by José de la Isla
José de la Isla
HOUSTON – How Latinos are perceived can no longer be ignored. The issue arises with the release of a book of essays, edited by former Clinton-era HUD secretary and former San Antonio mayor Henry G. Cisneros.
“Latinos and the Nation’s Future” by Arte Público Press, was released Jan. 26 in Washington, D.C. at the Center for American Progress, a think-tank closely associated with the Obama administration.
The dilemma is perhaps best illustrated by generalization in the forward made bt Janet Murguía, National Council of La Raza’s CEO. She says immigrants are assimilating well but Latinos as a group are below par on educational achievement, in wage earnings, have dead-end jobs, are growing in numbers exponentially and “put our entire country’s future at risk.” Say what?
To be perfectly frank, if the nation is hanging at the edge of a cliff you don’t want a blind cripple weakling coming to your rescue, as seems to be portrayed. And well-intentioned Latino advocates sometimes make paltry arguments for Latino strength. That is sometimes the case here and there throughout this book.
It does not give as much clear thinking and insight as it could. The audience is presumed to be naïve. More attention needs to go into highlighting Latino strengths. Less needs to go into pleading for government programs. But old habits are hard to break, I suppose.
If this book were a computer, its hard disk needs defragging. Regardless of its merits, this volume needs a spring cleaning.
The reason is that some of its 17 contributing writers — not all — as policy advocates have fallen into a groove that points out social failure as an appeal to caring and government intervention. The social work perspective comes at a time when organizing, democracy and self-help have already won the day. The essays sometimes use cowering language and statistics instead of the bold assertions that policy leaders could make.
Recently, anthropologist Barry Isaac told me, for example, that the Obama election, was not a paradigm shift, but an affirmation about what had already taken place in U.S. society.
In the same way, a Latino affirmation is needed here about the United States’ future. An inevitable Latino imprint is in the making. Basic demographics make this so, as well as the ascension of so many to the middle-income ranks. This inevitably means — as it did in the time of President William McKinley in the 1890s — that the nation’s cultural axis is changing too. And that means facing up to the real story about what is happening and how it is transforming the nation.
Raul Yzaguirre, the former executive director of the National Council of La Raza, writes an exceptional essay on civil rights (a story all citizens should know) and Tamar Jacoby should probably serve as the last word on immigrants and newcomers and the emerging new nation.
What’s frustrating about the book is that it has such a loose handle on Latino assets–as business owners, culture trendsetters and among the most aggressive computer and technology users or that Latinos will probably change the politics of the Old South.
If you heard Frank Sinatra doing hip-hop, wouldn’t you think an out of place old guard was pretending like it’s with it? That’s what seems to be going on here.
The tip-off came early. There were two references to salsa overtaking catsup as the number one condiment in the nation. That’s an old one, isn’t it? Meanwhile, they don’t seem to realize Anchorage alone has 30 Latino restaurants or that there’s a taco hut north of the Arctic Circle.
If I hear that line one more time about salsa and catsup as an indicator of change, I’m going to vomit.
[José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. He is author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (Archer Books). E-mail joseisla3@yahoo.com]. ©2008
