HispanicTrending

July 4, 2017
By Ruben Navarrette Jr.

At the risk of setting off more fireworks, I’ve spent the days surrounding the Fourth of July trying to answer a question that has perplexed U.S. Latinos for generations. Whether the yardstick is starting businesses, creating jobs, spreading opportunity, serving in uniform or displaying optimism in hard times, America’s largest minority has shown time and again that we love this country.

But does the country love us back?
Honestly, sometimes, it’s hard to tell. This nation of second chances offers unlimited opportunities to those who are willing to work, hustle and innovate. In the United States, people may be born in poverty, but that doesn’t mean that poverty is born in them. Our society is one of the freest on Earth, which we’ve learned has its downside; we have been known to use that freedom to do things that harm us — like shouting down opposing views rather than debating and refuting them.

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds that about 70 percent of Americans say the level of civility in Washington has gotten worse since Donald Trump became president. Only 6 percent say it has improved.

There are times when Latinos feel cradled in America’s warm embrace — just like the waves of Germans, Irish and Italians before us. But just like those other immigrant groups, living in this country hasn’t been all ethnic celebrations and parade floats.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants got mixed signals from America. They were often pushed away, discriminated against and prohibited from living in certain neighborhoods. And then, a generation later, they’d get lectures about how they should assimilate and not segregate themselves.

Today, the same thing happens with Latinos. We’re told that we’re not full-blooded Americans, that we’re more loyal to our ancestral homelands, and that we’re not as good as our countrymen.

I’ve even heard someone stupidly say that a federal judge born in Indiana to parents who were born in Mexico couldn’t be trusted to do his job fairly because he is “Mexican.”

A fellow journalist — who was born in Mexico but has lived most of her life on this side of the border — tells me she’s writing a book in which she asks America if it’s finally ready to accept her. Another friend, a lawyer and academic, was recently fired from a university because, he says, the liberals who run it turned out to be — on race — not as liberal as they pretend.

Readers complain that Big Media, while professing to be enlightened, is in the dark on those occasions when it gathers a half-dozen pundits to discuss Latinos but doesn’t include any Latinos.

My 75-year-old parents lived through the indignities of segregated schools, job discrimination, English-only laws, and signs in restaurants in the Southwest that said “No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed.”

But, in time, my parents also learned that America could redeem itself by finding its way back to its founding principles. And like most Mexican-Americans, they raised their kids to be crystal clear about the fact that we have only one country, one flag and one allegiance.

And yet, my father will often note that, these days, prejudice is still alive and lurking below the surface.

Some of it has developed into a more malignant strain of racism or ethnocentrism. With the nation’s 56 million Latinos now accounting for 17 percent of the population — on its way to 25 percent in a couple of decades — white Americans and African-Americans are feeling disoriented and displaced.

But my father is right about one thing: In the politically correct post-civil rights era, insults and slights are served up more politely than they used to be.

We all have our own story. Mine is all about gratitude for my U.S. citizenship, even if one snarky reader did refer to it as a “technicality.”

I love my country for the greatness it reveals, and the potential it has to be even greater. And you know what? I think America loves me back, and that it shows its affection with every blessing it bestows.

Source: The Mercury News

July 4, 2017
By Sofía Espinoza Álvarez

The American Mentality: Ideas of Crime and Punishment

While the mentality of the criminal justice system is power, control, and expansion, the mentality of the American public can be described in one phrase: “lock-em-up.” However, this view is more a reflection of manipulation by politicians and criminal justice officials, shaping the popular imagination, than what people actually favor once they learn about the realities of crime and punishment. Our ideas about crime and punishment are further distorted by the media with a preoccupation on violent crimes, with myths of crime being propagated in television programs like Cops and America’s Most Wanted, playing a significant role in shaping public perceptions about the nature of crime. As such, some policymakers seek to rationalize their punitive laws by arguing that they are simply responding to the public’s fear of crime, a position that is not always supported by public opinion surveys. Indeed, even though the media portrays the notion that we are facing a crime-wave, most citizens report that they “feel safe” in their communities and still view rehabilitation as a primary objective of corrections, preferring community-based sanctions instead of prison for offenders who do not represent a serious threat to public safety, when informed of the actual nature of crime and punishment.

