by Maira García

The Hispanic middle class will enjoy dramatic growth in the next 10 years with the right financial strategies, contends a new analysis by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute.

TRPI recommends in its report, released July 24, that financial institutions desiring to tap the income and spending power of the nation’s 44 million Hispanics should prepare for the change by adjusting their policies to attract and retain this expanding segment of the community.

The changes include requiring lower minimum balances for checking and saving accounts and offering more cash-based services and new credit scoring methodologies.

Harry Pachón, president and CEO of the University of Southern California-based-think tank emphasizes that its recommendations to the financial industry are substantive and will not necessarily be easy to implement.

But, it assures, the payoff will be great.

“You can start the process of financial literacy and financial rehabilitation now rather than waiting for 10 or 15 years,” Pachón says.

The report states that presently there are about 3.7 million affluent Hispanics nationwide. U.S. Census Bureau data for 2002 shows that 36 percent of Hispanic households had middle-class wealth.

The very existence of the Hispanic middle and upper classes has gone unnoticed in mainstream society, with their image remaining as a poor immigrant group, according to Pachón.

There are many routes to the middle class, he points out. “You get Hispanic entrepreneurs. You have people coming over (emigrating from other countries) with money already or an education. You get people with educational capital rather than monetary capital. Then you get job mobility of Latinos occurring.”

He says that ruling out immigrants and first-generation Hispanics as having the ability to move into the middle class would be wrong.

“The mobility of these two sectors has been overlooked by many,” he says. “Even the mobility of the undocumented has been overlooked.”

Contacted by Hispanic Link News Service, Rogelio Saenz, a sociology professor at Texas A&M University, compares incomes of native and foreign-born Hispanics to an hourglass figure. About 60 percent of all Hispanics whose income is $25,000 or less are foreign born. Those earning more than $25,000 are mostly native born. Hispanics earning above $250,000 tend to be well-educated immigrants.

The report notes that half of wealthy Hispanics are foreign born.

Saenz concurs the key for Hispanics to move up the socioeconomic ladder is education, stressing that the current system has to incorporate some changes.

“Something I think that is very important is at a very early, young age, you begin linking up people in the community — for example successful professional Latinos that work alongside schools where you have the role models that poor Latino children could have access to,” he says.

He suggests such priority programs as ones where role models would teach youths about financial responsibility.

The report is available at www.trpi.org.

(Maira García is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Reach her care of editor@hispaniclink.org.) © 2007

by José de la Isla

­José de la Isla­

HOUSTON- On a cross-country road trip more than three decades ago, I visited the Jackson County museum in Oregon. I remember one display in particular about the Chinese community there.

An exhibit card apologized for the forced removal and intimidation of its Chinese citizens. That community acknowledged the racist attitudes and behaviors of the late 1800s, later legislated into the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

In this part of Oregon, Chinese were quickly supplanting white miners. The Chinese often worked played-out gold mines sold to them by white miners and some worked deserted diggings after the easy-to-obtain gold had played out. What seems to have mattered was the number of Chinese.

Local attitudes grew harsh, later severe, unjust, and even murderous. The editor of Jacksonville’s Oregon Sentinel reflected the white attitudes of 1866: “These people bring nothing with them to our shores, they add nothing to the permanent wealth of this country.”

Just as working-class immigrants today, in the 1870s the Chinese laborers in southwest Oregon worked in laundries, as packers and cooks.

Jackson County had high numbers of Chinese residents during the peak mining years, but caucasians remained the region’s overwhelming majority. It had 4,778 residents in 1870. Of that number, 634 were Chinese. In 1900, with a population of 13,698, the County retained only 43 Chinese residents.

From the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains, thousands of Chinese were “violently herded onto railroad cars, steamers or logging rafts, marched out of town or killed,” Jean Pfaelzer explains in her new book,  “Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans”

If not a war, what do you call it? A pogrom? Ethnic cleansing?

The Chinese people had an extraordinary record of responding to persecution with boycotts, petitions, lawsuits and demands for reparations. Lesser known, but extremely important, more than 7,000 lawsuits were won against persecution after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

In one lawsuit, Wing Hing v City of Eureka (Calif.), 53 Chinese men and women asserted the city had a duty to protect its residents and demanded reparations and financial compensation for the violence that drove them out in 1885.

What happened back then should be cautionary history to us today. It should remind us of philosopher George Santayana’s words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

By fighting back through the courts, undocumented immigrants, facing similar pogrom-like persecutions, won in court this month against Hazleton, Pa., a town 100 miles north from Philadelphia. U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down as unconstitutional the local law designed to fine businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and penalizes landlords who rent rooms to them.

