There’s a lot of information in this module. I don’t expect you

There’s a lot of information in this module. I don’t expect you to review each of the files super carefully, but I do expect you to skim it and gather a general understanding.

This module helps us to meet one of the most important objectives of this course:

Explain and assess how struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as experienced, enacted, and studied by Latinx/Latino/Latina Americans are relevant to current and structural issues such as communal, national, international, and transnational politics as, for example, in immigration, reparations, settler-colonialism, multiculturalism, language policies.

Also, note that the label “Latine” (with an E) is the more inclusive, politically conscious, and current way that we refer to people in the United States who trace a cultural heritage to Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Latine is a way of using language so that the label includes all gender identities and can be pronounced in Spanish too.

AIM

As you will learn in this module, Latinos are socioeconomically more vulnerable than the rest of the population in the US. Latinos trail white Americans by a wealth gap of over $1.3 trillion and have been most adversely impacted by COVID-19 (particularly the women, Afro-Latinos, and undocumented workers).

They suffer more chronic and severe health conditions, lack access to testing for COVID-19, and die from it more often. 25 per cent of the adult Latino population under age 65 is uninsured (as compared to 8 per cent of the white population).

Latinos are the new majority population in California, and the fastest growing group in the USA. Thus, their progress is absolutely crucial for the future growth of the USA.

This week we think pointedly about social injustice and its effect on real people.

ACTION ITEMS

Review all of the files in this module.

I recommend that you discuss this content with others in our class and/or with your friends and family.

Complete all of the action items in each of the files.

Once you are finished with all of that, compose a 375-word entry that identifies and analyzes ONE main reason WHY Latinos are disproportionally impacted in health matters.

Remember that “analysis” means that you examine HOW and WHY something works.

Remember that 375 words is a mere 3 paragraphs. Each paragraph is 125 words.

Remember that 250 words is a mere 2 paragraphs. Each paragraph is 125 words.

Read everyone else’s entries and then compose a thoughtful 250-word (that’s two paragraphs) response to ONE peer.

Remember that your aim in responding to one peer is to help your peer to understand the content in this module (and thereby to SHOW that YOU understand the content).

Latinos: Harvest of Empire, a documentary film

If you wonder why there are so many immigrants coming to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America, this powerful 2012 documentary film, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, is for you!

The film is based on the groundbreaking 2009 book titled Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America

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by investigative journalist Juan

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González

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.

Here is an excerpt of this important book; I urge you to at least skim it.

The book and the film explore the

wars fought by United States resulting in colonial expansion into

Puerto Rico

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,

Cuba

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, and

over half of Mexico

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,

United States’ installment of dictatorships in the

Dominican Republic,

Guatemala,

Nicaragua, and

El Salvador,

political events, social conditions and U.S. government actions that led millions of Latinos to leave their homelands and move to America,

role of the United States military

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,

U.S. economic interests in Latin American

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countries,

relationship between U.S.’ intervention in the

Dominican Republic

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,

Guatemala

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,

Nicaragua

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, and

El Salvador

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.

The film links the exodus of migrants from those affected countries to the present massive Latino

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population in the United States.

Watch Harvest of Empire on YouTube for free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gW84cAN2Pw

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Watch this video of a talk given by Eduardo Lopez, the co-director of Harvest of Empire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIl8y4jkNiE

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“Why Mexican Americans Say ‘The Border Crossed Us'” by Becky Little

“How white settlers edged out Mexicans in their own backyard”

https://www.history.com/news/texas-mexico-border-history-laws

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By Becky Little

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Oct. 17, 2018

A painting depicting the final hours of the Battle of the Alamo with former congressman and frontiersman Davey Crockett in the foreground. Ed Vebell/Getty Images

Before Texas

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was a U.S. state, it was its own independent nation where both Mexicans and white immigrants were citizens. But during the nine years that the Republic of Texas

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existed, Mexicans became outsiders as white settlers made it more difficult for them to vote and hold onto their land.

White settlers did this by targeting Mexicans with voting laws and taxes, suing for possession of their land and subjecting them to police violence. This presaged the way the U.S. would treat Mexicans in California

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and the New Mexico

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territory when it gained this land from Mexico

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in 1848—as foreigners who had less right to be there than the white settlers who’d moved in.

In 1841, future Texas governor Peter Hansborough Bell bizarrely asserted

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that “Mexicans disguised as Indians are formidable in depredating on the property of Citizens on the Border.” Bell would later become a commander of the Texas Rangers

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, at a time when it was a vigilante group inflicting violence on Mexican and Native Americans.

In fact, the land that had become Texas originally belonged to Mexicans who had won their independence from Spain in 1821. It had been inhabited by Native peoples and tejanos, or Texas Mexicans. Soon, anglo immigrants from the U.S. and Europe moved into Texas, bringing enslaved people of African descent with them. Texas then gained independence from Mexico through the Texas Revolution in 1836, and emerged as its own nation: the Republic of Texas.

Mexican soldiers storm the Alamo on March 6, 1836, to defeat and kill the Texas soldiers within during the Texas War for Independence. CORBIS_Corbis via Getty Images

In the beginning, there wasn’t a stark political inequality between anglos and tejanos in the Republic of Texas. More to the point, tejanos weren’t viewed as outsiders who didn’t belong. Both anglos and tejanos could be full citizens. But for tejanos, it was “kind of mixed bag,” says Raúl Ramos

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, a history professor at the University of Houston. Tejanos had citizenship rights, with a caveat. Over time, anglos restricted tejanos’ access to voting and land, outnumbered them in government positions, and used police violence against them.

“There were a few tejanos who served in the republic congress and they managed to have laws included that would, for instance, translate all of the Texas laws into Spanish as well as English,” says Ramos

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.

