Crystal Perez never tried to hide her Mexican heritage.
Perez, a University of Wisconsin-Parkside senior studying communications, speaks Spanish fluently especially at home, where she still celebrates her family’s cultural traditions, such as Las Posadas and Tres Reyes, or the Three Kings during the Christmas season.
But in school, at work, and at just about every social setting outside her home Perez was just “Crystal” to her friends, teachers, acquaintances and others. She spoke English wit
Read more…
Growing up along the Texas border, Edward Caballero remembers fearing the green-uniformed agents of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Now, the 32-year old Caballero — a former schoolteacher in the Rio Grande Valley — is one of thousands of new agents who have swelled the force's ranks to more than 18,000, a product of an historic recruitment blitz.
And unlike the Border Patrol of his youth, which was overwhelmingly Anglo, the expanded border agency is now 54 percent minority. Hispanics like Caballero co
Read more…
Nancy C. Andrade is President and General Counsel of Mexifeast Foods, Inc. Ms. Andrade is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago with a B.A. in Political Science and law degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Andrade began her career in the food industry while practicing law at a large Chicago law firm. Ms. Andrade was one of only four Latino attorneys at that time and happened to be the only attorney of Mexican ancestry. Being the resident Mexican “expert”, collea
Read more…
With budget cuts straining California's public colleges and universities, some are worried about the effects on Latinos, who are particularly difficult to recruit to higher education in the best of times.
The California State University system, where more than one-quarter of students are Latino, plans to cut enrollment by 10,000 next year. Although the university still plans to guarantee entry to the vast majority of qualified California residents, the plan could discourage students from applyi
Read more…
With his choice of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as commerce secretary, President-elect Barack Obama broke with tradition, putting a longtime public servant in a position that has recently been held by private-sector executives.
Richardson, who was one of Obama's rivals for the Democratic nomination, has spent almost his entire career in prominent government roles -- as a governor, congressman, United Nations ambassador and energy secretary. Obama cited the range of Richardson's experience in
Read more…
As it prepares to turn 100, the Boy Scouts of America is honing its survival skills for what might be its biggest test yet: drawing Hispanics into its declining — and mostly white — ranks.
"We either are going to figure out how to make Scouting the most exciting, dynamic organization for Hispanic kids, or we're going to be out of business," said Rick Cronk, former national president of the Boy Scouts, and chairman of the World Scout Committee.
The venerable Scouts remains the United States' la
Read more…
Diversity within the group of men -- and still only men -- who have been president of the United States will change significantly when Barack Obama is sworn in next month.
But when he looks across the highest level of civil servants managing the government, he'll see a mixed bag when it comes to improving the diversity of the federal Senior Executive Service. A new report by the Government Accountability Office says representation of women and people of color in the senior corps grew overall b
Read more…
La depresión y la Navidad en ChicagoRebecca Sánchez22 de diciembre, 2008Para quienes festejan la Navidad, las luces resplandecientes, la música alegre y la comida festiva suelen inspirar paz, armonía y esperanza. Para muchos latinos es la época más bonita del año. Desafortunadamente, esta Navidad no será así para algunos en nuestra comunidad. El 2008 fue un año complejo y estresante. El país e Illinois atraviesan dificultades como la recesión, el alto desempleo y la falta de fondos estatales. La
Read more…
Valley’s Latino consumers appear to buck national economic slowdown
It's a week till Christmas, and Itzel Garcia is looking to buy a gift for her daughter.
Armed with a gift card, she decides for a dress at Union Gap's Macy's store. The 19-year-old Garcia says that though there's a recession, she still feels she has to buy gifts for her friends and relatives.
"I guess you still need to buy, you still need to shop around," says Garcia. "You feel so bad not to get people stuff. You just manage
Read more…
What's made up of five women, four African-Americans, three Latinos, two Republicans and two Asians, including a Nobel Prize winner?
The answer: President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet.
Obama is taking the big-tent approach to governing and wanted a Cabinet that stretches the tent wide.
"I think people will feel that we followed through on our commitment to make sure that this is not only an administration that is diverse ethnically, but it's also diverse politically and it's diverse in terms
Read more…
The Asian American Donor Program is launching a new initiative that seeks to register more Hispanic marrow/stem cell donors, New America Media reports. In the last 19 years, the program has been working to expand the availability of potential marrow/stem cell donors in the Asian community, and more recently has targeted Hispanics. AADP holds roughly 300 bone marrow/stem cell drives annually nationwide (Avila, New America Media, 12/14). READ FULL STORYRead more…
New Census numbers show whites no longer in majority in Dodge City and Liberal
Hispanic people now account for slightly more than half of Dodge City's population, leaving non-Hispanic whites in the minority, according to new Census figures.
The Hispanic segment of Dodge City's population has risen to 53.6 percent since 2000, while non-Hispanic whites dropped to about 41 percent, the figures show. Blacks now account for 1.5 percent of the population, and Asians make up another 2.2 percent.
Dodg
Read more…
Rising unemployment leaves both citizens, aliens battling for jobs
News reports around the country tell of illegal aliens struggling to find work in a slumping economy and some workers thinking about returning home; but at least one analyst is warning that "hostility" between unemployed citizens and out-of-work immigrants is more likely to strike first.
Jim Gilchrist is founder of the Minuteman Project, an organization that advocates for enforcement of U.S. immigration law. Gilchrist told WND
Read more…
Henry Solano, former U.S. attorney for Colorado, has let Gov. Bill Ritter know he's interested in being appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Solano is at least the third prominent Hispanic the governor is considering to succeed U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who will step down early next year, when he becomes Interior secretary.
The other Hispanics are Salazar's brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, of the San Luis Valley, and former Denver Mayor Federico Pena. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A little more than two years after this city of 27,750 put itself in the national spotlight by trying to ban illegal immigrants from renting apartments, life for Hispanics has changed in Farmers Branch.
Among working-class Hispanics, there are rumors that the city "doesn’t want us." They are jittery around police, and some know families that have moved out since the city started trying to prohibit illegal immigrants from renting in 2006.
The controversy has also inspired Hispanic professional
Read more…
Iowa has never elected any Latinos as state senators or representatives even though the population represents the largest minority group in the state.
With major issues such as illegal immigration before lawmakers, local civil rights advocates say Latino representation is crucial to help better link a key segment of the population with the rest of the state. More importantly, the representation would lead to better laws that would be beneficial for the entire state, they say. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
Some 234,000 working-age Latinos who immigrated to the United States between 1990 and 1999 no longer are part of the American labor force, a new report says.
Those workers left the work force over the past year as the economy slid into recession, according to an analysis released Monday by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez said he’s taken himself out of the running to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
“The Senate selection process has been tainted, and it is clear that we need a new process to fill the seat that will represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Gutierrez said in a statement. “I will not be a candidate in that process but rather look forward to returning to the House and continuing my fight for comprehensive immigration reform.”
Mr. Gutierrez wa
Read more…
Attracted by reasonable rents, a lower cost of living and relative quiet, Anthony Rodriguez moved to Allentown three years ago from Queens, N.Y., to start his own floral business. It didn't hurt that the city has a sizable Hispanic community.
''It's great because we get along with each other,'' said Rodriguez, 32. ''Spanish people help Spanish people.'' READ FULL STORYRead more…
Nearly two years after complaining that Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid was being spearheaded by an "elite, white man's club," minority aldermen learned Monday that not much has changed.
Testifying before the Finance Committee on the $86 million purchase of Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan disclosed that minorities got only six percent of the contracts awarded by Olympic planners this year and that blacks and Hispanics hold only nine of 50 full-time Olympic jobs. READ FULL ARTIRead more…
