MORSE'S CODE

Happy Cesar Chavez Day!!

It goes without saying that since Cesar Chavez put Latinos on the political landscape, so much has changed. He would be pleased, I think, by the increasing power that Hispanic folks wield.

In his honor, I’m posting a link to an article called “Winning the Hispanic Vote.” Though found on the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) website, I discovered it at foreignpolicy.com, the folks that brought us Samuel P. Huntington’s article. Ironic.

! Feliz cumpleaños, Sr. Chavez!

Sex in the City

A study published a few months ago by Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE), a Philadelphia communications firm, is continuing to cause a stir. Based on 2,500 interviews and 40 focus groups with kids 16 and 20, the study paints a disturbing picture of inner city teen sexuality out of control.

Thulanai Davis of The Village Voice just wrote a story about the study, which she calls “The Height of Disrespect,” referring to the misogynistic strain in urban culture that is exposed by the research, particularly in some of the focus groups. Here are some slightly edited samples:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that black teens are more likely than whites to have had sex, more likely to have begun at an earlier age (13), and to have had more than four partners by that stage of life. Blacks are also much more likely to have been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant.

The MEE survey reveals some of the attitudes behind the behavior. On several occasions in the MEE focus-group videos, males casually mentioned group rape—doing "bust-outs," or handing off partners for others to "try out." Even if bravado may account for some of the tales and blasé attitudes toward this sexual violence, the fact that young women reported it too, along with some admitting to having had sex with more than one partner at a time, suggests a disturbing acceptance of the abuse of women.

One Atlanta teen explained his promiscuity by saying, "I ain't cheatin' 'cause I ain't shit; I'm cheatin' 'cause she ain't shit." And sadly, both males and females frequently displayed their distrust of females as a group. A young New York woman said, "If I have a problem, I prefer to take it to a man rather than a girl. A girl might try to take your man." Women are "girls" but boys are "men"? An Oakland male said girls "don't trust each other, that's why I can't trust them."

A number of women said having multiple partners was the way to combat this devaluation. As for the chance to have lives of their own, these girls, the study's authors said, do not expect or "feel empowered" to achieve them. Since many do not expect exclusive relationships with partners, and sex is spoken of as a transactional relationship rather than an emotional one, keeping a partner by way of sex or pregnancy seems a viable strategy, at least temporarily.

It’s a revealing, though not an easy read. It’s the stuff you don’t hear at ethnic marketing conferences.

A Rosa Is Still A Rosa

We’ve heard how José has replaced Michael as the most popular boy’s name in California and Texas. Well, check this article out about some recent trends in the naming game.

Americans are turning their backs on family names that honor ancestors and trying hard to come up with uncommon monikers — or even unique ones. In a look-alike culture where every suburb, every mall, every school feels the same, new parents are seeking ways to distinguish themselves and their offspring. It's a trend that started a few decades ago but has gathered steam, spawning a cottage industry of books and Web sites.

One indicator: For the first time in history, the Top 50 names account for less than half of the names given to baby boys each year, according to research. And less than 40 percent of girls are getting one of the 50 most popular names.

But names can be harmful in many ways, says Bruce Lansky, author of many best-selling baby books, including his latest, "The Mother of All Baby Name Books," which contains 94,000 names, their origins and meanings. Lansky, who also released a survey about Americans' attitudes toward their names this month, contends some parents make mistakes by trying too hard to find unique names for their offspring.

Lansky says, "An African-sounding name can cause perception problems when people are looking at résumés. Sure, it's wrong, but an aggressively African name could communicate negative stereotypes. A name way out there might even have the effect of sort of thumbing your nose at normal rules and regulations."

Rigorous research supports this belief. Economics professor Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago found in a recent study that employers apparently do discriminate based on whether names on résumés sound "white" or "black" — even when other credentials are equal. They found that résumés with white-sounding names generated twice as many callbacks as those with conspicuously "black" names like Jamal. For many African-Americans, the possibility that names could hold their children back does affect their decisions.

Just call me Daveed Morsé.

Blinging in the Votes

Sean "P.Diddy" Combs said he’s been asked by the Democrats to help get out the vote, according to BET, based on an interview the rapper had on CNN last Friday. If he accepts their offer, he’ll join the ranks of Russell Simmons and others trying to get issues of the Hip-Hop nation on the national agenda. Simmons ‘ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has been at the forefront of the movement, getting young people mobilized and politically active. The organization filed a law suit last February to challenge the legality of New York State's Rockefeller laws that mandate minimum sentences for drug offenses.

