Customer Reviews

His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in The U.S.

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This is Geraldo's attempt to address the anti-immigrant hatred and paranoia. After his infamous April 2007 confrontation with Bill O'Reilly, Geraldo noticed how vitriolic attacks, myths and outright lies shaped the immigration debate in the nation.

Most striking is that Geraldo honestly admits the bad and the ugly with respect to Hispanics. With respect to gangs, Geraldo openly and honestly admits that in some areas Hispanic gangs are a "severe and undeniable problem". He openly admits that some gangs have targeted black people specifically because of their race. He admits that immigrant labor lowers the wages of low end jobs. He admits that Hispanic performance in education is not admirable. The honesty in this book is refreshing.

This is not a hit piece. It doesn't dissect the words of Dobbs, Tancredo and Gilchrist taking comments out of context with the intent to insult individuals. Although this book is written to criticize the paranoid, radical anti-immigration leftist dogma, the book also explores what Geraldo refers to as America's "honorable tradition of open-minded welcome" of immigrants. He provides examples of citizens who appreciate immigrants, cherish the contributions they make to society and make efforts to accommodate them.

What is most evident in this book is the contrast between Geraldo's perspective and that of anti-immigration fanatics. Tancredo sees poor, brown skinned people in Miami and declares it a third world country [It's not a country; it's a city, but nevertheless]. In contrast Geraldo sees homes where parents hug their children, where men and women go to work, where friends play basketball or soccer together, where young lovers hold hands and where young and old like to take an occasional afternoon off to go fishing.

In addressing illegal immigration, Geraldo makes some suggestions that are somewhat more level-headed that those of the anti-immigration fanatics. Instead of criminalizing conduct that is otherwise lawful and hunting down hardworking laborers whose only desire is to work for a living, Geraldo suggests allocating resources towards targeting gangs and terrorists. Geraldo ponders: Is America safer now that Elvira Arellano has been deported? Whose life is enhanced as a result?

Where the book falls short is where Geraldo only dabbles in addressing the outright spreading of lies about immigrants. A major contributor to the hate towards Hispanics in this country is the networks of propaganda machines that spread lies and deceive even well intentioned individuals. Maybe Geraldo doesn't spend much time surfing the web and doesn't know about the 2006 INS/FBI report [the INS didn't exist in 2006, there was no 2006 INS/FBI report and the facts that people said were in said report were all fabricated]. About every year they come up with a list of facts [sic] that are either outright lies, generous estimates or actual facts that are twisted to exaggerate the adverse effects of immigrants. Even the otherwise reputable American Legion has been deceived by some of these lies.

I was given Geraldo Rivera's book, His Panic, as a gift. I have to admit when I picked up the book I expected to find a screed filled with hyperbole and rancorous comments about people who are concerned about the immigration issue. Instead I found a well thought out, passionate but not overly emotional argument about why Hispanic immigration is good for America not bad. It is an outstanding treatment of the issue.

Geraldo's main point in this book is that Hispanic immigration is a good thing not a bad thing. He points out that Hispanic immigrants integrate into American society much like other immigrants in the past have done, such as the Irish and other European immigrants in the last century. Successive generations become more educated, more successful, and more "American" in their outlook and attitudes. The key difference being that Hispanics have another language, Spanish, which is the main tongue of early immigrants, and that Hispanics are readily identifiable ethnically. While Geraldo never explicitly states it in this book, underlying racism certainly seems to play a role in Americans' fear of Hispanic immigrants coming to this country.

Throughout the book Geraldo deftly, using facts, undermines the myths of Hispanic immigration, such as that immigration increases the crime rate, that they steal jobs, that it's an avenue for importing terrorism, or that they import disease. He also talks about the fear mongers in the media hyping up isolated events, such as an illegal immigrant killing innocent Americans in a drunk driving accident, to paint all immigrants, illegal or not, as creating a crime wave, when in fact, Hispanic immigrants have a crime rate that is no different than other ethnic groups.

The book also highlights many immigrant success stories, while lamenting Hispanic gangs. And it provides harrowing, personal accounts of many illegal immigrants. It ends with Geraldo's own policy preferences for addressing Hispanic immigration.

This is a very well done treatise on the immigration issue. Even those who have a different point of view than Geraldo's would benefit from reading the book for a different perspective.

