~---

THE GROUP LABEL HISPANIC OR LATINO AMERICAN LINKS adiverse population that mostly shares a common language heritagebut otherwise has many significant differences. The language barri-

er in an assimilation-oriented society has been of major significance toHispanics. For generations, schools made it difficult for Spanish-speakingchildren to succeed. The United States has only recently made any effort torecognize its bilingual, bicultural heritage and to allow those whose native lan-guage is not English to use it as an asset rather than a liability. Latinos includeseveral major groups, of which Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, andCubans are the largest in the United States. Cuban Americans constitute a sig-nificant presence in southern Florida. Increasingly, immigrants and refugeesfrom Central and South America have also established communities through-out the United States.

he Los Angeles Coliseum is rocking with a crowd of 92,000. Is it the USCTrojan football team playing at home? Britney Spears in a sold-out concert?No, it is Mexico and Argentina playing futbol (soccer) to a crowd with parti-san fans cheering on Mexico. Although it took until 2003, AOL now offers

customer support in Spanish; Latinos are expected to account for $1 trillion in onlinepurchases by 2007. Consequently, Microsoft MSN launched a Spanish-language per-sonal site and Yahoo en Espanol publishes news from La opinion, the nation's largestSpanish-language newspaper, and Notimex, Mexico's leading wire service.

The governor of the state with the largest Latino presence speaks and declaresPuerto Ricans and Cubans are particularly feisty because of their mixed Black andLatino "blood." What was Arnold Schwarzenegger thinking of when he made thesestatements in 2006? He soon apologized when they became public, but what is interest-ing is not so much his political misstep, but rather the fact that we have a German-speaking, Austrian-born man who did not immigrate until he was 20 years old becamea naturalized citizen in 1983-becoming who has so assimilated that he readily andnonchalantly expresses old-fashioned American stereotypes among friends.

As recently as 1997, American Airlines was roundly criticized for the contents of itsmanual for pilots flying between the United States and Latin America. A section called"Surviving in Latin America" included guidelines concerning mountainous areas nearsome local airports but also advised that Latin American fliers like to drink alcohol be-fore a flight and "unruly and/or intoxicated passengers are not infrequent" (Blood2006; O'Connor 1999; Swartz 2003; UPI 1997).

More than one in eight people in the U.S. population are of Spanish or Latin Americanorigin. Collectively this group is called Hispanics or Latinos, two terms that we use inter-changeably in this book. The Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2100, Hispanics willconstitute about one-third of the U.S. population (refer again to Figure LIon p. 6).

Already by 2005, population data showed 41.9 million Latinos, outnumbering the39 million Mrican Americans. The Latino population is very diverse. Today, nearly27 million, or two-thirds of Hispanics in the United States, are Mexican Americans, orChicanos. The diversity of Latinos and their geographical distribution in the UnitedStates are shown in Figures 9.1 and 9.2.

FIGURE 9.1 Hispanic Population of the United Statesby Origin, 2005 Cuban Salvadoran

3.5% 3.0%

I /.Dominican~ ... 2.7%

Note: "Other Hispanic" includes Spanish Americans and Latinos identify-ing as mixed ancestry.

Source: American Community Survey 2005 of the Bureau of theCensus as summarized in Pew Hispanic Center 2006, A StatisticalPortrait of Hispanics at Mid-Decade. Washington, D.C.: Pew HispanicCenter, Table 3.

r-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---,

II

II

II

III ~AK _

.,0 ~

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_ 7 million or more_ 1 - 3.5 million

_ 450,000 - 999,000

200,000 - 449,000100,000 - 199,000

Less than 100,000

Source: American Community Survey 2005 of the Bureau of the Census as summarized in Pew Hispanic Center 2006, A StatisticalPortrait of Hispanics at Mid-Decade. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center, Table 10.

The Latino influence is everywhere. Motion pictures such as Tortilla Soup, Spanglish,Real Women Have Curves, Quinceaiiera, Stand and Deliver, Frida, and My Family/Mi Familia,to name a few, did not cater only to Hispanic audiences. MTV offers a channel, MTVRitmo, featuring all-Latin music. The number-one radio stations in Los Angeles andMiami broadcast in Spanish. Comedian George Lopez, in his television sitcom andmotion pictures, enjoys broad appeal. In their speeches, politicians address the needsand desires of Latino Americans.

