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WHO WAS THE FIRST CUBAN-AMERICAN CONFIRMED FOR APPEALS BENCH?

February 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

First Cuban-American Confirmed for Appeals Bench

Paul’s objection triggered a procedure that delayed a final vote for 30 hours — until Wednesday.

As Milbank writes, the GOP just can’t seem to help itself when showing disrespect to the Latino electorate:

The party’s presidential candidates have done long-term damage by vowing opposition to the DREAM Act (legalization for illegal immigrants who serve in the armed forces) and by trying to paint each other as too soft on immigration (highlighted by Herman Cain’s call for a lethal electric fence). Rubio and Jeb Bush have called for an end to what Rubio called“harsh and intolerable” rhetoric.

The Hispanic population is expected to double — to 30 percent of the United States population — in the coming decades. So if Latinos continue to vote 2-to-1 for Democrats, the Republican Party will become irrelevant. Zoltan Hajnal of the University of California, San Diego, an authority on racial politics, sees a parallel with the Republicans’ alienation of African Americans in the 1960s. “The image of the party is pretty clear to most Latinos,” he said, “and once party images are built, they get passed on from parent to child in a process that’s very resistant to change.”

The party simply can’t afford self-inflicted wounds such as the Jordan debacle. “He’s an integral part of our community,” Rubio told his colleagues.

The five senators opposing Jordan’s confirmation in Wednesday’s vote? David Vitter, Roy Blunt, Pat Toomey, Lee and Paul.

Read More: http://fcir.org/2012/02/16/first-cuban-american-confirmed-for-appeals-bench/

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DOES NEW MEXICO HAVE ANY HISPANIC ICONS: U.S. SCHOLAR GEORGE I. SANCHEZ

February 11, 2012 by 5 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Noted US Latino scholar ‘forgotten’ in birthplace

The name George I. Sanchez has been celebrated for years among Mexican Americans in Texas and California.

This undated image provided by Cynthia Kennedy/AP shows pioneer Mexican American educator and activist George I. Sanchez standing somewhere in New Mexico before his days as a well-known advocate in Texas and California

A son of an Arizona miner, the Albuquerque-born Sanchez worked his way out of poverty as a rural public school teacher in New Mexico to become a pioneer scholar and education activist. His 1940 classic book “Forgotten People” brought attention to the plight of poor Mexican Americans in Taos.
His writings on racial segregation attracted the attention of Thurgood Marshall, the lead NAACP attorney in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case and later a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
But while a dozen or so schools in Texas and California are named in honor of Sanchez – including the School of Education building at the University of Texas where he taught for many years – not a single school in New Mexico bears his name. Few New Mexico educators or activists know much about him, according to historians and educators. No plaque exists to show his birthplace or the school where Sanchez taught. He is not listed among the state’s notable figures in New Mexico Centennial guidebooks.
In a state obsessed with its Hispanic heritage, its most celebrated Latino civil rights leader and “dean of Mexican American studies,” ironically, is seldom mentioned. His political fallout with state lawmakers in the 1930s over education reform and a divorce with his first wife, Virginia Romero, who was from a politically connected New Mexican family, diminished his stature at the time. Forty years after his death, few memories of him remain.

photo by: Christianson-Leberman Studio of Austin

He’s a forgotten man for a forgotten people,” said his granddaughter Cindy Kennedy, 48, a Santa Fe teacher.
Sanchez developed his theories on school inequalities using New Mexico’s Hispanic and Navajo populations as examples. He argued that bilingual students were discriminated against by monolingual school systems and testified in landmark court cases about the negative effects of segregation and IQ testing on Hispanic, American Indian and black children.
That work seldom comes up in present-day discussions about education reform in the state.
“It does surprise me that New Mexico doesn’t honor Sanchez,” said Carlos Blanton, a history professor at Texas A&M University, who is writing a book about the educator. “Maybe it’s because he left, and you just don’t leave New Mexico.”
Born in Albuquerque in 1906, Sanchez became a public school teacher at a small rural school in Yrisarri, N.M. just outside of Albuquerque at the age of 16. Within six years, he became superintendent of the Bernalillo County school district while taking classes at the University of New Mexico. It was this teaching experience among the children of poor Hispanic ranchers that he would later say sparked his mission to reform the state’s educational system, particularly IQ testing of Hispanics and American Indians, which he viewed as racial bias.
Eventually, Sanchez became what would be equivalent to the state’s secretary of education thanks to a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation while he also finished his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, said Blanton.
But Sanchez clashed with the state’s governor for pushing a state equalization funding formula for schools and came under fire from some lawmakers for helping with a University of New Mexico professor’s survey on racial attitudes in schools, said Blanton. The highly publicized fights resulted in the state opting not to fund a Department of Education, ultimately leaving Sanchez without a job.
“He was a boy genius but was damaged goods,” said Blanton.
Thanks to a Carnegie commission to UNM to study the education and economic conditions of the state’s Spanish-speaking population, Sanchez wrote “Forgotten People.” It didn’t romanticize New Mexico, but rather focused on a population that was slowly being pushed aside by discrimination.

