Annotations for Communities: Students

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In Los Angeles, the Latino community suffered heavily and has still not recovered from the effects of the disturbances of April of last year. Latinos are half of those who live in the areas most affected by the disturbances. A third of those who lost their lives in the violence were Latino. Hispanic men made up more than half of those arrested and 40% of the businesses damaged in the riots were Latino owned. Reporter Alberto Aguilar recently visited one of the hardest hit Latino neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. He prepared this report.

[Faint voice in the background]

Very little has changed in Pico-Union, west of downtown Los Angeles in the last year, since hundreds of small and large businesses were looted. Here at the swap meet, the radio may be playing happy rhythms, but to the residents of the mostly Latino neighborhood, the road to recovery has been anything but happy.

Nosotros perdimos todos los negocios que teníamos. Teníamos tres negocios en la Union y todo fue perdido…[transition to English dub] We lost all our business. We have three little shops here and everything was lost, and we haven't really been able to recover anything.

María Elena Mejia sold children's clothes at the swap meet. The single mother of two teenage girls lost her life savings when the old theater, that housed dozens of swap meet stalls, was set on fire.

Lo que a nosotros nos ayudaron de parte del gobierno de la ciudad solamente fueron tres meses de renta. Lo que nos quedó a nosotros de eso solo fueron como… [transition to English dub] What the city government helped out with was three months’ rent, and after that, all we had left of our investment of five years was something like 14 or 10 dollars. I don't even remember now. We suffered so much because you know, being without work in this country is hard, and we were left without work and without anything… [transition to original audio] trabajo, porque nos habíamos quedado sin trabajo y sin nada.

This was a gift by a student, but it's called The Day that Los Angeles Cried, and you have an angel trying to turn off the fires and slow down the riots and above the Angel…

Mike Hernandez is a member of the city council. His district includes Pico-Union, the area hardest hit by the riots of '92.

Pico and Alvarado, for example… it’s one corner where we had the four corners demolished by fire. And so, in terms of intensity, it was the hardest hit area in the city.

What has happened since then? And a lot of people are now saying that perhaps the City does not have the leadership to bring the city of Los Angeles to where most people want it to go?

I think if you talk about community leaders, if you talk about the organization leadership, they very much want to bring the city together and start improving. If you talk about the political leadership, I think the political leadership hasn't displayed that well. They're out of touch with what's really going on in the city. See, the city of Los Angeles is not just the buildings. A lot of the buildings destroyed were empty. What the city of Los Angeles is, it's people from all over the world, and what we got away from is building people.

The building involves encouraging people to become citizens. Hernandez estimates this process can take as long as 10 to 15 years. He also says the City has to improve the educational level of city residents.

Over the age of 25, we have 2.1 million people. 900,000 cannot claim a high school diploma, and of the 900,000; 600,000 cannot claim a ninth-grade education. So that's 150% of the entire student body of the LA Unified School District. So, we have a tremendous amount of building of people to do.

[Transitional sounds]

Those who work with the residents of Pico-Union agree with Hernandez about the work that remains undone.

We're seeing families with multitude of problems… economic, social, relationship problems…

Sandra Cuevas works with battered Central American women in South Central Los Angeles. She has seen a decrease in the social services available to people in the area's hardest hit by the destruction. Despite all the publicized good intentions, little action and little resources are being allocated to the solution of the root causes of poverty and unemployment.

There seems to have been a lot of lip service. Little committees forming coalitions, but when you look at Rebuild LA, you have people that are coming from outside the community, very removed from the reality of Los Angeles and particularly of South Central and Pico-Union, that have excluded Latinos, by and large.

Cuevas is not the only Angelino critical of Mayor Tom Bradley's effort to bring back the city from massive destruction. His Rebuild LA has been described as a misguided effort to create job opportunities according to county supervisor Gloria Molina.

Very frankly, I don't want to be critical. I think they're doing their own thing, but I think that the mayor missed the boat in the beginning. I think he could have called many of us together to sort things out because it isn't just in South Central, it's throughout the community. And it isn't just a corporate effort and isn't about giving. It's about putting together a lot of institutions that have been unjust to minority segments of our community. And it isn't going to happen by a corporation coming together and putting together programs. It's about making the system much more responsive to the needs of people in this community.

I’m a member of the board, but it's hard among 80 people. A lot of those are corporate people and I’m… I guess, the only immigrant, it's really hard sometimes.

Carlos Vaquerano is one of a handful of Latinos on Rebuild LA's board.

We need to not only to rebuild LA physically, but to rebuild the soul of the city, the soul of people here. We need to make changes in terms of our morality, political changes, because that's one of the main issues in the city. Not only the city, but in the country.

[Transitional sounds]

Police helicopters assist uniformed officers on the ground in the search for gang members in the Pico-Union district. Longtime resident, Raúl González has been in this blue-collar neighborhood for 20 years.

It's kind of scary going out lately. Plus what you hear on the news and people… after the rioters start getting guns and bigger guns and you know what's going to happen in the street. Now you have to carry your own gun for protection… and you have to be careful lately…you know. And it's terrible, it is terrible because we are not supposed to be like this.

Um…but if everybody's armed and everybody's afraid…um…. what are you going to do?

