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A guest post by mom, Maria C. Salazar

In 1962, I was fourteen years old.  I had only been in the U.S. for a few months.  I felt like Cinderella attending my first concert; it was with mariachi music.

I was going with Mr. and Mrs. Meza.  Mr. Meza was the director of the group.  They were the family my mom was working for as a housekeeper and babysitter.  Also, there was another couple going.  It was Mr. and Mrs. Castro, very good friends of the family and they were very nice to my mother and me.

I was excited.  It was the first time in my life that I was going to a concert, even if it was with older people.

Mrs. Castro put a little bit of make up on me, which my mother wasn’t too happy about.  Mrs. Castro was telling my mother, “Look Lupita.  Look how pretty Conchita looks.”  Conchita is my middle name.  It was the first time I had make up on me, so I was thrilled.

At the concert I was happy just listening to the music.  At the time, I didn’t dance yet.  I had danced different kinds of dances at school in Michoacan, Mexico: polkas, folkloric, and traditional dances for our special programs during the spring shows, Mother’s Day, or Independence Day.  I started participating since I entered first grade.  My teachers always picked me to dance or to recite poems for these occasions.

Between 1963 when I was fifteen years old and 1966, my mother and I lived in Chicago.  But when we returned to our hometown of Jacona, I would go with my sister Lola, who is three years older than me, to birthday parties and weddings.  I would dance there.

On July 30, 1967, I got married and that December for New Year’s Eve, my husband invited me out to go dancing.  He took me to the Aragon Ballroom on Lawrence in Uptown.  At that time, it was a very famous place (well, it still is).  The best groups performed there.  We went to dance to music by La Sonora Santanera, Carlos Campos and his orchestra, and other groups.

I was excited to go.  I went to the beauty shop to do my hair.  At that time, my hair was kind of long and long enough to have a French twist done.  I bought a pretty pink dress and black patent-leather shoes.  New Year’s Eve was a freezing, cold night.  The sidewalks were extremely slippery.  There I was, slipping and sliding all the way from the car to the ballroom all dressed up.

Nothing bothered me.  I was having a lot of fun.  I was with the person I loved, who I had chosen to be my husband.  Sure enough, I danced a lot.  I had learned to dance to different rhythms.

My husband is from the northern part of Mexico, from Coahuila—close to Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass, Texas.  He taught me to dance polka and country music, his style.

I am from the central part of Mexico, near Guadalajara.  Over there, we danced jarabes, folkloric music, polkas, boleros, cumbias, danzones, waltzes, and cha-cha-cha.

I am a happy person.  I can dance and listen to music at all times.  No matter what I’m doing at home, cleaning, cooking, or writing, I have my radio, CDs, or cassettes playing.  I like the music that my kids like, hip-hop, rap, oldies, and classics, too. I am not a television person.

It is noticeable when I’m sick or something is the matter with me because I don’t have the music on.

In 1967, my New Year’s Eve dance was a dream come true.  It made me feel like Cinderella with her prince in the ballroom.

This essay was written with guidance from a workshop through the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, which publishes the award-winning Journal of Ordinary Thought.

By John Benson, Saludify

America is getting older as the baby boomer generation eases into its senior years.

This naturally includes the Hispanic population, which by 2019 is projected to be the largest racial/ethnic minority in the 65 and older age group.

National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) President and CEO Dr. Yanira Cruz paints a troubling picture to Saludify, regarding today’s Latino seniors, many of which live solely on social security and often are forced to choose between medication and food.

“Latino older adults are living longer but they’re not necessarily living well,” Cruz said. “What I mean by that is, we are hitting our golden years in economic insecurity and we’re facing a number of chronic conditions including diabetes.”

For the Latino population, this means a new set of challenges are on the horizon for not only those aging but for the family members who invariably will be taking on the role of caregivers.

Caregivers deal with their own struggles

A 2008 Hispanic Family Caregiving in the U.S. study revealed 36 percent of Hispanic households in the nation report having at least one family caregiver. This equates to an estimated 8,147,000 Latino caregivers in the U.S., with that number growing fast.