While the mentality of society is somewhat ambivalent, one thing we can be certain of is the fact that Americans’ perceptions toward ethnic minorities and their roles in society have changed in ways that are detrimental to the entire community. In the context of the criminal justice system, we have been experiencing a shift from what some researchers call “the old penology, which emphasized individual responsibility, diagnosis, and treatment, to a new penology concerned with the identification, classification, and management of dangerous groups”, or what Malcolm Feeley and Jonathan Simon refer to as “the actuarial considerations of aggregates,” with impoverished Caucasians and minorities being the main target of the criminal justice system. Historically being socially, emotionally, politically, and financially bankrupt, many young Latinas and Latinos are now further displaced in society, from a very young age. As they grow older, encounters with the juvenile and criminal justice systems tend to push them even sooner and faster into the periphery of society. Then, already in the margins of society, ethnic minorities are being further attack by the latest series of events occurring in the last several years, events which are changing the perception of Americans, particularly policymakers, law enforcement officials, and court officials, as to how ethnic offenders should be treated by the criminal justice system, and, by extension, changing reporting practices, Latina/o portrayal in the media, our perceptions of crime and punishment, and the ways we respond to ethnic deviance and criminal behavior.

The New Logic of the Criminal Justice System

To place the American prison system in a global context, the United States not only has the largest prison population and the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, but the gap in relation to other countries continues to widen sharply. As noted earlier, by the end of 2005, one in every 32 adults was in prison, jail, on probation or parole, with more than 7 million people being under the control of the criminal justice system, with nearly 2.2 million (approximately 1 in every 136 US residents) being in jail or prison. China, with a population of approximately 1 billion people, ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000 prisoners, indicating a significant gap. Crucially, the US has 10 times the population of its northern neighbor, Canada, yet about 35 times the prison population (Bureau of Justice Statistics). Similarly, the US has the highest imprisonment rate, with 737 per 100,000 people, followed by Russia with 611 and St. Kitts and Nevis with 547. According to Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, the US has approximately 5% (300 million in 2006) of the world’s population (over 6.87 billion in 2006), but about 25% of the world’s incarcerated population.

Logically, to truthfully justify the passage of various criminal laws, which have made the United States the country with the highest prison rates in the developed world, a focal question must be answered: have crime rates increased significantly in modern times? From a race and ethnicity standpoint: is the American society experiencing a shift in ethnic criminality? That is, are more Latinas and Latinos committing crime? Are Latinas and Latinos committing more crimes? Are ethnic minorities committing different types of crimes? Or, is the current imprisonment binge simply a change in criminal laws, law enforcement practices, judicial process, or crime reporting practices? In truth, even though crime statistics are influenced by law enforcement tactics, court response to ethnic criminality, and reporting practices, crimes rates have stayed relatively constant, clearly indicating that ethnic minorities are not getting worse, but that the criminal justice system is becoming more punitive on minorities, especially for drug related offenses. In fact, today, the most frequent encounter with the police and the courts seems to be drug-related: distribution, possession, or usage.

An honest analysis reveals that ethnic minorities are not necessarily imprisoned at much higher rates simply because they are more prone than whites to commit crime. In effect, Latinas and Latinos are generally less likely to be involved in violent crime “than their non-Hispanic counterparts”. Of Latinas and Latinos who are sent to prison, the overwhelming majority are convicted for relatively minor, nonviolent offenses, or they are first-time offenders, with Latinas/os being more likely than whites to be arrested and charged for drug related offenses even though they are not more likely than other groups to use illegal drugs, and they are actually less likely to use alcohol. As cited by Professor José Luis Morín of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “Contrary to conventional perceptions, Latinas/os have not been shown to be any more inclined to engage in illegal drug activity than Whites.”

With crime rates staying relatively constant, while imprisonment rates continue to increase, the ultimate question becomes: do American criminal laws actually make a significant difference in reducing crime? The answer to this question, as documented by Michael Lynch in Big Prisons, Big Dreams: Crime and the Failure of America’s Penal System, we can look at a testable hypothesis stating that as prisons get bigger and more people are incarcerated, crime should decline in society, by definition. Realistically, the fact that incarceration has expanded each and every year from 1973 through the present has not led to a steady downward crime trend, as reported by Rick Ruddell in America Behind Bars: Trends in Imprisonment, 1950 to 2000. Instead, criminal laws have resulted in the warehousing of thousands of people, with the majority of prisoners being impoverished whites, racial and ethnic minorities, and uneducated people. In short, “the modern logic of the U.S. correctional system can be summed in one word: imprisonment,” though, “the new logic becomes a leading force in the very same problem we are trying to solve: crime”.

