Archive for October, 2005
“Losing” New Orleans to Mexicans: the debate goes on
12:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration|Politics · 1 Comment
25 Oct 2005
San Diego Tribune writer Ruben Navarrette has something to say about Mayor Nagin’s distress over New Orleans being “overrun by Mexicans” as a result of an influx of migrant workers to the area for clean-up efforts post-Katrina:
Before Katrina, New Orleans was only about 3 percent Latino. Now, demographers say the city’s Latino population could swell to four or five times that amount.
That comes as a bolt of bad news for black leaders nostalgic for a city and a culture that for all practical purposes no longer exists…Nagin told reporters that his new worry is how he is going to “ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers.”
The thing is, many of the city’s former residents say that they have no desire to go back.
So why is he looking a gift horse in the mouth? Here Nagin is having trouble getting people to move to New Orleans, and there’s one group that’s already doing it. They’re ready to work hard, pay taxes and build a new New Orleans.
I, as a native Louisianian, will be the first to say that I would be saddened by the loss of any piece of New Orleans’ culture, and as person of color would be doubly saddened by the disappearance of the black community’s contribution to the richness of the city. But why does the influx of Latino workers have to necessarily mean the disappearance of black culture and the “real” New Orleans?
While I agree with Navarrette’s fury over comments by Mayor Nagin (that I myself have qualified as racist on this blog), I disagree with him on the fact that black culture in the city “for all practical purposes no longer exists”. The essence of New Orleans will exist forever, no matter who occupies the city. Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, boasts cultural and historical richness unparalleled by any other state in the nation, and a huge part of that has to do with people of black and creole heritage. In my opinion, people may leave New Orleans, but that will remain, and the call for prodigal sons to return will continue. A recent New York Times article talked about the “exiles” of Katrina, mostly working-class blacks who, forced to migrate to be able to sustain themselves, have found that life outside of the state is very different. It’s because Louisiana is a special place. It has its own culture and people will return. I believe this.
Beyond my own predictions, why is it so hard for Nagin and Jackson to swallow the fact that Latinos will inhabit New Orleans? The same thing has happened gradually in every state in the country and none of these places have “lost their identity” as a result.
Via / Newsleader.com
Gold Fever: You Give Globalization a Bad Name
25 Oct 2005
With NAFTA and CAFTA being touted throughout Latin America, globalization is given a pretty face across mass media screens and within the pages of U.S. papers. An article in today’s New York Times, along with a flashy multi-media presentation, reveals a side of globalization that is reminiscent of the conquistadors’ mad dash for gold and disregard for local indigenous communities. U.S. owned mining company Newmont has been mining in the Yanacocha goldmine in Peru for some time now, earning billions of dollars. The company has done so thanks to back door deals with the publicly corrupt former secret police chief, Vladimiro Montesinos and exiled president Alberto Fujimori.
The trouble with gold mining is that while the bank accounts of Newmont, as well as those of affiliated French, Australian , and even the World Bank, grew, the resources of the local indigenous community waned. Gold mining requires water to be diluted with deadly cyanide which negatively impacted the health and livelihood of local communities. Add to the mix of secret handshakes and contamination a 2000 mercury spill (mercury is a by-product of gold mining) that the company hushed while locals scooped up the poisonous earth in desperate hopes of getting a piece of the golden pie.
The result of such blatant disregard for the local community and well, international laws, has led to a growing grassroots movement within the indigenous population, culminating in protests and general strikes that left Newmont removing gold via helicopters and locals, including the elderly, women and children, facing tear gas, shootings, and arrests.
This hasn’t stopped Newmont. According to the New York Times, the head of Newmont’s North American operations is quoted as saying:
We plan on being here a very long time.
This is a must read story, especially for those who wave off claims of U.S. colonialism err globalization and its negative impact on local communities.
