by Edward J. Mc. Elroy

As a former social studies teacher, I am always amazed at how a nation’s history repeats itself and­ how many among us fail to acknowledge it. Take the United States at the turn of the 20th century. That’s when our country experienced one of its major influxes of newcomers. Waves of immigrants made their way to our shores. Soon, many of the children enrolled in ourpublic schools had come from such faraway places as Italy, Poland and Russia.

Through it all, U.S. public school met the challenges that come with serving diverse student bodies. Indeed, our nation prospered and became stronger because of it.

Turn the clock forward a hundred years. Our public schools are again being asked to meet the challenges that come with a rapidly growing and diverse population. Granted, the majority of today’s public school students are U.S.-born, but an increasing number of them have family roots in Latin America — countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador — and elsewhere.

Given the pace of technology and the realities of a dynamic society, the needs of these students are just as pressing as those of their early 20th-century counterparts. Meeting those needs must remain a top priority. We have been here before and we rose to the task. We must do so again.

Thirty years ago, Latino students comprised a relatively modest percentage of this country’s pre-K through 12th-grade student population. By 2005, one out of every five of our public school students was Latino. By 2025, Latinos are expected to account for one-quarter of our school-age population. These are immensely important figures, which portend not just new challenges, but, just as in the early 20th century, new op6portunities for tomorrow.

Despite some signs of academic progress, educational indicators for Latino students continue to lag. Latinos have lower than average rates of academic achievement and some of the lowest college enrollment and post-secondary attainment levels. They also have some of the highest dropout rates in the nation.

Most egregiously, those statistics have remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. Without considerable improvements and thoughtful investments, too many of our Latino students will not be adequately prepared to participate fully in our democracy or in the global and technologically advanced economy of the 21st century.

We must improve the educational outcomes for these students. We can do so by focusing on access to well-designed programs that cover the gamut from early childhood through college education.

We also must promote research-based information on effective instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse student populations and implement stronger professional development programs for the teachers and staff who work with these students.

High-quality resources (such as ColorinColorado.org, a free Web site developed by the AFT and the PBS affiliate, WETA) can help focus attention on effective instruction, increasing parental and community outreach, and serving those Latino students who are learning English.

In addition, we should promote adult education and innovative parent involvement programs that focus on collaboration with teachers and other school personnel.

To serve Latino students at all levels, we also should strengthen dropout and gang prevention initiatives, while working with parents and improving student attendance. High-poverty schools should receive more college counselors and provide more information about higher education, financial aid and other post-secondary options.

Finally, we must expand support for federal and state legislation (such as the DREAM Act) that allows undocumented students to attend college.

Ultimately, the implications are as simple as they are significant. Our economy, our infrastructure and our democracy — the continued success of our nation as a whole —rests on the public education system that serves the majority of students in the United States. Latino students, and the education professionals who serve them, are a major part of that system. Our country will not thrive without the active participation of every segment of our society.

Admittedly, shaping a better tomorrow will not be easy. But, working together, we can make success possible for every student. Indeed, we can bring greater prosperity to our entire nation. We’ve done it before.

[The author is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Address comments to him care ofjzapata@aft.org. The AFT represents 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; nurses and healthcare workers; and federal, state and local government employees.] © 2007

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. Ramirez

While the residents of the Atlantic Coast zone of Nicaragua gather its more than one hundred dead persons, while thousands are left homeless at the loss of their homes by the devastating hurricane Félix, very few have organized in the San Francisco Bay Area to coordinate help for the victims.

According to Nicaraguan Education Secretary Miguel De Castilla the school year is practically lost in the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic Ocean (RAAN), because the hurricane Félix affected 90 per cent of the schools of the zone of disaster, leaving them without roof, while the furniture was destroyed.

Twenty per cent of the schools remained completely destroyed.

At press time, it was reported that the number of dead left by hurricane Félix ascended to 168, according to preliminary information offered by the authorities.

In the Bay Area, up to this moment, it had not been confirmed about any organization that was making the effort to organize help in the community.