Geraldo could take a look at California to see the flaws with boosting illegal immigration as Alex Alexiev writes:

"California's financial unraveling has prompted a long-overdue debate about taxes, regulation, and government spending, but the state's media and government continue to ignore what could be an even greater problem: the irreparable damage to California's human capital that nearly 30 years of unrestrained illegal immigration has achieved.

This is not an immigration problem, or even an illegal-immigration problem, per se. A strong case could be made that, in terms of educational achievement, industriousness, and entrepreneurial acumen, Asian immigrants to California have proven superior to white natives of the state. Therefore, if California were to experience a wave of mass immigration from Asia, its long-term economic prospects would be improved. Today's Hispanic immigrants would probably have the same effect if they came from the top 10 to 20 percent of their society according to those same measures of human capital rather than from its bottom rungs. But the influx has instead been composed mainly of the poorly educated, the unskilled, and the illiterate. Such immigrants will likely soon dominate the state's overall population and politics.

In 2005, the California K12 school system was 48.5 percent Hispanic, compared with 30.9 percent white. By now it is above 50 percent Hispanic. Two-thirds of kindergarten students were Hispanic, most of them unable to speak English.

For a closer glimpse of what's in store for California, look at the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in California and the second largest in the country. Of its roughly 700,000 students, almost three-quarters are Hispanic, 8.9 percent are white, and 11.2 percent are black. More than half of the Latino students (about 300,000) are "English learners" and, depending on whether you believe the district or independent scholars, anywhere between a third and a half drop out of high school, following significant attrition in middle school. A recent study by UC Santa Barbara's California Dropout Research Project estimates that high-school dropouts in 2007 alone will cost the state $24.2 billion in future economic losses.

Even those who graduate aren't necessarily headed to success. According to one study, 69 percent of Latino high-school graduates "do not meet college requirements or satisfy prerequisites for most jobs that pay a living wage." It is difficult to see how the majority-Hispanic labor force of the future can provide the skills that the sophisticated Los Angeles economy demands. Already studies show that as many as 700,000 Los Angeles Latinos and some 65 percent of the city's illegal immigrants work in L.A.'s huge underground economy.

The unhappy picture in Los Angeles is replicated to one degree or another across much of California and is taking a huge toll on the state's economic competitiveness and long-term prospects. California's educational system, once easily the best in the country, is today mired in mediocrity near the bottom among the 50 states as judged by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in math, science, reading, and writing. And for the first time in its history, California is experiencing an increase in adult illiteracy. In 2003, it had the highest adult illiteracy in the United States, 23 percent nearly 50 percent higher than a decade earlier. In some counties (Imperial at 41 percent, Los Angeles at 33 percent) illiteracy approaches sub-Saharan levels.

Perhaps even more important than the collapse of educational achievement among the lower strata is a deterioration of the higher education that was for decades the basis of California's preeminence in science and technology. California currently ranks 40th among the 50 states in college-attendance rates, and it already faces a significant shortage of college graduates. Studies have shown that the economy will need 40 percent of its workers to be college-educated by 2020, compared with today's 32 percent. Given the aging white population (average age, 42), many of these new graduates will have to come from the burgeoning Latino immigrant population (average age, 26). By one estimate, this would require tripling of the number of college-educated immigrants, an impossibility if current trends hold. The state's inability to improve the educational attainment of its residents will result in a "substantial decline in per capita income" and "place California last among the 50 states" by 2020, according to a study by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

The mediocre education system, along with the unfriendly business climate and confiscatory tax regime, is driving educated, middle-class Californians out of the state. Between 2000 and 2005, more people with college degrees left California than came in, according to research by the Hewlett Foundation. Since then this trend has accelerated, and the state lost 2.2 million members of its young, educated, tax-paying middle class between 2004 and 2007. IRS data show that of recent migrants from the Golden State to places like Texas and Oklahoma, who average 29 years of age, 58 percent have received at least some college education and 53 percent own their homes.

In short, we are witnessing a highly advanced and prosperous state, long endowed with superior human capital, turning into the exact opposite in just one generation. What can be done to stop this race to the bottom? The answer is simple: California and Washington need to enforce existing immigration law. Unfortunately, it is difficult to convince the public that this is necessary, so deeply entrenched are myths about illegal immigration.