Well, you know…to tell you the truth, if you're carrying a weapon, you have to know how to use it and when to take it out.

In Los Angeles, I'm Alberto Aguilar, reporting for Latino USA.

[Transitional Music]

May I present Gloria Romero: She played a vital role in the police reform movement in Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King beating. The title of her talk is Todavia Ando Sangrando: A Chicana's Perspective on the Fires This Time…Gloria.

[Clapping sounds]

April 29th, 1992, less than three hours after the verdicts were released, I stood at the intersection of Adams and Hobart in South Central LA. In reality, I stood at much more than the intersection of Adams and Hobart. I stood at but one of many intersections of race, class, and gender in America. Breathing in all I saw, even as light dimmed on America, the reaction in my guts at the intersection of life in America in the shadow of lies of an afterlife as light faded out on America, felt like the full velocity of the bricks hurled through the pane of that liquor store, which on an hourly basis, markets pain to Black and brown men and women in south central LA. Addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, a 50% dropout rate, incarceration, but a chance to win the lotto.

We stood at the intersection on April 29th in an America that has bled for too long, from too many unjust verdicts that Simi Valley merely symbolized, any one of which could have sparked fires at any intersection in America. And I believe a riot takes place on a day-to-day basis in LA, but nobody notices. Todavia ando sangrando, even as our trial continues.

The word mentor is derived from the ancient Greek from the name of the man who spent 10 years teaching the son of the poet Homer. In ancient Greece, young people often studied in apprenticeship programs. Today, some Latino students are learning a variety of skills, from chess to chemistry, in a mentorship program taking place in New Mexico. Debra Beagle prepared this report.

Here, I'm thinking of placing my knight on D5. It attacks his queen.

Now, had I scanned a little better, I would've seen that the knight would've come to that square…see, and I would not have put my queen where it is, because now I need to move that queen…

Thirteen-year-old Miguel Atencio of Chama, New Mexico, beats his father in chess almost every game. He began playing when he was nine. Two years later, he joined the high-school chess team. That's when someone from Celebrate Youth, a six-year-old mentorship program in New Mexico, spotted the talented youngster and invited him to work more seriously on his game. This year, Miguel won the state middle-school chess championship.

In math, it's helped me. I can like work out problems in my head and all that. It's helped me like to remember like what the things I read and all that, because you have to remember things. You have to remember positions and all that. So, I've been getting a little bit better at that.

Miguel Atencio is both highly motivated and very talented. These are the characteristics Celebrate Youth director, Paquita Hernández, looks for in students. She also pursues teenagers who are equally talented but living in what Hernández describes as economic and social poverty.

A child who is economically poor but is matched with a mentor who is an artist or is a physicist or is a chemist or is a great writer, offers challenging conversations, exciting questions, um…different opportunities to look…through which to experience the world…I think that they flourish in ways that are magnificent.

The adult mentor meets with the student once a week for six months. Each student develops a project, perhaps a dance, a piece of sculpture, a science or math project, an essay or poem, or a piece of music.

[Person playing the piano]

Okay, now do the last two lines, and make a difference between your…your forte in the top line and your fortissimo in your bottom line.

[Person playing the piano]

Ninth grader Alyssa Montoya works with Mary Agnes Anderson of Española as her mentor. Anderson has mentored three students so far.

It gives them courage to be different, a reason not to be like everyone else, to have faith in themself. Watching this happen is my basic reward on it.

Other mentors have seen more impressive changes as a result of the program. Paquita Hernández tells the story of one talented teenager who is likely to follow two older brothers into drugs and depression. After delving into a science research project for two years in the Celebrate Youth program, he entered college and now plans to become a doctor. Success stories like these, Hernández says, are less likely to happen within the current school system.

I think there's a vacuum in the schools, not only in New Mexico but in the whole nation. I think the schools need to change, and I think they need to change radically because they are not reaching the majority of young people. I think those kids who don't drop out of school physically actually drop out often, even though they're sitting in the classroom with the books in front of them.

Those involved in Celebrate Youth say the goal is to promote excellence over mediocrity. Achievement is measured against one's own abilities rather than in competition with others. This is the attitude Miguel Atencio takes.

All right, and here's the last move, and I'm going to checkmate in one move. I'm going to move Queen on E7 to B7. Checkmate.

That's the end of the game.

These days, Miguel is sharpening his chess skills to prepare for the annual Celebrate Youth Festival in June. Nearly 400 students, including 30 chess players like Miguel, will gather for three days at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, which co-sponsors the program. There, they'll perform their dances, hang their paintings, and display their research projects that demonstrate the skills they've worked so hard to develop.

[Person playing the piano]

The Wild Rider. The Wild Rider. Everyone has trouble with the Wild Rider. He's a hard-bucking horse.

For Latino USA, this is Debra Beagle in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico.

This is news from Latino USA. I am Maria Martin. Several congressional house members led by Democratic representative Xavier Becerra of California are calling for legislation to investigate human rights abuses by federal agencies along the US-Mexico border. From Washington, Franc Contreras reports.

