as about Jamaica. I was impressed at how, after just that one brief other-focused visit –by then, I’d probably notched in 20—he’d been able to digest and articulate so clearly Jamaica for all its dysfunctionality and misplaced humanity, assimilating what would seem the most inconsequential clues into an unassailable identikat.

I put Junot Diaz into my teeny evening purse of perfect intellectuals—those who use their gut instincts and superior power of observation and poetry to navigate the world and then apply left brain formatting to legitimize their findings in order to communicate and, hopefully, make a defining contribution to society.

When the story of Oscar Wao’s brief encounter with life came out, I rushed to buy the book, but put off reading it. I was afraid I’d be disappointed and, with it, the Junot Diaz bubble would burst.

But the searching interviews of the author, officially conferring his brainiac status, while confirming his earnest humility, moved me to get to it. The undertaking was epic.

Diaz’ apportioned history of the DR is doctoral yet reads like a Classic Comic, his Oscar Wao (from Wilde, you see, but the homies can’t put the ‘l’ and the ‘d’ together) is redemptively not cloyingly pathetic, and the narrator, Yunior, the homie hustler is the perfect foil, and alter ego, to outsized Oscar. In the end, because they both ring so true, I think our professor of English at M.I.T. has crafted the two characters from the dead-set middle that is himself.

And here’s Diaz, with his home-honed humility bigging up the big heads (as they say in Jamaica) at M.I.T. for allowing their brilliance to nurture “Oscar Wao’s” womb.* But, au contraire, Junot. It’s your brain, that perfect ping pong left brain, right brain, 2-stepped merengue that’s feeding them mouthfuls indeed!

* "I'm just so proud and overjoyed and happy to have finished this book at MIT, surrounded by so many brilliant colleagues and students." MIT News (online—9th April, 2008)

- - - - -

See, too, Carolina Gonzalez on Why Wao's Pulitzer Matters on the HAV home page.

Major private funding comes for services to immigrants

March 12, 2008

PRESS RELEASE

MIAMI – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced it will invest more than $3 million in programs to help eligible immigrants become citizens and participate more fully in the civic life of their communities. The foundation’s New Americans initiative addresses opportunities in Knight communities to provide education and family services to growing numbers of immigrants, particularly those who have green cards and want to become naturalized citizens....

Expanding this commitment, Knight’s board of trustees recently approved three-year grants to three national groups working to support community efforts smoothing the transition of newcomers into American society. Funding was awarded to the National Council of La Raza, the National League of Cities and the National Council of the YMCAs of the USA, among others.

“National immigration policy continues to be the subject of hot debate,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation. “Meanwhile, local communities need help now to deal with the challenges and opportunities of their increased immigrant populations.

“We want to turn down the volume and provide practical solutions. That’s why we are focusing on encouraging civic participation and naturalization of eligible immigrants in Knight communities. When they become citizens and vote, immigrants gain a greater voice in the political decisions that affect their lives,” he said....

The nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, La Raza is helping to lead a nationwide civic participation campaign, “Ya es hora” (“Now is the time”), which aims to naturalize one million eligible legal permanent residents during the next two years. Ibargüen announced Knight support of the campaign at a “Ya es hora” benefit concert Tuesday [March 11] at Miami’s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

The Washington-based National League of Cities is receiving a grant of $880,000 for technical assistance, training and other resources that will enable municipal leaders to support immigrants in their communities.

Knight also awarded $750,000 to the National Council of YMCAs of the USA, based in Chicago, for development of local programs for immigrant youth and families in Knight communities. The Y’s programs will focus on naturalization, education, financial literacy and other citizenship skills.

In addition, $150,000 was granted to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, of Washington, D.C., supporting efforts to bring together state governors to discuss immigration policy.

“Knight Foundation has worked for years in partnership with national and grassroots groups to promote civic engagement and provide services to immigrants,” said Damian Thorman, Knight national program director. “Immigrant families now settle not only in the historic gateways, such as California and Florida, but also in new nontraditional gateways.... It makes sense to help eligible immigrants become citizens and take greater leadership responsibility in their communities,” he said.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. To learn more, visit, www.knightfoundation.org.