In June, there will be a National Hip-Hop Political Convention that will be a “gathering of the hip-hop generation to vote on, adopt and endorse a political agenda for the hip-hop generation.” The website is worth checking out. Here’s a snippet from Thulani Davis of the Village Voice in an article called “It’s Time To Call for New Black Leadership:”

"The collective mind-set of the 1960s deteriorated into the selfishness of the '80s and '90s. All that excitement they created didn't come with any programs. Malcolm and Martin had some programmatic ideas, and a philosophical strength that wasn't manifested in the '80s. Jackson—his actions said it was really about him. With Farrakhan and all that rhetoric about creating black products and getting black men to D.C.—nothing happened. That's not a program. Then to now, leadership is also so woefully male-centered. And in terms of jobs, education, housing, we are worse off than in the civil rights era. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many young people look at these leaders and scoff. There's no agenda. It's an embarrassment."

Thomas writes fantastic stuff on the culture and politics of hip-hop. Check him out here.

It’s Not All Good

Blacks are significantly worse off than whites according to the National Urban League’s just released report “The State of Black America 2004. To be more specific, according to the study’s Equality Index, the status of African Americans in America is 73% of their white counterparts, a composite score based on rankings on six attributes.

Economics: Score: 56%. Fewer than 50% of black families own their own homes, versus 70% of whites

Home: Score: 45%. Blacks are denied mortgages and home improvement loans at twice the rate of whites.

Health: Score: 78%. On average blacks are twice as likely to die from disease, accident, and homicide as whites. Life expectancy is 72 for blacks, 78 for whites

Education: Score: 76%. Teachers with less than 3 years experience teach in minority schools at twice the rate as in white schools.

Social Justice: Score: 73%. A black person’s average jail sentence is 39 months; for whites – 33 months.

Civic Engagement: Score: 108%. Largely reflective of the higher percentage of blacks in the military; military volunteerism is 45% than whites.

The National Urban League also conducted a survey with 700 African Americans, 200 Hispanics and 200 Asian Americans to benchmark attitude pertaining to quality of life issues. Among blacks, 52% disagree with the direction of the country, 39% see job discrimination as accepted, 54% believe the future is getting worse, and 40% believe little progress has been made since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Says Newsday:

"While we have gained much ground in the past 40 years since the historic civil rights era, the ground on which we stand today is precarious and shaky," said Marc H. Morial, president of the New York-based Urban League, speaking from the National Press Club in downtown Washington. "There's good news and there's bad news."

In the last half-century, the black middle class has quadrupled, poverty has shrunk by half and there are more African-American elected officials than ever, Morial said.

But despite those gains, such progress is outweighed by persistent and stark inequality, the data show.

Karmic Curry

If you’re an Indophile like me, a lover of Indian food, or a plain and simple vegetarian, you’ll want to check out this article in the New York Times about Indian vegetarian food. I do love India, though I must confess to being a full blown Atkins style carnivore after gaining 30 pounds from the vegetarian diet that I assumed after spending two weeks at a yoga retreat in India. Lots of saag paneer and curry, combined with all the vegetarian pizza, ice cream and candy I could eat did not lead to the lean, yogic physique I was visualizing. Here’s a sampling of the article:

Religion, economics, demographics and geography conspired early on to make India one of the most prolifically cultivated regions on earth. Today, there are about 220 million strict vegetarians in India, according to the Anthropological Survey of India. Indian Hindus, Buddhists and Jains all aspire to an ideal of ahimsa, or nonviolence, that prohibits the killing of anything living or with the potential for life (hence, Indian vegetarians eat dairy products but not eggs).

Traditionally in India, cooking is intimately entwined with purity, spirituality and caste. "It's almost impossible to generalize about a country as diverse as India," said Rathi Raja, executive director of the Young Indian Culture Group, in Manhasset, N.Y. "But this much is true: although many of the old ways of religion and class are breaking down, eating vegetarian still has a big place in Indian culture."