One myth is that because America is a country of immigrants and has successfully absorbed waves of immigration in the past, it can absorb this wave. But the argument neglects two key differences between past waves and the current influx. First, the immigrant population is more than double today what it was following the most massive previous immigration wave (that of the late 19th century). Second, and much more important, as scholars from the Manhattan Institute have shown, earlier immigrants were much more likely to bring with them useful skills. Some Hispanic immigrants certainly do integrate, but most do not. Research has shown that even after 20 years in the country, most illegal aliens (the overwhelming majority of whom are Hispanic) and their children remain poor, unskilled, and culturally isolated they constitute a new permanent underclass.

Perhaps the most disingenuous myth about illegal immigrants is that they do not impose any cost on society. The reality is that even those who work and half do not, according to the Pew Hispanic Center cannot subsist on the wages they receive and depend on public assistance to a large degree. Research on Los Angeles immigrants by Harvard University scholar George J. Borjas shows that 40.1 percent of immigrant families with non-citizen heads of household receive welfare, compared with 12.7 percent of households with native-born heads. Illegal immigrants also increase public expenditures on health care, education, and prisons. In California today, illegal immigrants' cost to the taxpayer is estimated to be $13 billion half the state's budget deficit.

The state should stop providing welfare and other social services to illegal aliens as existing statutes demand and severely punish employers who break the law by hiring illegal immigrants. This would immediately remove powerful economic incentives for illegal immigration, and millions of illegal aliens would return to their countries. Instead, with President Obama in the White House and the Democrats controlling Congress, an amnesty for the country's 13 million illegal immigrants may be soon to come.

Milton Friedman once said that unrestrained immigration and the welfare state do not mix. Must we wait until California catches up with Mexico to realize how right he was?

HIS PANIC is a must read book for every American. It is a must read for every Hispanic/Latino living in the US and around the world. This book contains thoroughly researched information that should be of interest to historians, sociologists, anthropologists, politicians, and any person who aspires to the label of "educated." Geraldo's four decades of investigative reporting for all the major news agencies in America, and his intensive journalistic coverage of the world and its many conflicts, lend this book an element of documentation and validity to rival the best scholarly work.

The book's major premise is in essence a defense of the undocumented immigrants (now numbering around 12 million in the U.S.) that have come under attack by the bullies of the far right like Lou Dobbs of CNN, Limbaugh, Malkin, Beck, and others. The harsh and misleading attacks on these folks have permeated the culture to the extent that even the 40 million (approx.) American Hispanics have come under attack and/or suspicion. The republican presidential candidates, before McCain's nomination had been tripping over each other to prove harsher on the immigrants than the next.

Geraldo exposes them all for what they are--the neo-Know-Nothings whose nativist pursuits are so passionately tainted with the dislike for otherness that they routinely ignore facts, reason, and logic. The talking heads on radio and television have so inflamed the passions of the American xenophobe and latent xenophobe that their followers grant them carte blanche to exaggerate, distort, mislead, and lie about the issues surrounding undocumented immigrants and Hispanics in general.

Geraldo's boldest move in HIS PANIC is his plea directly to President Bush to make his legacy the pardoning of all 12 million undocumented immigrants: "President Bush can be a latter day Lincoln or Tsar Alexander II and issue his own Emancipation Proclamation for the age" (260). Indeed, Geraldo proves his mettle as the great compassionate man that he is. He has not always been my favorite personality, but that was before I realized that he was as deeply committed to this cause as he clearly is. He is unapologetic in his defense of the just and the fair. He stands proud of his own Hispanicity while also demonstrating deep understanding of the various other Hispanic/Latino/Chicano blends and identities. And he offers the history to prove it.

The book is divided into sixteen chapters plus a preface and conclusion. It reads well because it is well-written, with the flair and nimbleness of an experienced man of words. Rivera touches upon the many facets of American multiculturalism and places Hispanics in the right and proper context throughout. But the author doesn't simply tell us what something is, he shows us how it came to be. It is not enough to say that there is no Hispanic American conspiracy to re-claim the American Southwest and Texas for Mexico to whom they once belonged. He also follows up such proclamations with in-depth explanations as to the lack of evidence for it, and, of course, its ultimate implausibility.

