In the throes of anxious times made so by lingering economic fears, Americans are not united on how to approach the future. Only the most uninformed or those who revel in some sort of heavenly-ordained exceptionalism can deny the growing evidence of America’s worrisome position. HispanicLatinos cannot afford to not be involved in thinking about the future. But they certainly should not get wrapped up in passionate, patriotic bromides about their country. At the other extreme, they cannot squander their energy on recriminations regarding a now-past history.
Category Archives: Language
Needed: A New People with a New Plan — Now
Regarding their common – and to many, worrisome – future, neither the country nor HispanicLatinos have a plan. The much ballyhooed “bridge to the 21st Century” that Bill Clinton talked about in his re-election campaign is no more than a plank walk at the moment.
America – until now – never needed a plan. In its earliest years, the nation fought great political battles over a national banking system and government involvement in the development of a young country’s infrastructure that included canals, national roads and bridges. Once settled, these initial disputes opened up a continent to the economic energy thrown off by the Industrial Revolution that ultimately hurled America into the forefront of nations in the 20th century.
HispanicLatinos and the Need to Rethink Themselves
Without HispanicLatinos, America would be hollowed out demographically at a time when the country is fundamental to the security of the world – an essential truth that HispanicLatinos must inculcate in the marrow of their bones. HispanicLatinos must now think of themselves in a profoundly historic way. They must view themselves for the strategic assets that they have become and think about how they accelerate the development of their inner potential and innate talents. They are essential to the future of the country in the most basic of ways: They have become a national security concern.
The Nation-saving Purpose of the HispanicLatino Population
Readers who have heard me speak know that it was as a teenager more than 40 years ago that I watched the impact that sudden changes in demography and in the economy can unleash. The winding down of the bracero program and the nearly simultaneous closing of the local air force base devastated the town in West Texas where my family once lived. From that experience it was only a matter of time before I realized what was coming to the country as a whole. As a young reporter in Corpus Christi in the late 1970’s, I saw the makeup of its schools’ HispanicLatino population prefigure the slow unfolding of the drama we are witnessing today. It was then that I first learned the power of 2.1.
National Decline: A Burden for HispanicLatinos
The phrase national decline finally has entered the lexicon of American political thought – and not soon enough. How much time America has to address its national decline is an interesting question given that the nation’s government has entered a period of stagnation and ideological paralysis. The institutions of government, paralyzed by the nation’s increasingly polarized and monetized politics, show no signs of being able to put forth strategies to sustain the nation’s future.
Without Solutions, Things Could Get More Complicated Still
HispanicLatinos are more important to America than simply holding up a national population that otherwise would be in serious decline. Yet they are a complicated blessing, given their complicated history. Significant-enough discrimination, legally-mandated exclusion, ample geographic isolation and individual self-neglect in many HispanicLatinos sheltered their culture from full-fledged assimilation in American society.
Thus hindered and restrained, HispanicLatinos began to fall behind early and have lagged through the years. But change can happen quicker today than in any time in history. HispanicLatinos now can develop a new way to manage their immediate future, and they can look to the just-immediate past to see how the prospects of a whole country can change in the span of only a few years.
A Challenge for HispanicLatinos: To Wholly Understand Themselves
How America proceeds into the future with a growing but economically disadvantaged HispanicLatino population is hardly a question on the national agenda. In almost defaulting on its financial obligations last year, the United States demonstrated in real time that after 40 years of economic change, precious few Americans understand how the country got to this point and fewer have a clue about the way forward. Having barely devoted time to understand the larger economic and demographic story transforming the country, the vast majority of Americans could not possibly understand the criticality of raising the country’s debt ceiling.
HispanicLatinos are no different. Beyond knowing the general framework of the problems and challenges facing the country, few have any idea about what they should do next. Even though many more HispanicLatinos are sensing how critical they are to the nation’s future, the true scope of their importance does not animate their daily lives.
HispanicLatinos: A Different Deal at an Important Moment for the Country
Through the years most Americans have believed that their country is exceptional and assume it is eternal. Indeed, its ability to provide opportunity and freedom and to convert human potential into spectacular scientific and technological progress eclipses other nations, and America remains a shining example of the promise of humankind. Despite its faults and shortcomings and because it is not a perfect union, it could have become a slave-holding, colonial-imperialist power for longer than it was tempted. Enough of its people, however, chose differently.
Americans have spent hundreds of thousands of lives and invested trillions of dollars to make the world a safe and better place for humankind. Most Americans – including the vast majority of HispanicLatinos for whom loyalty is almost part of their DNA – take immense pride in their country, and rightfully so. Yet history is not destiny; demography is.
English as the Second Language: Geeeez, I Don’t Know…
The question regarding Alejandrina Cabrera is poignant. She is the city council candidate in San Luis, Arizona, who is being blocked from the ballot by political rivals and the courts for not being able to speak English well enough to handle the city’s business. I am a great defender of HispanicLatinos using, retaining, relearning or strengthening their Spanish. I believe using Spanish confidently is instrumental in creating secure individuals who can succeed professionally. Continue reading
Tim Tebow, South Carolina and ¡Rob! What Would Jesus Do?
Three quick thoughts on a Friday. The sitcom that premiered last night featuring Rob Schneider as ¡Rob! marrying into a Mexican-American family will have a short run. Stock language. Stock stunts. Stock everything. Notice anything different between it and what preceded it, The Big Bang Theory? As much as I had hoped it would click and as well-intentioned as its supporters no doubt are, the show lacks minimal interest. One of the previews for the program suggested it was a HispanicLatino version of the revered All in the Family. It did not even begin to approach that old sitcom that broke new ground and even set people to think. It should be of note that the strongest character in ¡Rob! was Eugenio Derbez, a successful Mexican actor of his own right. In previous attempts at capturing the HispanicLatino angle, Hollywood fails on the core issue: Trying to stuff the HispanicLatino experience into an American model while tripping up on language. Viewers got robbed.
Enough with Tim Tebow. Anyone who shows off his religion as much as he does makes me nervous. The comment sections of any story on any news site on this guy seem fairly certain there is another story there that in time will come out. The not-so-hidden references to his allegedly unknown sexual orientation are a bit disquieting. I pray he is not gay. If he is, this circus will last 75 years. I hope that the Denver Broncos, a team I ordinarily like, lose badly this weekend for purely selfish reasons. Continue reading