Out Of The Barrio: Toward A New Politics Of Hispanic Assimilation: Chavez, Linda: 9780465054312: Amazon.com: Books

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Out Of The Barrio: Toward A New Politics Of Hispanic Assimilation Paperback – November 11, 1992

by Linda Chavez (Author)

4.0 8 ratings

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Are Hispanics making it”achieving the American dream following the pattern of other ethnic groups? This controversial book shatters the myth that 20 million His panicsfast becoming the nation's largest minorityare a permanent underclass. Chavez considers the radical implications for bilingual education, immigration policy, and affirmative action.

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Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 11, 1992
Dimensions

5 x 0.56 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0465054315
ISBN-13

978-0465054312
Lexile measure

1530L
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Kathie M. Riess
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2017
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Book in good condition

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Sarah C K Moore
Disgusting
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2020
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The book I just received is absolutely disgusting. I won’t return because that would require me to touch it and it seems like it could be covered in insect or animal feces.

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Beercelo
A great book...
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2002
I was coming home from a Dia de la Raza march in 1993 and was asked to steal this book from the public library in Yuma and destroy it. So I stole the book and ended up flipping through it on my way back to Tucson. I read the entire book, and for the first time in my life, I realized that I could be both the American patriot who loves the U.S. and the proud Chicano who never forgot where he came from. After I read this book I thought about being more open-minded and started listening to opposing viewpoints. In reading the works of Linda Chavez and others, such as Alan Keyes and Thomas Sowell, I saw that being a minority and believing in less government and lower taxes and being opposed to the welfare state didn't automatically make you a sell-out. This, I believe, has been the mistake of civil rights leaders in the past: if you're white and disagree with Jesse Jackson when he says that racism and nothing else accounts for minorities being turned down for home loans, then you're a racist homophobe; if you're Mexican and disagree with Octavio Paz that the only truly original creations of America were pre-Columbian, then you're a coconut - that is, brown on the outside, white on the inside; brown, wishing to be white. Actually, we are not a monolithic group and we don't all have to agree on important issues to have genuine Latino credentials. In truth, we a growing and still-evolving people, and there are a great number of us who love being Mexicano, proud of the Indian blood we carry, and love our beautiful Spanish language, and happy to live in the U.S., and proud to defend its honor. (*And in case you're wondering, yes, I took the book back the library, and yes, the alarm went off as I walked in through the front door trying to sneak it back to the shelf.)

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George Fulmore
Conservative Slant on Latino Immigration
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2012
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This book is full of insight into Latino history in the U.S. It offers it via a perspective that I have not found in other books I've read on the subject. Because the copyright date of the paperback copy I read is 1991, many of its statistics are dated. Also, much has happened in the two decades since the book was written. For example, the welfare reform in the Clinton had not yet taken place, so much of what the book has to say regarding welfare issues is dated. But that is O.K.

More importantly, the point is that this book presents a different perspective on the subject of Latino immigration and assimilation issues. Many will find this author's perspective too conservative on the subject of government's role in "helping" Latinos to succeed .But, to me, the author comes from more of middle-of-the-road or centrist position, which I feel makes the book unique and invaluable. I learned a great deal in reading it. I'm not a convert. Don't get that wrong. I've just gained perspective from reading it. I appreciate her points, for the most part.

On with the book: In introducing the subject of immigrant assimilation, the history of Blacks in the U.S. is reviewed. Civil Rights Acts granted equal opportunities to Blacks, then affirmative action implemented many of these opportunities. But the author questions why Black history should have been applied to Latinos, telling us that in 1960 there were only about four million Latinos in the U.S., most of them being Mexicans. (In the decade of the 60s, about one million Cubans entered, most to settle in Florida.)
The 60s, of course, was the War on Poverty era of social change. Per the author, this enticed Latino leaders at the time to identify a "permanent Hispanic underclass" as a way to qualify for entitlements. Meanwhile, per the author, most of the established Latinos in this era were assimilating just fine.

Education, of course, is the crux of any discussion of assimilation into the American culture. English as a Second Language programs were being developed by the 60s, but only about five percent of Latinos were enrolled in such by the end of that decade. For the vast majority of the kids, it was a sink-or-swim entry into the American culture. Latino children who attended public schools during the day were expected to speak English there, even as they returned at night to homes speaking only Spanish. Such was the challenge.

Calls for bilingual education in public schools emerged. Some criticized the schools for their indifference to Latino students and community needs. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was interpreted to include discrimination against Latinos in schools, so that by the 70s, school districts were being required to develop special language programs and to act "affirmatively." The concept being advanced was that bilingual/bicultural education was good for Latino kids, regardless of the fact that the majority could, per the author, already speak English just fine.

In a landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision, "Plyler vs. Doe," this theme was formalized, when the Court ruled that states were required to provide free public education to children of illegal immigrants. This ruling, per the author, probably heightened frustration in school systems already trying to do the right thing with children of their communities, as it implied that public education needed to be more inclusive.

