Puerto Rican Festival

This article relates loosely to the book. The larger focuse of the article is to introduce and to explain the Puerto Rican day parade. The festival is from august
1st to August 3rd. The Festival averages 7,000 people a day and is a way for the Puerto Ricans of New York and Puerto Ricans in general to gather and show their pride.

http://www.prfestival.com/

Salsa in New York

This article/blog talks about the origins of salsa. The article describes in detail the origins of salsa music and how the puerto rican people of new york made this type of music popular in the United States. This relates to the book that we have been reading because it discusses the origins of salsa and the outlet that it provided for everthing from celebrations to working out frustration.

http://www.geocities.com/sd_au/articles/sdhsalsapr.htm

There is great news to be heard in three southern states. The Southern Regional Education Board projects that more than double the rate of graduatoin for Hispanic students in these three states by the year 2022. It also projects that their will be a greater increase of Hispanic students in these schools compared to other students. The important part about this article is that it shows that the number of Hispanics graduating from high school is on the rise. As most people know it is important to graduate highschool so a better job can be found, and also it is shown that people in higher socio-economic classes participate more in politics. This article points out that in these three states at least, there may be a rise in the pay scale for Hispanic worker on average, and for a greater participation in politics.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/12948

Miller goes down

As it turns out, an important way of getting the word out for legislation that will hurt the Hispanic community can be done through threatening boycotts. A boycott threat is exactly what was needed to get the attention of Miller Brewing Co., which at one time supported a political candidate who co-authored a strong anti-immigration law. Leaders from the Hispanic community found out about these contributions from Miller Brewing Co, and decided to have a little chat with them. Although Miller is not spilling the beans on anything, the beer giant published ads in magazines denouncing the immigration law, and the candidate who supported the law. So something made the company decide not to risk angering the Hispanic community. It seems that a good way to lobby for something may to be by boycotting a company that is in opposition to your beliefs and hitting them in their pocket book.
http://www.hispaniconline.com/trends/2006/jun-jul/politics/index.html

Latino Bloc: A Force Reckon With

Arturo Vargas wrote an article in the Mercury Times (a prominent Silicon Valley paper) about the importance of the Latino vote. Many people have written about and discussed the ever more important Latino vote. Arturo Vargas goes a step further and provides some compelling, and current, numbers. Until reading this article I was not aware that a third of the voters for the democratic primary in Texas and California were Latino. Texas and California are sought after states, when it comes to the primary and general election. In both states ten percent of the republican primary vote came from Latino’s. Reporters have talked about the importance of the Latino vote, but the numbers provide extremely compelling evidence. The article also, talks about the increase in the number of Latino participants in this year’s primary. The number of registered Latino voters is not large in the grand scheme of things, but the high Latino voter turnout makes up for it. Because of the importance California and Texas candidates may try to cater to the Latino’s more than they have in the past. I believe that the Latino’s will be better represented by the democrats, because they make up 30% of the voters in these two key states; while in the republican party they only make up 10% of voters from these states. It appears that in these two states at least, the Latino voting bloc is growing. Perhaps with this large voting bloc, more Latino’s will become state representatives and Senators, in California and Texas.
Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_8767332

Conference to Educate

This article focuses on a conference at the University of Missouri that is starting tomorrow. The conference is called "Cambio de Colores: Latinos in Missouri". The conference is aiming to put politics, mainly the immigration debate, aside. The focus of the conference is to “foster discussion on best practices regarding change and integration, communities, youths, education, health and civil rights”. Hispanics are part of the Missouri community, and they should not be neglected or made the scapegoat of the state. The article describes briefly that Missouri State legislation has been pushing immigration laws that would affect the community. The conference wants people to realize that Hispanics are an important part of the community. Another goal of the conference is to educate people that the Hispanics should not be blamed for problems in the state. After all, the majority of Hispanics in Missouri are legal residents. I doubt that this will slow or stop the immigration debate outside of the conference, but maybe the people at the conference will learn that Hispanics are not the root of the communities problems and that they should be treated with due respect.
Link: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Apr/20080406News009.asp

Puerto Rican teachers come to Boston

Boston is currently seeking out Puerto Rican teachers for its city. The rapid increase in the latino population has given them a need for bilingual teachers. Puerto Rico is an obvious place to look, since the people there can travel freely from Puerto Rico to the United States. The city hopes that by getting more bilingual teachers, the rate of literacy and test scores will go up. The city of Boston does understand that bilingual education will not be the cure-all for higher test scores. Socioeconomic status of many hispanic people in the area can be contributed to lower test scores. Obviously raising a large group of people's socioeconomic status will be difficult. For now, it looks like Boston is taking a step in the right direction to acquire teachers that can teach to all areas of the community.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522730