Latino USA Episode 21

This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, Latinos in the US workforce.

Because if there is and across the board lesson for all Latino workers is that there is an impoverishment of Latino workers in every community and throughout the United States.

Also, Latinos join African-Americans in the march for justice, peace, and jobs.

Things are not going too well for many people. There are too many unemployed. They're not jobs, there's nothing out there really.

And some thoughts about immigration from an immigrant.

Yo, you want to know what really burns me up? It's when I hear people talk about minorities and immigrants like we are subhuman.

That's all coming up on Latino USA. But first, las noticias.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin.

NAFTA will bring more jobs and better jobs.

Labor Secretary Robert Reich launched the latest effort by the Clinton administration to push the North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress. While a coalition of Hispanic organizations and elected officials urged the president to adopt other measures to, in their words, ensure Latino support for NAFTA.

I have to be able to tell my constituents that it's a good agreement.

California Congressman Esteban Torres joined other Latino office holders and organizations such as the National Council of La Raza to announce their support for NAFTA is contingent on the adoption of provisions for dislocated workers or regional development bank, and fair opportunities for minority-owned businesses. Without this, Torres NAFTA doesn't really address the needs of Latinos.

And certainly without the enthusiastic support of Latinos and their elected officials, NAFTA has little, if any chance, for passage. It's going to be a very tough battle in Congress, and every vote counts.

The US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and LULAC, the League of United Latin American citizens, support the free trade agreement as it now stands. After a six-month search, the city of New York has a new schools chancellor. Mandalit del Barco has more.

Ramon Cortines comes to New York as the former superintendent of schools in San Francisco and is acting assistant Secretary of Education. He now faces the daunting task of leading the massive New York City school system, rocked by an asbestos scare and highly politicized social programs that got his predecessor fired. Cortines says he's ready for the challenge.

I've always wanted to climb Mount Everest and I believe that this is the Mount Everest in my career. We will slip and we will make mistakes, but together, I believe we can make progress.

Cortines is Mexican-American, born in Texas and adopted by a European couple. He served as superintendent of San Francisco, Pasadena and San Jose, California before working with the Clinton administration. He admits he's wary about all the problems facing New York schools and his priorities will be high standards and the city's immigrant school children. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

The growing backlash against immigration is leading to an increase in violence targeted at immigrants. Roberto Martinez of the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego says his organization is documenting several hate crimes each month with a number accelerating rapidly.

We're seeing a lot of cases of people who are beaten so bad that they're nearly killed. Hate crimes that's been on the increase against migrant workers and undocumented throughout the whole county, just roving gangs of whites. Some of them are organized, some not. Also, nearly beating these poor workers to death.

Martinez believes the violence is fueled by the growing number of anti-immigrant proposals being put forward by politicians. You're listening to Latino USA. Eight Cuban refugees sent back to Cuba when they shipwrecked on Mexican shores have been granted special visas to come to this country. Their repatriation had sparked protests by Cuban-Americans against Mexico. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro reports.

After a week of continuous protests in which Cuban exiles went on hunger strikes and burned Mexican flags and sombreros, the Mexican government reversed their stand and granted visas to the eight Cuban rafters they had originally repatriated to Cuba. Ninoska Perez of the Cuban-American National Foundation assisted the Cuban refugees in obtaining visas to come to the United States.

The Cuban exile community has shown that it does not forget the people in the island. It has shown that their voices and their actions were able to finally get something, which is really an unprecedented event, which is the return of refugees who had been deported to Cuba. This had never happened before.

But the protests against the Mexican government upset members of Miami's Mexican-American community. Susan Reina of South Dade was on a committee of Mexican-Americans that issued a press release expressing their anger at the Cuban exiles burning of the Mexican flag.

We understand that they were very upset of what happened, but they really acted very irresponsibly as far as that is concerned. I mean, what was the whole purpose of burning a Mexican flag? If they wanted to get back to President Salinas, you don't do it by burning a Mexican hat because number one, the president doesn't wear those kind of hat. Those hats are worn by common people.