“That is a piece of good news — that we take care of our elders,” Cruz said. “We’re very proud of having our older adults in our spaces, and we value and honor them. We take caregiving as a role that we play that is part of who we are as a community and who we are as a family.”

But while this family structure is a positive, one negative is the fact many families can’t or won’t rely on outside services that could potentially help them fill their caregiving roles in a more effective way. The result is financial and health strife for those left caring for Latino abuelitos, not to mention kids still living under the same roof.

Senior Community Outreach Services, Inc. Director of Programs Rachanna Rodriguez told Saludify this is an all-too familiar scenario currently playing out in the Alamo, Texas area.

“The problem is the lack of resources and education about the caregiving role itself due to healthcare illness of their own or the fact that it just takes long [...] to try to coordinate one service,” Rodriguez said. “Because of the caregiver role and the healthcare illness of the loved one, they’d prefer they can get the majority of services – transportation, respite care, medication assistance – at one agency, which is not realistic here in our community because we don’t have all of that in one stop.”

Another major issue for caregivers, who often have to quit their jobs or cut hours, is the cost of medical expenses.

“We are economically depressed,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t have high paying jobs and many of our caregivers struggle to pay for out of pocket medical expenses, especially medications because they’re so expensive. They have to determine, ‘do I make the house payment this month or do I take dad to the doctor so he can get his medication?’”

This poses additional stress on the caregiver, as well as the rest of the family living with taking care of their senior.

Cruz added that she recently encountered a former Washington D.C. public school teacher who had to quit her job to take care of her elderly mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s. She also has two teenage kids, so financially the family is in trouble.

Said Cruz, “In addition to the financial constraints, she’s also experiencing some mental health issues because the stress associated with being a caregiver 24 hours a day is a huge pressure.”

It is not only about the added expenses though. The emotional toll of seeing a loved one struggle with mental or physical distress is high and real for caregivers.

Many of these caregivers in turn are not seeking help to deal with the added stress, whether it is because of lack of health insurance, cultural and language barriers, low income or the stigma attached to mental health issues among Latinos. The result for the caregiver many times is deteriorated health, depression and even more stress and guilt for not being able to care for their seniors properly due to their own struggles.

Younger caregivers, those with small children or attending school, can also face physical, emotional and mental issues from juggling many responsibilities in a limited time frame, especially when additional resources — like other family members or finances to hire outside help — are not available.

Older Americans Act

Something Cruz and her peers are paying very close attention to is the re-authorization of the Older Americans Act. A key portion of the act, which was originally passed in 1965, is the National Family Caregivers Support Program that offers a range of services to support family caregivers such as information to caregivers about available services, assistance to caregivers in gaining access to the services, individual counseling, organization of support groups and limited caregiver training, respite care and supplemental services.

“That program is worth highlighting,” Cruz said. “It gives families across the country the flexibility to care for their loved ones as they see fit. It allows for the older adults to remain at home for as long as possible.”

In addition to the Older Americans Act’s reauthorization, Cruz is hopeful it’s expanded in the future. Perhaps even following some of the suggestions listed in the Hispanic Family Caregiving in the U.S. study. This includes: training in caregiving activities, especially personal care and health-related tasks, such as operating feeding tubes or respirators; financial support so that they do not go bankrupt as a result of healthcare and related costs; support at the workplace so that they do not have to leave the workforce needlessly; and culturally sensitive materials that are also in Spanish if needed.

“What comes to mind is, in the next 25 years the world population will have more older adults than younger people,” Cruz said. “What that tells us is the dynamics with how we view and address society will have to change. So now is a good moment to begin and ask ourselves what innovations can we come up with to be able to assure older adults 20 or 30 years from now are able to age with dignity and enjoy their golden years? We’re living longer thanks to the advances of medicine but with that we have a lot of changes coming.”

Latino caregivers at a glance

Here is a snapshot of some of the most important key findings from the Hispanic Family Caregiving in the U.S.study:

• One-third of Hispanic households report having at least one family caregiver (36 percent). With an average of 1.83 caregivers per household, there are an estimated 8,147,000 Hispanic caregivers in the U.S.