Contact: Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, 305-908-2677

Read the Knight Foundation Reporter Analysis on the American Dream Fund program at:
http://www.knightfoundation.org/permalink/316633/137252

Related Links:
National Council of La Raza

Ya es hora

National League of Cities

YMCA of the USA

National Governors Association

Nominees for annual Women's History Month - Latina Wall of Fame

In commemorating Women's History Month 2008, the editors are working on adding this year's updates to our annual Women's History Month - Latinas Wall of Fame feature.

We will be posting biographies of the editors' and readers' picks for new honorees this year, and encourage you to stop back later this week to see the updated feature.

Meanwhile, as always, we are inviting your nominations for influential Latinas you would like to see recognized on the Wall of Fame, and encourage you to leave us a comment on this blog post telling us:

"Which Latinas do you think have made the most real, lasting
difference in shaping American history and culture, and our communities, and why?"

We're using the blog this year because we want to give contributors the chance to not only send us a name, but to also include a brief description -- in your own words, using links, if you like -- of why you feel this woman should be nominated and what accomplishments you particularly admire.

We also want to thanks those who sent in their suggestions after last year's feature, and hope you'll check back here or on the Village to see the new honorees later this week.

Good show, Amy, Juan

Dolores Huerta and Antonio Villaraigosa are howlin' for Hillary
Gus Cedillo and Federico Peña are barnstorming for Barack ...
...and DemocracyNow! does an informative wrap-up of last night's debate between the two candidates 5 days before Super Tuesday. Will Voto Latino bring 'em out for Clinton or Obama? Here's the blurb and the show, and while you're at it, join our own voto latino and let us know how you represent.

Democratic Presidential Nomination Could Hinge on Divided Latino Vote

With Super Tuesday just four days away, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are actively courting support from Latino voters across the country. We speak to Dolores Huerta, a longtime labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America who is supporting Clinton; Federico Pena, a former Clinton cabinet member and Denver mayor now co-chairing Obama’s campaign; and California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, who is also backing Obama.

The Arrogance of (Media) Power

Fave columnist Roberto Lovato makes a convincing argument against the pundits who claim that Barack Obama's poor 2nd in Nevada to Hillary Clinton's win was an aspect of black-brown tensions. How can, Lovato reasons, the "experts," both black and white, know what's going on in the Latino mind if they don't follow the Spanish language media?
Lovato also asks, if Latinos are skittish on Obama because of his race, then why did they deliver 36% of their vote to Jessie Jackson's presidential bid in California in 1988 and a solid 50% in Latino-loaded counties in New Mexico?
Read Everyone's Expert on the Latino Vote, Except Latinos. It's anti-dotal.
As well as Lovato's musings on John McCain's chances of shoring up Latino votes for the GOP.
Finally, vote in our poll: Will Latinos cast the deciding vote come Super Tuesday in any of the 22 contests?

Joining the issues--Joining the struggle?

I do hope you take the time to read my op-ed on the Women’s Village page indicting “second wave” feminists for their elitism, pointing more specifically at their icon, Gloria Steinem, and her NY Times column premised on her belief that women are even lower down on the totem pole of groups non grata in our society than blacks. The piece begs the question of Latinas and their relationship to feminism, both black and white.
I also recommend our Focus on the race-gender based hostility between the Clinton and Obama camps.
We’d like to get a dialog going on whether Latinas can identify with and feel a sense of belonging to either the white feminists’ struggle or black women’s plight and fight, or whether the Latina experience confronts separate issues and expectations. So read and comment--give the HAV some content for a Latina follow-up.
And while you’re figuring it all out, don’t forget to vote in our poll on sister solidarity.

