By: Monica Maldonado, GALEO Student Intern
Over recent history, the Latino population has sky-rocketed in the United States. In 1970, Latinos made up about 9.1 million people in the total U.S. population. Today, that amount has increased by six-fold. Latinos are now over 53 million strong in the United States. With Latinos accounting for over half of the United States population growth from 2000 to 2012, it is safe to say that Latinos have arrived with a powerful influence. Furthermore, it is projected that Latinos will be accountable for 60% of the nation’s population growth through 2050. Latinos are indeed the fastest growing minority group [2]. However, mere presence doesn’t equate to power affecting change. Action, organization, and involvement are what make change happen.
Civic participation needs to be a top priority among Latinos. According to the last census, Latinos make up about 17% of the population. As the largest minority in this country, our government and organizations should reflect that. Currently, out of the 535 seats in Congress, only 35 are held by Latinos, which is less than 7% [2]. How can Congress be expected to understand the interests, struggles, or needs of their constituents when over 80% of Congress members are a from a non-ethnic minority background?
Latinos need to work as a community to help bring change, policies, and programs that are directly relevant to the unique and specific struggles faced by our community. Latinos face a specific set of struggles more unique than those faced by other minorities. For one, among Latinos there is low post-secondary educational attainment. Though Latinos are reported to attend college as the same rate as whites, they are not graduating at the same rate. This means that while Latinos may attend college, a large portion of Latinos do not finish and attain a college degree.
The Latino achievement gap is a real and imminent problem. Latinos are by far the largest minority group in the United States’ educational system. Approximately one in four high school students is Latino. Of these Latino students, current estimates indicate a 14% dropout rate, substantially larger than the dropout rate for non-Latino white students (5%) and African American students (7%) [3]. Additionally, Latino students continue to lag behind white students in other educational markers as well. Latino students are less likely to enroll in a four-year college, attend a selective college, less likely to be enrolled in college full-time, and less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree. According to a study conducted through Georgetown University, about 63% of jobs will require at least a college degree by 2018 [4]. If this persists, a substantial portion of the United States will be undereducated and unprepared to meaningfully contribute to a professional work force. Consequently, this would lessen this country’s global competitiveness.
In light of this issue, Latinos should organize efforts to fight for policies and programs that advocate for Latino youth and ensure their success in schools. Research shows that culturally relevant outreach is more effective than general programs meant to reach the general public. With this in mind, Latinos should be lobbying for legislation that would address the poor education usually faced by Latinos. These efforts should matter to prevent an influential portion of the country from falling in between the cracks.
Moreover, Latinos understand the issue of immigration better than any other group in the country. Immigration is an issue close to heart because it’s a matter that has been faced by more recent ancestors of Latinos. You may find a Latino whose great-great-great grandparents immigrated or even as recent as their own aunt, cousins, brothers and sisters. This should give Latinos a stronger voice in addressing immigration policy nationally.
These and many other struggles faced by the Latino community can only be addressed through systematic and community-wide involvement by all Latinos. It may start with a few individuals, but ultimately change is made possible with the support of the whole community. This is why civic participation in the Latino community is important at the national and local level. Local involvement is significant because only local members can understand the specific needs of its local community. Ultimately, national advocacy begins at the local level. Latino leaders are needed locally to inspire the rising youth, both in the government and in community organizations.
Recent events have shed light on the influence Latinos can have when a united front is formed to lead effective change. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has recently been under fire for degrading remarks against Mexicans and immigrants in the United States. As a result of Latino unification, Trump has faced backlash from other businesses and organizations. Miss Mexico has pulled out from the Miss Universe pageant. NBC Universal has ended ties with Trump, meaning Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants will not be televised on its networks. Univision, the largest Spanish television broadcast for the Latino population in the U.S., has also announced that it will not continue its partnership with the Miss Universe organization. Macy’s says it will discontinue selling brands of the Trump business. Among individual Latino celebrities, Rosalyn Sanchez and Cristian De La Fuente have refused to continue their ventures as the co-hosts for Miss USA pageant. J. Balvin has made his announcement that he does not wish to perform for the Miss USA pageant. Eva Longoria, lead singer of Maná, Shakira, Ricky Martin, Juanes, and Fransisca Valenzuela are all among the list of celebrities who have spoken out against Trump’s comments and commended the rallying efforts to support Latinos.
The substantive presence of Latinos in the United States can turn into a powerful influence. Through unification they can organize to implement change. As the largest growing minority in the United States, it’s safe to say that it is of utmost importance that the voz Latina be heard.
- S. Department of Education. (2011). Winning the Future: Improving Education for the Latino Community. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/WinningTheFutureImprovingLatinoEducation.pdf
- https://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid=%260BL%2BR%5CC%3F%0A
- National Center for Education Statistics. (1988). National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/nels88/questionnaires.asp
- Carnevale, A.P., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. (2010). Help wanted: Projections of jobs and education requirements through 2018.Washington, DC: Center on Education and the Workforce. http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/FullReport.pdf
NOTE: The opinions express in this blog are the opinions of the author only. It is not to be assumed that the opinions are those of GALEO or the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund. For the official position on any issue for GALEO, please contact Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO at jerry@2014old.galeo.org.