Some prevailing images of Hispanic settlements in the United States are no longeraccurate. Latinos do not live in rural areas. They are generally urban dwellers: 91 per-cent live in metropolitan areas, in contrast to 78 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. Inaddition, some Hispanics have moved away from their traditional areas of settlement.Many Mexican Americans have left the Southwest, and many Puerto Ricans have leftNew York City. In 1940,88 percent of Puerto Ricans residing in the United States livedin New York City, but by the 2000 census the proportion had dropped to less than athird (J. Logan 2001a; Ramirez and de la Cruz 2003).

Latino IdentityIs there a common identity among Latinos? Is a panethnic identity emerging? Panethnicityis the development of solidarity between ethnic subgroups. We noted in Chapter 1 thatethnic identity is not self-evident in the United States and may lead to heated debates evenamong those who share the same ethnic heritage. Non-Hispanics often give a single labelto the diverse group of native-born Latino Americans and immigrants. This labeling by theout-group is similar to the dominant group's wayof viewing "American Indians" or "AsianAmericans" as one collective group. For example, sociologist Clara Rodriquez has notedthat Puerto Ricans, who are American citizens, are often mistakenly viewed as an immi-grant group and lumped with all Latinos or Hispanics. She observes that, to most Anglos,

panethnicityThe development of solidari-ty between ethnic subgroups,as reflected in the terms His-panic or Asian American.

A very fluid issue is howsuccessive generations ofLatinos will identifythemselves. Will they continueto see themselves in terms oftheir nationality background,such as Nicaraguan, or willthey begin to converge towarda more panethnic identity?

"AllHispanics look alike. It's the tendency to see all Latinos as the same. It's an unfortunatelack of attention to U.S. history" (Rodriquez 1994, 32).

Are Hispanics or Latinos themselves developing a common identity? Indicatorsvary. The collective term itself is subject to debate with regional variations; for ex-ample, Latino is more common in the West, and Hispanic is used more often in theEast and is the term employed by the federal government. Whatever the term, theactions of the dominant group have an impact to some degree in defining culturalidentity. Latinos are brought together through language, national cable TV stationssuch as Univision and Telemundo, and periodicals aimed at them in both Englishand Spanish.

Sharp divisions remain among Hispanics on the identity issue. Only a minority,about 24 percent, prefers to use panethnic names such as Hispanic or Latino. In Miami,one can see bumper stickers proclaiming "No soy Hispano, soy Cubano": "I am notHispanic, I am Cuban." Among U.S.-born Latinos, there is clearly a move away fromusing the native country as a means of identity. Among this segment of the Latinopopulation, 46 percent say they either first use or only use American to describe them-selves, and 29 percent use their parents' country of origin. This contrasts sharply withforeign-born Latinos, a group in which only 21 percent use American and 54 percentuse Mexican or Colombian or similar national terms of reference (Brodie et al. 2002).

Such name issues-or language battles, as they have been called-are not inconse-quential, but they do distract these groups' attention from working together for com-mon concerns. For example, bridging differences is important in politics, where thediverse Latino or Hispanic groups meet to support candidates or legislative initiatives.'When specifically asked in a 2003 survey whether Hispanics from different countriesare working together to achieve common political goals or not working together polit-ically, their own perception was evenly split between believing in panethnic terms ornot. Interestingly, income and education do not seem to influence Hispanics' percep-tions, but the younger generation does seem to be thinking more in panethnic terms(Brodie et al. 2002).

Class complicates the identity issue for Latinos in the United States. In Chapter 5,we introduced the term ethclass, which describes the merging of ethnicity and class ina person's status. For Latino households that have achieved a measure of economicsecurity-and there is a significant and growing middle class-the issue of identity iscomplicated as they move economically and perhaps socially further from their roots.In "Research Focus," we examine the special challenges that face many immigrantLatinas in the United States.

Although there are many indicators of how well a group is doing economically in theUnited States, probably the best one is income. As we can see in Figure 9.3, the medi-an household income of Latinos has gradually increased over the last twenty-fiveyears,with some fluctuations. However, relative to non-Hispanic Whites, the income gap hasremained. Generally over the recent years, the Latino household can expect to earnabout 70 cents on the dollar received by its White counterpart.

Income isjust part of the picture. Low wealth, total assets less debt, is characteristicof Hispanic households. Although they appear to have slightly higher levels of medianwealth than Mrican American households, Hispanic households average less than 10cents for every dollar in wealth owned by White households. Also the trend is not en-couraging. During a recent five-year period, Latino wealth increased by 14 percent

$60,000

$58,000

$56,000

$54,000

$52,000

$50,000

$48,000

Q) $46,000E8 $44,000..:

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~ $38,000o:; $36,000III

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~ $32,000

$30,000

$28,000

$26,000

$24,000

$23,000

$20,000

o

Non-Hispanic White

Hispanic

74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06

Year

ethclassThe merged ethnicity andclass in a person's status.