The ruling deals a blow to similar laws passed by other towns and cities across the country. The attempt to drive residents out did not succeed because the legal process showed these approaches are inconsistent with “the American way.”

Elsewhere, anti-immigrant violence appears to have increased in recent months. In San Diego, Minutemen harassed Latino immigrants and human rights activists, Minuteman Kiani García maced a man in the face during a violent confrontation outside a Catholic church’s day labor center. In Kentucky, two convicted Klansmen savagely beat a teenage boy of Panamanian descent at a county fair. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in the victim’s behalf.

The SPLC has documented a 40 percent increase of hate groups since 2000, fueled by anti-immigration furor aimed mainly at Latinos.

We can’t wait 120 years, as was the case of the Chinese, to have top-most in our minds what it means. Hateful communities arise when hateful acts are tolerated.

George Santayana is known for warning us not just about repeating our mistakes. He also wrote, “Our character is an omen of our destiny.”

We gotta clean up our act.

[José de la Isla, author of “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power” (Archer Books, 2003) writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail: joseisla3@yahoo.com.]

by Elisabeth Pinio

A black and white painting of HIroshi Sugimoto at the De Young Museum

Hiroshi Sugimoto, famed for his memorable black-and-white photographs exploring themes of time, memory, dreams and history is holding an exhibition at De Young Museum in San Francisco.

With a large-format camera, Sugimoto produces powerful, detailed images with saturated with light and space. The first major study of his work, the exhibition includes Dioramas, depictions of natural history; Movie Theaters, architectural images of cinemas; and Sea of Buddha, photographs of Buddhist sculptures.

This exhibition began July 14 and will continue through September 30. Hurry or you’ll miss the opportunity to view Sugimoto’s artistic brilliance. De Young Museum is located at 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, in San Francisco’s legendary Golden Gate Park.

Star-studded performance to benefit local AIDS service agencies

The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) will hold one of their “Help is on the Way” performance events to raise money for Bay Area AIDS service provider agencies-Aguilas, AIDS Legal Referral Panel, Maitri, STOP AIDS Project and Vital Life Services, Oakland.

This event will feature performances by Lucy Lawless, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Phoebe Snow, Shaun Cassidy, Joey McIntyre and B.D. Wong.

Help is on the Way XIII will take place Sunday, August 5, at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. For tickets call (415) 273-1620. For more information, visit www.reaf.org.

Metaphors as Possible Solutions, community screening by El Grito de la Mision

El Grito de la Mision welcomes the public to celebrate the premiere of M.A.P.S: Metaphors as Possible Solutions. Southern Exposure’s Artists in Education Program presents their 12th Annual Mission Voices Summer, a summer collaboration program involving several local organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. M.A.P.S. is a film project encouraging youth to explore San Francisco neighborhoods and each other, while learning to create imagery and address social issues, on both a local and global scale.

Students create collaborative projects referencing a variety of film genres, which supports community building and allows the students to creatively express themselves.

The screening of M.A.P.S.: Metaphors as Possible Solutions will take place at the Roxie New College Film Center on Saturday, August 18, at 2 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

World-class pianist Jorge Federico Osorio comes to the Bay Area

San José’s Mexican Heritage Plaza and the Steinway Society the Bay Area proudly present internationally prominent pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, from Mexico City. He will perform famous classical pieces by Mexican composer Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar, Spanish composer Enrique Granados, and French/Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.

This historic event will take place at the Mexican Heritage Plaza on Saturday, September 8, at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $50 for VIP, which include a post-concert reception with the artist, $15 for individual tickets and $35 for a family or group of four. Groups may add individual tickets, each additional ticket for $10. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 800-MHC-VIVA or (408) 928-5500, or visit www.mhcviva.org or Steinway Society the Bay Area, www.steinwaythebayarea.com.

­by Bob Menéndez
United States Senator

Many might have said that as a boy who grew up in a tenement building as the son of poor Cuban immigrants, I was foolish to dream of serving my nation in the U.S. Senate. But that is why the United States, which celebrates its 231st birthday this Fourth of July, is the greatest nation in the world.

As I sit here today, a proud senator representing the people of New Jersey, I want the next generation to know that through some hard work and determination, anything is possible.

My journey to a life of public service began in New Jersey’s Union City when as a senior in high school I was accepted into the honors program. At that time students had to pay for their advanced books, but my mother and father – barely making ends meet as a seamstress and a carpenter – didn’t have the funds for this extra expense.