Between 1990 and 2000, New York's Indian-American population more than doubled, according to census figures. The city has also seen an explosion of Indian restaurants at every level, from ambitious, expensive spots like Tamarind on East 22nd Street and Sapphire near Lincoln Center to Midtown steam-table dhabas like Minar. More than ever, New York's Indian restaurants exist to provide desis — Hindi for countrymen — with authentic tastes of home, instead of presenting a predictable repertory of Northern-style kormas and biryanis to outsiders.

Indian restaurants outside India have rarely reflected the central role of vegetarian cooking in Indian life, or its varied flavors. Where Americans see "vegetable curries," Indian cooks distinguish among dry and sauced, southern-style (flavored with mustard seeds and curry leaves) and Northern-style (cooked in tomatoes and onions), chili-hot and creamy-cool dishes. To one who eats this way from birth, Mr. Rathnam said, "a dish that is spicy and sweet tastes completely different to one that is spicy and sour."

Many thanks to Beth, my Indian traveling buddy and fellow yogi, for passing this one on.

The New Southern Charm

There’s an excellent article in the Miami Herald called “Hispanics Settling Into the South.” Pay heed. From 1990 to 2000, 7 of the 8 states with the fastest growing Hispanic populations were in the Southeast. North Carolina, Arkansas and Georgia each had growth in excess of 300%.

The New South, once rigidly defined in black and white, is changing in cultural, political and economic ways. Census figures tracked an 87 percent increase in the Southern Hispanic population from 1990 to 2002. And unlike places such as South Florida or California, where Hispanic roots extend through three generations or more, Deep South states are new to this kind of diversity -- and the language issue that it raises.

In the 1980s, two million immigrants entered the South. Four million came in the 1990s, swelling the total number to 8.6 million -- or about 9 percent of the population. Almost two-thirds are from Latin America.

The South is rich with agricultural and industrial jobs, and migrant workers and other Hispanic immigrants are increasingly taking them. They are headed for decent-paying jobs at poultry processing plants in Shelbyville, Tenn.; carpet mills in Dalton, Ga.; sock factories in Fort Payne, Ala.

''Jobs, jobs, jobs. That is the story of migration in the South, plain and simple,'' said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina. ``The South has grown by leaps and bounds economically, and many of those jobs are held by immigrants.''

The South is now home to one-third of U.S. Hispanics, second only to the West and more than the Northeast and the Midwest combined.

Jews Allowed?

To express their anger over affirmative action, the College Republicans, an organization at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, has set up a scholarship fund for whites only. Though the scholarship is only for $200 the group has received over $4,000 in pledges from like minded people.

Ironically, Jason Mattera, the president of the College Republicans, is of Puerto Rican descent, and was the recipient of a $5,000 scholarship from the Hispanic College Fund. According to CNN.

He (Jason) said he believes being eligible for such scholarships gives him "an inherent advantage over my white peers." He wants the university to award scholarships based on merit and not ethnicity.

Applicants for the College Republicans' scholarship must be of Caucasian descent, have high honors, write an essay, and show an impressive list of accomplishments, Mattera said. Sixteen people applied.

The State Republican party has criticized the fund as having “racist overtones.” Overtones? I’m afraid to imagine what some of the essays look like.

I Hate to Say We Told You So, But…

It’s official. The Census has just announced that the White population will drop to half – specifically, 50.1% of the population – in the year 2050. There’s no surprise here. It’s just that this is occurring even faster than expected, due mostly to higher than forecast immigration rates for Hispanics and Asians.

Some snippets from the article that is just coming over the wire:

Whites now represent 69 percent of the population, but their growth is slowing because of low rates of birth and immigration. Their total will grow 7 percent to 210 million, or 50.1 percent of the population, in 2050.

Between 2040 and 2050, the Census Bureau expects the non-Hispanic white population actually will decline slightly because of a large number of expected deaths of baby boomers, who by 2040 will be at least 76.

Meantime, the Hispanic and Asian populations are expected to continue their explosive growth. The Asian population is expected to more than triple to 33 million by 2050. Hispanics will increase their ranks by 188 percent to 102.6 million, or roughly one-quarter of the population.

"Historically, we've been a black-and-white country. That's not true any longer, and even less true in the future," said Roderick Harrison, a demographer with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, which studies issues of concern to minorities.

The bureau expects the black population will rise 71 percent to over 61 million, or about 15 percent of the population, compared with nearly 13 percent now. Blacks would remain the second-largest minority.