Widespread allegations of abuses by the US Border Patrol, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Customs have prompted this legislation. It would create a commission with the power to recommend, not mandate disciplinary actions against those three agencies. Currently, people with complaints must either go through the agency they're complaining against or go through the Inspector General's office. The problem is that most complainants are not familiar enough with the system to use it. This proposed bill would address those problems, say congressional supporters. The panel would have seven members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This legislation has support from Representative Jose Serrano, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and representative John Conyers, chairman of the Government Operations Committee. Since the commission would have no enforcement powers, the legislation is expected to pass easily. For Latino USA, I'm Franc Contreras in Washington.

Everybody out here keep the strength going because we need all the support for all of our brothers and sisters. There's about 90 of them in jail.

Mexican-American students at the University of California at Los Angeles continue to demand a Chicano Studies department, one demonstration protesting budget cuts for the Chicano Resource Center. And UCLA Chancellor Charles Young's opposition to an independent Chicano Studies department resulted in over 90 arrests as students occupied the campus faculty center and allegedly caused over $50,000 in damages. UCLA student Benny Madera was among those joining the protests. He spoke with Latino USA's Alberto Aguillar.

It's been too long that they've kept our history from us. It's 1993 and they're still trying to keep our history from us. They don't want to give us a Chicano Studies program. We've been asking for it for years.

What does it do for you, Chicano Studies?

First of all, it tells me who I am, where I came from. It gets rid of that low self-esteem that the gabacho puts us through. You know that gabacho grinder system were put through growing up in this society, but without finding out who we are, where we came from, we don't have that amor proprio.

UCLA Chancellor Young has said keeping Chicano Studies an interdisciplinary program gives it intellectual vitality. Young was in Japan and unavailable for comment, but Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich says the protest would not make the chancellor change his mind.

You're listening to Latino USA.

Chicano students at the University of California at Los Angeles continued to press for a Chicano studies department. Several students and a UCLA faculty member have even started a hunger strike to call attention to their cause. From Los Angeles, Diana Martinez reports.

For several months now, students along with Latino professors have tried to get a department by working through university channels. All of those attempts have failed. In fact, there have now been three generations of students since 1968 who've attempted to establish a Chicano studies department at the well-known campus. Now, the six students and one university professor, on the water only fast, say they're determined to continue even if it takes their lives.

I'm more afraid to die in vain, to die without having our three demands met. I'm more afraid of the chancellor not responding to any of what we're doing.

One student has already become ill and another sits in a wheelchair because his legs have grown weak. Concerned about their health and the support of their position, some parents and community members are joining the students on rotating two-day fasts. For Latino USA and Los Angeles, I'm Diana Martinez.

Alfaro says that most of the estimated 200,000 Salvadorians in this country have no plans to return home, as many have established homes and families here. Others, he says, are still afraid to return to El Salvador after 12 years of war. Alfaro and other refugee advocates now plan to lobby to have Congress and the administration consider granting permanent US residency to qualified Salvadoran refugees.

Latino students in Texas are more than twice as likely to drop out as non-Hispanic white students. Vidal Guzman reports.

The Texas Education Agency says Latino students, who make up about a third of the overall student population in Texas, are more than 40% of dropouts. If current trends continue, more than 20% of all Texas students now in the seventh grade will drop out before graduating from high school. The education agency recommends increasing the number of minority teachers and instituting get back to school programs for expelled students. In Austin, I'm Vidal Guzman.

[chanting] This is news from Latinos USA. I'm Maria Martin. A hunger strike by Chicano students at the University of California at Los Angeles has ended happily. The students who had fasted on water only for nearly two weeks reached an accord with UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, over their demand for the establishment of a Chicano studies department.

I want to let you know what we won today. First of all, we won the Cesar Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano studies. Second of all, we got the administration to realize that the 99 students that protested in the faculty center are not criminals, but they're political activists and we have the charges dropped. Third, we got the administration to recognize the validity of ethnic and gender studies on this campus and guaranteed two years of no budget cuts for any of those programs. [sounds from community gathering]

The final agreement falls short of the students' original demand that Chicano studies become a full-fledged department on campus. Nevertheless, the development was greeted as a major step forward by the students and their supporters, including California State Senator Art Torres and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers.

We're going to have one of these in every UC campus in the state of California. [gatherting sounds]

We're showing here, in the spirit of Cesar Chavez, that we can make social change, that we can right the wrongs that people have done against us with gun violence, by unity and by sacrifice. And by working together, we can make them listen to us. [gatherting sounds][nat sound, music]

This is news from "Latino USA." I'm Maria Martin. The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report on the country's Latino population. Reporter Barrie Lynn Tapia has more.

Over the last 10 years, the number of Latinos in this country grew seven times faster than any other group. They had more children and less elderly than non-Latinos. They were also less likely to be covered by health insurance. Julio Moran, a reporter for the "LA Times," says the findings are more than just statistics.

When we talk about urban agendas, we're really talking about a Latino agenda. We're finding that Latinos becoming more segregated and more concentrated in precisely the same areas that need, I think, more attention into what's happening to our society at this moment.

The Census Bureau also says Latino unemployment rates are consistently higher and median family income lower than the population at large. Although more Latinos are graduating from high school than a decade ago, Latinos still lag behind the rest of the nation in education. For "Latino USA," I'm Barrie Lynn Tapia in Washington.

