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Family
Regardless of how you feel about the outcome of the Zimmerman trial, we need to admit it: Zimmerman is Latino. He is one of us. Yes Latinos can be and are racists. We can and do vilify black men in the United States and in our home countries. We do not recognize our own racism...+
Family
Raise your money if you have sent money overseas. OK everyone put your hand down. We all have. Remittances are big money. In some countries the money we send back to our abuelas, tios and tias makes or breaks a country’s economy. Which is why any news about what companies are in this business is...+
Family
We not only need quality care we need culturally competent care. Which is why I loved Samuel Alcocer story. A moment of personal need was a rallying call to provide services to his community. One of his wisdom teeth had erupted into a throbbing, painful ache. At the time, Alcocer, a native of Santa Cruz...+
Choices
Immigration is painful. It hurts to leave everything you know. Language, food, climate, culture and professions are all left behind. New possibilities are ahead but so is failure. Immigration is full of angst. During this whole political grind we are currently going through we need to remember the personal cost to us all. So when...+
Family
So here we are in the throes of summer. In California, the heat wave is intense and I’ve spent quite a few days with Miss Thing at the pool in her first year on swim team. It is a highly social and time consuming endeavor. Like everything else in their little lives, it requires both...+
Sometimes you can find love on Youtube! Dash Harris is my YouTube crush. Whenever her channel has a new video I need to watch it de una. She has documented the specific Latino racist beliefs in a way I have never seen before in any media. She has take on a complicated task of asking Latinos...+
Family
Most of us at this point have had an family member come out. El tio o la prima now bring their otra mitad to every cumple, bautismo, and fiesta. In other words business as usual. Homophobia still has places in some families and communities, yet things have changed dramatically in the last fifteen years. So my best friend Pew publishes the...+
Education
Let me get on my high-horse for a better vantage point. OK this just sucks. In the middle of Silicon Valley we are being left behind We have a region-wide problem: Low percentages of college readiness for Latino, African-American, and Pacific Islander students across districts in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Individual schools buck the trends,...+
Civic Engagement
The most important mentors in my youth were African-American women. They took me under their wings and explained to me how this country does and does not work. They helped me give voice to my concerns, issues and experiences. They made me feel like I was family, an asset and a partner. Unlike many other...+
Stereotype: Mexican Moochers! Reality: We are donors! An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to the USC School of Social Work to establish the Cleofas and Victor Ramirez Professor of Practice, Policy, Research and Advocacy for the Latino Population. Yes one million. Not one dollar. Stereotype: We are not educated Reality: Education is highly valued...+