Geraldo dispels so many myths and general slander that he deserves a medal for that alone. I won't go into quoting the passages that tell of heart breaking stories heroism by Hispanic soldiers, or the pain suffered by families torn apart by misguided policies, or his colorful examples of hate mail he has received since he began debating this topic on television. All these things are in the book and all speak volumes as to the uphill battle that Geraldo and Hispanic Americans have before them. But hi doesn't shy away from the flaws in the Hispanic community either (which of themselves do not justify the current wave of hatred and animosity because all communities have flaws that if magnified by hateful rhetoric can make them seem monstrous as well), such as the gang problem or the continuing lack of academic achievement in relation to other groups.

The breadth of coverage of the issues is impressive for its thoroughness yet conciseness in a relatively short book (262 pages). My only disappointment is the exclusion of an index and a detailed list of references. Rivera documents his book through his narrative. Nevertheless, the book shines bright like the light that the author turns on the xenophobes and their cheerleader extraordinaire Lou Dobbs.

Every Hispanic should read this book in order to make up for the dearth of information they receive in our public schools regarding their contributions and their rightful place in American history and society. There are so many disparate pieces of information on the issues of our time that this book brings together for Hispanics that it would be a shame if this community does not make it a bestseller. The book's historic probing explains not only today's hostility and suspicion toward Hispanic Americans but also delves into the historic underpinnings of much of that hostility.

I recommend this book unconditionally.

It is insane for any country to encourage massive immigration of any people that harbor territorial or religous grievances against the host country.
Nearly all of the population growth in our country in the last 40 years has come from immigration. None of the immigrants are encouraged to assimilate as our ancestors once were and did.
Unlimited immigration for an unlimited time is not sustainable. The American public has become aware that its desire to see less immigration and zero illegal immigration has been denied by special interests for decades.
The Democrats want to impmort a new people that will vote Democrat, the Republicans want more compliant workers that will work for slave wages and the ethnic advocates and race hustlers want more of their unassimilating ethnic group to seize more power.

When borders change, people die. Look it up. People are playing with fire!

I have never liked Mr.Rivera, and this book did nothing to change my impression of him. He is a demagogue, who tars millions of Americans concerned with national sovereignty and secure borders as backwards racists. He uses the oldest--but fallacious--rhetorical trick: Joe Smith is against illegal immigration, the KKK is against illegal immigration, Q.E.D. Joe Smith is a dyed-in-the-wool racist. By this argument, Martin Luther King was a Communist because the Communist Party supported racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s. Rivera constantly and dishonestly uses the expression "anti-immigrant" when in fact is it a matter of being against illegal immigration. It is not the same thing. Ultimately, Hispanic fails as a open-borders polemic.

Geraldo Rivera legitimately points out that much of the opposition to the illegal immigrants is based on bigotry. Some individuals are most assuredly upset about the skin color of these people. Nonetheless, Rivera fails to deal with the number one question: How many more poorly educated illegals can be absorbed into our modern day economy? Things have dramatically worsened in the last twenty years. The present out of control situation cannot continue indefinitely. Rivera also conveniently ignores the high illegitimacy rates and increased criminal activity of the most recent illegal immigrants. Moreover, it is well established that Mexican illegals are particularly anti-intellectual and contemptuous towards education. Whether he likes it or not, it also behooves us to remember the late Milton Friedman's warning that "It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state."

Most Americans like me are not interested in kicking out the illegals already living here and behaving themselves. Some of them have even given birth to American citizens. We have to cut them some slack. It's essentially a matter of regaining control of our borders and allowing only those immigrants into the United States who have the most to contribute and are eager to become good Americans. You must read Rivera's book with a huge grain of salt---but do read it. No, it's not a five star work---however, it earns a solid four. He offers an argument that is well worth listening to. I also highly recommend The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's. Both of these books should be on your must read list.

For a book that just came out less than a week ago, it sure has picked up a ton of detractors. In fact, one could reasonably argue the book was never read, especially when you read the vitriolic "reviews" posted here.

For those following the "Great Immigration Debate", there is nothing new in this book. However, for someone not versed on the many myths of illegal immigration, this book is a wealth of information.

Rivera touches all the bases: from reminding folks that undocumented entry into the U.S. is a civil, not legal infraction to dispelling the "anchor baby" myth, Rivera deftly gives us a primer on the sources of this "Hispanic Panic."