Educators and education reporters at the Washington Conference of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists agreed that the public schools in this country continue to fail Latino children, especially in bilingual education. Laura Varela reports.

Jim Lyons, the executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education, says the government and the media pay too much attention to test scores. Instead, he says, the education system should be graded in its performance. Still, Lyons says many Latino students are not letting the lack of quality bilingual ed programs get in their way.

I think one of the great success stories in this country is the number of children that have become fully bilingual, many fully bi-literate, when most of their teachers are still hopelessly monolingual.

To solve the problem, Lyons says, more bilingual teachers must be hired, and more government funding for bilingual education programs must be made available. For "Latino USA," I'm Laura Varela.

A new survey says there are now more Latino journalists working in the United States media, but few in management positions. Olga Rodriguez has this report.

According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the number of Latinos employed in major newspapers rose by 27% in the last two years, but less than 3% of them are in management positions. Cesar Rocha, who conducted the study, says there are several reasons why the number of Latinos in management remains so low.

There's little commitment among many publishers and editors to the goal of diversifying their management team. There are very few Latino managers, as we said, to act as mentors, and there is the growing dissatisfaction among everyone.

The study also says that the number of Latinos in broadcast journalism is increasing, but at a slower pace than in print media. Another concern is the small number of Latinos in the nation's journalism schools. For "Latino USA," I'm Olga Rodriguez.

Basic issues such as equality and fair media coverage are concerns that carry from one Latino Journalist Conference to the next. Both fairness and equity were main topics at last year's National Association of Hispanic Journalists gathering in Albuquerque and this year again in Washington D.C. Here's a collection of the voices of Latino journalists from around the country.

Our children, what they're getting at home, they put on the TV, they open the newspaper, the images they're seeing, and that is hurting our community. Usually, those images are very negative, the stereotypes. And they don't see themselves in a positive light when they put on the television or when they read the newspaper or when they listen to the radio. And I cannot tell you how basic that is to the development of our community.

Not all Latinos are in gangs. Teenagers, not all of them are drug dealers, hustlers, you know, on the street corners. But that's the only time they make the news. I mean, they never seem to -- When somebody's doing a positive thing, they never put that on news. They always put something negative, whether it's a burglary or robbery or killing.

We're not this monolith, and we're not a bunch of crazy Latins who blow up buildings and play loud music and these sorts of things.

The stereotype needs to be broken. And in order for us to change that, we need to go back and we need to just get, encourage more students, more younger people to get involved in the media because it's the only way we're going to make a difference.

We have to make inroads and get into the mainstream. And for that, we have to acquire a sense of our own worth. We have to start knocking the doors of Anglo America.

We need to get more Latinos into management positions that -- So that we actually decide what stories to cover rather than being told what stories to cover.

The mass media and American society determines what the people will think about and what the people will talk about. And that is an awesome power. It is a power that has been held closely, consciously or unconsciously. It has been held closely. And the battle to open it up, the battle to insist that all aspects of our society and all sectors of our society will have equal access to that awesome power is a battle that we must wage.

Once a year, Latino journalists from across the country come together to network, improve their skills, and examine their impact on the U.S. media. This year, over 800 members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists met for four days in the nation's capital. And joining us today are Diane Alverio, the President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a TV reporter in Hartford, Connecticut; Juan Gonzalez, a columnist for the "New York Daily News"; and George Ramos, a columnist reporter from the "Los Angeles Times." Welcome to "Latino USA." Some of you were involved 11 years ago when this organization was actually formed. Eleven years later, what is different now for Latino journalists operating and functioning in the United States? Juan?

Well, I think that one thing that has happened is you've had a spurt and a tremendous growth in the number of young people that have entered journalism as a profession. It seems to me that every conference, more and more young people appear to be eager to get into the profession. So I think that that's been a tremendous step. A lot of the work that NAHJ has done has been in nurturing and developing and helping to train those young college students and high school students, getting them scholarships and promoting their writing work. So that's been a tremendous step forward.

Unfortunately, on the other end, we don't seem to be retaining as many of the veteran journalists who apparently are coming up against walls and frustrations that they end up leaving the profession, so that on balance, the numbers of Latino journalists have not really grown qualitatively. There's this minute growth that is occurring -- part of a percentage point or a half a percentage point a year, but there's no real qualitative growth in the numbers of Latinos in the newsrooms of the United States.

So, when these Latino journalists get into wherever their newsrooms or if they be at TV stations, et cetera, how much debate is there for these Latino journalists around the questions of, "I'm a journalist first, and then I'm Latino," or, "I'm Latino first, and that influences my role as a journalist"?

I know that at the "LA Times," it's something that I have raised for about the last, oh, I'd say about at least five or six years. Am I a reporter who happens to be a Latino, or am I a Latino who happens to be a reporter? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, but how you answer the question says a lot about how you look at news and whether or not you take news seriously. I happen to be a Latino who happens to be a reporter because they don't pay me to be a Latino. I'm that coming in. So when I look at a story --

You were born that way.

I was born that way. I'm sorry, but that's a good way to put it. I have a unique perspective, and when I look at something, the editors know that that's how I'm going to look at it, that I -- Hopefully, I'm professional, but my eyes happen to be brown. They're not blue or hazel or something else.