It was known at the last hour that the musical team  Los Ramblers would be organizing a musical charitable event in the Club Roccapulco next Sunday, Sept. 16, where local musicians would take part voluntarily. Then someone  said there would be one on Sunday, Sept. 23 at Cafe Cocomo, in San Francisco.

Days after hurricane flog the zone, the ex-consul of Nicaragua, Auralila Beteta, wrote to El Reportero expressing her worry at the absence of any initiative from local Nicaraguans to assist their countrymen during this misfortune.

“I must show you my dissatisfaction for the inertia of our countrymen here, including the official representation of the Nicaraguan government. Three days happen already passed nobody doing anything yet, ” said the ex-diplomatic official.

“What a sadness causes all this to me. I asked my children (to help) and sent a donation to the Red Cross so that my droplet of love comes to this desert of poverty, pain and defenseless our community on the Atlantic Coast.

The representative of UNICEF in Nicaragua, Debora Comini, said that the biggest worry there are the indigenous communities, located to the north of the country and that they are more isolated.

“These populations lack infrastructure to be protected from the wind and the intense rains,” the official said.

Considering the coincidence of the date of the disaster with the celebration of Independence Day, the organizers of this event, especially the representatives of the most affected Central American countries, must re-focus their goals of the native celebration, conducting a massive fund-raising and material support during the week that is left before the Independence event.

A human touch will offer the opportunity to the community to create solidarity, get involve and to contribute with the most possible help.

by Juliana Birnbaum Fox

Exhibition at Mission Cultural Center from Aug. 31 to Sep. 28

The Bridge to Biotech program at City College of San Francisco is accepting applicants for fall semester classes through August 31. Instruction began August 15. CCSF’s Bridge to Biotech provides a rigorous and engaging introduction to biotechnology. Bridge participants are generally work-ready within a year of starting, as students learn essential laboratory skills while strengthening the math and language skills that they will need for success. Job placement assistance is provided to program graduates.

For more information about starting the Bridge to Biotech program, please visit the College’s website at www.ccsf.edu/biotech.

Dia de los Muertos Altar Contest

The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts begins the celebration of El Dia de los Muertos with a Call for Entries for the Altar Competition. This year’s theme is Hearts and Souls, a time to honor cultural tradition as we remember those close to our hearts and important to our lives. There will be a $500 award for the Best Traditional Altar and $500 award for the Best Contemporary Altar.

We invite all members of the Community and Bay area artists to submit an entry for this year’s “Hearts & Souls” Altar Exhibition. Installation of Altars will begin on Oct. 9th until Oct. 23rd. For additional entry details and entry form please visit our website:missionculturalcenter.org.

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Art Award Reception and Fundraiser

The 30th Anniversary Gala Awards In Excellence Ceremony will honor seven individuals and one organization that have contributed to Latino arts and culture in the Bay Area. Artistic Performances will include The ArgenTango Dancers and Andanza Spanish Arts. The Fundraiser will be held on Friday, September 7th, from 7 to 11pm at the Green Room of War Memorial Performing Arts Center at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. Make your reservations today by using the link below or by stopping by the Center’s Box Office located in the Heart of the Mission at 2868 Mission and 24th Streets. Tickets are $125 per person, or $75 for a non-profit representative. For more information call 415-821-1155, our RSVP 30th Anniversary Hotline, or emailrsvp@missionculturalcenter.org.

The 5th Annual Salsa Festival de Novato

Celebrating Hispanic Cultural Heritage Month, the 5th Annual Salsa Festival in Novato, (15 miles north of San Francisco) includes everything from salsa recipes and contests to hot salsa music and dancing. The Festival, held on Grant Avenue in downtown Novato, will be open 10 am to 6 pm. and admission and parking are FREE. Close to 75 food, craft, retail and non-profit booths will be out, local restaurants and salsa makers will dish up samples of their signature salsa recipes, and salsa lessons will be offered. For festival information call 415.456.9379 or visit www.salsafestival.org.

