American values: European?

According to an April 17 news item in La Voz de Aztlán in Arizona (U.S.A.), Arizona legislation will outlaw MEChA and Mexican-American studies: »The anti-Mexican provisions to SB1108 were approved yesterday and the bill is now scheduled for a vote by the full House. The provisions would withhold funding to schools whose courses “denigrate American values and the teachings of European based civilization.”»

American values? Don't those include “A decent respect for the opinions of mankind,” “E pluribus unum,” and a welcoming beacon to the world's “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”? I wonder which of these values the bill's sponsor, Rep. Russell Pearce, thinks that MEChA is denigrating.

As for “the teachings of European-based civilization,” Mr. Pearce should take another look at U.S. census figures, or if he is including consumer practices in “civilization,” where our manufactured goods are coming from.

Meanwhile, the Pope is addressing U.S. audiences in Congress and the U.N. in Spanish. Nothing more European than Catholicism or the language of Cervantes, but I don't think that's what Mr. Pearce had in mind.

Our changing US population

"As hundreds of scholars get ready to gather in Harlem on Thursday night for a conference on the state of black studies, many find that suddenly their attention is turning to another topic: Hispanics," reports Felicia R. Lee in today's NYT.

Some folks are having a hard time coping with these issues, which are the same ones I raised in Hispanic Nation (1996): this country can't go on thinking of itself as just black-and-white any more. Identities are too fluid, and the newcomers -- especially but not only those from Spanish-speaking lands -- refuse to accept the simple dichotomy.

The weight of opinion

Op-Eds & Blogs
My op-ed, 'Minority Groups' Have Outgrown Their Labels, is now up at the Los Angeles Times.

Writing op-eds is rare for me. My only previous one appeared in Newsday in 1995. In Languages Don't Bind People I managed to connect language issues facing Hispanics in the U.S. to 1995's big story, the war in the Balkans. (Quite a trick, but it got the editor's attention.)

Like you, I have lots opinions. I consider it irresponsible not to form an opinion on important issues of the day, and I've even got lots of opinions on unimportant issues. Generally, if I feel the urge to express them, I put them on this blog.

This time, however, I had an opinion about something I'd written a whole book about. So when César Chelala called me Wednesday evening to urge me to write an op-ed on something in that morning's news, I already had, and had sent it off to The New York Times. César, an old friend, has written hundreds of op-eds for papers all over the world (look at this list of 53 op-eds by Chelala at the Japan Times). He suggested the LA Times for this topic. Great idea, I thought, but I didn't want to send them the same article -- not just because of journalistic scruple, but because, with a few more hours to think about it, I'd come up with another angle.

The one I sent to the NYT basically rehashes my book's argument about how a new "Hispanic/Latino" identity is being formed. This one, written Thursday afternoon, is, as you can see, about a different, conceptual issue. Thanks to C�sar for suggesting the LA Times. Editor Bruce McLeod got back to me right away, wanted the piece but wanted me to amplify it by about 50 more words -- if I could write it fast enough to get it to him before lunch, LA time. And I did, and he and I talked through the minor editorial changes cordially and efficiently (e.g. they especially liked a thought in my last paragraph and wanted it moved up higher in the story, which seemed like a good idea to me). And there it is.

I still haven't heard back from the NYT, by the way. César tells me they can take as long as 10 days to respond, by which time the topic has probably grown cold. But no matter. If they like it, it's an entirely different piece. And if they don't, well, I've still got my blog, and if I want to, I can write a new op-ed in a hurry.

Op-ed in the LA Times

Look for my piece on "Emerging Identities" in the Los Angeles Times on Monday. It's a response to the Census Bureau's report that there are now more "Hispanics or Latinos" than "Blacks or African Americans" in the land. It is also a plug for my book, Hispanic Nation.

Census miscounts

Monday's reports ot new US Census findings that "Hispanics" were now a larger "minority group" than African Americans stirred me to action. Such confusion about changes that are so important I took as a direct provocation. This is because I dealt with all those issues pretty thoroughly, I thought, in Hispanic Nation (1996; paperback 1997; see link on my main web page). Yesterday and today I wrote two op-eds about it. If they don't make it to print, guess I'll put them here. Meanwhile, I just found this angry, cranky article with which I mostly agree strongly, The 'race' question on the U.S. census is racist, by Bob Curtis.