Tracing the rise of the Hispanic Population

Just FYI, Latino in America (the series by CNN) will be aired TONIGHT and TOMORROW NIGHT (Oct.21 and 22) at 9PM ET.

According to the CNN website, the latino population is on the rise http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/16/lia.map/index.html

If this is so, then shouldn't our political leaders be more inclined to help the Hispanic community? Since we will be such a strong force in the coming years? Isn't it that if the administration and other political leaders keep putting us on the backburner we will just end up going for the opposition?

I would agree that this is how a democracy works. The more people you have for a particular cause (in our case immigration reform) the better your chances are. The most important is that the legal residents speak up for those that are not. Of course people with no vote can not really exercise their power.

CNN aired the first part of their series 'Latino in America' yesterday,and I was deeply disappointed; however, their focus on unplanned pregnancies and lack of birth control use, does highlight the main reason for this population growth in the current generation of a lot of undocumented "Latinos" in America. I was lucky as a "Latino" girl (I hate that term, because for the unenlightned, people from the Mediterranean are also considered "Latin") to come from a family that had very progressive ideas, and a working mother whose goal was not to only have kids and a man at all cost. Education was and is the main goal; not just to finish college, but continuing education of all sorts. It is THE great equalizer, not only here in America, but in our native countries as well. CNN so far has not presented a well-rounded view of the success of native-born Hispanic Americans and I hope that they show a more balanced and positive representation of them tonight in the second part of the series.

Latin young women and men (and the not so-young, and everyone else for that matter), listen up: Please aim for higher education and a small-sized family so that you can have a better life than our parents who struggled so much.

I was disappointed as well. They definitely should have showed someone who has succeeded despite the situation. Instead, they just focused on a stereotypical Mexican girl got pregnant and is failing in school. It is a sad truth, but you would think that a special on Latinos in America would be inspirational and maybe even change someone's opinion about us. I didn't expect much from CNN anyway, but still.