Whether the rest of the nation understands the unique nature of the present circumstances and importance of its HispanicLatino population to the future of the country is not as important as HispanicLatinos themselves understanding it – and understanding themselves in the process.

Within a growing number of HispanicLatinos, the perception of the fact that they will be decisive to America’s future has taken root.  If HispanicLatinos think they are going to get the kind of leadership they and the country need from somewhere else, they are fooling themselves.  In many cities and states, then, many HispanicLatinos are having conversations – publicly, privately and individually – about what happens next.

Flowing from many of those conversations can come the understanding that HispanicLatinos need to develop a new intellectual framework on how to proceed.  The going is not easy and might be personally painful.  Having existed in minority status and having been geographically isolated relative to the rest of America during the country’s formative years, HispanicLatinos to a large degree have not known how they fit within the country’s future – especially when anti-immigrant sentiments boil over to include the native HispanicLatino population.  Now they do:  They are pivotal to the country’s success.

The need to develop an intellectual argument around which HispanicLatinos can lead their personal and public lives gains greater importance in an environment in which they hardly are present in significant-enough numbers in the decision-making halls of power.  For years, HispanicLatinos have been in desperate need of leaders with the ability to communicate a more visionary and insightful understanding of the future.  With a more coherent sense of the years ahead, each and every HispanicLatino can be a leader so that new leadership can come from within, so that new and more powerful leaders can emerge from their ranks.

The responsibility HispanicLatinos now face is of unprecedented proportions.  In their conventional history, they were largely powerless to affect it.  But these are no longer conventional times, which should change HispanicLatinos individually as each appreciates the immediate and increasing importance of their personal growth.

To undertake so arduous and complex a mission, HispanicLatinos will have to create a new identity that empowers them to equip themselves for the journey ahead.  After all, every American can ask the HispanicLatino population why, having had the chance to succeed in a generally free and open society, most have not.

HispanicLatinos can best answer that question by providing answers for the future for all.

Feel free to forward these blogs adapted from previous writings, with additional thoughts published invariably in between.