But the author takes us back in time to a sudden twist of reality in a 1977 study that, she would say, exposed the hoax: The bilingual/bicultural programs were not teaching English well, nor keeping the kids on track in other subjects, even though the majority of the kids enrolled in such programs were speaking English when they first entered the programs. And, surveys, per the author, showed that most Latino parents preferred the schools to teach their children English proficiency rather than cultural awareness. But the dominance of bilingual/bicultural programs for Latinos continued. Again, per the author, critics of these programs hoped that the election of Ronald Reagan as President in the 80s would bring about change in these commitments across the country.

Per the author, many of the Latino political leaders who emerged during this period had a civil-rights mentality that was more appropriate to the struggles of Black Americans. In fact, per the author, it was the affirmative action age that defined the term "Latinos" in the first place, they being, before this, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, etc. Justification for the author's point of view is that these three groups actually lived in different parts of the country: Mexicans primarily in the Southwest, Puerto Ricans in New York and other urban areas, and Cubans in Miami and South Florida. At this time, they were really very separate "Latino" communities, tied loosely, if at all, by a common language and religion. From the author's conservative perspective, these political types used the Voting Rights Acts primarily to call for increased voter registration of Latino voters.

Then, there is an interesting section on the participation by the Ford Foundation, which began to fund studies on Mexican-Americans, which, per the author, concluded that Mexican Americans "were disorganized and fragmented" and in need of national organizations to meet their political needs. Again, per the author, the Foundation continued to fund in this area and, in effect, became the major contributor to several Latino organizations, including the National Council of La Raza and MALDEF. Meanwhile, per the author, most Latinos in the U.S. were not involved with these leadership organizations. They were busy assimilating and intermarrying in their quests for the American Dream.
Along the way, movements emerged in a backlash to make English the official language of the land. The author actually became President of one of these groups: "U.S. English." She later resigned from the group after it is obvious that many in it were also anti-immigrant nut jobs.

Importantly, the author wants to make the case that most Latino immigrants come to the U.S. to work, not collect welfare or vote. She feels that giving them "special rights" or perceived advantages can lead to doors being closed behind them, as this gets the anti-immigrant nut jobs all worked up.

To sum things up a bit, the author's basic position appears to be that Latino-heritage people are free to push for their offspring to retain their cultural identity and native language as they see fit. She does not object nor disagree with this. But she also believes that bilingualism in the U.S. is not going to happen, officially, nor should Latinos demand it nor expect it. That is not the ultimate future for Latinos in the U.S. she would say, any more than it has been for those of other major immigrant groups.
Reinforcing this position, she rejects any suggestion that Latinos are inherently inferior to other American groups. She hates those who would promote the image of Latinos as a "disadvantaged minority." And, she believes that Latinos in poverty do not represent the majority of Latino Americans. Cubans, for example, now number thousands of millionaires and members who are successful in all walks of American life. And Mexicans and those from Central America have an inherent burden: While many in these communities have been established in the U.S. for generations, a high percentage are recent immigrants, mostly coming from rural areas and with little formal education. This makes these groups, as a whole, appear more disadvantaged than they should be viewed. In any case, her position is that none have anything to apologize for.

But for those born in the U.S., per the author, life should be all about achieving the American Dream. A reality is that nearly 80% of these second-generation Mexican-Americans graduate from high school, this being not far behind the 90% rate of graduation for whites. And by the third generation, only about half of these Latino-heritage kids will speak much Spanish at all. Also, even per this book with a 1991 copyright, the author says that 50% of Mexican-Americans in California are marrying non-Latinos.

But in a bit of a twist, the author tells us that most Latin immigrant adults do not make the effort to become American citizens; although, she says that Canadian immigrants also have a low rate of seeking U.S. citizenship. She says the explanation for this is in the close proximity to one's homeland, plus the fact that most do not see significant advantages to becoming a U.S. citizen.

The book includes a chapter on Puerto Rico immigrants and their unique situation, which leads more to choosing to live in urban areas, accepting welfare, and continuing to live in a "disadvantaged status" more likely than the other Latino groups. Per the author, Puerto Ricans have been showered with too much "government attention," leading to their general lack of effort to assimilate into the general American community, compared with other Latino groups.

The last chapter of the book presents and reviews the author's thesis that assimilation by Latinos has become a dirty word for too many in American politics. She points out how other immigrant groups assimilated successfully, while she recognizes the daunting tasks of assimilation for Blacks and Asians with their unique physical characteristics. But, for this author, assimilation is the opportunity to become part of the greater American community and that any "loss" in the process is worth the price of admission. She says that most Latino immigrants accept that the United States is an English-speaking nation, and they embrace the idea.

As a clarification, she is not against those in Latino communities who would choose to embrace their native culture and to preserve it in their offspring, communities and families. What she is against is for the government to feel that it has a role to play in this. She wants churches and community groups to take on this responsibility.
U.S. Public schools, she feels, should be in the business of educating kids in English. Period. The schools should also be in the business of teaching and promoting the American culture. And the achievement bottom line is that if Latino parents want their kids to succeed at the same level as kids from other American communities, then they must insist that their kids learn English as well and study as hard as those other kids. There is no other way to close the earnings gap.

So, that is it, my review of the book, "Out of the Barrio." I think that it presents a unique perspective that I appreciated in reading it. With this caveat, I recommend the book to others.

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