• Just under three-quarters (74 percent) of Hispanic caregivers are female, with an average age of 43, caring for a loved one whose average age is 62. Most of the care recipients are female.

• Hispanic family caregivers tend to be in more intensive caregiving situations with 63 percent in high burden situations compared to 51 percent of non-Hispanic caregivers. And Hispanic caregivers spend more hours per week giving care (on average 37 hours vs. 31 hours) and provide a greater number of Activities of Daily Living, known as personal care (2.6 vs. 1.9).

• A high percentage of Hispanic caregivers live with their loved one (43 percent) — this is versus 32 percent of non-Hispanic caregivers.

• Eighty-four percent of Hispanic caregivers believe that their role is an expectation within their upbringing. Seventy percent think that it would bring shame on their family not to accept their caregiving role versus 60 percent of non-Hispanics.

• Caregiving is a shared responsibility: 82 percent say that they get some help from a relative or friend.

• Four in ten working Hispanic caregivers report making a major workforce change, such as taking a leave of absence, changing jobs, cutting back hours or stopping work entirely.

This article was first published in Saludify.

John Benson is employed as a fulltime freelance writer writing for local/national outlets. When he’s not covering news, music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his boys (basketball, football and baseball) or spending time with his wife, Maria.

[Photo by Rosie O'Beirne]

By Annie Lowrey, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.

“It was already dismal,” Darrick Hamilton, a professor at the New School in New York, said of the wealth gap between black and white households. “It got even worse.”

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Francesco Rachello]

By O. Ricardo Pimentel, San Antonio Express News

Some highlights of a nuanced talk in San Antonio recently on Hispanic demography by Emilio Parrado of the University of Pennsylvania:

The Hispanic fertility rate is higher than it has been for non-Hispanics but has never been such to have warranted all those fears of the dawning of the Third World on this side of the border. These fears supposed, wrongly, that immigrants are too dissimilar and that generations coming after fail to assimilate.

The Hispanic fertility rate, among both native-born and immigrant women, has been declining.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Bread for the World]

By Toni Castro, Voxxi

A historic number of Hispanic children are in the country’s foster care system, a dramatic change brought on by immigration and the assimilation of a growing Latino population into American society.

The record increase is in part also caused by families breaking apart by divorce or separations caused by incarcerations or deportations of one or both parents.

The startling phenomenon was documented by the child and youth welfare group that operates under the name The Chronicle of Social Change.

“The increase of Latino children in the child welfare system is likely due in part to a growing population of third generation Latino children, who are at greater risk of child welfare involvement than their first and second generation counterparts,” said researcher Alan Dettlaff of the University of Illinois, Chicago.

The best evidence of what has been happening to Hispanic children in foster care is in Los Angeles, where Latino children today make up 59 percent of the youth supervised by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services—up from 39 percent in 2000.

It is a particularly stunning development made even more glaring considering that although Hispanics make up only about half of the county’s population, they comprise about two thirds of the children in the county.

Researchers said that nationally there is a similar tragic finding of an unusually large number of Hispanic children in foster care.

In 1995, only 10 percent of Hispanic children in the country were in the foster home care system. By 2010, that figure had risen to 21.4 percent, startling considering that Latinos make up only 16 percent of the national total population.

A 2007 study by the Urban Institute found that children of second and third generation Latinos were more likely to end up in foster care than those of immigrant parents.

“Latino immigrant children, most of them Mexican, made up one percent of Texas’ foster care population, but seven percent of the total population,” that study reported.

“The children of immigrants (second generation) represented eight percent of the foster care population and accounted for 20 percent of the total child population in Texas.”

“(But) by the third generation, Latino children had gone from a marked under representation to steep overrepresentation.”

Children born to Hispanic citizens made up 33 percent of the foster care population in Texas, the study found, even though they comprise only 22 percent of Texas’ overall child population.

Assimilation and acculturation into the American society, these reports have generally concluded, are not usually the panacea to these families staying together.

