The Second Effective Role of Latino Leadership: Part 2 of 5

(Cont’d from Part 1 A CULTURAL CHAMPION)

Heroes of Hardship

We have an opportunity to “play in the game”, the question is: “Are we Players?” In other words, are we good enough to play in the “major leagues of life and leadership”?

We have been on the outside looking in for too long now. We are like the players sitting on the bench grumbling about why they should be playing, pointing out all the mistakes and lack of performance of the guy in front of them. All the while telling everybody why “we should playing” because “we are better” and if “we were only given a chance”, we could prove our self as worthy of that starting position, that salary, that authority, that job.

Well, the time has come and our “bench” griping needs to stop. It is time, our number has been called, and it is time to perform and deliver. We need to stop all complaints and instead ask ourselves if we really want in the game, can we really play at the first class level, can we deliver, and do we have what it takes to perform in clutch “real life” game situations? We should know, as in athletic competition, practice doesn’t count, no matter how good you perform in practice; all that matters is what happens in the real game of life.

The Game of Life Facts That Heroes of Hardship Overcome:

 The Truth that racism is hard to deal with
 Playing on a field that is not level
 Playing without the breaks of the privileged
 Playing with two strikes against you
 Playing injured
 Playing with one hand “forced” behind your back
 Getting knocked down and picking yourself back up, to play even better

But the question remains: Are we Players?
For example, Jackie Robinson was a player. Cesar Chavez was a player; Martin Luther King Jr. was a player, willing to deal with the hardships on the field of pioneering leadership. These are but a few examples of true warriors, heroes of hardship, seasoned in the battle of leadership that dared to break with the past familiarity, in order to grab a hold of their future potential for themselves and the communities they represented. Likewise, I suggest that today’s Latino Leaders with an eye on the future, must let go of the victim mentality of the past and embrace a “victor’s mentality” for our future. We can no longer be prisoners that are not in control of our own destiny as a people. We must break-with the finger pointing, entitlement, whining, thinking of the past that has not proven fruitful. In my view, this is best achieved through excelling in education, and why we must support efforts to improve public education through a variety of ways if we are serious about reversing the projected plight of Latino youth in the next decade. Consider the following trends produced in a study by the Rand Corporation on behalf of the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation

 Hispanic youth make up the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population
 By 2010, Hispanics will make up one out of every five young people of high school age, compared with one in ten in 1990.
 Hispanics lag behind all other racial/ethnic groups in the rate at which they earn a bachelor’s degree.
 In 2000, one of every five new entrants into the workforce was Hispanic-and that number is growing.
 Foreign-born Hispanics are the only immigrants who have a lower level of education than their native-born counterparts.
 The dropout rate among Hispanic high school students is expected to reach 32% by 2010, and is the only racial/ethnic group that is projected to experience an increase.
 More than one third of all Hispanic young people (age 24 or younger) live in California.
 California high schools, colleges and Universities will educate nearly 40% of the nation’s Hispanic youth.

Today, more than ever before, we need Latino heroes for the next generation, standing in the educational achievement gap holding the hand of Latino children and connecting them to a collaboration of community resources that will teach them and train them into the Latino leaders of today and tomorrow.

The First Effective Role of Latino Leadership: Part 1 of 5

There are 5 effective roles for Latino Leaders with an eye on the future. The first one is Cultural Champions.

A Cultural Champion
One of the most important things and needs of any human being is our need for cultural identity. Another is our need for cultural dignity. A third is awareness of one’s cultural heritage. These things seem so simple and basic, yet it is these foundational things that have been overlooked, neglected, stolen, misunderstood, under valued, and hidden, especially from those of us Latinos who were born in the United States.

I raise this point here, not to place blame or encourage a “victim mentality”, but simply to acknowledge the importance of people learning about their accurate history and journey as a people. As Latino’s what we learned in school was not about our heritage, culture, or “our hero’s” and we were left to identify with “estranjeros” – strangers. Usually, when we did find ourselves in American history, it was through the media, portrayed as an undignified, lesser class of people that we could not find our Latino pride in. We identified with a “shame-based” race, living in a culture that did not champion our values and we easily accepted ourselves as second-class citizens. Many of us forsook the heritage of our forefathers and tried to fit into an Anglo dominated world that did not equally respect us, accept us or consider us as serious players in civic life.

During the civil rights movement, we began to find ourselves, our dignity, our pride, and our identity that had much to offer as a culture within a culture that we no longer would allow to be hidden, misunderstood and not be taken seriously. We have made much progress since that time, yet, as we can plainly see, we still have a long way to go as a people.

