Dead Weight

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog, partly because I have been saddened by the violence in Mexico.  I do feel that I should comment on an article in the New York Times:  "No Child Left Behind. Just a Demographic." by ROSS RAMSEY, published online October 6, 2012, published in the Sunday NY Times October 7 on page 27A.  Here are the key quotes from the Ramsey article:

"As of 2010, 40.4 percent of Hispanics in the state 25 and older had completed something less than a high school education....

If the numbers persist, that population will have problems operating at full potential in the Texas of the future. That’s trouble for them. It’s trouble for future employers looking for help. And it’s trouble for the next generation of well-trained, working taxpayers who will have to carry that group, either as social cases, prison cases, undertrained employees, whatever.

They will be the band that didn’t practice, the team that didn’t work out. Dead weight."

The "dead weight" comment really saddens me.  College can be hard academically and financially, but high school is tuition-free.  Having been a public school teacher I can tell you that poor attitude from parents towards education is a cancer that destroys a child's education.

Public education is vital to a child's future.  It is  not the amount of money a school district has that determines success, it is the attitude and involvement of the parents that makes the biggest impact.

Robert

Juan Rangel and a Recipe for Success

Juan Rangel is CEO of Chicago's United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) and co-chair of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's recent election campaign. He was interviewed in the Saturday, September 17, 2011 issue of the Wall Street Journal: The Masters of Hispanic Destiny by David Feith.

The UNO organization is described this way: Its premise today is that Hispanics in the U.S. are masters of their own destinies, responsible for their affairs good and bad, and duty-bound to invest in American civic life.

Some of what Mr. Rangel went on to say is very encouraging:

the central question for Hispanics to answer as they grow in number and potential political influence is: "Do we want to be the next victimized minority group in America, or do we want to be the next successful immigrant group?"

"...we're gonna play by the rules, play hard, and get ahead, and it'll be good for the country and good for our community."

Education is the key to success. Hard work is useful, but that is not enough. Every ditch digger works hard, but that does not make a ditch digger successful. Mr. Rangel promotes the importance of education.

We live in a competitive world. If we track success by ethnic group, and look at the CEO's of large American companies, it looks like the Hispanic community is being outflanked by those communities that focus on education.

Robert Canright

Note:
Reading the online version of the Wall Street Journal is tricky if you do not have a paid subscription to the online version. The trick is to reach the article through Google. Just google
masters of hispanic destiny wall street journal
and you should get a link that accesses the article.

Memories from my Abuelita's house

I took my daughter today to hear Lucia di Lammermoor Live at the MET on HD. It was a wonderful experience at my neighborhood movie theater.

I first learned to love opera in my Abuelita's house in Chihuahua. I did not know at that time that I was listening to Madam Butterfly by Puccini. I was a preschool child. My mother loved Aida by Verdi and played it in our home in America.

The music from my Abuelita's home haunted me for years. As an adult I finally realized it was the song "Un bel di" (One beautiful day) from Madam Butterfly that haunted my memories.

In was a nice thought I had in the movie theater today that my daughter is carrying on a multi-generational love of opera. I am very grateful to my Abuelita and my mother for their love of good music.

God bless you, Abuelita. I remember you fondly.

Robert

What can one say?

The violence in Mexico is so bad that I have been saddened by it for a long time. It has been hard to envision a positive future for Mexico while it is so torn by the shooting war with the drug lords.

Robert

What's Happened to Alberto Gonzalez?

Alberto Gonzalez, former U.S. Attorney General, has had trouble finding work. Texas Tech University has given him a job.

Here is a link to a New York Times Magazine interview by Deborah Solomon with Gonzalez.

Robert

Pancho Villa, Carlos Slim, and the New York Times

When my mother visited recently I found a video at Blockbuster for her: "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" starring Antonio Banderas. It was a fascinating film, although the depiction of Pancho Villa made my mother angry. One interesting fact brought out in the film was that William Randolph Hearst had his newspapers vilify Pancho Villa because Villa's revolution was costing Hearst money.

So newspaper owners use their newspapers to promote their person business interests rather than to focus on telling the truth to the readers, fancy that. But now the worm is turning. The Monday February 16 issue of the New York Times ran an article about Carlos Slim increasing his interest in the New York Times: "The Reticent Media Baron" by Marc Lacy, Page 1 of the Business Section.

Once American newspapers interfered with Mexican affairs during one of Mexico's revolutions. It looks like before long a Mexican will gain control of the New York Times and begin pulling its strings.

The Los Angeles Times has been dismantled by its new corporate owners. Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal and I'm waiting to see the quality of business reporting disintegrate. How long before Carlos Slim gains operational control of the New York Times and muzzles it? Is our free press disappearing?

Robert Canright

PS
My mother is from Chihuahua and has talked to me about Pancho Villa since I was a child. We still have money minted by Pancho Villa. He is a hero to some in Chihuahua.

Time for Positive Messages

Shawn Williams wrote a fine essay, "A Lesson from Black Immigrants," in the Sunday January 4, 2009 Dallas Morning News. He wrote:

"Black immigrants – whether from the continent of Africa or the islands of the Caribbean – come to this country facing most of the same challenges and barriers that confront multi-generational black Americans; they have just done a better job of rising above them."

"As African-Americans, we have to take the shackles off our children's imaginations. We have to stop telling them what America won't let them grow to be and instead encourage them to go out make their dreams come true."

Some elements of the Hispanic community try to copy the old-fashioned negative attitudes of some old-style African-American politicians. But the old-fashioned attitude of constantly throwing the race card into the political game is being abandoned by the new generation of African-American politicians.

The New York Times Magazine, August 10, 2008, ran a fine article, "Is Obama the End of Black Politics?" by Matt Bai. The article quoted Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts saying, "I don't have to be the black oracle. All I have to be is as good a human being and as good a governor as I can." (Page 55) Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said, "I don't want to be the person that's turned to when CNN talks about black leaders." He said, "I want people to talk to me about nonproliferation. I want them to run to me to speak about the situation in the Middle East."

I highly recommend the film, Street Fight, about Cory Booker's run for Mayor. You can see he was right in the middle of African American politics. He had to put up with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton coming to Newark to campaign for James Sharpe, who eventually went to prison for corruption.

The African American community is beginning to move beyond race-based politics. The Hispanic community needs to do like-wise and resist the easy and shabby tactic of calling everyone racist who opposes them politically.

Robert Canright