I protested until the school district agreed to pay for my books, but I felt indignant that others faced similar dilemmas. Education shouldn’t have boundaries created by financial disparities, I believed, so I rallied my peers to change what I saw as a broken system.

We spent a long, hot summer gathering signatures for a referendum to change the school board from one that was appointed by a corrupt administration to one that was elected by the public. And we won.

Encouraged by that victory, I sought to be a representative on the school board, and at the age of 20 I was elected as the youngest member in its history.

Since then, I have had the privilege to serve as mayor of Union City, as a member of both chambers of the New Jersey state legislature, as a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, and now as a United States Senator.

Still I can’t forget my roots growing up in that tenement, nor the principles that these ladder-climbing experiences have instilled in me.

These values informed every decision I have made in my public service career. From working to make health care more affordable and accessible, to stopping the privatization of Social Security, to improving our schools and making a college degree more attainable, I have strived to create opportunity and improve the lives of all who live in this great democracy.

While these values inspired me to become a public servant, what continues to motivate me every day are the people who share their challenges and aspirations with me. I have been privileged to touch so many lives.

This is my greatest satisfaction – to know that because of my efforts a family can be reunited, or a group of senior citizens can collect their delayed Social Security benefits, or a veteran can receive the health care that he or she deserves.

Constituents and their experiences have also helped inspire me to create some innovative legislation along the way. When my Patient Navigator Program, inspired by those who were not receiving adequate health care, was signed into law, I heard one of the most tragic yet inspirational stories in my time in Congress.

Hazel Hailey told me of her daughter, Robin Waiters, who suffered severe stomach pain for two years but despite her mother’s urgings, refused to see a doctor. When she finally visited one, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. She passed away three months later.

Robin’s final request was for her mother to tell everyone she could that they should seek out care. This inspired Hazel to become a patient navigator. The program, which focuses on outreach to target communities to encourage prevention measures and follow-up treatment, has allowed Hazel to fulfill her daughter’s dying wish.

It is stories like Hazel’s – stories of creating positive change – that are the real compensation of being a public servant and are a continuous inspiration for me to strive to do more.

I have been privileged to realize the American Dream, but I recognize that what I have achieved is still a distant aspiration for too many. I hope that my journey will inspire many, many others as they weigh the choices in choosing their careers.

(Bob Menéndez is serving his first full six-year term in the U.S. Senate. E-mail him care of hannah_august@menendez.senate.gov.) c 2007

by Marvin J Ramirez

Marvin Ramirez

The intention is good, but to pass is another matter. Millions of immigrants, but mainly Latin Americans, will have to pay enormous increases in the tariffs when they have to proceed with their applications for citizenship, permanent residence, renew ­their TPS, etc. It seemed that the end is to make life miserable for Hispanics.

That does not surprise them to all those legislators who keep on passing or blocking laws that affect Hispanics for worse, when the whole Latin America one day turns their back at them and cease being the U.S. eternal allied.

Among the villains there are some good legislators who represent the good legislative side, like Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), who would submit a legislation as a whole, against the new unjust tariffs would be implemented on Tuesday, the July 31.

Called, Just Resolution, this amendment calls to invalidate the law that authorizes the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to increase the tariffs and put them in effect.

Lofgren’s bill would annul this law that increase the fees and would reinstall the structure of previous tariffs.

The Congresswoman claims that the immigration service constantly has failed to reduce the backlog of applications, including the absence of transparency and effective administration.

“Our immigration services have to advance to the 21st century,” Lofgren said. “But, the USCIS has stopped explaining consistently or justifying the quantities and distributions of this new increase of fees.

Meanwhile I agree that the USCIS has to modernize its existing infrastructure and procedures, but they must do it in a transparent and open way,” she said.

After repeated requests for several months, the USCIS has still to provide to the Congress a detailed plan of its efforts of the modernization of its infrastructure. Our immigration. Our system of immigration should be so much effective as just; to sacrifice one to obtain another should not be an option”.

“It is unfortunate that after thousands of calls from legal and advocate groups and components, the USCIS will continue its due increase,” said Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. “The increase creates financial burden for families who want to happen for the legal process of the naturalization.”

It seems, that despite of so many protests, only a miracle will free the immigrants of so heavy financial load that Uncle Sam has imposed on these future children of North America who have already given part of their lives for the well-being of their Uncle Sam. An Uncle who often becomes cruel, up to the point that makes us think that he hates us, although he loves our work.

It is necessary to be a positive so that the Lofgren’s bill has a positive effect in the Congress.