Institute for Justice and Journalism Seeks Ethnic Media

A heads-up from L. Patricia Ice, our resident attorney and columnist on immigration matters:

Deadline: January 28, 2008

USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism invites ethnic media journalists to apply for its 2008 fellowships, focused on "Immigration: Reporting the Full Story."

IJJ will award ten fellowships to ethnic media journalists in early 2008 to enable them to report on the complexities of immigration issues with depth and context. Selected fellows will participate in a March conference in Tucson, Arizona, that will include field reporting experiences along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A follow-up session will be held in June at John Jay College in New York City.

Experienced print, television, radio, and online journalists employed by ethnic media news organizations are eligible to apply for the fellowships. All travel-related and professional development expenses will be covered by IJJ.

Application guidelines and forms are available at the IJJ Web site.

RFP Link:
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10010533/justicejournalism

For additional RFPs in Journalism/Media, visit:
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_journalism.jhtml

New Pew Report Clocks Latinos on Immigration

For a second week in a row, I was able to participate, via phone, in the Pew Center's release of an important study, this one on Latinos' attitudes to immigration, "As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Latinos Feel A Chill." The survey, taken in November, asked respondents whether they were citizens or not, but not about their immigrant status. Puerto Ricans were included as native born in the group questioned from the overall population, not the immigrant group. And Brazilians were included as Latinos. On the whole, the findings showed Latinos (75%) favorable to ALL immigration and a belief that, on the whole, immigration benefited this country.

Other tidbits that should whet your appetite to read the summary, even the whole report, are:
* 54% of Latinos fear deportation of themselves, family members or friends. (There has been an 84% increase in deportations in the past 5 years, with a tenfold increase in workplace deportations.)
* 41% of respondents said they have been discriminated against this year. 31% had an equal complaint 5 years ago.
* Hispanics and non-Hispanics disagree widely on current measures taken against the undocumented, the most notable: workplace raids, the cooperation of local authorities with federal immigration agencies, checking the documents before issuing immigrants a driver's license.
* Responses to nearly all the questions placed native born Latinos between the foreign born and the general population, though their views tended to side more closely with those of the foreign born, i.e, their own folk.
* 8 of 10 Latinos believe their children will be more affluent than the current generation.

For more stats on recent trends in immigration, try Stateline.org.

Pew Hispanic Center’s new, useful report on English acquisition among Latinos

I was able to “sit in” yesterday on a telephone press conference presenting the findings of their just-out study on what Pew terms the “transition” into English amongst Hispanic immigrants. It was illuminating as is the report.

Here are some salient points:

•“Language is a vehicle for assimilation,” said D’Vera Cohn, one of the report’s writers. The fact that, by the third generation and fourth generation-- i.e. the grandchildren of immigrants—94% of the descendants of immigrants spoke English “very well,” means that this cohort is well-assimilated into the values and culture of mainstream America.

•Puerto Ricans assessed their mastery of English the highest of any other “immigrant” group, with Cubans second and Mexicans last. Only 16% of Mexican immigrants said their English was “very good.” This, explained Ms. Cohn, is probably due to the fact that Mexicans enter the country with the lowest educational levels of all Latinos.

•The younger you are when you arrive, the greater the likelihood of your mastery of English. And the higher your level of education in your home country.

•Data on reading proficiency followed closely those on speaking skills.

For the full report, see:
ENGLISH USAGE AMONG HISPANICS IN THE UNITED STATES

Inglés, español o Spanglish?

Ever spoken to a Latino en español and gotten a stony stare in reply? Ever spoken to a Latino in English and gotten that same cold stare? Think you can get over by using Spanglish?
Well, the LA Times feels your pain. Here's a revealing article on the troubles of navigating between idiomas and how some get or don't get around them.
Suerte!

BIDING THEIR TONGUES

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes Argentina's first woman president

Amid the inevitable comparisons with Hillary Clinton, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the 54-year-old wife of Argentina's president, Nestor Kirchner, has become the first woman to be elected president in Argentina's history.

Her election, with some 46 percent of the vote, makes her the second woman to be elected president in South America in recent years, following Michelle Bachelet of Chile.

