You’ve been out of work for a year now and you are wondering what’s ahead.
Or you are one of many couples who lost a paycheck and you are trying to get by on one only. Or you are middle-aged and had a good-paying factory job. But there are very few factory jobs today in your Rust Belt city. Or you are black or Latino and a lot of your friends can’t find a job either.
Where are we headed at the start of 2010?
As a number of recent reports point out, the Great Recession still hangs heavily over
Read more…
Despite my frequently cynical viewpoint and occasional outbursts of rage (always justified, I assure you), I consider myself a fairly optimistic person. But I've just found out that my positive attitude has made me a psychological minority within an ethnic minority.
This is because my fellow Latinos are a little down on the world right now, especially regarding how well we all get along with each other. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that "one year after the election of President Bara
Read more…
There was that horrible earthquake that devastated Haiti. Last night, Massachusetts and the United States experienced a political earthquake that could be as in many ways as profound with the election of Republican Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley to the U.S. Senate. And today is the first anniversary of the inauguration of President Barack Obama, which means that the Massachusetts debacle will be magnified by media assessments of the President's first year.
The immediate debate in Wash
Read more…
The Latino Coalition (TLC) is honored to announce that former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich will deliver keynote remarks at its annual Economic Summit and Procurement Event, to be held in Washington, DC, on May 5th. Gingrich's presence at the event caps off a distinguished roster of presenters that includes congressional leaders from both political parties, captains of industry and Hispanic opinion makers.
The two-day
summit will gather Hispanic entrepreneurs from across
Read more…
By nominating a Hispanic theologian, Miguel Diaz, to become the US ambassador to the Holy See. President Obama is posing a serious challenge to the Catholic Church, according to a Time magazine analysis. The President is trying to woo Hispanic Catholics, the magazine suggests, and thereby pull them away from the influence of the Catholic hierarchy while solidifying the strength of the Democratic party among Hispanic voters. In a crass example of politicization of religion, Time claims: "The Ame
Read more…
Call it a lesson in contemporary political discourse.
Educators across America found themselves at the center of a political storm this week as conservatives exploded in anger over President Obama's plans to give a speech to the country's schoolchildren.
A stunned White House insisted the address, planned for Tuesday, and accompanying suggested lesson plans are meant simply to encourage students to study hard and stay in school.
But some parents said they aren't buying it. They said they're
Read more…
In his new book “The Great Progression: How Hispanics Will Lead America to a New Era of Prosperity,” award-winning journalist Geraldo Rivera details the evolving role of Hispanics in shaping every facet of American culture. Read an excerpt on how the Hispanic community has socially, economically and politically impacted our future.
Introduction
For the first time in modern world history a powerful nation is changing complexion right before the eyes of its citizens. In real time it is possible
Read more…
According to a 3-year time series analysis of the Latino Policy Coalition's (LPC) nationwide polls (conducted in April 2006, Sept. 2006 and July 2009), Democrats have increased their ratings on top Latino priority issues like healthcare reform,immigration reform and jobs and the economy.
"This data shows that Congressional Democrats continue to achieve strong credibility with Latino voters," said LPC Chair Jim Gonzalez.
On healthcare reform: Democrats in Congress hold a 45-point advantage over
Read more…
In Tennessee, a young mother is arrested and jailed when she asks to be paid for her work in a cheese factory.
In Alabama, a migrant bean picker sees his life savings confiscated by police during a traffic stop.
In Georgia, a rapist goes unpunished because his 13-year-old victim is undocumented.
These are just a few examples of the injustices that confront Latino immigrants as they struggle to gain a foothold in the South.