Is there an encouragement of that unique perspective, Juan, from a Latino journalist? Or is it more like, "Well, don't necessarily look at it through those eyes. Maybe you need to see it through a more mainstream eye"?

I think there's a tremendous ambivalence on the part of the managers of the newspaper and television and radio stations on this question. They would like to have Latino reporters in their organizations, supposedly, to be able to give them access to communities and information that they otherwise would not have. However, they would rather that those Latino reporters look at these communities through the same eyes that the non-Latino reporters look at them.

And a part of the great contradiction, I think, of American journalism is understanding that even when you are doing news reporting and trying to be fair and report reality, the fact is that reality is always looked at subjectively by each individual and that there is no such thing as objectivity. There are many individuals attempting to recreate objective reality and that, but you're always doing that subjectively because you're always doing it through how you were raised, what your parents taught you, the school that you went to, the things that you learned. That's the only eyes with which you have to look at the world. And that's true for all reporters.

But somehow, when it comes to Latinos working, let's say on a Latino's story, the editor may think that you will not look at that in an objective fashion, as if a white reporter covering that Latino story would look at it in an objective fashion.

And it's not just about objectivity either. It's about your perspective that they both talked about. Just this past week, a national -- I won't mention the name of the show -- a national -- one of the network magazine shows aired a piece on 936, the tax issue with Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico, and I, as a viewer and possibly as a journalist, I'm sure, and especially as a Puertorriqueña, was watching it, and I thought, "But they're not giving the entire story."

I happen to know the background of 936 just because I am Puerto Rican and I know the history, and the way the story was presented, it just explained the tax law and why the financial benefits the company, but it never delved into why this was instituted in the first place, what the U.S. role has been in Puerto Rico that necessitated a tax reform, a tax act like this. And I felt that the viewer was gypped. The viewer that was non-Hispanic, non-Puerto Rican like I, did not get the correct information in which to form his or her opinion so that what I'm saying is that Latino journalists bring that with them, information that other non-Hispanic journalists may not have or don't bother to go after.

Now, these are very, very interesting issues, not only for us as journalists who come together once a year to talk about these things but also for our communities. But the NAHJ as an organization really is probably not that well known across the United States. Should the organization, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, become more of an activist organization where it is recognized across the country as an organization that is there supporting the Latino community and that has the Latino community's interest at hand, or should it be an organization that really focuses on this professional community, Latino journalists?

We as Latino journalists have been discussing that in the last couple of years. And it's kind of an identity question. It's part of the growing pains of the organization. And I think -- I was attending a panel recently, and someone said it quite well. By the very fact that we have banded together as Latino journalists, we are a civil rights organization, whether all our members want to accept it or not, because our goals are primarily to increase the numbers of Latinos in the industry, to improve coverage of the Hispanic community. If those aren't civil rights issues, I don't know what are.

Thank you, Diane Alverio, the President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; Juan Gonzalez of the "New York Daily News"; and George Ramos of the "Los Angeles Times."

Long before the word ‘multicultural’ came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television children's program, Sesame Street. Now, the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

[Latino Sesame Street Music]

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. [Latino Sesame Street Music Highlight] With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a mariachi band and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks, and visit a community center known as La Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual Muppet, Rosita.

Hola amigos como estan?

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Si, si. Yes. Yeah. I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish. And all my other friends that they're watching us, I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me, and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

[Clip of Sesame Street] Abierto? Yes, certainly. Abierto is the Spanish word for open. Abierto!

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish like hola and adios. But what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

El Mundo.

[Clip of Sesame Street] That's the word, all right? And we are moving into...

[Background music] Puerto Rico.

[Background music] Puerto Rico, it is, but look.

Cotorra!

[Background sounds of Sesame Street]In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character Maria on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

I had the opportunity to write a show where Maria's family comes to visit. And I wanted everyone in Maria's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families, Puerto Rican especially, is that there are people of different skin colors in the same family. And actually have a puppet say, "Wow, but he's darker than you. How could he be related? Or she's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

For the last 20 years, Maria and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's fix-it shop

Here, Luis and Maria, who are both Latinos are regular people. I mean, they own a business, they have a family, they're just regular people. They work like everybody else. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, whatever. It's the role model is, hey, they're just like everybody else. And that's important to show.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

20 years ago, when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either. [Background sounds of Sesame Street music]

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Oh, that was great. Well, this is big bird leaving you with one final word, Viva! [laughter] [Children yelling] [Wooshing sound]

A revival of traditional Mexican mariachi music is taking place across this country and many Latino youth are participating. Marcos Martinez of Radio Station, KUNM prepared this report on the Mariachi celebration held recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now in its fourth year.

[Mariachi Music]

Albuquerque's Mariachi Spectacular brings together groups from throughout the southwest who bring their instruments and their devotion to the music for four days of workshops and concerts. On a Saturday afternoon, some eight mariachi groups alternate between six different stages along Main street of the New Mexico State fairgrounds. This is called Plaza Garibaldi modeled after the original Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where Mariachis gathered to play and find work. This year, about half the groups at Plaza Garibaldi are high school students. 17 year old Nick Watson plays with Mariachi Oro Del Sol from El Paso, Texas. He says Mariachi music is complex and fun to play

Well because it's challenging. It has more than three chords. It's basically what I think rock and roll is. And not that I'm knocking, I like rock and roll, but it's challenging. It's more challenging to play, you know, learn a lot more from it.