This means more of a mix of cultures and ethnic backgrounds, said Edward Kwanhun Rim, president of the Pacific Rim Cultural Foundation, Inc. in Barrington, Ill., and a member of a citizen advisory panel to the Census Bureau on the Asian population. "It will be a more colorful and bright future — we can hope."

Mr. Rim, we couldn’t agree with you more.

What Cartoon Promised Us “A Gay Old Time?”

On Fox’s new reality show “Playing it Straight,” contestant Jackie is challenged with finding a potential suitor from a group of fourteen eligible and not-so-eligible (gay) bachelors. Though I’m a bit weak on the details, if she winds up with a straight guy, she wins a million dollars. If a gay guy is the last one standing, he wins the money.

What is on trial is Jackie’s “gaydar,” which Fox defines as an “intuitive sense that enables someone to identify whether another person is gay.” The show (and its website) poses the question: “Do you have it?” To help you answer the question, the network put together a quiz so you can test yourself. I couldn’t resist:

1. Which musical starred Julie Andrews: "The Music Man," "The Sound of Music" or "West Side Story"?

2. What do Mike Brady (of "The Brady Bunch") and the second Darren Stephens (of "Bewitched") have in common?

3. For which film did Cher win the Oscar for best actress?

4. Who was a permanent fixture on the original "Hollywood Squares"?

5. What is Rock Hudson's real name?

6. How many stripes are on the Rainbow Flag?

7. What drink is made with vodka, triple sec and cranberry juice?

8. Whom does Smithers of "The Simpsons" carry a torch for?

9. Which movie doesn't feature a drag queen: "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," "Mommie Dearest" or "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar"?

10. What '80s hair band sings the song "Girls, Girls, Girls"?

11. Name the band Boy George fronted.

12. What is the name of Alicia Silverstone's character in the movie "Clueless"?

13. Which movie starred Barbra Streisand: "The Main Event," "Girlfight" or "Rocky"?

14. Who was the singing voice for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" and Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady"?

15. Who's the first performer to win an Emmy, Tony, Grammy and Oscar?
    

ANSWERS: 1. "The Sound of Music" 2. Both actors were gay. 3. "Moonstruck" 4. Paul Lynde 5. Roy Scherer 6. 6 7. Cosmopolitan 8. Mr. Burns 9. "Mommie Dearest" 10. Motley Crue 11. Culture Club 12. Cher 13. "The Main Event" 14. Marnie Nixon 15. Rita Moreno

If you’ve just had the revelation you should be buying up blocks of tickets for Bette Midler’s upcoming tour, rest assured. According to Robin Forbes, writer/publisher of GayDatingTips.com as quoted in today’s Chicago Tribune

“Asking a series of gay trivia and scoring a person on that doesn't really indicate whether or not one has gaydar or if the person is gay. I know a lot of gay men that don't have a single Cher or Queen album. They would probably fail in a trivia questionnaire." Forbes later adds that, “by observing and even talking to" somebody, a gay person "would probably be able to detect that [another is] indeed gay.”

And I got 8 out of the 15 right!

By the way, if you didn't get the answer to the question posed in the title, click here.

A Shift of Pace

As I threatened last week, here’s my blog on the book “Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America” by Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden, PhD. I finished reading it last night, and found it nothing short of inspiring, a vivid and insightful glimpse into the world aptly described in the book’s title.

It’s based on the African American Women’s Voices Project, a research study of 333 Black women, designed to explore how they are impacted by racism and sexism in America. According to the authors:

Black women in our country have had to perfect what we call “shifting,” a sort of subterfuge that African Americans have long practiced to ensure their survival in our society. Perhaps more than any other group of Americans, Black women are relentlessly pushed to serve and satisfy others and made to hide their true selves to placate White colleagues, Black men, and other segments of the community.They shift to accommodate differences in class as well as gender and ethnicity.

From one moment to the next, they change their outward behavior, attitude or tone, shifting “White,” then shifting “Black” again, shifting “corporate,” shifting “cool.” And shifting has become such an integral part of Black women’s behavior that some adopt an alternate pose or voice as easily as they blink their eyes or draw a breath – without thinking, and without realizing that the emptiness they feel and the roles they must play may be directly related.

And shifting is often internal, invisible. It’s the chipping away at her sense of self, at her feelings of wholeness and centeredness – often a consequence of living amidst racial and gender bias.