The region now is home to the fastest-growing population of Latinos
Read more…
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES RAMOS, PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Charles Ramos is the current President of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He is also the President and CEO of CR Dynamics, a customer relationship management services company based in Baltimore, MD. Charles believes that Hispanic businesses in Baltimore not only can weather today’s economic woes, but are poised to thrive in the years to come. In the following interview, he talks about his role as th
Read more…
Recently in the media a couple of articles have been printed that paint a pretty bleak picture of the prospects of the GOP winning back Hispanic voters (“Republicans Sound Alarm on Hispanic Voter Gap,” May 18; “RNC Hiring Chafes Top Hispanics,” May 20, http://www.politico.com). I was quoted in both articles and felt it necessary to expand on my remarks and add some observations.
While it is true that many Hispanic Republican leaders are anxious to see progress on efforts to regain lost ground
Read more…
Latino voters celebrated a federal court ruling Tuesday that came down against the Texas Democratic Party and could put the complicated "Texas Two-step" presidential delegate system in jeopardy.
The ruling by a three-judge panel will allow the lawsuit to go forward and put the Texas delegate system closer to facing a potential review by the Justice Department, which Latino advocates sought in the aftermath of last year's intense Democratic primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton
Read more…
Latinas are gaining influence all around the world, not just in the United States. From presidents to Supreme Court appointee, many notable women have opened doors for the next generation to walk through.
Sonia Sotomayor, Michelle Bachelet and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were each named to the Forbes World's Most Powerful Women list for different reasons. Let's take a look at these women and their exceptional accomplishments:
Sonia Sotomayor
Sotomayor is the first Hispanic and only the th
Read more…
With the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court, conversations quickly turned into debates about race and, in particular, about the term ‘Hispanic’ and what it means, or may not mean, to be called a Hispanic.
Many newspaper articles, television editorials, and blogs about Sotomayor question whether or not it is even relevant that she is Hispanic. Is she a Hispanic, a Latino, a Puerto Rican, or just an American? There has even been a question as to whether or not she wou
Read more…
Westchester County must spend millions of dollars to build affordable housing and integrate mostly white communities in a historic civil rights settlement stemming from a federal desegregation lawsuit.
The landmark agreement that was announced yesterday dictates that Westchester spend more than $50 million to build 750 units in the next seven years in parts of the county where there are few, if any, minorities.
The decision has national ramifications that could affect thousands of municipaliti
Read more…
With their prospects in Congress sinking along with the economy, liberal advocates of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship are launching a risky strategy to push lawmakers and the White House to take up their cause.
They propose that Congress legalize millions of undocumented workers now, in exchange for reducing the number of temporary foreign workers allowed to enter the country in the future.
Their calculation could win a new and powerful ally - organized labor - but risks
Read more…
Wauconda's village board candidates are divided over comments one hopeful made about the village's Hispanic community.
During a group interview at the Daily Herald's Lake County office on March 10, trustee candidate Mark Kwasigroch said Spanish-speaking residents "need to learn how to read English if they're going to live in Wauconda." READ FULL STORYRead more…
The Mexican government said Monday it would slap tariffs on 90 U.S. industrial and agricultural products, in a trade dispute that underscored the difficulties facing President Barack Obama as he tries to assure business and global allies that he favors free trade.
Mexico said the tariffs were in retaliation for the cancellation of a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to transport cargo throughout the U.S.
Unions have for years fought to keep Mexican trucks off U.S. highways, despite longsta
Read more…
The Senate’s sole Hispanic Democrat says Latinos lost one of their greatest champions in Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said in a statement this morning Kennedy “will always have a place of honor in the Latino community as someone who stood up and fought for the rights of immigrants and the issues that affected the community at a time when few others would.”
Menendez and Kennedy, a lifelong champion of civil rights, worked together to craft immigration reform legislation whic
Read more…
One Christian Hispanic leader's appeal to Latinos to boycott the 2010 Census count is sending other Hispanic leaders into a panic.
The Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the Washington-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, has called on Hispanics not to participate in the Census. He wants to use it as a club to force Congress to move ahead on comprehensive immigration reform. So far, there has been little action on the issue, despite the hopes of Latino groups after the
Read more…