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The Political Awakening of Mexican Americans
| Article
# : |
15053 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1988 |
1,201 Words |
| Author
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Antonia Hernandez
Antonia Hernandez is the president and general counsel of the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF),
a national civil-rights organization headquartered in Los
Angeles. |
The rest of this country is discovering what many of us have known for quite some time: Our Hispanic roots are showing. And with this awakening comes the realization and the understanding that the Hispanic population in the United States is growing--not only in number but also in influence.
For the Mexican American community, the deserved recognition has been long in coming, and it hasn't been because we're the invisible minority. There are over 11.8 million Mexican Americans living in this country, by far the largest Hispanic subgroup in the country. We make up about 8 percent of the population, although we are little known on the East Coast, where many people have heard about Mexican Americans but have never known any. People think of us as the ethnic minority population with strong ties--often family ties--to our neighbor to the south, Mexico.
For those who haven't noticed, however, the Mexican American is no longer a Southwest phenomenon. We have gone beyond the borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. We now have substantial communities in the Midwest--in Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Paul. Our numbers are also growing in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Washington state.
Increased numbers can mean that more individuals will participate in, contribute to, and enrich our society. And indeed, Mexican Americans have begun to do so. But we must take additional steps to ensure that we are able to fully participate in the economic, political, and social spheres.
Mexican Americans will face two fundamental issues between now and the next century. Clearly, the most important of these is education. Without a strong educational background, many doors will be closed to our community. Educational achievement is directly tied to occupational mobility; you must have an education if you are going to succeed. And with our changing society, that is truer today than ever before.
The United States is moving further away from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy, and the occupations of the future will require more education and specialized training. The future of the Mexican American depends on how well our existing labor force is trained and prepared to work in a changing economic setting. Shifts in population have made it increasingly clear that Mexican Americans are going to play a significant role in the employment picture during the next 30 years. By the year 2020, the elderly population will nearly
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