[Mariachi Music]

With this music, you can express your feelings more.

How?

Um, with the songs, the words and stuff, they're very powerful words.

Jennifer Luna is the leader of Mariachi Oro del Sol and shares Watson's enthusiasm. She says in her part of Texas, young people are very drawn to this style of music.

A lot of young people play in El Paso. That's mostly what there is there. The groups are younger kids. Cause over there it's in the schools they teach it to you, so it's pretty common over there.

The word mariachi comes from the French word for marriage. According to history, French people who came to Mexico in the 1800s became interested in the Mexican string bands of the time and invited them to play at French weddings. Today, mariachis typically include guitar, violin, trumpet, and the vihuela, which is a small guitar, and the guitarrón, which is a very large guitar. While they carry on traditions, youth mariachi groups like Oro Del Sol are also different from the older generation of mariachis in that they tend to be more gender balanced. Nick Watson says his mariachi group is all the better for including young women musicians.

They're good. We just picked who’s good and they're good. So we take them, it doesn't matter. Sex has nothing to do with it. If you're good, you're good, you play.

[Mariachi Music]

There's no doubt that among the young people attending this year's Mariachi Spectacular is some great future talent. Alex De Leon is a vocalist for the Mariachi Azul y Blanco from Adamson High School in Dallas. This 17 year old has already received high praise for his vocal talents.

[Mariachi Music]

People keep giving me comments, I'm good and stuff. So now I want to get better.

Young Mariachis, like De Leon have a chance to learn from more experienced mentors like Al Sandoval, who teaches music in the Albuquerque public schools and is director of Mariachi Romántico. Sandoval says, attendance at the Mariachi Spectacular workshops has tripled since last year. Sandoval says because of its expressiveness, mariachi music is a big part of Southwest Hispanic culture.

It's the most addicting music of all. I mean Southwest, it's the most addicting music. It grows on you and once it's in your blood, you'll never get it out. It's worse than the worst habit you can ever have because I mean, you grow to love it and you can never get away from it.

[Mariachi Music]

Everything about Mariachis hearkens back to Old Mexico from the ornate charro outfits and broad brimmed hats to the instruments and the old songs. But on the final night of the Mariachi Spectacular, as the teenage musicians joined the world's most famous mariachi groups on stage for a grand finale, the tradition seemed certain to continue for a long time to come. For Latino USA, I'm Marcos Martinez in Albuquerque.

Latino students are enrolling in higher education in greater numbers than other minority groups. These numbers according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, HACU, will continue to grow as the end of the baby boom results in fewer young non-minorities. But according to the National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities, US institutions of higher learning are not doing enough to prepare for the upcoming influx of Latino students. According to the Census Bureau, the Hispanic population is expected to rise from 24 million in 1992 to 41 million by the year 2050. In the year 2010, there will be nearly 3 million Hispanics ages 18 to 21. I'm Maria Martin, you're listening to Latino USA.

On August 24th of last year, Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida, wreaking devastation. When the rains and winds had died down, 150,000 people were left homeless. One year later, many communities hard hit by Andrew have generally recovered, but that's not the case in the mostly agricultural region of South Dade County, where construction and repairs are still in progress. Many farms remain closed or are operating at half capacity. Reporter Emilio San Pedro was in the Florida City homestead area of South Florida on the anniversary of Hurricane Andrew. He reports that life is only very slowly returning to normal in this primarily farmworker community.

The Centro Campesino in Florida City is a farm worker support organization that serves as the unofficial town center for many of South Dade's migrant and year-round farm workers. Housing counselor Leslie Guerra says that every day, the staff at the Centro sees indications that the damages caused by Hurricane Andrew are still affecting the area's farmworkers.

In the long run, or the long term, the farmworker was affected because now there aren’t any- there's not as much work. There used to be a lot of farm laboring work done on lime groves, in plant nurseries, and stuff like that. And, as you know, everybody lost their trees in their backyard or their front yard, so you can imagine how the plant nursery industry did. And the farmworker, especially the farmworker who's here year-round, does lots of work in that particular industry, and that was almost completely wiped out.

One year after the eye of Hurricane Andrew passed over the agricultural region of South Dade, many farms remain closed or are operating at half capacity. The cost of housing has risen sharply, due to the destruction of many of the trailer parks, apartments and homes that house agricultural workers.

Last night I was watching a special program about the hurricane, and it was sad. It made me sad because I'm thinking-

Terry Adellano is a dance teacher at the Centro Campesino. She has seen her life, and the lives of the farmworkers she works with, transformed.

Our spirits really were blown away with the hurricane because our school was completely torn. I mean, our costumes flew away, our shoes. Along with a lot of our students that had to relocate to West Palm Beach, some to Texas, some stayed here, but most of them had to relocate because they didn't have nowhere else to live.

One of her students is Raul. His family stayed, even though their house was damaged, and his parents lost their business.

I learned not to give up by helping my parents after the hurricane, going out, making a little money by cleaning up other people's yards after I cleaned up my yard. My parents were just starting to pick up on a restaurant, and on the same day that the hurricane hit, the insurance man was supposed to come and approve it. But Hurricane Andrew beat him to it.

