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Hispanics will help build future of U.S.
The Kansas City Star ^ | April 28, 2004 | Luis W. Giugud

Posted on 05/06/2004 9:08:36 PM PDT by primeval patriot

One clear message surfaced during last week's three-day Latino Civil Rights Summit 2004: This country mustn't ignore or suppress the needs or economic and political potential of Hispanics.

Jose Angel Gutierrez, a Dallas lawyer and author, said it best as Friday's luncheon speaker: “We are the future of America. Unlike any prior generation, we now have a critical mass. We're going to Latinize this country.”

People who were white, black, Asian American and Native American also attended the “Crossing the Bridge” summit to learn how the growing Hispanic population will affect the nation.

Gutierrez said people from Mexico, Central and South America are not immigrating to the United States. They are simply migrating because this land had been theirs. Spain had held it, and before that it had belonged to the indigenous people. Hispanics should never put up with others telling them to go back where they came from. “You don't have to apologize to anybody,” Gutierrez said. But he urged Hispanics to develop a plan.

“We're talking about crossing the bridge, but is it to get across or is it to come back?” Gutierrez asked. “Is it a one-way bridge or a two-way bridge? You've got to have a plan.”

On Saturday at the action planning session, Gutierrez pointed to Hispanic businesses on Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kan., as examples of America's future. “The potential is tremendous,” he said.

“What we have at the moment is labor power and consumer power,” he said. “We work and we buy. Political power will come later.”

That's because half of the Hispanics in the United States are younger than 21. “We're spectators at the basketball game,” Gutierrez said.

However, that also means that for every one Latino who dies, five white people will die because they are older. But that leaves five empty houses and five vacant businesses, Gutierrez said.

“The vacuum has got to be filled by somebody; otherwise all our economy and neighborhoods will collapse,” he said. More people of color and minority businesses must fill the void for America to remain vibrant.

The third Latino Civil Rights Summit left Hispanics with a greater sense of empowerment than the previous ones. The numbers are in their favor.

In 2000, the nation had 35.6 million Hispanics, representing 12.6 percent of the U.S. population. Census projections show the Latino population will rise to 102.6 million people by 2050, amounting to 24.4 percent of the country's 419.9 million people.

In 2000, African-Americans made up 12.7 percent of the population. By 2050 that will increase to 14.6 percent. Audiences at the summit were told Hispanics and blacks must form more alliances to increase their economic and political strength.

Each must leverage the numbers to their advantage, Rogelio Lasso, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor, said at a forum on collaboration. “We are thinking ‘Who is No. 1?' instead of thinking ‘If we are 30 percent together, how are we going to get 30 percent of the pie?' ” he said.

The summit included sessions on education and how the No Child Left Behind Act will negatively affect students of color. Resegregation also is occurring, stranding black and Hispanic children in poor schools, said Ruben Garza, an Austin, Texas, educator.

Patriot Acts I and II keep making life more difficult for immigrants. That's occurring as the nation is enjoying a record 33.5 million foreign-born residents. They are 11.7 percent of the population, Steve Camarota, director of research with the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said in a telephone interview.

The foreign born represented a record 14.8 percent of the U.S. population in 1890 and 14.7 percent in 1910. “It's very possible by the end of the decade we'll pass the all-time high,” Camarota said.

But Lasso voiced concern about the rise in anti-immigration feelings since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“It feels like it's acceptable in this country to be anti-immigrant,” he said. “I fear if we have another terrorist attack it will affect the immigrants first.”

But our intertwined fates may be our salvation.

“The state of the Latino community cannot be separated from the state of America,” said Elias L. Garcia, executive director of the Kansas Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs. “Our destinies are inextricably tied.”

I hope more people develop an appreciation for that.

Lewis W. Diuguid is a member of The Star's Editorial Board. To reach him, call (816) 234-4723 or send e-mail to Ldiuguid@kcstar.com.
 


