Demographically speaking, Latinas are statistically interesting to social scientists. As girls, they are often the least educated and are more likely to drop out, contract AIDS, or commit suicide. As a group, this is a pan-Latina issue. It’s true for Mexican-Americans, Central Americas, Puerto Ricans, etc. For those who follow these trends, it was little surprise to learn that one-in-four stay at home moms in this country are Latina. And while some say this is due to cultural preference, others are questioning the limited choices many Latinas are often given.
Pilar Torres of Centro Familia.
Pilar Torres is the co-founder and executive director of Centro Familia, a Maryland-based advocacy group that helps families with early care and education.
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Web Extra - Latino Farmers v. USDA
Field worker in San Anselmo, CA. (Flickr Photo by cproppe.)
In the landmark Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit, some 15,000 Black farmers sued the federal government for systematic discrimination when it game to allocating USDA farm loans vital to seasonal farmers. The government settled that suit for $1 Billion and are now looking for another $1.25 Billion to cover additional claimants.
But despite the fact that Latino farmers, especially in South Texas, faced very similar discrimination in the same loan program, a federal judge has ruled that the Latino farmers cannot be given class action status, severely complicating the case.
Reporter Wade Goodwyn reported this story recently for NPR.
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Throughout Latin America the telenovela is an extremely popular form of entertainment. While they are often described as a Spanish-language TV “soap opera,” the biggest difference between telenovelas and American soap operas is the Spanish-language version actually has a planned episodic ending. It’s rare for a Spanish-language telenovela to last more than two-years. But the audience is well aware of this. And some telenovelas have had famed remakes or re-airings.
Spanish-language television networks in this country have kept the telenovela popular in the U.S. The most popular ones come from Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. And the tradition of watching telenovelas has spanned generations as well as diverse nationalities and ethnicities.
Now, CEO Women, an Oakland based advocacy group, is taking advantage of the telenovela format to train Latinas in the intricacies of starting a small business. Producer Lonny Shavelson tells us about this unique project.
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Three-time Grammy nominee Wayne Wallace is known for the use of traditional forms and styles in combination with contemporary music. An accomplished arranger, educator, and composer with compositions for film and television, Wallace has performed, recorded and studied with acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and Jazz idioms such as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Hutcherson, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Escovedo, Santana, Conjunto Libre, Whitney Houston, Tito Puente, Steve Turre, John Lee Hooker, Con-funk-shun, Manny Oquendo and Libre, Max Roach, Orestes Vilató, and others.
Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Wayne was exposed to Blues, Country and Western, and Jazz at an early age. His studies of Afro-Latin music and Jazz have included several trips to Cuba, New York, and Puerto Rico.
Wayne teaches at San Jose State University, Stanford University and the Jazz School in Berkeley. He is also the head of his own record label, Patois Records. His latest CD is simply titled ¡Bien Bien!
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Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quartet on YOU TUBE.
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Pilar Torres is the director of Centro Familia, a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality and availability of early care and education opportunities in low-income, immigrant neighborhoods.
Lonny Shavelson is a photojournalist, author and radio journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He produces stories for NPR, the BBC and others. His most recent book is Under the Dragon: California’s New Culture (co-authored with Fred Setterberg).