Leland Avenue Street Fair

Visitacion Valley will host a family-friendly street fair with music, food, and an offering of products and services from 10 – 4 on Sunday, September 9th. A children’s area with activities will be set up, and the fair will stretch from Leland Avenue to Bayshore Boulevard. The 2nd Annual Fair is part of a community initiative to strengthen the neighborhood bring more business to local merchants.

by Andy Porras

What’s next, Rudy? Selling us the Brooklyn Bridge?

GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has promised a Southern group that he will end “illegal immigration.”

We have news for him and anyone else who thinks “illegal immigration” can be stopped.

It can’t.

Could this land afford the consequences? Hey, remember that the business of the United States is business. And the business of U.S. business is profit. By whatever means necessary.

Tack on disparity in global living standards. The chief cause of immigration is economic. Where are you gonna go when our worker-well runs dry? Anywhere, baby, and everywhere.

“Disgusting.” That’s the word white folk use to describe the tasks immigrants perform daily at a typical chicken processing plant in Southern states.

Is anybody out there in white America interested in taking a calf apart after it has been slaughtered in a typical beef processing plant? Or how about mixing assorted animal manure in huge outdoor tanks for feeding the fruited plains.

Don’t throw up, not yet. Aha, but can you do without a fried chicken dinner or a tender T-bone steak? Ask Rudy or any of his former wives if they’d do the tasks President Bush describes as “jobs Americans don’t wish to perform.”

The majority of us don’t approve of tsunamis, either, but can we stop them?

When U.S. residents (of all colors) talk about immigrants stealing jobs away from citizens, you can bet your last peso they’re not referring to jobs at Tyson’s or Swift’s. Almost everything we ingest on a daily basis will have an immigrant imprint on it – from fruits and veggies to meats and dairy products.

There is mucho dinero to be made in hiring immigrants, legal or otherwise – and from several countries, not just the Spanish-speaking ones.

Immigrants have become the perfect work models for many U.S. corporations. They seldom complain, they are extremely reliable and honest, too. The fear of being deported is so great that they force themselves to brandish an unusually strong work ethic.

Frequent and lucrative best describes illegal immigration. Coming herewithout an offi cial invitation will not end.

Go to your favorite video outlet, Rudy, and check out “A Day Without Mexicans.”

The message of this simple flick is clear: End immigration today and mañana you ain’t got most of the stuff you need to make it through the day. No breakfast burritos, no Marías to take care of junior or iron your favorite button-down oxford shirt, no fresh OJ.

Oh heck, you know what we mean. Stealing our jobs?

If there’s honor among thieves, imagine the deference among immigrants?

But don’t forget the problem of magnet “illegal employers” who continue to hire unauthorized workers. In 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle a federal investigation that found hundreds of illegal immigrants cleaning its stores.

Wal-Mart used subcontractors and claimed it was “unaware that they were employing illegal immigrants” as janitors.

In December 2006, in the largest such crackdown in U.S. history, federal immigration authorities raided Swift & Co. meat-processing plants in six states, arresting about 1,300 immigrant employees.

Because Swift uses a government Basic Pilot program to confi rm whether Social Security numbers are valid, no charges were filed against it. Company officials questioned the program’s ability to detect when two people are using the same number.

Tyson Foods has also been accused of actively importing illegal labor for its chicken-packing plants.

A jury acquitted the company after evidence was presented that Tyson went beyond mandated government requirements in demanding documentation for its employees. Tyson also used its enrollment in the Basic Pilot and EVP programs (voluntary employment eligibility screening programs) as part of its defense.

Then there is the dishonor among those hired to protect our borders, especially the Mexican frontier.

Corruption thrives along the cactus curtain.

Wikipedia notes that in September 2005, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service reported 2,500 cases of its employees facing misconduct charges involving exchanging immigration benefi ts for sex, bribery and infl uences by foreign governments, with another 50 such cases re-ported weekly.