“Despite cross generational gains in economic integration, there are negative consequences to integration,” Dettlaff wrote in a 2009 study. “Drug abuse, bad parenting skills, recent history of arrest and high family stress, all those things are more likely in U.S.-born Latino families than foreign born families.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

[Photo By Mr. Conguito]

By Ian Reifowitz, Huffington Post

You may be familiar with Samuel Huntington. He’s the political scientist who, in his last years, offered dire warnings that Hispanic and especially Mexican immigrants behave profoundly differently than immigrants coming to the U.S. from other countries, that they stubbornly refuse to integrate to such a degree that they will ultimately “divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages.” Huntington referred to this problem as “The Hispanic Challenge.”

For years, the dominant trope in the media followed Huntington’s line. It didn’t matter that scholars were demonstrating that Huntington was wrong. As early as 2007 there was this article in the academic journal Perspectives in Politics called “Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity?” In short, the answer was: No. The authors found:…

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Ignotus the Mage]

By Adrian Carrasquillo, NBCLatino

Ana Grace Marquez-Green, the little girl who loved to sing and dance, and was killed in a brutal school shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, was remembered by her mother Thursday on aFacebook tribute page, on what would have been her seventh birthday.

“In honor of Ana’s life, we invite you to celebrate with family or friends today,” she began the post. “Reach out to a neighbor, coworker or classmate. Perform a random act of kindness. Wear something purple or sparkly. Read with a child. Crank up the music, eat second dessert, dance like nobody’s watching. Call your leaders. Pray for our country. Pray for common sense solutions. Pray for a love revolution.”

In USA Today on Thursday, both parents, Jimmy Greene and Nelba Márquez-Greene, talked a bit about their daughter.

“Ana was an infectiously happy child loved by everyone — equal parts her passionate Puerto Rican therapist mother and her African-American jazz musician father, the parents wrote. “She danced rather than walk. She danced from room to room and place to place. She danced to all the music she heard, whether in the air or in her head.”

But the family, which works with “Sandy Hook Promise,” a nonprofit organization asking the country to make a promise a tragedy like Sandy Hook will never happen again, also addressed what they want people to remember on her birthday.

“We somehow missed the connection before, only realizing last week that Ana was born on the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death,” the parents wrote.

“When we think of all that Dr. King accomplished before he was taken away, we are all the more bereft that Ana’s limitless potential will never be realized. Like the thousands of children we lose every year to gun violence. How many might have grown up to cure a disease, write a symphony, or be the next Dr. King? Our message on Ana’s birthday is simple: Let’s stop squandering this potential. Let love win by valuing human life.”

In the Facebook letter, her mother shared a treasured and tragic possession — the last photo she took with her daughter.

“Seven years ago I gave birth to the most amazing sweet caramel princess. Less than four months ago, she was executed in her classroom. This photo is our final picture together taken at dinner on December 13th,” she wrote.

Her mother concluded her letter thanking everyone around the country for their support and with a final message for her daughter, taken much too soon.

“Thank you for loving and supporting us. Thank you for not letting Ana’s memory fade away. Thank you for your cards and letters both to us and to Washington. Thank you for reminding us that love does win. Happy first birthday in heaven to our princess of peace. Our princess for 6 and 1/2 years. Jesus’ princess for eternity.”

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

A multimedia journalist with a love for (read: obsession with) social media and how it interacts with news. He is of Puerto Rican/Ecuadorian descent and went to Stuyvesant High School before graduating from Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism. He worked at MyFoxNY.com and Fox News Latino before joining NBC Latino. Adrian sought to continue his work in Latino news because he believes there are stories out there asking to be told and a community that deserves a news site that reflects the nuance, richness and depth of the U.S. Latino experience.

[Photo by Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. Courtesy Kate-Orlikow Kineret-Rifkind]

By LatinaLista

The first time a teenage girl gets pregnant it can truthfully be called an accident but a second, third or fourth time?

A new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that while everyone can celebrate the fact that there’s a decline in teen birth rates, the same can’t be said for repeat birth rates.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Phoebe !]