Members of the Cuban-American community have apologized to the Mexican-American community for the negative reaction against Mexicans on the part of what they say is a small percentage of Cubans in Miami, but Mexican-American leaders in Miami say that healing the relations between the two Latino groups may take a while. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro in Miami.

In Austin, Texas, I'm Maria Martin with news from Latino USA.

[Guitar Music Transition]

[Guitar music, transition] I'm Maria Hinojosa. 75,000 people descended on the nation's capital on a train August Saturday to commemorate a historic civil rights march, which took place on another hot August day 30 years ago.

[Archival sound] Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and all hill of Mississippi.

Although some things have changed for the better in the three decades since Dr. King articulated his vision for equality and justice, this year's march found many people, including many Latinos, seeking to improve their situation in this country. Latino USA's Patricia Guadalupe was at the march and filed this report.

When Martin Luther King Jr. stood on these steps 30 years ago today, he challenged people of goodwill across our nation to rise up and live out the true meaning of his creed.

Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed a much smaller crowd in that which heard her husband 30 years ago. She spoke of the same things he did, the need for more jobs and into prejudice and a more peaceful world. Many at the recent march acknowledged that progress had been made in those areas, but they said much remains to be done, especially in improving the lives of Latinos. Carmen Gonzalez of New York City said she came to the march to fight for more jobs.

Things are not going too well for many people. There are too many unemployed. They're not jobs. There's nothing out there really. There's a lot of college grads who are looking for jobs. They can't find anything.

Do you think that this march is going to change things?

We're trying. We're trying to enforce something by being united. We're trying to see, we're trying to foresee if the President will do something for us.

According to the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, living conditions have gotten worse for Hispanics in the last 30 years. Since 1963, there has been a 10% increase in Hispanic poverty levels, particularly in urban areas where figures show 60% unemployment among Hispanics.

Almost 10% more Hispanics and Asians live in poverty today than did in 1963. More poor whites drop out before high school graduations.

Young people were strong presence at the march, and while most of them marched for the same things as their older counterparts, a young Latina from Rhode Island took it one step further. Ana Rodriguez said she came to make a statement about Puerto Rico.

Since the plebiscite is going on in Puerto Rico now and they're going to decide the statehood of Commonwealth. And Puerto Rico has been oppressed for 500 years, first by the Spaniards and now by the Americans and everybody else. And the Puerto Ricans here in the United States see the worst part of it.

[Natural sounds of march] Even though a majority of the marchers declared that little has changed in the 30 years since the first march, there was a feeling of optimism for the future in the air. Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said his optimism comes from faith that this administration will help out those who have been in need for so long.

For children who grow up in a development where they have no prospects or jobs or hope, for young people who get drawn to the only life around them which is drugs, you could only say that things were worse. But what we have to do is capture the momentum of what is possible and luckily, we have a president. We have an administration that is willing to go out on a limb and I think today is an important reminder of the job ahead.

Most Latinos at the march were as hopeful for the future as Secretary Cisneros, but some expressed disappointment that President Clinton was not there and that Latino participation in the march was relatively small. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

The total number of Latinos in the US workforce has been doubling every 10 years since the 1950s. But while Latino employment has expanded, the average quality of their jobs has declined. Latino USA's Maria Martin has more.

Just a short while ago, the Census Bureau issued a report saying Hispanics are disproportionately represented among the nation’s poor and make up a large part of the working poor. This finding came as no surprise to a group of sociologists and political scientists who studied Latinos in the American labor market. According to economist Raul Hinojosa Ojeda, one of the authors of the study, Latinos in a changing US economy, the study's most important finding was the dramatic downturn in economic opportunity for Latinos beginning after the mid 1970s.

Whereas the gap in earnings was closing throughout the most of the post-war era until about the mid 1970s, that gap has been increasing very rapidly. And in fact, that gap is very large part of the explanation of the increasing inequality in the United States.