FIGURE 9.3 Household IncomeTrends, 1972-2005Source: Bureau of the Census data inDeNavas-Walt et al. 2006, pp. 33, 36.

Quinceaiiera (orQuinceaiiero)Celebration of Latin asturning 15 years of age.

Being an adolescent in the UnitedStates is difficult-so many demandsand changes in one's own desires that

are difficult to manage. Add to this mixbeing an immigrant and the challenges esca-late dramatically.

For adolescent Hispanics, It IS particu-larly challenging because of close-knit fam-ily ties. For example, a 2002 national surveyof Latinos documented the emphasis onmaintaining the household with a moretraditional view. For example, 78 percentsaid it was better that children continue tolive with their parents until they get mar-ried, compared to less than half of Whitesand Mrican Americans. The feelings areeven stronger among foreign-born Latinos,with 91 percent wanting their unmarriedchildren at home.

Traditions do continue that tie youngLatinas to their cultural heritage. TheQuinceaiiera or Quinceaiiero (amongPuerto Ricans), meaning fifteen years, is acelebration of a young woman's fifteenthbirthday. The festive occasion may be forthe extended family or may resemble moreof a debutante ball with the families of sev-eral Latinas joining together to mark theoccasion for their daughters.

To get a more personal perspective ofwhat is happening in the lives of young Lati-nas or Hispanic girls, a group of researchersinterviewed at length Spanish-speaking Lati-nas at an urban midwestern school. Theyfound that the Latinas are subject to harshercontrol both within the family and from theconformist school culture, which marksthem as outsiders.

The Latinas are expected to help their fam-ilysucceed through child care and housekeep-ing chores. These demands are much greaterin the United States than they would havebeen in their home country because here vir-tually all the adult family members have towork, and they often do so at odd hours.

This expectation for the young Latinas tobe at home when not at school effectivelyprevents them from working for wages likeso many teenage girls, and that makes themseem different to their school peers. Withoutmoney from jobs, they are less able to "lookAmerican." The Latinas talk about how theywear inexpensive supermarket-brand tennisshoes, which stigmatizes them not only fromother high school girls but also even fromtheir brothers, who manage to acquire morerespectable footwear through their jobs. In-deed, they commented that even MexicanAmericans snubbed them. Added to theirhousehold responsibilities is the greater su-pervision that young Latinas receive fromtheir elders whenever they are not at homeand especially at nonschool-related events.

Meanwhile their brothers are encouragedto work outside the home, which gives themgreater freedom from the family and alsogives them greater opportunities to practiceEnglish-language skills with coworkers andcustomers. This in turn may lead to network-ing for future employment. Participationin high school sports is also encouragedfor Latino boys, and this furthers their ac-ceptance within the high school culture.The gender structure of the family dimin-ishes opportunities available to Latinas out-side the family.

Quinceafiera marks the fifteenth birthday of Latinas but also can be viewed as another stepbetween the worlds of Latino and Anglo America. Here an Ecuadoran immigrant celebratesQuinceafiera in New York City.

The Latinas described are typical ofmany teenage girls who are concerned withhow they fit in. They want to belong, butfamily expectations keep them removedfrom the very culture into which they wantto assimilate. This research and survey dataremind us of the special challenges facedby many immigrant girls, and especiallythose who do not speak English, a situationthat, at least initially, serves to isolate themfrom others. They struggle to overcome

being stigmatized as different. One Latinasaid that her classmates think Latinas "trav-el on burros" and that "we are calledMaria." At the same time that they are try-ing to acquire skills in school, they are alsofaced with moving between identifying withthe culture of their family and that of thesociety at large. •

compared to 17 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. So not only are Latinos likely to earnmuch less annually, but also they have fewer financial resources to fall back on(Kochhar 2004; Pew Hispanic Center 2006a).

The trend in poverty rate reflects that of the pattern in income. At the beginning of2006, 21.8 percent of Latinos were below the poverty level compared to 8.3 percent ofnon-Hispanic Whites. This meant that one out of five Latinos at the start of 2006 was ina household of two adults and two children, for example, and earned less than$19,806. Typically over the last quarter century, the proportion of Latinos in povertyhas been two or three times that of non-Hispanic Whites (see Figure 9.4).

Looking at income and poverty trends of Latino households shows how much, butalso how little, has been accomplished to reduce social inequality between ethnic andracial groups. Although the income of Latinos has gradually increased over the lastthirty years, so has White income. The gap between the two groups in both incomeand poverty level has remained relatively constant. Indeed, the income of the typicalLatino household in 2005 was over $10,000 behind the typical 1972 non-HispanicWhite household.