Via/ New York Times
Looking out for number one
4:35 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Florida|Immigration · 1 Comment
24 Oct 2005
Latino migrant workers are doing just that in the wake of hurricane Wilma’s path through Florida. Thousands of workers far from home have no transportation means to leave the affected areas, nor do they have access to emergency assistance given their legal status. From the Talahassee Democrat:
But perhaps a bigger worry is what happens after the hurricane passes: Illegal workers do not qualify for most government disaster assistance like cash vouchers or temporary housing — already a crucial issue in Immokalee — and many are unaware of other relief outfits or are too fearful to ask. After Hurricane Charley rampaged through Southwest Florida last year, fewer migrant workers than expected showed up at disaster relief stations for help.
People are also afraid of government agencies sharing their information with immigration officials, risking deportation. With no real support system, all these people can do is huddle together and hope for the best:
“If it comes, I suppose we’ll go to the school,” said Reina Garcia, 33, who is from Huehuetenango, in Guatemala’s highlands, and lives in a ramshackle trailer with six others. Asked how she would get there, she laughed, flashing silver-capped front teeth, and replied, “We’ll run.”
…mainstream media is obsessed with covering the devastation of Wilma in Mexico via the inconveniences it has caused tourists.
As my colleague focused on in her post from this morning, mainstream media is obsessed with covering the devastation of Wilma in Mexico via the inconveniences it has caused tourists.
I’m glad the Talahassee Democrat has turned the tortilla to focus on what is happening to Latinos here in the U.S. They don’t have a vacation to have it ruined. They don’t have a dime to their names. All they can do is look out for themselves.
Via The Talahassee Democrat / Hispanic Tips
Inglés sin barreras?
1:08 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bilingualism|Entertainment|Marketing · 1 Comment
24 Oct 2005
Is a Latino artist’s career “sin barreras” when they decide to record in English, like Shakira, Ricky Martin, etc. or can they make it big without going crossover and recording only in Spanish? The Boston Globe has a very interesting piece that ponders this very question:
But Leila Cobo, Billboard magazine’s bureau chief for Miami and Latin America, doubts these artists can achieve a high level of success unless they embrace English. ”If you want to do some kind of crossover,” Cobo says, ”usually you do need to have some language connection. Reggaeton is just the big exception to all the rules. And even so, these artists are doing collaborations with people who are singing in English, and that’s going to prove to be their entryway.”
While I personally don’t like to see Latino artists go crossover — I think the lyrics end up suffering and the performances seem forced at times — it has worked for quite a few artists. Paulina Rubio comes to mind. The opposite has happened for Thalia. As much as she tries, with her bigwig producer husband behind her, Engligh-language audiences just don’t warm up to her. Should she care? The Globe goes on:
With more than 41 million Latinos living in this country and an international Latin audience willing to purchase the music, is the crossover audience even important for a Spanish-language artist?”You do need it,” Cobo says. ”If you’re an artist and all you want to do is play concerts, no. But if you’re a label and want to sell albums, yeah. Because Latin America is very, very pirated.”
Apparently the only genre that doesn’t have to worry about what language it produces music in is reggaeton. No one can really understand what they are saying anyway.
Via / The Boston Globe and Latin Music News
Hurricanes: Not Just for Tourists Anymore
24 Oct 2005
With Hurricane Wilma battering its way through Florida as I write this, the focus has quickly shifted from the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico where at last count at least 8 people are dead. One would think that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the English language mainstream media would be more aware or at the very least, cautious, in how it covers such natural disasters and the populations impacted. As I watched CNN throughout the weekend I saw mostly North American tourists complaining about having to sleep next to urinals in their fancy hotels. Yesterday tourists being filmed waiting in line for food complained about not showering for four days. The question that weighed heavy in their minds and across the screen was, when the airports would open so that they could get the hell out.