Source: Huffington Post

July 3, 2017
By Roman Palomares

Our freedoms were not for free. Maintaining the freedoms that our forefathers fought to achieve in 1776 is a constant effort. As we approach the Fourth of July, I want to highlight our veterans who have, more than any other group, sacrificed to ensure those very freedoms. In particular, I want to focus on the sacrifices of our Latino veterans whose contributions rarely get the attention they deserve.

Throughout our nation’s history, Hispanics have been proud to serve, fight and in many instances have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. In fact, Hispanics have fought in every U.S. conflict from the American Revolution to the war in Afghanistan and have received at least 44 Medals of Honor. Undoubtedly, many more deserve such recognition.

For example, during WWI even in the face of blatant discrimination, Hispanic enlisted servicemen served their country with distinction. Such is the case with Private Marcelino Serna. Serna was personally responsible for capturing 24 German soldiers. In recognition, he was awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Croix de Guerre, the Victory Medal with three bars and two Purple Hearts. Private Serna was an undocumented immigrant who loved this country.

During WWII, the contributions of Hispanic Americans were also well noted. The Arizona National Guard Unit made up of mostly Hispanic soldiers fought with such distinction that General MacArthur referred to them as “the greatest fighting combat team ever deployed for battle.” In addition, the 141st Regiment of the 36th Texas Infantry Division, which included many Spanish-speaking Americans, was recognized for service and valor. Remarkably, the members of this Regiment were awarded with 31 Distinguished Service Crosses, 12 Legion of Merits, 492 Silver Stars, 11 Soldier’s Medals, 1,685 Bronze Stars, as well as numerous commendations and decorations. Finally, there were multiple Hispanic recipients for the Medal of Honor for WW2.

During the Korean War, 43,434 Puerto Rican soldiers served in the 65th Infantry Regiment. For their service, the infantry received the Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation and two Republic of Korea Unit Citations. Certain members within this infantry also received four Distinguished Service crosses and 124 Silver Stars. As commander of the 65th Infantry Regiment, General W. Harris later described the courageous efforts of this group, “No ethnic group has greater pride in itself and its heritage than the Puerto Rican people. Nor have I encountered any that can be more dedicated and zealous in support of the democratic principles for which the United States stands. Many Puerto Ricans have fought to the death to uphold them.”

During the Vietnam War, approximately 170,000 Hispanic-Americans served in Vietnam, incurring a disproportionally high percentage of casualties.

During the 1990s, 20,000 Hispanic servicemen and women enlisted for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Carlos C. Huerta of the 1st Battalion, 79th Field Artillery stated that “Hispanics have always met the challenge of serving the nation with great fervor. In every war, in every battle, on every battlefield, Hispanics have put their lives on the line to protect freedom.”

For LULAC, ensuring our veterans receive the benefits and care they need is an integral part of our mission. As a result, the LULAC National Convention from July 4 to the 8 will provide detail workshops and a town hall on the following topics: a discussion of the “Choice” program which allows veterans the use of their own physician when they are unable to be seen by their VA physician; information on burial benefits, as well as, the compensation and claims process which can be difficult to navigate; challenges and fears for green card veterans; and a town hall where veterans can discuss a variety of issues related to the VA.

The 88th LULAC National Convention will also highlight the efforts by the LULAC Veterans Program. Specifically, this year LULAC sponsored 10 Vietnam commemoration events around the country honoring Vietnam veterans for their service.

We’re able to celebrate and enjoy the 4th of July because brave men and women have fought and sacrificed for our continued freedoms. Thus, I hope as your family prepares to enjoy the fireworks, picnics and gatherings with friends and family that you give some thought and thanks to all veterans and in particular Hispanics veterans who have fought so hard so that we can celebrate the 4th of July.

Source: La Prensa