Attorney Luz Herrera hopes that Sonia Sotomayor, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, can get across the message that the Latino experience is already 'a part of the fabric of U.S. society.'
I made a pilgrimage to Compton last week in search of wisdom, to a little storefront with bars over the windows and a liquor-grocer next door.
Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court nominee, set me off on this quest with her oft-repeated observation that "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences
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The most attention-grabbing case of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's began when a Connecticut city rejected the results of a firefighter-promotion test because whites outscored blacks and Hispanics.
In the case, likely to be a hot-button issue at her confirmation hearings, city officials said they tossed the 2003 test results fearing bias lawsuits from minorities who did not qualify for elevation. Sotomayor endorsed New Haven's action. The terse opinion she joined appeared to minimize t
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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
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By Al Carlos Hernandez, Contributing EditorPublished on LatinoLA: May 27, 200910. She's Latina, so she's used to being lied to by experts.9. Like other Justices, she already has the shoes and purse to match the gown.8. She hates baseball owners as much as the fans do.7. Grew up the Housing Projects, so the other Justices will be afraid of her and give her the best parking space.6. As a Catholic, she's used to listening to boring guys in robes.5. Highest ranking Latino in the history of the USA.4
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The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, is thrilled to present the 2009 NCLR Annual Conference, “A New Era of Responsibility: Community, Unity, Purpose,” in Chicago, Illinois on July 25–28 at McCormick Place West.
This year, the NCLR Annual Conference will offer nearly 60 thought-provoking workshops along 12 tracks that range from Community Empowerment and Education to Policy and Workforce Development. N
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More than 100 students and staff from UC Santa Cruz gathered at the foot of campus Tuesday to launch a hunger strike aimed at urging administrators to reverse course on budget cuts that opponents say disproportionately affect students of color.
About two dozen people, some attending the noon rally organized by the nascent Students of Color Collective, pledged not to take nourishment until a long list of demands is met. The demands include blocking cuts to the Community Studies and Latin Americ
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More than half of the nation’s 16 million Hispanic children are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, the Pew Hispanic Center says in advance of a report due out Thursday on the rise of this second generation of Latino children.
Their foreign-born parents typically came to the United States in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980.
The newest figures represent a striking demographic change. In 1980, a signific
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Over the past month educators at the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) have been trumpeting new state statistics that indicate a dramatic cut in the number of high school dropouts. Though this is good news, we shouldn't ignore the growing "Latino achievement gap" in the region.
Changing the status quo on student retention is critical, as teenagers that fall through the cracks will dramatically diminish our region's economic growth and prosperity. Adults who drop out of high school are m
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Seafood processing is full of tough jobs, many of which are cold, slimy, repetitious - and even dangerous, for those wielding fillet knives.
Some tasks, such as extracting the cooked meat from Dungeness crab legs, are just plain tedious. But they need to be done fast to preserve the product and get it to the market quickly.
Highly-specialized local workers get the hardest jobs done swiftly - and somehow make it look easy.
At Bornstein Seafoods, many of those workers are Hispanics who have mi
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Results from a 2008 Gallup-Healthways poll(1) show that 42 percent of Hispanics have not visited the dentist in the past 12 months, even though the American Dental Association recommends having regular dental check-ups and cleanings. In contrast, 29 percent of all Americans responded that they did not see a dentist in the prior year.
As reported by USA Today, according to Gallup, over half of those making less than $2,000 a month reported omitting visits as well. These results may indicate tha
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A Hispanic Roman Catholic theologian who was an adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign will be nominated to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, the White House announced Wednesday.
Miguel H. Diaz, 45, an associate professor of theology at St. John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, would be the first Hispanic to serve as ambassador to the Vatican since the United States and the Holy See established full diplomatic ties in 1984. Diaz was born in H
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The lunch crowd at El Palacio de Los Jugos on Tuesday could not agree on the appropriate level of excitement. Cubans, Colombians, Dominicans — they all said they were pleased to hear Judge Sonia Sotomayor accept her selection for the United States Supreme Court with a speech that included the rolling “r’s” of her Puerto Rican roots.
But do not assume that Judge Sotomayor’s identity will define her, said Luis Home, 35, a Colombian-American technology recruiter. “It’s like saying if you’re Hispa
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President Barack Obama named federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as "an inspiring woman" with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely.
Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the "respect of colleagues on the bench," the admiration of lawyers who appear in her co
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Talking to my friend Nevada Flores* about her decision to leave her comfortable engineering job reminded me of one of our scary trips into the Cuyamaca Mountains outside San Diego. An avid hiker, she once suggested that we follow a dubious side trail down a steep canyon. In play as in work, Nevada is always ready to rationally assess the possibility of advancement versus failure. On the trail as on the job, her primary concern is to rapidly identify and neutralize the largest challenges – envir
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On Friday, after jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis finished his 9 a.m. show, the station introduced a Spanish format that Clear Channel management characterized as Spanish hot adult contemporary.
For promotional purposes, the station now will be referred to as "Mega 95.5," but no new call letters have been announced. The new playlist will range from Juanes and Mana to Enrique Iglesias and Paulina Rubio.
After axing scores of staff in recent months at WNUA and the five other radio properties it opera
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Banco Azteca, controlled by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas, says the financial crisis offers the bank a chance to enter the U.S. market and lure Hispanic customers.
The bank is considering bringing its core products -- money transfers, loans of less than $300 and life insurance for $4 a week -- to California, Salinas said in an interview yesterday in San Diego. Hispanics make up a third of the state’s population of about 37 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“With the credit cr
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When Juan Marichal came to this country to play baseball more than half a century ago, he remembers being a lonely, frightened teenager.
"It was a very difficult time," he said Friday. "When you come [to] a country where you didn't know the language, you didn't know the culture . . . it's tough, especially at that age."
At the time, only one Dominican player had reached the major leagues -- and he was discovered on a playground in New York City. But while Marichal was trying to find his way,
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President Obama needs to do more to stimulate the economy.
Too many Americans are hurting.
Last month, the national unemployment rate hit a high of 8.9 percent, with close to 13.7 million people unemployed.
For blacks and Latinos, the situation is even more dire. Black unemployment reached 15 percent, while the rate for Hispanics was 11.3 percent.
Given the high levels of poverty that already afflict black and Latino communities, these unemployment rates ensure that the impact of the recessi
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Hispanic entrepreneurs play a vital role in the El Paso economy and account for about 80 percent of small businesses in the Sun City, said organizers and participants at the first Celebrating Hispanic Entrepreneurship Conference at UTEP Tuesday.
Eastsider Penelope Serdan-Williams, who is working on a master's degree at the University of Texas at El Paso in intelligence and national security, was one of about 150 people who attended the event. Serdan-Williams recently started her own business,
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Rocketo is a futuristic superhero who discovers lost cultures and civilizations. Paco Ramone is a street savvy break-dancer who uses sound and music to defeat his enemies. Ohio State professor Frederick Aldama hopes that these characters can teach people about a range of subjects: from the historic representation of Latino characters to how the brain interprets stories and ideas.
Aldama's new book, "Your Brain On Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez," includes 21 interviews wit
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