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; hispanicradicals; hispanics; immigrantlist; laraza
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To: lonewacko_dot_com
Thanks for finding that.......I was trying to remember if that was the guy that talked about 'white guys pi$$in' in their pants over this invasion'.....nice to know he's in the Dallas area spewing his special brand of racist hate politics.
101 posted on 05/07/2004 1:35:39 PM PDT by american spirit
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To: lonewacko_dot_com
For anyone who thinks this guy is not serious, I highly suggest you study the "FTAA" or Free Trade Area of the Americas because that's going to be the mechanism to bring in this unified hemisphere much like the EU. Right now, illegal immigration is the conditioning process to create a hybrid, bilingual nation from N. Canada to S. America....ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN STATES? OR AMERICAN UNION?
102 posted on 05/07/2004 1:40:45 PM PDT by american spirit
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To: Snerfling
This wealth attracts entire populations to relocate, ranging from the highest scientific jobs to the lowest manual laborers

And, in the case of a place where the government is elected, this means that the relocatees can eventually vote to simply confiscate the previously accumulated hard-won wealth.

The US had a good run, just like Egypt, Greece, Rome, & Europe before

Would seem to have been a bit short relative to the examples.

103 posted on 05/07/2004 1:55:16 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: lonewacko_dot_com
Jose is bad news, and he is well known.

Jose Angel Gutierrez, a Dallas lawyer and author, said it best as Friday's luncheon speaker: “We are the future of America. Unlike any prior generation, we now have a critical mass. We're going to Latinize this country.”

Here's another quote: "We have an aging white America. . . . They are dying. . . . They are ******** in their pants with fear! I love it!" "We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him."

104 posted on 05/07/2004 1:57:37 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: jimt
Now we're talking!


Agree, 100%.
105 posted on 05/07/2004 2:09:56 PM PDT by cdbull23 (oops! you're racist.)
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To: primeval patriot
"HISPANICS WILL HELP BUILD FUTURE OF U.S."

Translation: They're going to turn the U.S. into a third world dump like the one they left.
106 posted on 05/07/2004 2:28:18 PM PDT by bat1816
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To: primeval patriot
I can't believe I'm seeing a mainstream newspaper publishing this crap.

The K.C, Red Star is about as left wing of a paper as they come. They realize that most of these immigrants like social programs and vote democratic.

107 posted on 05/07/2004 2:36:53 PM PDT by Missouri
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To: primeval patriot
Someone remind me again why Hispanics are eligible for affirmative action programs?
108 posted on 05/07/2004 2:45:35 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (In God We Trust. All Others We Monitor.)
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To: RightWingAtheist
How much roofing experience does she have?
109 posted on 05/07/2004 2:46:52 PM PDT by bayourod (Kerry must be very ill. Why else would they try so hard to portray him as athletic and vigorous ?)
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To: Regulator
in the case of a place where the government is elected, this means that the relocatees can eventually vote to simply confiscate the previously accumulated hard-won wealth.

I don't think it takes a democracy. Even in a monarchy, there are competing factions all lobbying for influence. Some appeal to the patricians, some the plebians, but either way, power accrues to (and corrupts) those who control economic wealth.

(The US) would seem to have been a bit short relative to the examples

I was being a little bit liberal in generalizing from 1620, with the basic Anglo-Saxon ethic already in place long before the country was formed. Still, it's hard to see the US making it another 100 years in it's current shape/form.

Calif is toast no matter how you slice it. The economy is coming back, but the social/cultural/economic divide is too pronounced and the demands too great for the state to ever get back to where it was in terms of infrastructure, etc.

110 posted on 05/07/2004 3:19:31 PM PDT by Snerfling
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To: Texas Eagle
Great. I can do all my Christmas shopping while sitting at a red light.

A red light that never turns green? Will this country then become a banana republic too?

111 posted on 05/07/2004 3:52:18 PM PDT by Mark17
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To: Missouri
The K.C, Red Star is about as left wing of a paper as they come.

I expect the Washington Post and the New York Times to give this nutcase ink as well.

112 posted on 05/07/2004 4:06:52 PM PDT by primeval patriot (Ship'em out)
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To: primeval patriot
Not much of a choice.