Statistics speak Spanish

American is still viewed, talked about and perceived in Black & White terms and Latino’s remain under represented in our Federal Government, State and local positions of authority, even though an interpretation of the national statistics “speak Spanish”. We remain largely disenfranchised in local business opportunities (Though we do seem to be making progress lately) and other sectors of the corporate world, the entertainment industry and mainline American politics. National statistics show that our Churches are filled with mostly lower middle class to poor families, struggling to make ends meet. Many of our youth are not performing well academically and too many are continuing to drop out of school, pursuing negative lifestyles, becoming victims and/or perpetrators of violence and continuing to be the largest population in our Juvenile Halls, Jail’s and Prison’s. Many of our parents today are without a high school education and have children at home under the age of eighteen living in poverty conditions.

Thus, until these things change, what difference does it make that Latino’s became the majority minority? This is why I suggest the need for Cultural Champions. Latino Leaders must reassess their real value as a catalyst of transformation to move our existence to a new level of power and equality as community stakeholders, now like never before. We must re-hone our skills; grow out of stagnancy, complacency, comfort and irrelevance. We must be willing to raise the bar of self expectation, and challenge our self to new heights of influence, innovation, service and effectiveness. Finally, we must whole heartedly embrace our role as models of success to be followed by those behind us in a lifestyle of significance and building a legacy of Latino empowerment.

Check back for Part 2 of 5 in a few days when we discuss HEROES OF HARDSHIP.
Visit our web site at www.richardrramos.com for more information.
E-mail Richard with your questions.

Our First Post! 5 Effective Roles for Latino Leaders: An Introduction

Welcome to the “Margins to Mainstream” blog! 

Below is the Introductory Piece of my new article entitled The 5 Effective Roles for Latino Leaders With an Eye on the Future. Gang prevention-intervention begins by reaching out and recruiting gang members, retaining them through a variety of programs, and building trusting relationships. But it does not end with only helping gang members to become in-active by choosing another lifestyle. 

The process of gang intervention is completed through the reproduction of leaders who eventually start the cycle all over again as they reach out, recruit, retain and reproduce other leaders and so forth.  

Unless we are reproducing leaders out of the young and talented we take off the streets, gang members will remain marginalized with no voice in mainstream society, and that is a position no longer acceptable for such a courageous choice of transition.

5 Effective Roles for Latino Leaders with an Eye on the Future
By Richard Ramos, Speaker and Published Author of Got Gangs?
www.richardrramos.com

Based on the current literature and 2000 census data, it is widely acknowledged that the Latino people have become the second largest “people group” in America. Given the history of the Hispanic/Latino community as a whole and their plight in the United Sates as a minority population, what will this new status mean and what can be done to maximize the potential positive changes for an historic disenfranchised people?

In my view, the difference will be dependent upon three things:

1.) LEADERSHIP
2.) LEADERSHIP
3.) LEADERSHIP

Today, I suggest, we stand at a turning point for Latino’s. A window of opportunity is before us that we can not allow to close, but it will close, if we do not take care to put ourselves in the position of being the “window monitors”, as well as, the “light monitors” (Churches), “door monitors” (Homes), “chalk board monitors” (Schools), “play ground monitors” (Community) and every other community monitoring position that has a direct influence on the quality of life for Latino youth & families in neighborhoods all over America. If we are not diligent in this, again I say, the window will close and we will have squandered great opportunities. In order to avoid this, it will take leadership. Both old and new.

Although we now have many Latino leaders in every sector of civic life, there still remains a shortfall and a definite need for more. Thus, for those of us in leadership positions today, we must continue to not only lead, but also continue to recruit, train and coach today and tomorrow’s young leaders who can reproduce other leaders and thereby assure future generations with the needed model, direction and leadership legacy to follow in navigating their way in the fast changing environment of the future.

As we look to our future from the margins of society, the issues we face today have not changed “in kind”, but they have changed in “degree”. Therefore, we can not try to approach our current problems with the same level of thought, nor from the same places of thought, in which we have tried to deal with our struggles in the past. Our leadership and offered solutions must be fresh, innovative and relative to those living with the daily issues that we continue to struggle with. Issues such as:

Access to quality Education
Access to quality Housing
Access to quality Health Care
Access to equal economic opportunity
Access to local community decision makers

The Latino Coalition for Community and Faith-Based Initiatives desires to make a significant contribution in helping to provide solutions to the above issues, along with government, business, schools, philanthropy and other community entities interested in addressing the concerns of the Latino community. The Latino Coalition agrees with and applauds recent efforts by the Bush Administration to emphasize the importance of focusing on the areas of Marriage, Head Start programming, and Faith-Based Drug and Alcohol recovery programs as strategic means of getting at “root” causes that help solve some of the above mentioned issues.

In order to accomplish the vital task of helping to resolve Latino community concerns, I suggest there are five effective roles that today’s Latino Leaders need to focus on in weaving together a strong tapestry that will include all segments of the very diverse Latino culture. We must also weave together a strong community net to hold our “catch” of recruited future Latino leaders, and keep them from falling through the cracks that oftentimes leads to a negative lifestyle reflected by drug and alcohol abuse, school drop outs and broken homes, to name a few.

Check back as we discuss the First Effective Role for Latino Leaders in our next post.