By Esther J. Cepeda, NBCLatino

CHICAGO — Something bordering on the miraculous happened at my community high school the other night: The parents who speak only Spanish were included and respected in a meeting in a way that did not turn the whole thing into a big, fat mess.

In the past, the school district’s well-intentioned efforts to include non-English-speaking parents in assemblies had turned them into long, plodding exercises in maintaining focus through short bursts and long pauses.

A presenter would impart a message in chunks and a translator would repeat the information in Spanish. Invariably, the English speaker would go for way too long without breaking to let the translator catch up. Then the Spanish information would stream out, sometimes too quickly to understand.

The crowd would get shifty and exasperated because both audiences were waiting to hear the portion that was for them. The presentations would take twice as long as they would have in a single language, and some parents left agitated.

When piling out of the gymnasium or auditorium, it was not uncommon to hear loud complaints of English-only speakers of the sort that would usually be limited to behind-closed-doors harrumphing about school communications arriving home printed in two languages.

Such is life in a community that was once strictly blue-collar white and over the course of a very few years became 50 percent Hispanic. You don’t have to hang around the local coffee shops too long before you hear someone grousing that the signs on Main Street businesses are increasingly only in Spanish.

The dual-language school assemblies were a nightmare — at least half the crowd felt left out at any given moment — and it reinforced to longtime residents that their new neighbors were making things worse, not better.

So imagine my surprise when I attended a recent meeting in which the Spanish-speaking families were outfitted with discreet headsets streaming real-time translation from a school employee.

A quick check around the room showed an equally engaged audience that was seamlessly following the featured speaker and was given ample opportunity to ask questions in either language for immediate response.

No one sat glassy eyed for their turn to listen, no one grouched about how long it was taking and, best of all, I didn’t hear any snarky grumblings about how people “should learn to speak the language.”

I fully agree that parents of public schoolchildren should be responsible for making every attempt to speak the primary language of their community. I, too, wish that our financially struggling, academically failing schools weren’t further burdened by the intense needs of children and parents who can barely communicate in English.

But even when attacked with fervor, English-language acquisition doesn’t always happen quickly enough to make it possible for parents to actively participate in their child’s education without some help.

According to the National Education Policy Center’s just-released brief on English-language learners (ELLs) and parental involvement, these students mainly attend schools with few resources and low instructional capacities and have high communication barriers to overcome.

The No. 1 tonic for clearing those obstacles is strengthening parental involvement in school. Among many best-practice recommendations, such as recruiting ELL families as volunteers and audiences and including them in school governance, is the practice of providing translators for all key parent meetings.

As you can see, that’s easier said than done — even the best-intentioned solutions can end up feeling oppressive and divisive.

Thankfully, my school district realized how ineffective meetings had become and was able to find a workable solution to the tricky puzzle of maintaining a welcoming school environment for non-English speakers that avoids further segregating the community.

A district representative told me that the set-up had just arrived and I’d been among the first to witness the new system in action. And I was asked to make sure I told the school’s administration how much I liked it.

You see, such a system isn’t exactly cheap — and there are some who would make the argument that it was an investment that could have been made in other materials benefitting the entire student body.

But I’d disagree. The inconspicuous translation services benefit everyone. As far as I’m concerned, any system that both accommodates a second language and equally respects all the cultures present in a school community is worth its weight in gold.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Esther Cepeda is syndicated columnist and an NBC Latino Contributor.

[Photo by woodleywonderworks]

By Cuéntame

An Honest Conversation is a sober, honest, and often painful short documentary featuring story vignettes from LGBTQ Latino youth, their friends, families, and the community in general.

This documentary was first published by Cuéntame.

Cuéntame means: Count me or tell me your story – and we ask everyone to do so! Cuéntame is a place for Latinos and the public in general! Whether YOU are a sports fan, movie fan, activist, artist, student, parent, organizer, Latino or not, award winning novelist, astronaut, actor, painter, or anything else, all are welcome here! Tell us your story! Through short video, docu-series, interviews from our studio, the streets, or sent to us by you, we unite voices and create a powerful community. From tackling unjust immigration laws to exclusive features on Latino arts, music and film you will connect directly with fellow activists, artists, writers, figures and much more!