Additional coverage at the International Herald Tribune.

9500 Liberty - Immigration Video Channel

From the blog at our sister-site, the IMDiversity.com Asian American Village --

What is 9500 Liberty? Call it “Macaca 2.0”.

We recently got a head's up from friends of the Village about an interesting project underway in Virginia that tries to bring some focus and dialogue to the immigration debates for those who want to give more independent thought to the issue. A collective of activist filmmakers, many of them Asian Americans who had prominently pushed the charge to oust then-Virginia Senator George Allen during Macaca-gate, have again convened in the state to create a multivocal video documentary project about local government efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants in Manassas.

Calling itself 9500Liberty, the group has created a subscribable online video channel to form what it calls an "interactive documentary wall" comprising short guerilla videos that (to the group's credit) present multiple perspectives on the local immigration debate.Although the project coordinators’ sympathies are clearly with immigrants in the area, 9500 Liberty publishes videos that convey the perspectives of both proponents and opponents of the anti-immigration measures. Videos range from interviews with Corey A. Stewart, Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, to presentations given at public hearings to harrowing on-the-street confrontations between local whites and Hispanic and Asians.

The group has also crafted a network of discussions on Blogspot, Facebook, and MySpace as well as YouTube, aiming to “elevate dialogue…and inform the public, and investigate alternatives to the intense polarization that is hindering progress on the immigration issue.”In this way, they say, they hope to help pre-emptively inform the public about a complex issue, rather than allow immigration to become the kind of emotional, polarizing issue in the next national election that gay marriage was in the previous one.

Although some viewers may well leave the 9500 Liberty Channel still convinced of their own position on the immigration crackdowns -- whether pro or con -- the visit should leave them better aware of the real issues beyond the campaign rhetoric, and better equipped to make an independent decision.

Latinas are doin' it for themselves

New survey figures show that Latinas are starting up their own businesses at a rate 6 times that of the national average. Says the article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Latina ownership (defined as over 51% of an enterprise) jumped by 121% between 1997 and 2006! And, in 2006, Latina-owned businesses generated almost $46 billion in sales.

You go, girl!

Business booms: Latinas opening their own doors

Your comments on "Immigration Raids Replay African-American History"

Jean Damu’s commentary has sparked a hot debate on New America Media’s web site. Here's your chance to weigh in for Hispanic American Village readers on the parallels between the "immigration" raids on African-Americans in the 1800s and those of undocumented Latinos today:

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day-October 15

TOMA CONTROL, HAZTE LA PRUEBA DEL VIH -- Take control, Take the HIV Test

October 15 is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD). This day marks an opportunity to increase awareness of the devastating and disproportionate effects of AIDS in the Latino community. NLAAD is also a day to encourage HIV testing and to push for support from public officials and religious leaders.
While Latinos only make up about 14% of the U.S. population, they account for 19% of the AIDS cases in the U.S. since the start of the epidemic. In 2004, Latinos accounted for 20% of the new AIDS cases in the U.S.
The Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation, in partnership with a variety of faith and community organizations, started NLAAD in 2003.

For more information on NLAAD, visit the NLAAD web site.

For federal information on NLAAD in Spanish, visit InfoSIDA .

This is a Biggie: Latino named to head Ford Foundation

Luis Ubiñas is coming from the private tech sector to head the mighty philanthropic organization. Here's the press release from the Foundation with a link to Ubiñas' bio: Ford Foundation Announces New President

And the Ford Foundation's home page, with some warm and fuzzy promotional shots of their new boss.

WANTED: Latinos to Fill Federal Jobs

Here's one from the LA Times--it might not be available for free for too long--on the feds' waking up to, and attempting to make amends for, the dearth of Latinos in the well(enough)-paid, good-benefits positions with the Federal Government. (We can think of one very high up, and lucrative position a Latino has held with the feds, but, alas, that won't be for too much longer now.)

Video: Gonzalez statement on his resignation