The book is an easy read, and includes a chapter on the Rivera family's "immigration" to New York and his early days as an activist lawyer. Rivera also talks about his stints in the Middle East and his chats with famous buddies Cheech Marin and Carlos Santanna, but the bulk of the book deals with the absolute hatred spewed by anti-Mexican websites and talking heads. As proof Rivera reprints verbatim the hate emails that have graced his email box, also including a forum excerpt from a whack-job on the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps website calling for Rivera to be lynched.

But surprisingly enough, Rivera manages to remain optimistic while staving off the xenophobic cruft: he re-states several studies which refute the idea that "illegal immigrants" commit more crimes than the native-born, that those working in the shadows make a positive impact on our economy, and relates heartbreaking tales of soldiers killed in Iraq who signed up to fasttrack their immigration status.

The book reads like a memoir instead of a scholarly thesis, like an old friend is sitting at the kitchen table patiently debating a passionate issue over cold cervezas. It won't change the minds of those with their heels dug in, but it may sway those with more moderate minds.

His panic is a word that some shouln't fear, its reality.
Hispanics are the biggest minority in the U.S after African Americans. Geraldo Rivera here tries to explain what are some of the contemplations that some Hispanics go throuhg here in the U.S. Although, there are some things that are very complex to me. For staters, how can someone whose parents were born in the Bronx, New York and is Puerto Rican can write about hispanics?

Geraldo Rivera is a Puerto Rican who was born in the United States, so he cannot see, feel, or know what is actually being a Hispanic. The book has many information about why some Americans fear Hispanics in the U.S. I can quite recall a quote from the book saying somethin like, "See-The gringos hate us". The quote came from president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. If this really comes to spread all over the United States then some Hispanics are going to rebel against Americans. Moreover, this was during Bush's term that he said this. I also remember Hugo Chavez calling Bush the second a devil.

Geraldo's Hispanic is a book that I loved to read and there was some truth. "Here come these poor, opresses, untrained ghetto dwellers to drain the country economy... Three generations later those Irish and Polish immigrants are leaders. By 2030 it will be our turn". We, Hispanics, have come a long way, geographically, physically, and mentaly from where we were at. Many come to the U.S to prosper. Moreover, statistics show that Hispanics will be the biggest minority in 2050 in the U.S. Until then, many Hispanics will come to work because they have families in their native countries starving and close to dying. Although, I can see where some Americans come to look at us as immigrants because of those bad influences that have made the word "Hispanic" a "spick" or just a bad name, but some are here to be better civilized people.

Overall, HIS PANIC is a great book that people should buy because it unvails the truth about hispanics-Americans because it only tells about like Geraldo Rivera a naturalized born U.S Hispanic living in the U.S. The problem is that Americans should not fear Hispanics because we are here to work and not take the jobs of many americans because first we need a social security to work legally in the U.S, which some of us do not.

Geraldo Rivera is brilliant. His book "Hispanic" is a well balanced recounting of the immigration debate with good supporting documentation. It is written in the reporting style. He presents factual data from reputable sources and then illustrates it with personal examples. His chapters (Will America be like Quebec?, Do Hispanics Steal Jobs?, etc) dispel most of the common myths about the current wave of immigration. His chapter on "The Other Side of History" tells the story of the USA's domination of Mexico from the Mexican's viewpoint. It gave me a new and useful perspective on that history.

But his creative masterstroke occurs three pages from the end of the book. He proposes a solution to the current immigration impasse that would in one stroke restore rule of law, end a terror threat and make America again the land of the free. He proposes that President Bush could give Congress 90 days to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform if Congress fails to act he can use his executive power to pardon all of the "illegal immigrants" in the country. This is similar to what President Clinton did in the last days of his presidency. He used the National Monument law, which previously had only been used to preserve small tract of land, to convert millions of acres of western land into "Monuments." At Radical Immigration we believe that responsible people have the right to live wherever they choose. Geraldo's plan would be a big step in the right direction. It might also save the Republican Party and make Bush's legacy.

Even if you don't like Geraldo's idea the book is an excellent read on a topic that has too much shouting and not enough considering. He writes about Puerto Rican independence; "Any movement not big enough to include a moderate voice was too radical ever to garner widespread public support." The same can be said about today's anti-immigrant hate groups.