La Plaza Central

This article is my last word on Cinco de Mayo.  I thought I’d include it, because it mentions several interesting facts.  The article talks about Mexican culture’s dominance in the Latino community in the United States.  Holidays like yesterday have no significance for nearly half of all Hispanics living in the States.  Yet many Latinos must combat the stereotype that because they’re Latino, they’re Mexican.

On one hand, there’s some reason behind the perception.  There are an estimated 11 million Mexican-born immigrants in the states, which is nearly as many as all other immigrants from Latin American countries.  The next highest total is El Salvador with around 1 million.  But at the same time, every country has their respective customs, traditions, histories, national identities and even their own version of Spanish.  (Be careful where you say bicho (bug) in Central America.)  Could Radio Lobo please just once play something besides música durangense?

And despite these differences, issues like immigration reform and social injustice bring the whole Latino together as a single community, with alliances across the board.  Interesting dynamics going on there.

The President jokingly referred to today’s holiday as “Cinco de Cuatro” yesterday as he welcomed guests to the White House for a Cinco de Mayo celebración.  I’m guessing that he meant to say “Cuatro de Mayo”, yesterday’s date.  We’ll work on that bilingual thing when there’s more time…

The Journal Star recently covered our collaborative effort with the Haydon Art Center and artist, Claudia Alvarez , previously mentioned in this blog post.  It’s a very nice article.

Source: www.ballonmaniacs.com

Here is an interesting article published in the Omaha World-Herald last week about the Mexican celebration of Cinco de Mayo.  It is a national holiday, but not for the reasons that many people believe.  It’s NOT Mexico’s independence day (September 16, 1810), but rather it commemorates an important battle where Mexicans defended Mexico City from the French.  From the article…

“Cinco de Mayo is about unity, the fight and struggle. The date commemorates an important battle won by the Mexican army – a group more like a bunch of brave farmers than a militia.

In 1862, the French wanted to take over Mexico City. They were stopped in Puebla, a small town on the outskirts of the city. The French had muskets, while the peasants carried rusty pitchforks and machetes. They were outnumbered six to one, but the peasants never gave up.”

Also of note is that more people of Mexican heritage living in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo than Mexicans in Mexico.

I’ve been sitting on this post for awhile, because I didn’t want to do it until May was upon us.  And now that it is, I want to say that May is Latino Images in Film Month on Turner Classic Movies.   All this month, every Tuesday and Thursday evening, TCM will be showing films that focus on Hollywood’s treatment of Latinos.  They run the gamut from a silent movie made in 1910 to the western drama Lonestar from 1996.  Be sure to check out the website for a movie schedule and trailers for several of the films.

As someone who’s experience with Latino films is primarily old black and white Mario Moreno Cantínflas movies, I’ll be interested to see movies with other stars like Edward James Olmos, Jennifer Lopez and Ricardo Montalban.

The Pew Research Center released a report today quantifying what most people already deduced about the 2008 elections.  Last year’s voting population was more diverse than ever.  African Americans, Latinos, and Asians increased their percentage of all people who voted in the elections to 12.1%, 7.4%, and 2.5%, respectively.  49.9% of eligible Latinos voted in 2008, versus 47.2% in 2004.  Asian participation increased roughly the same, and African American voter turnout increased 4.9%.

Interestingly, much of the increase in Latino voter can be attributed to the recent boom in the Latino popluation.  Between 2004 and 2008, eligible Latino voters grew by 21.4%.  Compare that to the increase in total eligible voters the last four years, 4.6%.  Oh the times they are a-changin’.

A short note today about a recent collaborative project between El Centro, a local art center, and artist from Omaha.  El Centro’s own Maria Leticia and her women’s groups recently participated in an outreach program with the Haydon Art Center and Claudia Alvarez of Omaha.

In the first phase, the women’s group attended a presentation of European quilts on display at Haydon.  The women were given a tour of the center, as well as the art on exhibit.  In the second phase, Claudia came to El Centro and gave two art classes where she showed the women how to paint and draw themselves as a way of expressing their emotions.  Between the first and second classes, the women were given notebooks to record their feelings in whatever form they chose.  Some opted to draw, others to write poetry or songs.  The excercise served as a catharsis and exercise  about the various forms to express emotions and feelings.

Here are some photos from the artist sessions.

New article in the Omaha WH yesterday about the gap in pay for higher paying jobs between whites and other races.  The money quote,

“The lesson of most economic downturns is minorities are the last hired, first fired. They lose jobs more quickly, and they will be the last to recover” – Roderick Harrison.

Newly released Census data shows that blacks and Latinos with high school diplomas have either remained steady or slightly closed the pay gap with their white counterparts, but amongst college graduates the disparities have actually increased since 2000.  Latino college graduates make about 75 cents for every dollar that white graduates earn, which is down from 87 cents in 2000.  The story for African Americans is roughly the same as a black college graduate in 2007 can expect to earn about 78 cents for every dollar, compared to 83 cents in 2005.

These growing disparities are both alarming and disheartening.  But so is this… according to the Census, 92% of whites have at least high school diploma, versus 89% of Asians, 83% of blacks, and just 62% of Latinos.  We have to get that last number up to have any chance.

A hospital in Hastings has won an award this week for their diabetes program called Salud Para Su Corazón that targets minorities in Adams, Webster and Nuckolls counties.

Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital won the Organization Exceptional Merit Award handed out by the Nebraska Public Health Conference in Lincoln.

The cool thing here is that according to the Chief Medical Officer, the program helped 300 people, and half of the participants lost weight, increased physical fitness and ate more fruits and veggies.

Video here.

El Centro would like to announce the hiring of our new full time executive director, Marien Ruiz!  Many of you knew her as the interim director, though now the interim tag has been lifted.  Hailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mrs. Ruiz has been with El Centro for approximately 1.5 years.  She began her non-profit career as an AmeriCorps volunteer alongside another brilliant young man, Nicholas Woodward.  She likes reading, cooking arroz con gandules, and long walks on the beach.  Of which there are none in Nebraska.

At any rate, we are enthralled to Marien at the helm, and we know she will make an excellent executive director.  And we want Monday off.