The study's authors say downsizing of government programs during the 80s along with a lack of higher educational achievement by Latinos are among the factors which contribute to a decline in their economic situation. Perhaps the biggest factor, however, has to do with the restructuring of the US economy, from manufacturing to a greater focus on the service sector. Again, Raul Hinojosa.

So what was going on is just when Latinos were beginning to move into the capacity to take advantage of good-paying union jobs, these jobs became more and more scarce as the ability of the United States to compete in world markets and maintain the growth in those jobs begins and begins to erode.

Some of the study's authors say they were surprised to find that immigration had not played a significant role in the downturn in the relative income of US Latinos. Native born and immigrant Hispanics they say, generally compete for very different jobs. In a few cases, recent Hispanic immigrants and new native born job seekers do compete, but this is not a major factor in determining the overall income level for US Latinos. Sociologist Frank Bonilla is the executive director of the Inter-University Program on Latino research.

Whether or not immigration in itself is promoting more inequality, the reality is that both immigrant and native-born Latinos of all nationalities are facing new conditions of low wages. And that the number of working poor, that is people who have jobs but who receive the salaries that are below the poverty standard, are very much concentrated among the immigrant population and in some parts of the countries such as Los Angeles, principally among Mexican-Americans and new Mexican immigrants, particularly women.

When looking at the various Latino communities, the authors found regional differences. For instance, Miami did not experience the loss of manufacturing jobs that New York did. Still says political scientist, Maria Torres, it's hard to say that no Latino group remains unaffected by the trends in the American economy.

When we look within communities within these regions, there are no clear winners and no clear losers. It depends on the industries. For instance, in Chicago, Mexican-Americans do relatively well in comparison to Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and even South Americans when you're talking about manufacturing and public administration. When you're talking about the high services, Cuban-American males do very well. When you're talking about retail, Cuban-American women do very poorly. So I think that one of the lessons that we are learning in this study is that there really is a need to look at a joint community-based agenda that emphasizes Latino workers, because if there is and across the board lesson for all Latino workers is that there is an impoverishment of Latino workers in every community and throughout the United States. And that even when we compare Latinos to African Americans and to Anglos, Latinos are at the bottom of the pail when we look at all workers.

Dr. Maria Torres of DePaul University, one of those participating in the study on Latinos in a changing US economy. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin.

[Transition Music]

While the media debates the pros and cons of immigration and pollsters measure growing anti-immigrant sentiment, it's somewhat harder to measure how immigrants feel about the ongoing debate. So Latino USA went to commentator, John Guardo, who came to this country from Colombia as a young boy to get his views on the controversy.

Yo, you want to know what really burns me up? It's when I hear people talk about minorities and immigrants like we are subhuman. It's those same people who think it's our fault when bad things happen in our neighborhoods. What they don't realize is that our communities are the ones abandoned by the authorities and left to decay. To set the record straight, let me tell you a story. There once was a kid, a smart kid, who came to this country not to freeload or abuse the opportunities America had to offer, but for a more basic reason. To live with his mom. You see, earlier in his life, his parents had separated. Pops was an alcoholic who had made a habit out of beating up mom. Mom was a teenager, who after the separation, moved to the US, leaving the kid behind, sacrificing it all for a shot at a better life. Finally, time allowed for mother and son to reunite in New York City.

This story should have ended with them living happily ever after. Unfortunately, this is the real world and it didn't happen that way. I am that kid. When I put my foot on the plane, I knew it was the start of a new life. I look forward to visiting Disneyland and the Empire State Building. I had a lot of aspirations. Catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty just before landing gave me confidence. It reassured me that I was finally free from the family violence I left back home. But had I really escaped violence entirely? For the first few weeks after I came to this country, life was good. Living in postcard New York was how I thought it would be. That all ended when my mom ran out of places to take me and I had to face it all on my own. Armed with only intellect and friendliness, I stepped into society only to face a seemingly indestructible enemy. Prejudice.