Any way you look at it, Rudy, curbing illegal immigration is a tough row to hoe. The bridge deal is probably more doable.

(Andy Porras is pub-lisher of the Sacramento  area bilingual monthly Califas. He may be reached at califasap@yahoo.com). -c 2007

by Janet Murguía

It was hard not to notice the tone of the uproar which led to the demise of immigration reform legislation earlier this summer. Immigrants were accused of everything from crime to loose morals to bringing leprosy to our shores.

But when concerns are raised that the air was becoming ugly and dangerously anti-Latino, talk-show hosts and legislators took pains to say that their problem is with illegal immigrants, that they have nothing against those here legally or with the larger ethnic groups that they are a part of.

In short, they insisted that this is not about race but about the problem of illegality.

As the feedback we’ve received at the National Council of La Raza since that time and at our national conference last month clearly demonstrate, Latinos aren’t buying that explanation.

What started out as a debate on immigration has turned into something far larger and far uglier.

Everyone in this nation should heed what is occurring. Less than a month went by after immigration reform failed for majorities in both the House and Senate to vote for proposals that attacked not illegal immigrants, but those legally in the United States and even those who have become naturalized citizens.

The most egregious of these was an amendment offered on the Senate floor in July by Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) which was framed as a restriction on Social Security benefits to anyone who was once undocumented; yet it would have made every foreign-born person (think Madeleine Albright, or Henry Kissinger, or every refugee from the second world war, Southeast Asia or Cuba) prove their immigration status for every moment of their work history in order to receive Social Security benefits.

If they were out of status for one single day, the fact that they paid into the system would be irrelevant. The government would keep the money they contributed over the years and, of course, they would be rendered ineligible for Social Security.

This shocking amendment received 57 votes — more than enough to pass. Fortunately, a procedural requirement prevented it from becoming law, at least for now.

This is not an isolated case. Similar amendments have already been proposed in the House and Senate affecting housing programs, food stamps and other social policies. Many have already passed. Documentation requirements recently added to the Medicaid program – aimed at immigrants but requiring paperwork from every person seeking to use the program – have resulted in delays and denial of services to elderly U.S. residents who are eligible but may not have the documents readily available to prove it.

The argument in favor of these proposals is entirely without merit. Legislators are placing restrictions on programs already off limits to undocumented immigrants. These proposals just affect legal immigrants and U.S. citizens.

The problem is even worse in local jurisdictions as the vacuum in congressional action on immigration reform is filled by state and local governments looking for ways to address the issue.

Prince William County in Virginia recently passed a law which requires local police to act as immigration agents. County officials are meeting now to determine whether to check documents of people using public libraries, parks and swimming pools. In Georgia, sheriffs’ departments regularly set up roadblocks for the sole purpose of stopping persons who look Mexican and scrutinizing their documents.

This pattern is repeating across the country at an alarming rate.

Add to this a wave of hate and mean-spiritedness on the airwaves and you begin to understand why we don’t believe the concerns have to do with illegality. Numerous verbal attacks on the radio have led to or accompanied a well-documented resurgence in hate groups and crimes.

Hispanic Americans are increasingly outraged that we are suspect everywhere we go, constantly asked to prove we belong in our own home. We see our beloved country in danger of becoming something we hardly recognize – a place so eager to hound those whose “crime” is coming to the United States to work, that the country seems to be rushing to undercut every other value we hold dear. A poll conducted last year by the Pew Hispanic Center found more than half of this country’s Latinos reporting that discrimination against them has increased because of the immigration debate.

Latinos are extremely upset at being singled out as targets, but we sense urgency. We are the canary in the coal mine, sending a warning to our country that it is teetering on something that harms us all. Those who think the rancorous immigration debate does not affect everyone are sorely mistaken. For Latinos, it is obvious that we cannot stand on the sidelines. The sooner that becomes obvious to the rest of the country, the better.

(This is the first in a series of monthly commentaries written for Hispanic Link News Service by Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic advocacy and civil rights organization in the United States).