By Sandra Lilley, NBCLatino

When it comes to gay marriage and Latino public opinion, the last few years have seen dramatic changes, according to Ingrid Duran. She and her partner, Catherine Pino, are one of  the nation’s most visible – and powerful – gay Latina couples.

“When the Congressional Hispanic Caucus put out their 9 principles for immigration reform and marriage equality was number two on the list – that’s a big deal,” says Duran, who co-founded a lobbying and consulting group with Pino called D&P Creative Strategies.  ”When you see that 62 percent of Latino Catholics support allowing gay couples to marry, it’s a huge shift,” Duran states, referring to polling they conducted as part of their Familia es Familia campaign, a gay rights public service campaign.

As the Supreme Court heard arguments today for and against California’s Proposition 8 - the state’s ban on same-sex marriage – the reality is that Latino public opinion – as well as the position of many Latino leaders – is increasingly supportive of gay marriage.

“When one group is denied the dignity and the right to marry, it diminishes us all,” said National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) president and CEO Janet Murguía, standing in front of the Supreme Court today.

“What the Supreme Court will hear this week is what lower courts have already affirmed – no American should be denied equal protection under the Constitution,” stated California Democratic Congressman and Democratic Caucus chairman Xavier Becerra.

Last year the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and Pew Hispanic  found that for the first time since conducting its National Survey of Latinos, more Hispanics favored allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally (52 percent) than oppose it (34 percent). An ABC News election exit poll found 59 percent of Hispanic voters said they support same-sex marriage.  A recent Latino Decisions poll found 64 percent of Hispanic voters said comprehensive immigration reform should include the same rights for gay couples as heterosexual couples.

Reflecting this support, Murguía added today in the Supreme Court steps that “our policies should not separate families due to their immigration status, sexual orientation or anything else,” she stated. NCLR notes that in nearly one-half of the binational LGBT couples facing separation, one of the partners is Latino.

In discussing the possible Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage, Latina constitutional scholar Enid Trucios-Haynes says shifting public opinion does have an impact on the nation’s highest Court.

“In 1896, for example, equality under the Constitution allowed segregation, but in 1954, the Court found equality under the constitution could not permit segregation,” explains Trucios-Haynes, a professor of law at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.

In the event the Supreme Court upholds California’s gay marriage ban as well as the Defense of Marriage Act, Trucios-Haynes says laws in support of gay marriage will most probably start being enacted state by state, as public opinion increasingly supports this.  ”It will take longer, but it might be faster than many of us think it would be,” she remarks.

“This is about families, and if we value families, this is about the 40 thousand children (in California) whose parents are living in a committed relationship and who should be able to get married,” says Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who said today on MSNBC he has supported gay marriage since 1994.

Inside the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked defenders of California’s same-sex marriage ban what is the harm done by allowing same-sex couples to marry. NBC News’ Pete Williams says that most members of the Court, including its more liberal Justices, seemed to hint they might not issue a sweeping ruling on same-sex marriage but might limit it to California.

In the meantime, Ingrid Duran hopes the Supreme Court affirms the legal basis for gay marriage in the U.S.

“It’s great that public opinion is changing, but that still doesn’t impact mine and Catherine’s ability to get married in our state of Virginia; right now it is illegal for us to get married and adopt a child,” she says. Duran says it has been difficult – and costly – to set up things like health care proxies so that if something happens to one of them, the other partner is allowed rights which come effortlessly to a married couple.

“The laws really have to change,” says Duran.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Sandra Lilley loves being an active part of our “national conversation”, on everything from politics, education and the economy to the latest books and people in the news. Sandra started out in Telemundo-NY as a general assignment reporter and later News Director. She was also a Dayside Managing Editor at MSNBC and a Planning Editor for the NBC Domestic Desk. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Sandra studied history at Brown University, and currently lives in New Jersey with her family. Sandra hopes our site inspires and informs Latinos as they work toward their family’s “American Dream.”