Previously in Chapter 8, William Julius Wilson used the term underclass to describethe growing proportion of poor Mrican Americans who find obtaining meaningful

34

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o74 76 78 02 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 05

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FIGURE 9.4 People in Poverty Trends, 1973-2005Source: Bureau of the Census data in DeNavas-Walt et at. 2006, pp. 48, 51.

work increasingly difficult. Although this also has been said of today's poor Latinos,their situation is much more difficult to predict. On one hand, as a group poor Lati-nos are more mobile geographically than poor African Americans, which offers someprospects for a brighter future. On the other hand, nearly half of Latinos send moneyabroad to help relatives, which obviously puts a greater strain on supporting them-selves in the United States (Latino Coalition 2006).

The Growing Political PresenceIn the last thirty years, the major political parties have begun to acknowledge that Lati-nos form a force in the election process. This recognition has come primarily throughthe growth of the Hispanic population and also through policies that have facilitatednon-English voters.

In 1975, Congress moved toward recognizing the multilingual background of theU.S. population. Federal law now requires bilingual or even multilingual ballots in vot-ing districts where at least 5 percent of the voting-age population or 10,000 of the pop-ulation do not speak English. Even before Congress acted, the federal courts had beenordering cities such as Chicago, Miami, and New York City to provide bilingual ballotswhere necessary. In the November 2002 elections, some 296 counties and municipali-ties in 30 states issued multilingual ballots (Migration News 2002b).

These voting reforms did not have the impact that many of their advocates had hopedfor. The turnout was poor because, although Hispanics were interested in voting, manywere ineligible to vote under the U.S. Constitution because they were noncitizens. At thetime of the 2004 presidential election, 41 percent of Hispanics of voting age were nonci-tizens compared with only 2 percent of White non-Hispanics (Holder 2006).

The potential for a greater Latino political presence is strong. Anticipating thegreater turnout, political parties are advancing more Hispanic candidates. Generally,the Democrats have been more successful in garnering the Hispanic vote: Democratchallenger John Kerry garnered 53 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, comparedwith 44 percent for the Republican incumbent George W. Bush. Generally surveysshow only 21 percent of Latinos saying they typically vote for a Republican candidatewith 18 percent undecided and 61 percent leaning to the Democrat candidate. How-ever, observers agree that this is not as much a pro-Democrat vote as a stand againstthe Republicans, who favor reducing legal immigration, limiting welfare benefits to

Latino political involvement isoften frustrated by old-timepolitics that favor those long inpower. Here former Texas StateSenator Gonzalo Barrientosholds a proposed redistrictingmap for defining boundaries toelect state representatives thatmany felt would not reflect thegrowing presence of Hispanicsin his state.

The GOP(the Republican Party)has literally tangled itself up inits strong position on curbingillegal immigration, which hashampered its candidates fromgetting support from the Latinocommunity.

borderlandsThe area of a commonculture along the borderbetween Mexico and theUnited States.

legal immigrants, and eliminating bilingual education. Latinos as a group are notnearly as pro-Democrat as, for example, Mrican Americans (Latino Coalition 2006;Pearson and McCormick 2004).

Unlike the Black vote, the major political parties are more likely to see the Latinovote still in play. The 2004 Bush-Cheney ticket heavily promoted the "agenda del Pres-idente," while Kerry-Edwards encouraged "contribuya al Partido Democratico." In-deed, evidence shows that younger Hispanics are becoming more conservative andmore likely to consider Republican candidates. All these factors among Hispanics-rapidly growing population, higher proportions of voter registration, higher participa-tion in elections, less commitment to a single political party-will increase efforts bypoliticians to elicit their support (Keen and Benedetto 2001 Pew Hispanic Center2006c; Suro and Escobar 2006).

Like Mrican Americans, many Latinos resent the fact that every four years politicalmovers and shakers rediscover they exist. In between major elections, little effort ismade to court their interest except by Latino elected officials.

"The border is not where the U.S. stops and Mexico begins," said Mayor Betty Flores ofLaredo, Texas. "It's where the U.S. blends into Mexico" (Gibbs 2001, 42). The termborderlands here refers to the area of a common culture along the border betweenMexico and the United States. Though particularly relevant to Mexicans and MexicanAmericans, the growing Mexican influence is relevant to the other Latino groups thatwe will discuss.

Legal and illegal emigration from Mexico to the United States, day laborers crossingthe border regularly to go to jobs in the United States, the implementation of the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the exchange of media across the borderall make the notion of separate Mexican and U.S. cultures obsolete in the borderlands.