This undated image provided by Cynthia Kennedy/AP shows pioneer Mexican American educator and activist George I. Sanchez sitting in one of his offices in N.M., before his days as a well-known advocate in Texas and California.

The book drew attention from the University of Texas, which eventually offered Sanchez a job. There, he wrote other books, became a national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens and corresponded with Marshall on desegregation strategy. Sanchez’s writings would be used in a number of desegregation cases leading up to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case which would legally end “separate but equal” in public education. He died in 1972.
Cynthia E. Orozco, a history professor at Eastern New Mexico University, said Sanchez is not well known in New Mexico because historians haven’t paid too much attention to the state’s 20th century history, focusing instead on its Spanish colonial heritage. “Hispanics want to take pride in their heritage and that’s the least controversial option,” said Orozco.
Moises Venegas, a retired educator in Albuquerque, said bringing up Sanchez also brings up painful, unfinished business in New Mexico – namely, that of educating the state’s poor Latino population.
“I think a lot of what my grandfather talked about is still relevant today,” said Sanchez’s grandson, Mark Sprague, 58, of Austin, Texas. “I think we’d be honored if New Mexico finally recognized him.”
Kennedy, Sanchez’s granddaughter, agreed that the family would love it should New Mexico finally recognize her grandfather. But she said the family won’t actively campaign for a school name or other monument. “I’ve very proud to have him as my grandfather and I’m happy to continue his legacy as a teacher,” said Sanchez. “It’s just not like us demand something. Tata (her name for her grandfather) also didn’t seek recognition.”
However, Greg Kennedy, Cynthia’s husband, and a pastor at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Santa Fe, said it would be fitting if New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who was born in Texas, is the one to finally honor the New Mexico-born civil rights leader. “That would be the ultimate,” he said.
At George I. Sanchez Elementary in Houston, Texas, the school has a portrait of Sanchez hanging in its hallway and a few newspaper articles on the educator behind a glass case. Principal Jesus Herrera said he believes Sanchez would be proud of his school since most of the students are immigrants from Mexico and the schools ranks high in academic achievement.
Yet, Herrera was surprised to discover that Sanchez was not well-known in his home state of New Mexico.
“I didn’t even know he was from New Mexico,” said Herrera. “I was just assumed he was from Texas.”
Read more: Fresno Bee

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THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY FEB 3RD (INCLUDES WKD 4TH – 5TH)

February 3, 2012 by 5 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

FEBRUARY 3rd –  ON THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY

Gonzales Becomes First Hispanic U.S. Attorney General – On this day in 2005, Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic attorney general despite protests over his record on torture.The Senate approved his nomination on a largely party-line vote of 60-36, reflecting a split between Republicans and Democrats over whether the administration’s counterterrorism policies had led to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. Shortly after the Senate vote, Vice President Dick Cheney swore in Gonzales as attorney general in a small ceremony in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. President Bush, who was traveling, called to congratulate him.

Relief Teams Sent to Help the Immigrants – On this day in 1847, an appeal was answered for relief for the ill-fated Donner Party. The immigrants, who had suffered from poor decisions, timing, and luck, had been stranded for months near the crest of the Sierra Nevada. In Yerba Buena (today’s San Francisco), a collection was made at a meeting called by the alcalde Washington Bartlett. They raised eight hundred dollars to purchase provisions, clothing, horses, and mules, to rescue those souls still stranded.