[Photo by stevendamron]

By Claudia Sermeno, Being Latino

That is a question that we as Latino Americans are used to asking of representatives of educational, community, political, service and other societal entities. But is this a question that we now have to ask our own children, our own youth, and our own counterparts?

It is a common occurrence that children of “Americanized” Latino families are not proficient, let alone fluent in the language of their previous generations, Spanish. Whether or not this reality is created purposefully or not is a variable factor for families. Some parents unknowingly establish a monolingual environment by not using, not exposing children to the Spanish language either verbally, written or in the media that is prioritized in the home, namely television programming, radio, and Internet.

For others it is a choice made in what is believed to be the best interest of children, meaning for parents cultivating an English only household translates to guaranteed access to societal equity and reduces the likelihood of experienced prejudice and racism. With documented and historically accurate instances of implemented marginalization of Latinos in the 30s, 40s and alongside the civil rights movement, the emphasis of raising English only speaking children may have been a key strategy for parents to ensure that their children did not experience racial and cultural prejudices like they may have.  I have to believe that Latino parents who do choose to raise monolingual children do so with good intentions.

Regardless of why or how it’s done the fact of the matter is that children who would otherwise multiply their opportunities in life, such as in jobs, internships, even relationships sometimes experience negative consequences because of their lack of Spanish language skills. Such consequences are not limited to careers, education, workplace constituents and thus can also mean experiencing alienation and prejudice from within the Latino community itself. A Latino youth who does not speak Spanish is often accused of not being “Latino” enough, of leaving his roots, labeled as “white washed” or coconut and treated as neither Caucasian American nor Latino American.

We, as adults share the responsibility of recognizing the implications of both, raising monolingual and bilingual children. Especially with the ever increasing presence and power of Latinos in the U.S., it is a call for action for the adult generations to clarify that though being bilingual in English and Spanish doesn’t necessarily establish authenticate one’s being Latino, it does provide greater opportunities and is valuable in maintaining a connectedness to the Latino culture; moreover, that being monolingual English only doesn’t deny one’s cultural or ethnic heritage either.

Rather, because language is fluid and dynamic it is an aspect of one’s being, not a definitive of one’s being. The beauty of language is that it can be learned at any age, so for any Latino youth out there whose parents for whichever reason did not encourage bilingualism, becoming proficient and or fluent in the Spanish language is attainable! And in a culture where more is better, having access to two languages can only be better for our Latino children.

This article was first published in Being Latino.

[Photo by kate.gardiner]

By Diana Bohn, Berkeley Daily Planet

Rodrigo was a happy nine-year-old fourth grader at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, where he lived since he was two years old. On January 10, 2013, Rodrigo and his parents, Reyna Diaz Mayida and Javier Ponce Guzman, returning from a trip to Mexico, were detained at the border in Houston, Texas. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities discovered that the father’s visa as well as the visas of Rodrigo and his mother had expired, so the entire family was denied entrance to the U.S. The family was told that they could not re-apply for a visa for five years.

In Berkeley, Rodrigo’s classmates are determined to bring him home. Five of them want to go to Washington D.C. to testify in front of the Senate and Congress to ask for their classmate’s right to return to Berkeley. They are studying the struggles of Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks for justice and believe today is their moment to battle for a cause they believe is part of our democracy.

Click on picture top read full story.

[Photo by bringrodrigohome.org]

By Yolanda Gonzalez Gomez, New America Media

Part 2. Read Part 1 here. 

DALLAS, Texas–“Lord, give me the strength of the buffalo, and make me like the eagle,” is one of the petitions that makes Loida Medellin fervently pray to God every morning. At age 75, Medellin is originally from Toluca in Mexico, and she calls herself a worshiper of God and Jesus Christ. She says faith is what frees her of any disease and provides all her material and emotional needs. “It is a must for me to pray to thank the almighty and for my family, as soon as I wake up,” said Medellin, who provides daycare for her three-year-old great-granddaughter, Sophia at her apartment.

Medellin, who immigrated to the United States 12 years ago, also said she is convinced God brought her to this country as a blessing. Six of her eight children live here, as do most of her 24 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She prays for all of them every day.

