Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act
Evokes César Chávez
Arturo Vargas

This week's 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represents a time to reflect on our history and plan for our future. In 1952, César Chávez joined a California civil rights group, the Community Service Organization, for which he conducted a voter registration drive in the San Jose area.

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Congressional Scorecards:
Democrats (95%), GOP (27%) Vote ‘Pro-Hispanic’
Daniel Anthony Dávila

Democrats significantly outperformed Republicans in the 108th Congress when voting on issues of particular importance to the 45.3 million Latinos in the United States. According to a scorecard released July 26 by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, Democrats in the House of Representatives voted pro-Hispanic 95% of the time, Republicans only 19%. In the Senate, 95% of Democratic votes supported NHLA positions; only 34% of Republican votes supported its positions.

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Latino Reporter Talks about His Beat in Baghdad
Carlos Al-Fulani

When I landed in Baghdad, a team of armed guards picked me up at the Saddam Hussein International Airport (I’m sorry, Baghdad International Airport), a huge airport, but almost completely deserted. An Egyptian engineer who flew in with me from Jordan said that it had been one of the busiest airports in the region.

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Giants’ Alou Draws Line on Racist ‘Sports-Talk’
Marcos Bretón

You know it's a cursed San Francisco Giants season when their best back-to-back wins of the year are drowned out by the racially tinged rantings of a radio talk show host, the now-suspended Larry Krueger, who raved on KNBR that he'd tired of "Brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly."

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A Challenge to Major League Baseball
Julio C. Malone

A complex network of jam-packed superhighways, interconnecting countless over-populated termite colonies, flows inside his home's walls. The boy jumps into his worn-out tennis shoes, and off he goes onto the muddy path seeking fresh air, a meal, or at least hope. Here comes a baseball scout peddling illusions, offering thousands of dollars to good players.

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AFL-CIO Loses Half a Million Latinos,
Defectors Claim
Marc Heller

The nation's largest umbrella group of labor unions, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, lost more than half a million Latino workers when its biggest members quit in July, according to estimates provided by some of the unions.

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DNC’s Dean Gains Hispanic Feedback
But Shares Little of His Plans
Sonia Meléndez     [Photo]

The Democratic National Committee’s third Hispanic Leadership Summit, held Aug. 6-7 in San Antonio, drew some 400 Latino political activists from throughout the country. DNC Chair Howard Dean described the event as designed to obtain feedback from these leaders. He and other DNC officials labeled it a productive effort.

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109th Congress Progress Is Minimal for Hispanics
Alex Meneses Miyashita     [Photo]

Several bills that would have direct impact on Hispanics were introduced in the first session of the 109th Congress, which is now in recess, but only three of the measures have become law. This congressional session also saw the debut of two Latino senators.

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Make Room for ‘Chico’ at Silicon Valley
Cecilio Morales     [Photo]

If the television series “Chico and the Man” were put on the air today, it would not be set in an auto shop but in a computer networking company. Latino star Freddie Prinze Jr. would argue passionately for Linux servers and open-source software against his white boss, Ed Harris, who’d defend Microsoft Windows and other commercial wares.

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The Early Years:
Closing the Latino Achievement Gap
Janet Murguía     [Photo]

Researchers, analysts and activists from all points of the political and ideological spectrum recognize that increasing the educational achievement of Hispanic students is the single most important thing we can do to improve the socioeconomic status of Hispanics.

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Flashback: A 10-Year-Old Boy’s Days in the Fields
Raymond Rodríguez

I was saddened by the news that three more farmworkers had collapsed and died after being forced to work in the relentless, scorching sun that sears California’s Central Valley during the summer months.

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Marketing Disease to Latinos
Guillermo Brito, Ph.D. & Katherine Culliton, Esq.

The National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention (LCAT) is undertaking a new civil rights campaign to redress aggressive, discriminatory alcohol and tobacco advertising targeting the Latino community. Alcohol and tobacco abuse cause serious health damage in this community, resulting in millions of cases of preventable disease and social conflict.

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