I'm going to ask Governor Chiles to say a few-

Today, on the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, Terry Adellano and others at the Centro Campesino are hosting Florida's governor, Lawton Chiles, and other dignitaries who are paying visits to many of South Dade's hardest-hit regions.

I want to say how surprised I was when I came in here to see not only repairs being made to the homes that were here, but to see all the new homes being constructed. By golly, I'm delighted to see that the tent city is no longer there.

This is one of the houses that was rebuilt. This house was here during the hurricane. In fact, this house was used for-

Outside the office of the Centro Campesino is a housing development called Centro Villas. The more than 60 homes are owned by farmworkers that have participated in the Centro's sweat equity program. Antonia Torres lives in one of the houses and is the president of the Centro Villas Homeowners Association.

No, me falta terminar la cocina…[transition to English dub] I still need to redo the kitchen, and the kitchen cabinets haven't been replaced. Also, the tool shed was destroyed, and my fence has not been repaired [transition to original audio]…todavía.

Today, Antonia brought her husband and two boys to the Centro Campesino to hear what the governor had to say.

Que bueno que nos visitó el gobernador, que bueno…[transition to English dub] It's great that the governor came here, and hopefully it won't be just a visit. Hopefully it will result in assistance for all that need it. Sometimes it happens that way. They visit, look around, say they're going to help, and in the end, they don't do nothing [transition to original audio]…ojalá que esta vez sí ayuden.

Housing Counselor Leslie Guerra points out that houses like those in Centro Campesino are the exception for farmworkers, and that the majority of farmworkers are finding it difficult to make ends meet after Andrew, due to the shortage of affordable housing. She adds that the post-hurricane assistance offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, was in many cases inadequate.

I think that FEMA has helped with maybe their personal property and personal belongings and things like that, but that is not long-term help. When someone replaces their furniture, it doesn't really get them back into the shape that they were in before. Helping them get a better job, helping them get better housing, that's what FEMA really should have done instead of giving them $8,000 or $9,000 and say, "Hey, buy new furniture with it." Is that really helping somebody put them back to where they were, or even helping them put their life back together psychologically and emotionally?

Hurricane Andrew caused over $1 billion in damages to South Dade's agriculture industry, and left thousands of acres of farmland barren. But today, many of the businesses on US 1 are back in operation, and some of the larger agricultural companies are in full swing. But many farmworkers have not yet fully recovered from the loss of housing and employment opportunities. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro In Florida City.

Indeed, the numbers have changed in the last eight years. I arrived at Southwestern University in '85 and not unlike what happens in many other institutions, unless you get a critical mass, unless you get someone working actively at encouraging the young people, the young Hispanics to come into the sciences, it happens, but it happens very slowly in some instances as the critical number goes up, the students themselves do the recruiting.

From everything that I've read, you just don't inspire from the lecture hall, but you take a very proactive, dynamic relationship with your students. Someone described you as part teacher, part parent, part pit bull. Is that correct?

[laughter] Well, that is correct to up to a certain point. I do agree with your statement that teaching, if I just restricted to the lecture hall and even the laboratory, the job is incomplete. Teaching means sharing and giving, and the bulk of the teaching actually occurs in my own experience at the level of what I call study with a prof sessions. I love to have a time period at the end of the day, at least once a week if not twice a week, where I ask my students, "Come and visit. If you're going to study on your own, why don't you come and spend that hour or two with me and let's study with together." At those sessions, I really get to know my students. I really get to know and get a good feel for where they're at, how well they're understanding the concepts. I also discover where they're going and I'm in a unique position of encouraging them. If they have a certain goal, I will encourage them to consider other options, especially if I can detect and I can see that they have the talent and they're just not shooting high enough. What a privilege to be in a position like that.

What advice would you have for parents or young students about education and then perhaps not just in the sciences but in general?

I was able to get an education because my education started at home and the parents play a key, key role. I come from a family that I was the first one to go into college. My father was born in a ranch, born a cowboy, worked as a cowboy before he got married, never went to school. My mother was born in Monterrey, Mexico, moved over here when she was nine or ten and went as far as the fifth grade. They played a key role in terms of the encouragement that they gave me. So to parents, I would stress that even if they have not obtained an education, they are involved in the process of educating their children and preparing them to get an education. The question may come up, "Well, but how can I?" Encouragement is a bottom line, encouragement. I was prepared for college work along the way and indeed my father always stressed, "Get an education. Get an education."

In his case, the experience that he went through, growing up in a ranch in south Texas, he never learned English. So then World War II comes around, he's drafted, here he's having to go serve and he doesn't know the language. So he went through some very, very trying times and I think that that was a lesson that was so well-placed in his own mind and his own heart that he would not have his children go through that. Now education is a sacrifice and if I were to tell you that getting an education is not a sacrifice, I would be lying to you. It's going to require work, but the beautiful thing about it is that it is a kind of work and a sacrifice that becomes fun as you become successful.

