New Book on How Hispanics Will Lead America to a New Era of Prosperity

In March of 2009 award-winning journalist Geraldo Rivera published his book His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S. His book was full of anecdotes and limited analysis as Rivera attempted to change what he defined as negative misconceptions about Hispanic migrants in the United States. The book also explored the particulars of undocumented / illegal immigration in the United States.

As an American with roots in Puerto Rico, Geraldo Rivera´s book tried to confront politicians and pundits like Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, Michelle Malkin and others. His counterarguments were based on Latino success stories such as Eddie Olmos and comedian Cheech Marin.

Rivera refuted claims that undocumented / illegal immigrants have hurt the economy, using statistical evidence. His most poignant argument comes in his closing statement, that the burgeoning Latino voting bloc, alienated by what he called “conservative immigration vitriol,” could very well be the undoing of the GOP in 2008.

Rivera´s arguments in that first book would require a more in-depth analysis, particularly in the areas in which he talks about “immigration vitriol” by conservatives.

His new book is a new attempt to deal with the issue, although in a different way. The title of the new book is: The Great Progression: How Hispanics Will Lead America to a New Era of Prosperity, and it was released on September 1.

Aligned with some of the ideas already presented by Jorge Ramos in La ola latina, Rivera details in about 300 pages the evolving role of Hispanics in shaping every facet of American culture. He tries to show how the Hispanic community has socially, economically and politically impacted our future.

This second book tries to shows how Hispanics are revitalizing the U.S. declining economy, energizing our troops, and invigorating our transitioning national government. He features some interviews with prominent Hispanics such as the new Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villarraigosa, Jennifer Lopez, and George Lopez.

His new book presents a personal look at the impact Hispanics are making on the social, economic, and political climate of the United States. According to Rivera, Hispanics’ involvement in society is at an all-time high, and growing exponentially. His book is an attempt to look ahead at the United States´ potential for growth and the important role of the Hispanic people -the nation´s largest minority- and how it is shaping the country’s future.

Rivera shows how the percentage of Latinos in the United States population stands at 15.4 percent, which in April 2009 amounted to about 46.7 million people, if not yet strong, getting stronger politically, culturally, and economically. Despite the dramatic decrease, even reversal, in recent immigration caused by the collapsing U.S. economy, Rivera indicates that Hispanics for the first time outnumber non-Hispanic whites in Dallas, Texas.

The states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington each have at least a half million Hispanic residents. Before we know it, Rivera explains, America will soon take its place as the world’s largest Hispanic country, by population. Perhaps more surprisingly, it is already number two behind just Mexico and already ahead of Spain.

Rivera believes that in November 2008, Latinos made the Republican Party pay, and the price was steep: control of both Congress and the White House. In record numbers Hispanics voted and in the end made a major, if not the decisive, difference in the elections. Rivera´s idea is that it was a punishment for what he calls “the hard-right social conservatives.” Rivera, however, does not take into consideration any other factors in that election and time that will say whether he is right or wrong in his take on the GOP.

In the final analysis, what Rivera attempts to explain is precisely why it is in America’s best interests to cheer on and encourage the legitimate aspirations of the group destined unalterably to play a gigantic role in our nation’s future.

Both books, however, fail to understand conservatism and the point that conservatives -many of them being Hispanic conservatives- make on this topic of immigration. Contrary to what Rivera believes, conservatives really care for the issue of immigration as long as immigration is done following the rule of law. As Mark Levin pointed out in his recent “Conservative Manifesto,” conservatives want to secure the nation´s borders and discourage those who violate them by enforcing the immigration laws.

At the same time, Rivera´s books also fail to address the myth that because America is a country of immigrants and has successfully absorbed waves of immigration in the past, it can absorb this wave now. Rivera´s arguments neglect a key difference between past waves and the current influx. The immigrant population is more than double today that which it was following the greatest previous immigration wave (that of the late 19th century.)

Rivera´s book does not address another important final factor: that unfortunately immigration is seen by some politicians (not precisely the conservative politicians) simply as a means to create dependency in our citizens or to expand their electoral and administrative constituency. Furthermore, Rivera´s arguments do not take into consideration that President Obama won last November not because of Latinos disliking conservative values, but because the American people wanted a change from Bush policies.

September 4, 2009

 The Americano

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