~-----------------I"\ "/1)1) I -=:J

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FIGURE 9.5 The BorderlandsIn search of higher wages, undocumented Mexicans often attempt to cross the border illegally, risk-ing their lives in the process. Maquiladoras located just south of the U.S.-Mexican border employMexican workers at wages far lower than those earned by U.S. workers. The Mexican workers andMexican Americans send large amounts of money, called remittances, to assist kinfolk and com-munities in Mexico.Source: Author based on Canas 2006; Martinez 2006b; Thompson 2001.

The economic position of the borderlands is complex in terms of both businesses andworkers. Very visible is the presence of maquiladoras on the Mexican side (Figure 9.5).Maquiladoras are foreign-owned companies that establish operations in Mexico yet areexempt from Mexican taxes and are not required to provide insurance or benefits fortheir workers. Pay at $2.00 to $2.50 an hour is considered very good by prevailing wagestandards in Mexico. However, this one example of international trade soon becametrumped by another aspect of globalization. As low as these hourly wages seem to peo-ple in industrial countries, multinational corporations soon found even lower wages inChina. Over 40 percent of the 700,000 new maquiladora jobs created in the 1990swere eliminated by 2003 (Migration News 2002c, 2004).

Immigrant workers have a significant economic impact on their home country whileemployed in the United States. Many Mexicans, as well as other Hispanic groups we willbe discussing, send some part of their earnings back across the border to family mem-bers remaining in their native country. This substantial flow of money, sometimes calledremittances (or migradollars), was estimated at a minimum of $20 billion in 2005. Mostof the money is spent to pay for food, clothing, and housing, but increasingly a growingproportion is being invested to create small businesses (Canas et al. 2006).

The closeness culturally and economically of the home country found in the bor-derlands is applicable to other Latino groups. We will see the continuing prominentrole that economic and political events have on immigrants and their children, andeven grandchildren, in the United States.

Inland from the border, hometown clubs have sprung up well into northern citieswith large settlements of Mexicans. Hometown clubs typically are nonprofit organiza-tions that maintain close ties to immigrants' hometowns in Mexico and other Latin

maquiladorasforeign-owned companies onthe Mexican side of the bor-der with the United States.

remittances (or migradollars)The monies that immigrantsre-turn to their country of origin.

hometown clubsNonprofit organizations thatmaintain closetiesto immigrants'hometownsin Mexicoand otherLatin American countries.

Maquiladoras are foreign-owned manufacturers locatedin Mexico along the UnitedStates border. Workersassemble components forexport to the United States ata plant in Nueva Laredo,Mexico.

What has been the pattern ofimmigration from Cuba to the US?

MarielitosPeople who arrived fromCuba in the third waveofCuban immigration, mostspecificallythose forcibly de-ported bywayof Mariel Har-bor. The term is generallyreserved for refugees seen asespeciallyundesirable.

American countries. Hometown clubs collect money for improvements in hospitalsand schools that are beyond the means of the local people back home. The impact ofhometown clubs has become so noticeable that some states in Mexico have begun pro-grams whereby they will match funds from hometown clubs to encourage such public-spirited efforts. The work of over 1,500 hometown clubs in the United States orMexican communities alone reflects the blurring of border distinctions within theLatino community (Korecki 2003; Migration News 2000).

As we have noted, the Latino or Hispanic community is made up of several nation-alities. The Mexican Americans, the people of the borderlands and beyond, and thePuerto Ricans are by far the two largest and are considered separately in Chapter 10.We will continue in this chapter by considering the other Latino groups.

Third in numbers only to Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americansare a significant ethnic Hispanic minority in the United States. Their presence in thiscountry has a long history, with Cuban settlements in Florida dating back to as early as1831. These settlements tended to be small, close-knit communities organized arounda single enterprise, such as a cigar-manufacturing firm.

Until recently, however, the number of Cuban Americans was very modest. The1960 census showed that 79,000 people who had been born in Cuba lived in the Unit-ed States. By 2005, more than 1.4 million people of Cuban birth or descent lived in theUnited States. This tremendous increase followed Fidel Castro's assumption of powerafter the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Cuban immigration to the United States since the 1959 revolution has been continuous,but there have been three significant influxes of large numbers of immigrants throughthe 1980s. First, the initial exodus of about 200,000 Cubans after Castro's assumption ofpower lasted about three years. Regular commercial air traffic continued despite the Unit-ed States' severing of diplomatic relations with Cuba. This first wave stopped with the mis-sile crisis of October 1962, when all legal movement between the two nations was halted.