INTERNATIONAL (INCLUDING USA) TIMELINE OF LATINO EVENTS

1783 – Spain recognizes US independence

1945 – Walt Disney’s “3 Caballeros” released (see picture above)

1962 – Pres Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food & drugs

1964 – Black & Puerto Rican students boycott NYC public schools

1989 – Military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay

ON THIS DAY “THE WEEKEND EDITION”

ON THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY (FEBRUARY 4th)

Bahía to Villa de Goliad – On this day in 1829, the Mexican government issued a decree officially changing the name La Bahía to Villa de Goliad. The term La Bahía (“the bay”) historically referred to several entities, including La Bahía del Espíritu Santo (present Matagorda and Lavaca bays) and Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga Mission and its accompanying presidio. Coahuila and Texas state legislator Rafael Antonio Manchola proposed the change, arguing that the name of the settlement around the presidio was meaningless because neither the mission nor presidio were located on “the bay.” His suggestion of “Goliad” was actually an anagram for the name of Father Hidalgo, the priest who led the fight for Mexican independence. For a time during the 1830s settlers called the town both La Bahía and Goliad. The community played a key role in the Texas Revolution and became the site of the signing of the first declaration of independence for Texas.

Hero from Rio Grande Valley Dies in Vietnam – On this day in 1968, Marine sergeant Alfredo Gonzalez died near Thua Thein, Vietnam, after action that earned him the Medal of Honor. On January 31 the native of Edinburg was commanding a platoon in a truck convoy formed to relieve pressure on the beleaguered city of Hue. After being wounded, he moved through a fire-swept area and rescued a wounded comrade. On February 3 he was again wounded, but refused medical treatment. The next day, as the enemy inflicted heavy casualties on his company, Gonzalez knocked out a rocket position and suppressed much enemy fire before falling. The missile destroyer USS Alfredo Gonzalez, named for him, is the first United States military ship named for a Hispanic.

INTERNATIONAL (INCLUDING USA) TIMELINE OF LATINO EVENTS

1855 – Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela

1914 – US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law

1984 – Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168m) Las Vegas

ON THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY (FEBRUARY 5th )

Immigration Passed Over Wilson’s Veto – On this day in 1917, with more than a two-thirds majority, Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson‘s veto of the previous week and passes the Immigration Act. The law required a literacy test for immigrants and barred Asiatic laborers, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the United States, such as the Philippines. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States received a majority of the world’s immigrants, with 1.3 million immigrants passing through New York’s Ellis Island in 1907 alone. Various restrictions had been applied against immigrants since the 1890s, but most of those seeking entrance into the United States were accepted. However, in 1894, the Immigration Restriction League was founded in Boston and subsequently petitioned the U.S. government to legislate that immigrants be required to demonstrate literacy in some language before being accepted. The organization hoped to quell the recent surge of lower-class immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Congress passed a literacy bill in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. In early 1917, with America’s entrance into World War I three months away, xenophobia was at a new high, and a bill restricting immigration was passed over President Wilson’s veto. Subsequent immigration to the United States sharply declined, and, in 1924 a law was passed requiring immigrant inspection in countries of origin, leading to the closure of Ellis Island and other major immigrant processing centers. Between 1892 and 1924, some 16 million people successfully immigrated to the United States to seek a better life.

INTERNATIONAL (INCLUDING USA) TIMELINE OF LATINO EVENTS

1428 – King Alfonso V, orders Sicily’s Jews to attend conversion sermons (pictured above)

1556 – Kings Henri I & Philip II sign Treaty of Vaucelles

1782 – Spanish take Minorca (western Mediterranean) from English

1900 – The United States and the United Kingdom sign treaty for Panama Canal

1904 – American occupation of Cuba ends

1917 – Mexican Constitution Proclaimed  – On this day in 1917, after seven years of revolution and civil upheaval, Mexican President Venustiano Carranza emerged as the leader of the revolutionary forces. In an attempt to institutionalize the Revolution, he called for a meeting at Querétaro, where the revolutionaries put together a new supreme law for Mexico; hence, the “Constitucion Politica de los Estados Unidos de Mexicanos” was officially formed (Country Studies). To many, this is seen as one of the most liberal codes of the century, due to its clauses on land reform, women rights- that in the end were stroked from the document- and its complex labor code that emphasized the rights of the Mexicans above any other thing (Tuck). However, some of its provisions were not implemented at the time because the former president overlook constitutional reforms to maintain the economy and mend its deterioration; similarly, the following presidents- Obregon and Calles- ignored the provisions- specially those related to land expropriation- to focus on their personal needs and pragmatic views.