Prayers for Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren

According to AARP’s 2007 study, “Keeping the Faith: Religion and Spirituality among Hispanics over age 40,” nine in 10 Latinos in the U.S. pray regularly, and 97 percent say they do so with their family.

For Medellin, her faith was everything during the most difficult time in her life in Mexico, when her husband left her with their eight small children and she pulled herself forward by working as an executive secretary. “The only thing I was left with at the time was a big house, big enough to raise my children,” she explained, adding “who never lacked anything.”

Medellin plans to grow old in America—as long as God wills it, she said. Before she came to the U.S., she sold real estate in Mexico, allowing her to afford an apartment in Dallas, where she now lives with her youngest son. “I never thought of moving to this country, but I was increasingly traveling more often to visit my children, until they asked me to stay,” she said.

When Medellin is not taking care of her little great-granddaughter, she virtually dedicates all of her free time to Bible study, and to praying and writing religious poems. She also travels when invited to do so, as she did recently, spending two months in California with a granddaughter, who brought another great-grandchild into the world.

Culture, Traditions Positive Factors

Medellin is proud that all of her descendants keep Mexican customs in their lives, such as speaking Spanish, eating Mexican food and celebrating and the value of family. All her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are bilingual, and they still call her “abuelita” instead of “grandma,” even though they share American culture.

“Hispanics have practices that preserve us and protect life better. And there is the factor of strength in our people that makes them reach over 80 years old,”said Susan Gonzalez Baker, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas, Arlington.

According to experts, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the so-called “Hispanic paradox” is a real phenomenon. Statistics show that despite living in difficult socio-economic conditions, Hispanic elders in the U.S. live longer than whites and African Americans.

“However, [greater longevity] is most prominent among the first generation of immigrants that still preserves the lifestyle of their countries, especially Mexicans,” Gonzalez Baker said. She stressed that second- and third-generation Hispanics usually lose their family’s traditions and assimilate into American culture. Too many in the U.S. acquire habits that make them develop obesity, along with greater a incidence of heart disease and stroke. “The first generation of immigrants is perceived to be most deeply rooted in customary habits, such as not smoking, drinking less alcohol and maintaining their original diet based on more fresh vegetables, corn tortillas and beans,” she said.

Hispanic immigrants often may be healthier than the total U.S. population of the same age and region. Also, Gonzalez Baker said , immigrants tend to develop psychological strength from their struggle to adapt to a new society, a new country and a new set of rules and conditions. Among newer generations of Mexican Americans, though, the Hispanic paradox disappears, said Gonzalez Baker–mainly when the children of immigrants adopt the practices promoted by the corporate messages of this country. She suggested that older immigrants’ mixture of customs, faith, hope and a purpose in life could give them a protective mixture for longer life.

“In practice,” Gonzalez Baker said, “we have found that Mexican immigrants report less physical pain when admitted to hospital and require fewer doses of analgesics for pain. We do not know if they are declaring less pain or if they really feel less pain. We do not know if that is because they have a certain attitude towards pain or is real.”

Gonzalez Baker added, “There are things to learn from the Mexican lifestyle, and maybe it would be good practice to adopt a bicultural system for new generations of Hispanics.”

More Optimistic

A study by the Pew Research Center showed that 44 percent of Hispanic immigrants surveyed are more optimistic that the future of their children will be better in this country, compared with only 33 percent of whites and African Americans. But extreme inequality could undermine that positive outlook, said renown gerontologist Steven Austad, interim director of the Barshop Institute for Longevity Studies and Aging Center Health Sciences at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Overall, Texas has the highest number of medically uninsured people in the nation, about 5 million, or 20 percent of the population. Of those, 37 precent are Hispanic. The Texas Medical Association, 80 percent of the state’s uninsured reside in 35 of the 254 counties.

“The difference in life expectancy between two Texas counties like Collin and Anderson can be as large as that between the United States and Bangladesh,” Austad said. He emphasized that the U.S. cannot afford two Americas within its borders.

This article was first published in New Ameirca Media.

[Photo by New America Media]