Thank you. Dr. Vicente Domingo Villa of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Villa has been named the National Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is proposing what they call the greatest reform of bilingual education. Congressman Jose Serrano, caucus chair, says their bilingual education program would concentrate funds on poor areas and on those with high numbers of limited English-proficient students. With this bill, Latino representatives hope to improve and expand educational opportunities for Latinos and other language minorities. According to a recent poll, almost half of public school teachers say students should be required to learn English before being taught other subjects. A coalition of Latino organizations is calling for an end to what they called the racist rhetoric surrounding the debate over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

In a recent floor debate in Congress, an Ohio representative spoke out against the North American Free Trade Agreement by saying all the United States would get in return were two tons of heroin and baseball players. Others say they are against a treaty because Mexico is in their words "a pigpen." The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of over 20 Latino organizations, wants that to stop. They say they are putting people on notice that any racist and stereotypical comment will no longer be tolerated. MaryJo Marion, senior trade analyst at the National Council of La Raza, is a member of the coalition.

We think their statements are much like what's said about Jews in Eastern Europe. What was said about Black Americans here 20 or 40 years ago.

Marion added that the coalition is meeting with labor and political leaders about their concerns. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

In California, voters turned back by a two to one margin, a proposition which would've given 2,600 state government dollars to students enrolling in the private schools. Most Latino education organizations had opposed the controversial school voucher initiative. From Austin, Texas, this is news from Latino USA.

This is news from Latino USA, I'm Vidal Guzmán. Latino students at Cornell University have ended a four-day sit-in of the university's administration building. The protest, which also included some African-American students, began after a Latino art display was vandalized with what the students called racist graffiti. From Syracuse, Chris Bolt filed this report.

When the piece called Burning Castle was vandalized, Latino students at Cornell saw it as an act of racism. A demonstration followed, which escalated until a group of 75 students took over the university administration building. The artwork consists of several black walls constructed at places around the campus with slogans pointing out acts of discrimination against Hispanics. Vandals defaced the work by painting swastikas on the monoliths. Students want an aggressive response from the university to stop more acts of racism. The group of protestors refused a private meeting with Cornell President Frank Rhodes, instead calling for a public discussion of this incident and hiring practices at some of the university's colleges, especially those popular with students of color. Rhodes acknowledges the concerns of the students, but says they're the same problems confronting every major school in the nation. For Latino USA, I'm Chris Bolt in Syracuse, New York.

In an old classroom in South Seattle, in the community center known as El Centro De La Raza, a transformation is taking place. Two evenings a week, kids as young as eight and as old as 20, some of them just a step away from joining a gang, are instead writing poetry. Ingrid Lobet reports that little by little, the kids and the adults who hear them are realizing the importance of what they have to say.

Outside the old school building, a dozen kids are shooting hoops as a cool night begins to fall across the city of Seattle.

Fellas, let's go.

As 6:30 approaches, the kids file into the classroom from the ball court. Others come in from elsewhere, looking tired. Whether tired or full of energy, the 15 kids in this room are here by choice. They've come because here they can put heart into words.

Ode To My Car. The exhaust blows out like the drop of oil. The black dewey night that passes, simply turn itself into a single piece of grass.

Martinez, Armando (Man) has been coming to El Centro for several months now.

Wild rivers, one drop of water that continues, grass, and then run off with my motor vehicle.

The kids' hands shoot into the air. They can't wait to comment. Their comments encourage, but also suggest certain word changes or changes in delivery. Armando's own older sister has a comment for him. I liked your poem, hijo, she says, it was really good. I like the way you read really slow.

Let's go ahead and stand up. It really helps to stand up. I'll be right here beside him.

But even the support that fills this room isn't enough for 16-year-old Glenda Arenas on her first night. When it comes time for her to read the poem she's just written, she hangs her head, her long dark hair, mostly covering her face. Her voice begins, barely audible.

Ode To The Homies. The tree, kicking it. Summer, smooth.

This first night, Glenda can't finish. Another girl comes over, stands by her, and finishes the poem.

Ode to the homie, the tree, kicking it. Summer, smooth. It's all eight-ball. Say eyes, high on weed, 44 Magnum, blow to the head, a scorched rag in the hood, the brightness and the sky showing a flag. Green, white, and red grows into multiplication, sweet and sad.

There's a little poet running around your house, no matter how small he or she is.

Roberto Maestas has directed El Centro for 20 years. He's seen a good number of the 74 children who've spent time in the workshops changed by them. Some are getting better grades, some are being invited to recite poetry at rallies and banquets.

I don't think that poetry itself is going to save the inner cities, but when a young person reads their poetry and other people appreciate their poetry, that begins to build a sense of value, a sense of worth, a sense of somebodiness.

Recently, we had an election for student council, and I didn't really think I'd make it, and I beat everybody by 10 points. It was really amazing.

15-year-old Sandra Martinez says it was in the poetry workshops that she learned to be confident enough to assume that position of leadership.

My name's Sandra Martinez and the poem I'm going to read is "Garibaldi Park in Mexico City".

Blue corazon danced on the stones, cuando la mujer was tocando las musica. On the streets, los gatos laughed, and tonight's the final night.

The poets of El Centro, known as Hope for Youth, now have a book, it's called Words Up. And the kids are getting more and more attention, some even nationally and internationally. Just recently, Hope for Youth received an invitation from the government of Chile to travel there this summer. For Latino USA, I'm Ingrid Lobet in Seattle.