Results of the study showed that:

• Race discrimination against Black women persists. 90% surveyed say they have experienced discrimination.
  
• Gender discrimination against Black women is also pervasive. 69% reported having experienced bias or discrimination based on gender.
  
• Most Black women “shift” their behavior to accommodate others. 58% reported changing the way they act to fit in or be accepted by White people. This included changing the way they speak, toning down mannerisms, talking about what they think White folks are interested in, or avoiding controversial subjects.
  
• Discrimination is experienced most frequently at work. 69% have experienced either racial or gender discrimination at work.
  
• Black women frequently submerge their talents and strengths to support Black Men. 40% stated they have downplayed their abilities with Black men.
  
• Sexual abuse and harassment of Black women is all too frequent.
  
• There is increasing pressure on Black women to meet conventional beauty standards.
  
• Black mothers are acutely aware of having to train their children to cope with discrimination.
  
• Black women have a disproportionately high risk for depression.
  
• Black women often feel discriminated against within their church.

This is a must read for marketers looking to get into stuff that’s only hinted at in focus groups or anyone interested in exploring the human cost of our still immature society.

Same Old, Same Old

Business Week has gotten into the act with a cover story called “Hispanic Nation.” The title comes from a book by Geoffrey E. Fox titled Hispanic Nation: Culture, Politics, and the Constructing of Identity that is well worth a read, something I’m reluctant to say about the Business Week article unless you’re a complete neophyte to this stuff. Still, it reflects the growing interest in Hispanic consumers, and the growing obsession with things melting pot after Professor Huntington’s fiery essay.

Here’s a sample from the article:

The U.S. has never faced demographic change quite like this before. Certainly, the Latino boom brings a welcome charge to the economy at a time when others' population growth has slowed to a crawl. Without a steady supply of new workers and consumers, a graying U.S. might see a long-term slowdown along the lines of aging Japan, says former Housing and Urban Development chief Henry Cisneros, who now builds homes in Hispanic-rich markets such as San Antonio. "Here we have this younger, hard-working Latino population whose best working years are still ahead," he says.

Already, Latinos are a key catalyst of economic growth. Their disposable income has jumped 29% since 2001, to $652 billion last year, double the pace of the rest of the population, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. Similarly, the ranks of Latino entrepreneurs has jumped by 30% since 1998, calculates the Internal Revenue Service. "The impact of Hispanics is huge, especially since they're the fastest-growing demographic," says Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER ) Vice-President Carlos Vaquero, himself a Mexican immigrant based in Houston. Vaquero oversees part of the company's 350-person Hispanic unit, which is hiring 100 mostly bilingual financial advisers this year and which generated $1 billion worth of new business nationwide last year, double its goal.

What's not yet clear is whether Hispanic social cohesion will be so strong as to actually challenge the idea of the American melting pot. At the extreme, ardent assimilationists worry that the spread of Spanish eventually could prompt Congress to recognize it as an official second language, much as French is in Canada today. Some even predict a Quebec-style Latino dominance in states such as Texas and California that will encourage separatism, a view expressed in a recent book called Mexifornia: A State of Becoming by Victor Davis Hanson, a history professor at California State University at Fresno. These views have recently been echoed by Harvard University political scientist Samuel P. Huntington in a forthcoming book, Who Are We.

Que hay de nuevo? (Loose Translation: What else is new?)

Phat Study

A study presented this past week by Dr. Ten Lewis of Rush University Medical Center shows that a college education alone does not deter obesity, at least among African American women. According to the study of over 2,000 African American and Caucasian women, non college graduates of both ethnicities had a BMI (body mass index) of 31. Anything 30 or more is considered obese. However, Caucasian women with a college degree averaged 27, well below the obesity level, while their African American counterparts remained at 31. According to Dr. Lewis:

One potential explanation for the body differences among educated women of different races may rest, in part, with cultural differences in the stigma of being overweight.

Caucasians tend to associate being overweight with a number of negative qualities, she said, such as laziness, lack of intelligence and being unattractive. Those stereotypes are less prominent among African Americans, Lewis noted.

Additionally, she noted that being overweight is not the only health disparity that separates educated African American and Caucasians women, suggesting that even when African Americans achieve a higher education and go on to pursue successful careers, "race still matters."