An agreement between the United States and Cuba in 1965 produced the secondwave through a program of freedom flights: specially arranged charter flights fromHavana to Miami. Through this program, more than 340,000 refugees arrived be-tween 1965 and 1973. Despite efforts to encourage these arrivals to disperse into otherparts of the United States, most settled in the Miami area (M. Abrahamson 1996).

The third major migration, the 1980 Mariel boatlift, has been the most controversial.In 1980, more than 124,000 refugees fled Cuba in the "freedom flotilla." In May of thatyear, a few boats from Cuba began to arrive in KeyWest, Florida, with people seeking asy-lum in the United States. President Carter, reflecting the nation's hostility toward Cuba'scommunist government, told the new arrivals and anyone else who might be listening inCuba that they were welcome "with open arms and an open heart." As the number of ar-rivals escalated, it became apparent that Castro had used the invitation as an opportunityto send prison inmates, patients from mental hospitals, and addicts. However, the majori-ty of the refugees were neither marginal to the Cuban economy nor social deviants.

Other Cubans soon began to call the refugees of this migration Marielitos. Theword, which implies that these refugees were undesirable, refers to Mariel, the fishingport west of Havana from which the boats departed, where Cuban authorities herdedpeople into boats. The term Marielitos remains a stigma in the media and in Florida.Because of their negative reception by longer-established Cuban immigrants, as well as

At the age of eight 1 firstrealized my family wasplanning on leaving

Cuba when my mother went tomy second grade school inHavana to inform the principalthat my brother and 1 wouldnot be returning. 1 remembermy teacher was not surprisedthat we were leaving but wassurprised that we were gusanos,literally meaning worms or political dissi-dents. 1 returned home as my family waitedto receive word that we were allowed to leave.

We waited about a week when a police-man knocked at our door in the middle ofthe night on May 17,1980, and handed myfather a document granting permission toleave Cuba. Within hours we had to get to theprocessing center, so my parents woke us upand prepared my grandmother who was in awheelchair. At the center, the Cuban govern-ment confiscated our passports, searched uskeeping all valuables including my parents'wedding rings. From there it was to Marie!Port three hours away by a special bus.

The uip on the bus was tough for an eightyear old as people along the entire route beaton our bus with bats, sticks, stones, eggs, and

tomatoes. Once at the Port, mybrother and 1 managed to getaway from the adults to play withother children at the beachwhere 1 remember playing withsmall crabs in the sand. My par-ents got very upset when ourpant legs got wet. They had writ-ten on the inside of our pant legsthe names, addresses, and phonenumbers of friends and family in

the United States and Spain.Days of waiting and we were finally able to

board an overcrowded boat headed for Flori-da. Already filled to the brim, the boat in themiddle of the night rescued 12 people fromanother boat that was sinking. After twelvehours, we arrived in Key West to be greetedby waving American flags. Soon we headedon to Tampa to live with an aunt and herfamily-she had come to America soon afterFidel Castro assumed power.

The entire trip was an experience that myfamily values very much to this day. As youngas my brother and 1were, we didn't appreci-ate how difficult it was for my parents toleave everything behind .•

the group's modest skills and lack of formal education, this group had a great deal ofdifficulty in adjusting to their new life in the United States.

Now a Chicago real estate broker, Alfredo Jimenez tells in "Listen to Our Voices" ofthe experience he had as a young child being taken by his family and leaving every-thing behind in Cuba to go to the United States.

The difficult transition for many members of this freedom flotilla is linked with otherfactors as well. Unlike the earlier waves, they grew up in a country bombarded with anti-American images. Despite these problems, their eventual acceptance by the Hispaniccommunity has been impressive, and many members of this third significant wave havefound employment. Most have applied for permanent resident status. Government assis-tance to these immigrants was limited, but help from some groups of Cuban Americansin the Miami area was substantial. However, for a small core group, adjustment was im-possible. The legal status of a few of these detainees (i.e., arrivals who were held by the

color gradientThe placement of people ona continuum from light todark skin color rather than indistinct racial groupings byskin color.

The civil unrest that hasoccurred in some LatinAmerican countries, such as EISalvador, spurred immigrationto the United States in the1980s and 1990s.

Central and South AmericansThe immigrants who have come from Central and South America are a diverse popu-lation that has not been closely studied. Indeed, most government statistics treat itsmembers collectively as "other" and rarely differentiate between them by nationality.Yet people from Chile and Costa Rica have little in common other than their hemi-sphere of origin and the Spanish language, if that. Still others may be indigenous peo-ple, especially in Guatemala and Belize, and have a social identity apart from anynational allegiance. Also not all Central and South Americans even have Spanish astheir native tongue; for example, immigrants from Brazil speak Portuguese, immi-grants from French Guyana speak French, and those from Suriname speak Dutch.