1949 – Huaso sets official world equestrian high-jump record, 2.47 m, Chic

1967 – Anastasio Somoza elected president of Nicaragua

1986 – Corazon Aquino & Ferdinand Marcos appear on “Nightline”

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THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY FEB 2ND

February 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO

On this day in 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Mexico cedes about half of its territory to the United States, mainly parts of what are now Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

THE WOMAN IN BLUE

On this day in 1620, María Coronel took religious vows in a Franciscan order of nuns who wore an outer cloak of coarse blue cloth over the traditional brown habit. As a nun, now known as María de Jesús de Agreda, she had numerous mystic experiences (more than 500) in which she thought she visited a distant, unknown land. Franciscan authorities determined that the land was eastern New Mexico and far western Texas. Sister María supposedly contacted several Indian cultures, including the Jumanos, and told the natives to seek instruction from the Spanish. Shortly thereafter, some fifty Jumano Indians appeared at the Franciscan convent of old Isleta, south of present Albuquerque, in July 1629 and said that they had been sent to find religious teachers. They already demonstrated rudimentary knowledge of Christianity, and when asked who had instructed them replied, “the Woman in Blue.” A subsequent expedition to the Jumanos, led by Fray Juan de Salas, encountered a large band of Indians in Southwest Texas. The Indians claimed that they had been advised by the Woman in Blue of approaching Christian missionaries. Subsequently, some 2,000 natives presented themselves for baptism and further religious instruction. Two years later, Fray Alonso de Benavides traveled to Spain, where he interviewed María de Jesús at Agreda. Sister María told of her bilocations and acknowledged that she was indeed the Lady in Blue. After she died in 1665, her story was published in Spain. Although she said her last visitation to the New World was in 1631, the legend of her appearances was current until the 1690s. In the 1840s a mysterious woman in blue reportedly traveled the Sabine River valley aiding malaria victims, and her apparition was reported as recently as World War II.

COTTON COMES TO THE RGV

On this day in 1830, business partners John Stryker and James Wiley Magoffin arrived at Matamoros in the sloop Washington. They made port carrying a newly designed cotton gin and several hundred bags of upland cotton seed and set out distributing free seed to landowners in the Rio Grande Valley. Magoffin eventually moved to Chihuahua, but Stryker purchased property along the Rio Grande. Stryker, an agriculturalist, was appointed consul for the port of Goliad (later the port of Matagorda) by President Andrew Jackson in 1835. He bought a league of land in Victoria, where he was living at the time of his death in 1844. His efforts in cotton seed distribution and the introduction of the cotton gin enabled the profitable cotton culture of the Rio Grande Valley. Years later those same cotton fields provided the pathway for the dreaded boll weevil’s entry into the United States.

1923 US signs friendship treaty with Central American countries

1948 President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program

1972 Lefty Gomez selected for Hall of Fame

2002  The wedding of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to the Argentinean born Máxima Zorreguieta takes place

2003 Jennifer Lopez starts a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘All I Have’

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THIS DAY IN LATINO U.S. HISTORY FEB 1ST

February 1, 2012 by 3 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

FEBRUARY 1ST

On this day in 1933, the United States and Mexico signed the Rio Grande Rectification Treaty, which called for construction of a 590-foot-wide floodway and 66-foot-wide normal flow channel along a stretch of the river from Cordova Island to below Fort Quitman. The agreement became necessary after the 1916 completion of Elephant Butte Dam near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Assuring water for irrigation, Elephant Butte also kept the stream from flooding and cleaning its own channel. The bed filled with silt, and uncontrolled wanderings not only wasted water but destroyed crops and shifted the international boundary. When little water flowed through the river the channel still marked the border, but that line became more and more difficult to find. The agreement made the international boundary the middle of the deepest channel of the Rio Grande within the rectified channel. The project was completed in 1938 at a cost of $5 million, 88 percent of which the United States paid. The International Boundary Commission, later renamed the International Boundary and Water Commission, was given responsibility for its construction and maintenance.

Speaking of the US/Mexico Border….

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