Lewis explained that, among the college-educated women included in the study, African Americans reported more stress than Caucasians, perhaps resulting from discrimination or other factors linked to their race. Since research has associated stress with weight gain, these added race-related stressors could be responsible for the weight disparity between the two groups, Lewis noted.

If this is the case, it would suggest that "a college education isn't giving (African American women) the same benefits as it's giving white women,"

Incidentally, there’s an excellent book out dealing with the challenges facing African American Women called “Shifting : The Double Lives of Black Women in America” by Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden, PhD. Look for more blogs once I finish the book.

Risky Business

Black Enterprise posted a story today that Allstate Insurance Co. has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to settle charges by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi that it used credit information to discourage low-income applicants. Allstate says it didn’t break any laws and that credit scoring is a sound business practice that ultimately saves consumers money. The Commissioner disagreed:

From 2001 to 2003, Allstate used customer credit history to determine premium rates and payment plans, according to Garamendi's office. In some cases, Allstate required new clients to pay a full year's premium up front.

Garamendi's office maintained that those practices not only discriminated against poor and minority drivers but also violated Proposition 103, a 1988 voter initiative that guarantees "good driver discounts" to eligible customers.

A spokesman for the Commissioner’s office stated they know of no other insurance company that uses credit scores to evaluate auto insurance clients, and that they would pursue anyone doing so.

The Devil's in the Details

My eyes lit up when I saw the results of this research study come over the wire today.

The Headline: “Hispanic Viewers More Attentive to Ads.”
The Sponsor: Univision

The study was based on interviews with 617 Hispanic viewers of Univision (what?) and 668 non-Hispanic English television viewers.

The Top Findings:

36 percent of participants said they watch Spanish-language television commercials through the end, compared with 10 percent of non-Hispanics who watch ads in English.

A majority of Hispanic viewers, 52 percent, said they frequently get information on buying products from watching Spanish-language commercials, compared with 7 percent of non-Hispanics watching ads in English.

As much as 84 percent of Hispanics surveyed said they were more likely to buy a product advertised on Spanish-language television, according to the study.

Interesting stuff. Let someone else admonish you to always keep in mind the sponsor of any research study. Let me also add that the executor of the study, Nielsen Media Research, is known for its impeccable standards as a market research supplier.

I’ll reserve further comment for when I get to see the methodology. If I ever do.

Making Amends

If you’re as confused (and appalled) as I am over the President’s call for a constitution amendment against gay marriage, there is hope. The Village Voice has a great article by L.A. Scot Powe Jr. on how difficult it is to amend the constitution. To quote:

If history is any guide (as it often is), the Constitution will stay the way it was before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the San Francisco mayor ushered in the era of gay marriage. It is truly difficult to amend the Constitution; it has only been done 27 times, and the bulk of those have come in clusters: The Bill of Rights (1-10) was adopted immediately, the Reconstruction Amendments (13-15) came in the aftermath of the Civil War, and the next four (16-19) were Progressive Era amendments adopted during Woodrow Wilson's two terms. That leaves only 10 others (and one of those, the 27th, on congressional pay raises, was sent to the states with the original Bill of Rights).

Getting a two-thirds vote, even in less polarized eras, has proven difficult. There have been more than 10,000 proposed amendments introduced in Congress. Only 33 have received the necessary votes in both houses, even when there has been substantial national support. Thus, for about four decades, polling data has shown that more than 70 percent of Americans favor voluntary prayer in public schools. During the same period, there have been several serious attempts to pass an amendment allowing voluntary prayer in the schools. Only twice, in 1966 in the Senate and in 1998 in the House, has a proposal gotten out of committee, and although it pulled a majority each time (49-37 and 224-203), it fell far short of the requisite votes. Similarly, after the Supreme Court held that flag burning was constitutionally protected, there was an outcry demanding an amendment. But that never made it either.

Though same-sex marriage was the last thing on the mind of most of the founding fathers, the clear intent of the constitution was to protect rights; not take them away. While my personal plans don’t entail a weekend in San Francisco anytime soon, I for one am voluntarily praying that sanity will prevail.

The Committee To Reelect

The Associated Press has just announced that the Bush campaign has just announced its media plans for the November election, and Spanish language advertising will figure prominently. The Campaign said that Hispanics will be a big part of their strategy, and ads will begin next week on Univision and Telemundo in New Mexico, Flordia, Nevada and Arizona.