Many of the nations of Central and South America have a complex system of placingpeople into myriad racial groups. Mrican slaves were brough t to almost all of these coun-tries, and these people of Mrican descent, in varying degrees, have intermarried witheach other or with indigenous peoples, as well as with the European colonists. Ratherthan placing people in two or three distinct racial groupings, these societies describeskin color in a continuum from light to dark in what is called a color gradient. A colorgradient is the placement of people along a continuum from light to dark skin colorrather than in distinct racial groupings by skin color. The presence of color gradients isyet another reminder of the social construction of race. Terms such as mestizo Hondurans,mulatto Colombians, or African Panamanians reflect this continuum of a color gradient.

Added to language diversity and the color gradient are social class distinctions, religiousdifferences, urban-versus-rural backgrounds, and differences in dialect even among thosespeaking the same language. We can understand historians Ann Orlov and Reed Ueda's(1980) conclusion that "social relations among Central and South American ethnic groupsin the United States defy generalization" (p. 212). Central and South Americans do notform, nor should they be expected to form, a cohesive group, nor do they naturally formcoalitions with Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, or Puerto Ricans.

Immigration from the various Central and South American nations has been sporadic,influenced by both our immigration laws and social forces operating in the home coun-try. Perceived economic opportunities escalated the northward movement in the 1960s.By 1970, Panamanians and Hondurans represented the largest national groupings, most

of them being identified in the census as "nonwhite." Immigration is often throughMexico, which may serve as a brief stop along the way or represent a point of settle-ment for six months to three years or even longer (Lopez 2004).

Since the mid-1970s, increasing numbers of Central and South Americans have fledunrest. Although Latinos as a whole are a fast-growing minority, Central and SouthAmericans increased in numbers even faster than Mexicans or any other group in the1980s. In particular, from about 1978, war and economic chaos in EI Salvador,Nicaragua, and Guatemala prompted many to seek refuge in the United States. The im-pact of the turmoil cannot be exaggerated. It is estimated that anywhere from 13 percentin Guatemala to 32 percent in EI Salvador of the total population left the country. Not atall a homogeneous group, they range from Guatemalan Indian peasants to wealthyNicaraguan exiles. These latest arrivals probably had some economic motivation for mi-gration, but this concern was overshadowed or at least matched by their fear of beingkilled or hurt if they remained in their home country (Camarillo 1993; Lopez 2004).

The immigrants who fled violence and poverty often have difficulty in adjusting ini-tially because they received little preparation for their movement to a foreign culture.Mario fled to the United States from Nicaragua when he was 16. As he writes, the ini-tial years were trying:

At first it was difficult to adjust. People are very materialistic in the u.s. I was starting from zero. Ihad nothing. They made fun of my clothes. They treated me differently. They pushed me out of their cir-cle. Luckily, I met a friend from school back home who had been in the U.S. eight years. He took care ofme. (Cerar 1995,57)

Eventually Mario felt comfortable enough to help immigrants and to serve as a tutor atthe local community college. His experience has been played out before in the UnitedStates and undoubtedly will be again many times.

Two issues have clouded the recent settlement of Central and South Americans. First,many ofthe arrivals are illegal immigrants. Among those uncovered as undocumentedworkers, citizens from EI Salvador, Guatemala, and Colombia are outnumbered onlyby Mexican nationals. Second, significant numbers of highly trained and skilled peo-ple have left these countries, which are in great need of professional workers. Wenoted in Chapter 4 how often immigration produces a brain drain: immigration to theUnited States of skilled workers, professionals, and technicians.

As a group, Central and South Americans experience high unemployment levels com-pared with Whites, yet they are better educated than most Hispanics, as shown in Table9.1. This reflects the plight that often faces recent immigrants. Upon relocating to a newcountry, they initially experience downward mobility in terms of occupational status.

The challenges to immigrants from Latin America are reflected in the experience ofColombians, numbering close to a half million in the United States. The initial arrivalsfrom this South American nation after World War I were educated middle-class peoplewho quickly assimilated to life in the United States. Rural unrest in Colombia in the 1980striggered large-scale movement to the United States, where the Colombian immigrantshad to adapt to a new culture and to urban life. The adaptation of this later group hasbeen much more difficult. Some have found success through catering to other Colom-bians. For example, enterprising immigrants have opened bodegas (grocery stores) tosupply traditional, familiar foodstuffs. Similarly,Colombians have established restaurants,travel agencies, and real estate firms that serve other Colombians. However, many findthemselves obliged to take menial jobs and to combine the income of several family mem-bers to meet the high cost of urban life. Colombians of mixed Mrican descent face racialas well as ethnic and language barriers (Guzman 2001) .