The question that loomed in my mind was and the residents of Cancun, the workers that service these tourists , the ones that can’t escape and their families and their homes? I would have to switch over to the Spanish language news to find out about them. Univision interviewed families returning to their homes or what was left of them after Wilma. It was only here and on Telemundo where one could see brown faces crying. According to today’s L.A. Times an estimated 15,000 people are left homeless by the storm and 90% of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo remains without power.
The region, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, certainly has taken an economic hit because of the hurricanes this season. Wilma struck hardest along a 14-mile stretch of high-rise hotels that spans Cancun’s south coast. Early estimates have the damage estimated at tens of millions of dollars. According to Mexico’s secretary for the environment and natural resources the heavy construction and demand to further develop tourist areas weakened the city’s natural storm barriers and might have contributed to the serious flooding.
The coverage now turned to Florida and of course looters in Mexico, one is left wondering if the U.S. will return the favor of at the very least sending personal down to the Yucatan, the way Mexico sent people up to the Gulf Region after Katrina.
Via / L.A. Times and Univision
New on VL: Word en la Calle
5:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Features|Word en la calle · Comments Off
21 Oct 2005
A new Friday feature on VL, Word en la Calle lets everyday Latinos voice their thoughts and opinions on topics of interest to the community.
Name:
Monica Chavez
Age:
28
Location:
San Francisco, CA
Profession:
Student Services
Roots:
Mexican-American born in San Francisco. Mom and Dad
from Mexico (Jalisco and Guanajuato, respectively)
Languages:
English and Spanish.
What does it mean to you to be Latino?
Being Latino means being proud and knowledgable of the
fact that you are part of something greater than you.
It means being connected to millions of people inside
and outside the US. It’s a duality, the American me
and the Latino me.
Will there ever be a Latino president? Is that important? Why?
Eventually, but not in my lifetime. I think we’ll have to wait for a
women to become president first and I don’t mean on TV. It took
until the 1920′s for women to be able to even vote so we’ve got a
ways to go. I thinks it’s important to get someone who can do the
job well. If that person were Latino then it would be that much
better.
This Sunday, Chef Aaron Sanchez, author of La Comida del Barrio – Latin American Cooking in the USA, will challenge Iron Chef Morimoto in the Food Network’s latest episode of Iron Chef America.
If you’ve never heard of this show, basically it’s two chefs pitted against each other. At the beginning of the show, the chairman will unveil the secret ingredient, which must be used in all dishes prepared by the chefs. They have 1 hour to prepare about 5 courses, and then the food is judged. The Food Network has 3 Iron Chefs which represent “the best of the best” and each new episode, a challenger chef comes to try and take the glory. This week the challenger is Latino chef Aaron Sanchez.
Sanchez is the son of “Mexican cooking authority” Zarela Martinez. He has two restaurants, one in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Paladar, and Mixx in Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel.
You can catch Sanchez & Martinez in Tucson on November 6 at the Tuscon Culinary Festival.
The Morimoto/Sanchez episode of Iron Chef America airs for the first time Sunday, October 23, 9:00 PM on the Food Network.
Psychic Mystic Rebecca predicts: The secret ingredient will be a type of chile or some sort of seafood. Morimoto will take the win.
Aaron Sanchez website (decent info, but hasn’t been updated in probably at least 6 months)
Iron Chef America episode info
In a speech to the Hispanic National Bar Association, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Latinos to get over it about him, or any other Latino for that matter, not being nominated to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court and to throw their support behind Harriet Miers. According to AP, Gonzales asked that:
you and others reserve judgment and give her an opportunity to show why she would be good for the Court, for the country, and for the Hispanic community.
Gonzales was passed over not once but twice for a spot on the nation’s highest court, first to John Roberts and now to Ms. Miers.
