Among the candidates: Jorge Ramos of Univision.
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
OK, mi gente: I’m available, people.
But I’m not sure I’d want it.
This week, the Pew Hispanic Center released a report about national Latino leadership. And found that, apparently, we don’t have any.
In August and September, Pew asked 1,375 Latinos, on cell phones and landlines: Who is the most important Latino leader in the country today?
The winner was: I don’t know.
And it was a landslide. Sixty-four percent.
Well, somebody at least had to get second place.
Uh … actually … no.
The second-place response, with 10 percent, was “no one.”
New U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was third with seven percent.
So three-quarters of Latinos don’t know or don’t believe we have a national voice.
And who, really, could be surprised?
For the most part, we’re seen by politicians, TV and print news media as a one-issue (immigration) constituency — and on that issue we’re getting rolled.
Now that Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor and short-lived presidential candidate, has slid off the political stage, there’s no one representing out there.
We’ve become so invisible that one U.S. Senate candidate thought we were Asians.
Even our designated celebrities — Andy Garcia, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony — have all been rather quiet lately. Gloria Estefan, where are you?
Thank God for George Lopez or the only Latinos we’d see on TV would be the actors portraying illegal immigrants in political ads.
When was the last time you saw a Latino as a talking head on CNN or MSNBC? Or — heaven forbid — Fox News?
If not for Spanish-language TV, the brown-out would be practically complete.
So, not surprisingly, Spanish-language TV is where the No. 6 name on the list –Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos — comes from. Ramos was actually the second most familiar name.
When you check out the Pew Center story, make sure to go to the full report. Because that’s where you’ll find the really good stuff.
For example, when Pew asked English-dominant Latinos which potential leader they had heard of, the top three were: Sotomayor, Richardson and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
But ask bilingual Latinos and you get: Sotomayor, Ramos and Villaraigosa.
Ask Spanish-dominant Latinos and Ramos tops even Sotomayor.
That’s because we’ve become a totally media-driven culture, regardless of what language we speak. If you’re not on cable news, Dancing With The Stars, the cover of People or People en Espanol, or a viral Internet video, you don’t exist.
The Pew report also examined the perspectives of foreign-born versus native-born Latinos (foreign-born Latinos were more familiar with the names on the survey than native-born Latinos).
And remember, all the people who were surveyed had phones. So, almost by definition, they are culturally engaged.
The day after the death of César Chávez (who is named in the Pew report as a former national Latino leader), I traveled the Central California fields where he and Dolores Huerta had founded the United Farm Workers union. And I asked laborers for their thoughts on his passing. I was stunned when not one could tell me who Chávez was.
“He’s the boxer, right?” I remember one man say, mistaking the civil rights leader for the popular boxing champion.
They were too focused on working and surviving to keep track of names and history.
Latinos are divided by their education and occupation. By nationality and economic status. By politics. And by all our other many self-interests.
But then, which group isn’t?
In the report, the Pew folks pointed out that when Republicans were asked the same question, 45 percent said “don’t know” and another 13 percent said “no one.” And at the risk of tossing out a punch line, that’s an officially organized group with designated “leaders.”
It’d be interesting to see what a group of 1,375 blacks would say about a national black leader — even with Barack Obama in the White House.
Or, for that matter, who would be identified as the national white leader by 1,375 whites?
So … who’s your group’s national leader?