Being nice didn't keep me from getting beat up. Being smart didn't mean anything if no one would listen. But being punched for not knowing English, that was the last straw. From then on, respect became more important than anything and the streets became my school. My mother, on the other hand, worked incessantly, pushed to exhaustion by a dream of seeing her son wear a graduation gown. Sometimes, I felt like telling her how many obstacles I was facing as a new immigrant and just because of being myself, but that would've disillusioned her and she didn't deserve that. When I turned 15, I joined a gang. It seemed like the only way out of my situation. It was like a passport to a regular life, free from being pursued by hate I didn't understand. With size came strengths, and all our voices fused into one that was heard and respected. Now, through violence, I had earned the right to be.

Being young at that time though, I was more inclined to the social aspects of gang life. Being with girls, drinking with the guys, and wilding. Walking down that path landed me in jail a couple of times, turning me into a stereotype, just another statistic. I admit that my sense of responsibility decreased by being in a gang. Instead of hanging out, I could have been studying. But that lost time was replaced by a sense of security. The acceptance given to me by my crew filled up the hole created by being rejected during my first months here. Belonging to a gang fulfilled me, but as time passed, I realized this wasn't the way either. Now that I've been here for almost 10 years, I look at other young kids who have just arrived to this country and see myself. It's a shame that a person whose only intention is to come here and do better is welcomed by prejudice, greed, and racism.

This country was built on immigration. Why is it then? And some people claim to have more rights than others. Is it a seniority thing or a freedom thing? You see, I believe if there was some sort of structure or orientation to guide immigrants when they arrive here, those who are new to this country would be able to avoid certain obstacles. Like the ones I had to confront. A good start would be an expansion in the English as a second language program to make it available to everybody, students and adults alike. Not knowing how to speak English is a problem that leads to others like difficulty in finding a job or being a target for discrimination. America is a beautiful country, full of promise and opportunity for everyone. Immigrants included. Too bad, there are those out there who tarnish its beauty with ignorance. I am John Guardo, speaking for the street.

[Hip-hop remix of US National Anthem]

[Mexican folk music] The Chicana writer, Ana Castillo, had an abuelita, a grandmother who signed her name with an X. Castillo's father dropped out of high school. Her mother only finished primary school, but all three had an indelible impact on Castillo as a writer. They told her stories or cuentos. And in her latest novel, So far From God, Ana Castillo brings these cuentos to life.

[Reading] An account of the first astonishing occurrence in the lives of a woman named Sofia and her four faded daughters, and the equally astonishing return of her wayward husband. La Loca was only three years old when she died. Her mother, Sofi, woke at 12 midnight to the howling of the five dogs, six cats, and four horses whose custom it was to go freely in and out of the house. Sofi got up and tiptoed out of her room.

So Far From God is based in New Mexico where Castillo, who grew up in Chicago, has been living for the past two years. The book has been called a telenovela, a Chicana soap opera.

[Reading] Sofi put the baseball bat that she had taken with her when checking the house back under the bed just in case she encountered some tonto who had gotten ideas about the woman who lived alone with her four little girls by the ditch at the end of the road. It was then that she noticed the baby...

After growing up in Chicago as I did, which is not necessarily a very magical realist place although it has its moments, right? [Laughter] Was magical realism a part of your moving to the Southwest and was that part of, I mean, or because you talk about the Southwest and New Mexico is part of an integral part of this novel of yours?

Well, let's just kind of deconstruct this magical realism catch word. I think that's associated with Latin American literature, but also with the Latino reality, I think, and that's why I laugh because I thought I think it's more like this. This is a reality. Magical realism is what motivates us, and I did not have that intention at all to do that in my literature in this particular book. What happened was that I think I was possessed and I was there immersed, baptism by fire in Nuevo Mexico, and much of what comes out in here is material that is based on faith, which whether it's Catholic faith, it's Pueblo Indian mythology faith, or the creation story that is told here and would be... So it's sort of a diluting to simply say it's magic realism. I'm not sitting there and saying, now what can I do that's very extraordinary? Well, everything around me is very extraordinary and what's probably, I couldn't beat the reality here. I wouldn't call it magic realism. I would call it a book based on faith.

