New horizons: the past, present, and future of Latinos in America according to Harry Pachon

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, Oct-Nov, 2004 by Jorge Ferraez, Kerri Allen

P: Rather than America strictly being an eastward-facing country and thinking that Europe is the center of the world, Latinos make us develop a consciousness that we are in the western hemisphere. As Latinos integrate more into American society, it helps us to value Latin America more than we have in the past. Our foreign policy will take the western hemisphere into account as well as the eastern hemisphere as far as our vision of the US and the world is concerned I think the strong family values that Latinos espouse are very positive for the US at a time when the divorce rate is 50 percent. Latinos are living in that two-parent family with children. They are embodying the American values of family and bard work.

LL: On the other hand, what are the greatest American influences on Latin American immigrants?

P: There are some very positive influences and some negative. Let's start with the negative. The immigrant usually comes into a central city, where the schools have never been the best. The American Dream that we to aspire for our children is being negatively impacted because the schools are not delivering their full potential. Based on what I've heard from my students and from people I met while working in community service organizations, immigrants really think that things are better when they come to America--so hope is alive in the barrios, compared to some other low-income areas where hope has died. There's hope of improving your life that characterizes the Latino immigrant community, much more than with people in similar low economic positions who have been here for three or lout generations.

LL: What helps Latino immigrants successfully adapt and Americanize once they arrive in the US?

P: The structure of American society is more predictable. On the whole, there is still law and order in ordinary life. You see much more structure here than in some Latin

American countries and that's a very positive thing for many people--that's one of the things that they admire. There are work opportunities that perhaps may not be present in their home countries. And the public school system goes much further in providing educational opportunities. In Mexico or other countries, the average level of education may be under eighth grade. Here, if you push your children hard enough, you can expect them to graduate high school and perhaps go to a community college or even a four-year university. One of the things that we have to watch for and that is disturbing is that many people who are unfamiliar with the Latino community see some very negative futures for this community. They see them as an underclass that is going to be perpetually poor and perpetually undereducated in the cities of the US. As absurd as it may sound, some people think of Latinos as Balkanizing or being separatists--and those are very pessimistic scenarios that are contradicted by the data and the evidence that's out there. It's funny, you and I are conducting our interview in English, but them are some who see the Latino community as being so separatist that they think the immigrant doesn't want to learn English. All of our studies at the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute show that rather than culture being a factor for some of the issues that confront our community, the larger issue is the lack of information. A lack of information about schools, health insurance, or how to buy a house in the US.