Hispanics traditionally have favored the Democratic Party in presidential elections, but support has dropped in recent years. In 1996, 72 percent of Hispanics voted to reelect President Clinton, compared with just 21 percent for Republican Bob Dole. Four years later, Democrat Al Gore won 62 percent of Hispanic votes, versus 35 percent for Bush.

States with large Hispanic populations, such as Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida, were competitive in 2000, with contests being decided by six percentage points or less. They are considered in play again in 2004.

''If the Republicans take 5 [percent] to 10 percent of the Hispanic vote, they're going to kill the Democrats in those key states,'' said Joe Velasquez, a Democratic consultant with Moving America Forward, a group trying to mobilize Hispanic voters.

According to the article, The Bush Campaign and Republicans outspent the Gore Campaign and Democrats by two to one.

The Huntington Challenge

A must read, if you haven’t already, is “The Hispanic Challenge” by the very eminent political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, appearing in this month’s issue of Foreign Policy magazine. The article, linkable at foreignpolicy.com is an excerpt from his forthcoming book “Who We Are.”

Here’s a sample, from page one, which pretty much sums up the paper:

In this new era, the single most immediate and most serious challenge to America's traditional identity comes from the immense and continuing immigration from Latin America, especially from Mexico, and the fertility rates of these immigrants compared to black and white American natives. Americans like to boast of their past success in assimilating millions of immigrants into their society, culture, and politics. But Americans have tended to generalize about immigrants without distinguishing among them and have focused on the economic costs and benefits of immigration, ignoring its social and cultural consequences. As a result, they have overlooked the unique characteristics and problems posed by contemporary Hispanic immigration. The extent and nature of this immigration differ fundamentally from those of previous immigration, and the assimilation successes of the past are unlikely to be duplicated with the contemporary flood of immigrants from Latin America. This reality poses a fundamental question: Will the United States remain a country with a single national language and a core Anglo-Protestant culture? By ignoring this question, Americans acquiesce to their eventual transformation into two peoples with two cultures (Anglo and Hispanic) and two languages (English and Spanish).

Huntington cites a litany of facts and figures – all the right ones – that support his point that current immigrants, specifically Mexicans, do not assimilate like prior waves of immigrants. He’s right. But I think he’s wrong in his conclusion that the United States is dividing into “two peoples with two cultures.”

Firstly, the bulk of Hispanic immigration has been recent, the population having just about doubled since 1980, so it’s too soon to tell just how Hispanic folks are going to assimilate. About 60% of Hispanic adults are immigrants, and a majority of kids are second generation. So as a group, Hispanics are just not too far down the acculturation continuum. But there is little evidence to suggest that Hispanics are not on the path to becoming full-fledged, card carrying Americans. Not Anglos. But Americans.

The Pew Hispanic Center’s 2002 National Study of Latinos showed that over ¾ of 3rd generation Latinos are English dominant. Consumer data from sources like AC Nielsen’s Hispanic Homescan™ Panel show that as Hispanic consumers acculturate, their purchases start to look more and more like general market consumers.

Huntington references (but neglects to name) Professors Portes and Rumbaut's study of second generation Americans, where a minority of Mexican high school students chose the word “American” to identify themselves, preferring terms such as “Hispanic” or “Mexican American.” He misses the point that these designations are very American, expressions of an ethnic identity, just as third or fourth generation Americans may refer to themselves as “Greek,” “Irish,” or “Jewish” without in any way diminishing their “American-ness.”

Huntington’s paper is causing a national uproar, in large part, because he brings up a lot of questions worthy of being addressed. Hispanics are clearly not assimilating the way other immigrants did, and their impact on the social and economic fabric of the United States is yet to be understood.

Where Huntington fails is to put Hispanic immigration in the broader context of an evolving America, one that is becoming more tolerant, diverse and yes, multicultural. To consider it a threat to the heart and soul of American culture and a rejection of “the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream” is shortsighted.

To quote David Brooks’ op-ed piece in the New York Times

Huntington is right that Mexican-Americans lag at school. But that’s in part because we’ve failed them. Our integration machinery is broken. But if we close our borders to new immigration, you can kiss goodbye the new energy, new tastes and new strivers who want to lunge into the future. That’s the real threat to the American creed.”

Thanks, Uncle Herb.