[Mexican Folk music] [Reading] Esperanza let out a shriek, long and so high-pitched that started some dogs barking in the distance. Sofi had stopped crying to see what was causing the girls' hysteria. When suddenly the whole crowd began to scream and fainted and move away from the priest who finally stood alone next to the baby's coffin. The lid had pushed all the way open and the little girl inside sat up just as sweetly as if she had woken from a nap, rubbing her eyes and yawning, "Mami?" She called, looking around and squinting her eyes against a harsh light. Father Jerome got hold of himself and sprinkled holy water in the direction of the child, but for the moment, was too stunned to utter so much as a word of prayer. Then, as if all this was not amazing enough, as Father Jerome moved toward the child, she lifted herself up into the air and landed on the church roof. "Don't touch me, don't touch me." She warned. This was only the beginning of the child's long lives' phobia of people.

There's been a lot of attention given to this book, So Far From God. I mean, you've gotten a lot of press. You've been doing readings. You've been traveling starting at five in the morning, ending at nine o'clock at night, reading in many, many different places. But this isn't your first novel. I mean, you've written other novels and other books of poetry before. So why now? Why do you think there's this interest now? Is it because there's all of a sudden this general incredible interest in Chicana-Latina writers or what? Do you think it's just because, "Hey, it just was a right historical moment."? How are you interpreting it?

Well, since I've been writing and publishing now for almost 20 years, I had that vision that it would take that long as a Chicana and I don't know how I had it, but I did have it. And unfortunately, that was an analysis that I understood in terms of racism, sexism, and classism, which is really, that is something that we can say most Chicanas-Latinas do experience in this country. You are not Native American. You are not European. What you are as a drone that should just go and work and don't worry, nobody wants to hear what you have to say.

And when you're a writer, that's what it's about, is what you have to say. And so I worked for many years as a poet. People still see me primarily as a poet. And then I thought, how can I really get the word out? Not that many people read poetry. And that's when I started teaching myself how to write fiction. And it took me a number of years before I did The Mixquiahuala Letters, which I thought I would die with. It stuck between the mattress and the beds spring, and nobody would ever see it or want to see it. And when it was accepted so quickly and so highly acclaimed critically by the Chicano scholars and that literary audience. It really took me aback.

I guess finally, what do you say to young Chicanos and Chicanas, but I guess primarily Chicanas who are probably maybe even listening to this, who are sitting in their little casita who knows where or in their dorm room if they're in a university and saying, "I don't have anything to say and my voice is strange and no one understands me."? And I mean, how do you try to convince them to trust their voice as you have finally come to trust yours?

You have to have great tenacity about this great personal conviction that this is what you want to do, that you love to do. So I would say write, write, write, write and read everything you can read, and embrace yourself because we all get rejected. I still get rejected. Sandra Cisneros still gets rejections. I mean, you say, "Well, in comparison to the success or to acknowledgement, who cares?" But everybody, at some point and continuously, will get that when they're sticking by their convictions. And when you're breaking, when you're trailblazing with the machete, it makes to try to make a little pathway there. So I would say to young Chicanos and Latinos who want to write, to read, read, read, write, and to believe in yourself. If you do it out of the love for what you're doing, you can't go wrong. How can you go wrong when you're doing what you believe in?

Thank you for joining us on Latino USA. It's been a pleasure. Un placer. Ana Castillo's latest book, So Far From God, is published by Norton. Muchas gracias, Ana.

Thank you.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emelia Martin, the associate producer is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from John Hansen, Caryl Wheeler, and National Public Radio. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you so ¿por qué no nos llaman? Call us on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.