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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It's the Latinos' Turn for Help

By José Armas
Freelance writer
      In modern times we've had three Latino governors, tons of Latino lawmakers and a Democrat controlled Legislature. They've passed bills to help Indians, blacks, women, veterans, children, the disabled. Heck, they've even passed bills for endangered animals.
       Why then, haven't Latinos passed a law to specifically help Latinos? Maybe it's a cultural thing. Could it be self-reliance values or a pride thing; we don't speak up 'cause we don't want to be seen as victims?
       News-flash! Our neglected needs have deteriorated to the point they're threatening the social, health and economic future of our state. Unaddressed problems include: increasing health disparities; the largest number of working poor, unemployed, uninsured and hungry; and the most uneducated number of students in the state.
       Perhaps if Latino legislators talked more about the needs of their own community, others would also see the light and want to do something.
       Yes, a Department of Hispanic Affairs bill passed last year. Of course, the budget didn't include one penny. That's a clue of what lawmakers think our needs are worth. Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed it, citing no budget.
       Addressing Latino problems will positively impact everyone's quality of life. For example, if New Mexico invested to graduate the 90,000 Latino students that are currently destined to failure, that workforce would contribute an additional $800 million — a year — to our economy (This year's budget shortfall is $500 million).
       And, this is just in education. If we focused on the myriad other areas where we lag behind, the payback would be enormous.
       After getting in-depth facts from our community, the governor is supporting two historic bills to improve our lot. The first is the Department of Hispanic Affairs — with money. And this bill would produce an annual status report on what's working and what needs fixing. A novel idea, right?
       In another far reaching initiative, Richardson has declared New Mexico to be the flagship state to address the Latino education crisis and is calling for a Hispanic Education Act.
       Yet, before anyone knew what was in this bill, it was being attacked by Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and Republicans Rep. Dennis Roch of Tucumcari, Sen. Vernon Ashbill of Carlsbad and Sen. Mark Boitano of Albuquerque.
       Today so-called leaders go on about “improving” or “narrowing” the achievement gap. That implies Latinos and people of color are not capable of learning at the same level as whites. An inflammatory kind of guy, might respond: “Racists!”
       There's a new education movement in New Mexico led by the Latino/Hispano Education Improvement Task Force. According to Adrian Pedroza, one of their leaders, their battle cry is: “Eliminate the achievement gap.” He adds, “It can be done. If there is a will to do it.”
       The most common excuse for ignoring us is: “We cannot give preferential treatment to any one group.” No? Our society was built on preferential treatment for one group: whites. No one has questioned this preferential treatment because, after all, whites were the majority.
       Actually, preferential treatment doesn't have to be bad. Sometimes it is the answer.
       Preferential treatment to problems of the groups mentioned earlier provides a focus of attention on where specific needs exist. Businesses maximize profits by preferential treatment; they call it segmenting their customers.
       If we segmented and targeted the problems of our community, the returns would result in New Mexico ceasing to be one of the poorest states. That kind of preferential treatment sounds like it should be a mandate to me.
       The Department of Hispanic Affairs and the Hispanic Education Act will improve the conditions of all New Mexicans. It does require spreading some of that preferential treatment to New Mexico's increasing majority population.
       

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