Agreed. I was definitely just playing the "less evil of two alternatives" game.
113 posted on 05/07/2004 4:19:01 PM PDT by VOA
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To: FITZ
1/2 of my family is from New Mexico, but we have Mexican ties (to Sonora and Coahuila). Most of that side of the family came over well before the 1910 revolution. I have an uncle who served in the Marines in Korea and both my parents were in the Air Force (my dad in a missile silo) during the Cuban Missile crisis time of the Cold War. We're pretty much Americans with Spanish surnames now, except we still listen to Mariachi music and dance the cumbia at weddings. Sorta like my Greek-American neighbors who drank Uzo and did their traditional dances at weddings (I forget what they call it).

Never considered ourselves Spanish, but I know lots of N New Mexican families who do. Even lisp their Spanish. They don't much like the Mexicans coming across right now. Also don't much like the Anglos buying their property in Santa Fe. Or the Natives making money off their jewelry and pottery. A pretty insular group, actually.
114 posted on 05/07/2004 4:36:53 PM PDT by Betis70
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To: Regulator
>>Encomienda --> Repartimiento --> Debt Peonage --> Ejidos.

>>One long, disgusting line of human misery for 5 centuries

You hit the nail on the head with that post. I wish Fox and his cronies would work to fix the problems in his own country rather than using the US as a dumping grounds for his underclass.

But I guess that is the easy way out.
115 posted on 05/07/2004 4:39:22 PM PDT by Betis70
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To: primeval patriot
I expect the Washington Post and the New York Times to give this nutcase ink as well.

I thinks all the newsprint get their marching orders from either of those two papers you mentioned.

116 posted on 05/07/2004 4:51:53 PM PDT by Missouri
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To: Betis70
1/2 of my family is from New Mexico, but we have Mexican ties

I also know families who are mixed --- part Mexican and part American-hispanic--- and it doesn't seem any different than those who are mixed Mexican with American-non-hispanic and it would probably surprise a lot of Americans to realize that. Some are insular --- but many are not --- a lot of families have a gringo ancestor somewhere even if they consider themselves hispanic-American and vice versa. It seems that almost all those families with the Spanish land grants are mixed but I don't know any of them who think their land should be part of Mexico. Plus the culture of the northern states of Mexico are different than the southern states --- it's common enough to hear people from northern Chihuahua complain about the people moving up from the south to work in maquilas. People will tell you how nice Ciudad Juarez used to be --- before all the others came moving in and they're probably right because it sure isn't very nice now.

117 posted on 05/07/2004 5:16:13 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: FITZ
Yeah you are right about Juarez. My uncle owns a tuxedo shop in Juarez (one in El Paso too) and I know in the time from when I was a little kid (in the 70s) till now it has changed A LOT.

And one thing I have noticed since living in Cali, is that the Mexicans here are *different* from anyone in my family. They look different, have different traditions, different styles of food, speak Spanish different. Most are from the deep south of Mexico, from what I can gather.
118 posted on 05/07/2004 5:25:23 PM PDT by Betis70
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To: Regulator
But those are mostly the descendants of the Spaniard settlers in 1609 near Santa Fe. Far more in southern New Mexico and Albuquerque are now either Mexican or one generation away.

That's true --- but there are still scattered American-hispanics and non-hispanics throughout the SW --- but in some areas where the middle class is fleeing, both groups are leaving.

119 posted on 05/07/2004 6:06:12 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Cronos
The Spaniards are descendents of the Celto-Iberans and Romans with Greek, Phoenician and Moorish blood all mixed in. The Irish are not at all related to Spanish lands.

Irish legend has it that their "race" came from the northwest coast of Spain (which is now called Galicia). The legend doesn't make it a fact. But it is a fact there is a lengend-a widely held one.

Ainu are considered to be Caucasians, Indo-Europeans like Europeans, Indians and Persians, while Native Americans are Mongoloid like the Japanese, Mongolians etc.

I have read of physical anthropologists which trace American Indians to the Ainu, notwithstanding your comments. It is not a scientific fact they are "caucasian"; rather an item for further study, controversy, uncertainty, etc.

120 posted on 05/07/2004 6:10:29 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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