Latino Pundit probably hit it right on the nose when he says that Gonzales’s request is probably based more on loyalty to the Republican hands that feed him than on a real belief that Miers is going to do right by the community. The little we do know about Miers is cause enough for concern. She’s anti-choice and thinks President Bush is the smartest person she’s met, ever (really mujer needs to get out more). According to ImmigrationProf Blog when Miers worked as President of the State Bar of Texas she did some pro-bono work handling an immigration and naturalization case for Catholic Charities of Dallas. Hopefully she didn’t help deport people and hopefully Latinos won’t just go the way of sheep and follow what Gonzales says just because he is “one of us”.
Via / Latino Pundit and Los Angeles Times
The Latino shift towards cable TV
1:06 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bilingualism|Marketing|TV · Comments Off
21 Oct 2005
Who knew when we were growing up and cable first burst onto the scene that twenty years later not only would we have a over ten news channels on “basic” cable, but we would also have a Spanish-language version of almost every channel available for purchase? CNN en español. ESPN en español. Discovery en español. The list goes on and on, but these bigger name channels are only the beginning. Now, not only are big names like MTV and HBO looking to replicate their mainstream market channel models in the Latino market, but there are more and more original programming concepts being thrown into the mix. According to the Miami Herald:
General-interest Spanish-language broadcasters will continue to dominate ratings and advertising sales well into the future, said Leland Westerfield, managing director of Harris Nesbitt, but the growth of niche channels such as SiTV, CasaClubTV, ESPN Deportes and others is poised to take off.
“The vast majority of Hispanic households will be receiving television through cable by the end of the decade,” Westerfield told the audience at the Hispanic Television Summit…”This reminds me of where the [general] market was in the late ’80s, early ’90s.”
And the prediction is that this trend will only grow:
During the past year, some two dozen cable channels aimed at Hispanics, in both English and Spanish, have sprung up with special-interest programming ranging from travel and home to youth and automotive.
Westerfield said more Hispanics will sign up for cable and satellite simply because “there’s a hunger for culturally-relevant programming. There is ample demand among viewers for choice of programming.”
One thing to keep in mind is that this growth cannot be attributed solely to high demand on the part of Latino television viewers. It’s also because advertisers are falling over themselves to market to Latinos and are forever clammering for new outlets by which to do this. Money being pumped into these networks by advertisers is what has truly made this shift possible. Want to market to Latino tweens? We got a channel for you. What about Latino automotive aficionados? Ford, step right up.
In this day in age, if Latinos are going to consume it, marketers are ready to fling their dollars at it. The question used to be, “how many channels do we really need?” Now, it’s how many channels in Spanish do we really need? At some point burnout will be reached. I’ve gotten to that point with cable TV, and I’m sure it will happen to viewers of Spanish-language programming in the future as well.
Via / The Miami Herald and Hispanic Business
Ay Doctorsito!!!
21 Oct 2005
Since Noah Wyle left I haven’t been able to bring myself into the ER on Thursday nights. However with the dramatic entrance of John Leguizamo playing Dr. Victor Clemente, I am feeling a little faint. The Colombian actor began a 12 episode guest run aimed to boost sagging ratings of the hospital drama, now in its 12th season.
Leguizamo, best known for his hilarious and often self-deprecating stage show improvised monologues, plays Victor Clemente as egotistical, loud and jarring. According to the story line the doctor arrives at County General Hospital via Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx and an unnamed hospital in Newark, where apparently something has gone down that audiences will surely find out about in coming episodes.
Last night as soon as Leguizamo showed up on the television screen I was laughing. He brings such a unique vibe, his character calling patients “mami” and even speaking in Russian. What is interesting upon further analyzing his character is that in some ways the role borders on stereotype. El doctor is an in your face, domineering, and muy macho. Parminder Nagra’s character reminds us of the sexual stereotypes surrounding Latino men by commenting upon Dr. Clemente’s arrival that “he’s kinda hot”.
It is nice to see a Latino playing a professional and not the usual drug dealer thug role. It will be interesting to see how Leguizamo’s character is developed. Give me more Doctor Clemente, stat!
ER can be seen on Thursday Nights on NBC at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central Time.
Via / USA Today
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