HOW FAR WE HAVE COME AND HOW FAR WE HAVE TO GO

On March 31st, we will celebrate Cesar Chavez's birthday.  Chavez was at the forefront of securing greater civil and labor rights for our community, particularly for migrant farm workers.  His vision and leadership made America aware of the obstacles facing our community. We would not be where are today were it not for the sacrifices and vigilance of Latinos like Cesar Chavez.

While we have come a long way from the days of being treated like second-class citizens, we still have far to go. We are now America's largest minority and will continue to grow as a percentage of America's population.  Even though the Hispanic community is more than an ever an integrated part of American society, we still suffer America's problems at a disproportionate rate.  And, under the Bush administration, life has become harder for Latinos.

By percentage, more Hispanics live in poverty than any other group.  Nationally, 12.7% of Americans live in poverty while almost 22 percent of Hispanics in the United States live in poverty. According to its most recent statistics, the US Census Bureau determined that this poverty line for our community is holding steady and not improving.

According to a 2004 Pew Hispanic Center Study, the median net worth of Latino households was $7,932 as compared to $88,651, the median wealth of non-Hispanic White households.  In other words, the median Latino household possesses only one tenth of the wealth of non-Hispanic White Households. Recent studies also show that we have higher rates of unemployment and earn less.

The median Hispanic income lags nearly $15,000 behind the overall population.  Moreover, from 2003-2004 Hispanics actually saw a their household incomes decrease. While the national unemployment rate stands at 4.9 percent, the Hispanic unemployment rate is at 6.0 percent – exactly what it was when President Bush took office in January 2001.

Our community has less health insurance coverage than any other in America. The US Census Bureau recently determined that the average rate of uninsured Hispanics (32.6 percent) was higher than the rate for any other demographic group. Worse still, the Department of Health and Human Services concluded in a recent report that, "Hispanics received poorer quality of care than non-Hispanic Whites."  Moreover, "for racial minorities, more disparities in quality of care are becoming smaller than are becoming larger; for Hispanics, the reverse is true." 

So, we are less covered than other minorities and receive worse care. And, the Bush administration and Republicans have not seriously addressed the problem of health care neither in America nor in the Hispanic community.

Of course, education is the key factor in earning power but our community remains disadvantaged. Despite the Administration's goal of improving achievement gaps between minority students and their White counterparts, the Latino student achievement gap remains as wide as ever. Fourth-grade Latino students scored 27 points below their White counterparts in reading and 21 points below in Math in the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Since the Bush administration has underfunded its own program, No Child Left Behind, this is sadly not a surprise.

Moreover, dropout rates for Hispanics are twice as high when compared to the overall population and four times as high as the White community. Yet the Bush Administration has cut funding for Dropout prevention in its last four budgets.

Were he alive today, Cesar Chavez would undoubtedly denounce these trends and the policies that fail to address these problems.  We can do better.  By being more engaged in the political process on all levels, we can make our voices heard and begin to change our communities and our nation for the better.