What is likely to be the future of Central and South Americans in the United States?Al-though much will depend on future immigration, they could assimilate over the course of

? ASK Y(0;W'seHfWhat have been the different rea-sons behind immigration from LatinAmerica?

brain drainImmigration to the UnitedStates of skilled workers, pro-fessionals, and technicianswho are desperately neededby their home countries.

Latinos rarely appear ontelevision in central roles,much less on successfultelevision programs. Althoughanimated, Dora the Explorer onNickelodeon is an exception tothis rule.

generations. One alternative is that they will become trapped with Mexican Americans as asegment of the dual labor market of the urban areas where they have taken residence. Amore encouraging possibility is that they will retain an independent identity, like theCubans, while also establishing an economic base. For example, nearly 600,000 Domini-cans (from the Dominican Republic) settled in the New York City area, where they makeup a significant 7 percent of the population. In some neighborhoods, such as WashingtonHeights, one can easily engage in business, converse, and eat just as if one were in theDominican Republic. People continue to remain attentive to events in Dominican politics,which often command greater attention than events in the United States. However, withintheir local neighborhoods, Dominicans here are focused on improving employmentopportunities and public safety (J. Logan 2001a; Pessar 1995; Suro 1998).

he signals are mixed. Many movies and televisionprograms and much music have a Hispanic flavor.Candidates for political office seek Latino votes

and sometimes even speak Spanish to do so. Yet thepoverty rate of Latino families reported in 2006 was morethan 22 percent, compared with less than 8 percent forWhite Americans.

This mixture of positive and negative trends is visiblein other areas. Ballots are printed in Spanish and otherlanguages. Many Latinos feel that to be bilingual is not tobe less a part of the United States. Espousing pluralismrather than assimilation is not un-American.

The contrast of images and substance will be evidentagain in Chapter 10. "In World War II, more Latinos wonMedals of Honor than any other ethnic group," said De-mocratic Representative Matthew Martinez, a former

'1 U.S. Marine who represented part of Los Angeles. "Howmuch blood do you have to spill before you prove youare a part of something?" Much more recently, we mightnot be surprised to know that many of the soldiers in Iraqare Hispanic. Perhaps a bit surprising to the general pub-lic would be to learn that at least twenty-two Mexican cit-izens resident in the United States died in the militaryduring the first two years of the Iraq War for their adopt-ed country. Typically Congress passes a resolution mak-ing these fallen soldiers citizens after their death. Under·a new rule, families of the deceased can now use the de-ceased as a sponsor for their own residency papers (P.Jonsson 2006; McKinley 2005; Whitman 1987, 49). Still acontrasting image is offered by the refrain "Si usted nohabla ingles puede quedarse rezagado" ("If you don'tspeak English, you might be left behind").

borderlands 262brain drain 269color gradient 268dry foot, wet foot 266

Key Termsethclass 257hometown clubs 263maquiladoras 263Marielitos 264

panethnicity 255Quinceaiiera

(or Quinceaiiero) 258remittances (or migradollars) 263

Review Questions1. What different factors seem to unite and to divide the Latino community in the

United States?2. How do Hispanics view themselves as a group? How are they viewed by others?3. Identify the factors that serve to contribute and to limit to the political power of

Latinos as a group in the United States.4. To what extent has the Cuban migration been positive, and to what degree do sig-

nificant challenges remain?5. How have Central and South Americans contributed to the diversity of the His-

panic peoples in the United States?

Critical Thinking1. Language and culture are almost inseparable. How do you imagine your life

would change if you were not permitted to speak your native language? Or howhas it been affected if you have been expected to speak some other language?

2. How have you witnessed the presence of a different culture in the United States?At what times have you found it to be interesting and intriguing? Are there timesyou felt threatened by it or felt its presence to be unfair?

3. Why do you think the borderlands of the U.S.-Mexico border region have beenthe subject of such close scrutiny, whereas there is little attention to similar areasalong the U.S.-Canada border?

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For further information relevant to Chapter 9, you may wish to use such keywordsas "Maquiladoras," "Salvadoran Americans," and "Marielitos," and the search enginewill supply relevant and recent scholarly and popular press publications. Use the NewYork Times Search-by-Subject Archive to find recent news articles related to sociologyand the Link Library feature to locate relevant Web links organized by the key termsassociated with this chapter.