This was much different than what black and Native people experienced in Texas. If you were black, you had to be enslaved. And if you were Comanche, Apache, Cherokee or belonged to any other Indigenous nation, you were given an ultimatum: leave or be massacred

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.

But tejanos weren’t completely on equal footing. While anglos were automatically Texas citizens if they lived in Texas, tejanos who had already been living there couldn’t be citizens unless they signed a pledge of loyalty to Texas. Even these pledges didn’t allay anglo fears that tejanos might side with Mexico if fighting broke out again.

After the Mexican army invaded and occupied San Antonio in 1842, tejanos faced more overt political discrimination. Anglos started to make it more difficult for tejanos to vote by strictly enforcing property and tax requirements for voting. Tejanos were also selected for jury duty less often, meaning they had less representation in courts. Some anglos even suggested that they should force all tejanos out of Texas.

Mural depicting Stephen F. Austin, ‘The Father of Texas,’ and Baron de Bastrop, Land Commissioner of the Mexican Government, issuing land to the colonists in 1823 near present-day Bay City, Texas. Undated illustration

These practices carried over when the U.S. annexed Texas as a slave state in 1845. In the Republic of Texas’ first few years, tejanos represented a majority on the city council of San Antonio, Texas’ most populous city. By the end of the Mexican-American War

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in 1848, tejanos were a minority on the city council.

“They became a suspect class,” Ramos says. “The idea was that they couldn’t be fully Texan or fully American.”

As American citizens, tejanos faced violence from anglo vigilante groups like the Texas Rangers

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and struggled to maintain ownership of their land. “They essentially went broke trying to defend themselves agaiWhat is Health Equity?

This information comes from the United States government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage: “What is Health Equity?

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“

Health equity is the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this requires ongoing societal efforts to:

Address historical and contemporary injustices;

Overcome economic, social, and other obstacles to health and health care; and

Eliminate preventable health disparities.

To achieve health equity, we must change the systems and policies that have resulted in the generational injustices that give rise to racial and ethnic health disparities. Through its CORE strategy

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, CDC is leading this effort, both in the work we do on behalf of the nation’s health and the work we do internally as an organization.

Preventable Health Disparities

Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by populations that have been disadvantaged by their social or economic status, geographic location, and environment. Many populations experience health disparities, including people from some racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, women, people who are LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or other), people with limited English proficiency, and other groups.

Across the country, people in some racial and ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of poor health and disease for a range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and preterm birth, when compared to their White counterparts. For example, the average life expectancy

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among Black or African American people in the United States is four years lower than that of White people. These disparities sometimes persist even when accounting for other demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age or income.

Communities can prevent health disparities when community- and faith-based organizations, employers, healthcare systems and providers, public health agencies, and policymakers work together to develop policies, programs, and systems based on a health equity framework and community needs.

Factors Affecting Health Equity (Social Determinants of Health)

Social determinants of health

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are the conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes. Long-standing inequities in six key areas of social determinants of health are interrelated and influence a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes. Examining these layered health and social inequities can help us better understand how to promote health equity and improve health outcomes.

Social and Community Context (Including Discrimination and Racism)

A person’s social and community context includes their interactions with the places they live, work, learn, play, and worship and their relationships with family, friends, co-workers, community members, and institutions. Interventions are critical to protecting the health and well-being of people who do not get the level of support they need to thrive from their social and community context. For example, children of incarcerated or detained parents may gain from their parents’ participation in reentry programs that assist with job placement or offer parenting support, and lesbian, gay or bi-sexual high school students who are bullied would benefit from school-based programs to reduce violence and prevent bullying.

Social and community context also includes discrimination – or the unfair treatment of people or groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. Discrimination exists in many systems in society including those meant to protect well-being or health such as health care, housing, education, criminal justice, and finance. Discrimination often has a negative effect on the people and groups who experience it and some people who belong to groups that historically have experienced discrimination, such as people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, and people who are incarcerated or detained. As a result, people who have experienced discrimination may be affected by layered health and social inequities.

A growing body of research shows that racism

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has occurred for centuries at many levels in society in the United States and has had a negative impact on communities of color. Racism is a system, supported and maintained through institutional structures and policies, cultural norms and values, and individual behaviors. There are various forms of racism that—for more than 400 years—have defined and created most of the inequitable structures that exist in our society and lead to health inequities today. The three types of racism include:

Structural, Institutional, or Systemic Racism: Differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society by race

Personally-mediated or Interpersonal Racism: Prejudice (differential assumptions) and discrimination (differential actions) by individuals towards others

Internalized Racism: Acceptance by members of the stigmatized races of negative messages about their own abilities and intrinsic worth

Racism determines opportunity based on the way people look or the color of their skin. It also shapes social and economic factors that put some people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes and health-related behaviors, as well as chronic and toxic stress or inflammation. Racism prevents millions of people from attaining their highest level of health, and consequently, affects the health of our nation.

Healthcare Access and Use

People with disabilities and people from some racial and ethnic minority groups, rural areas, and White populations with lower incomes are more likely to face multiple barriers to accessing health care. For example, structural barriers related to socioeconomic status, such as lack of insurance, transportation, childcare, or ability to take time off work, can make it hard to go to the doctor. Cultural differences between patients and providers as well as language barriers affect patient-provider interactions and health care quality. Inequities in treatment and historical events, like the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male

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and sterilization of American Indian women without their permission

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, might also explain why some people from racial and ethnic minority groups do not trust health care systems and the government’s health-related guidance.

Neighborhood and Physical Environment

People from racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by difficulties finding affordable and quality housing. The practice of redlining or denying mortgages among people of color – and as a result, access to public transportation, supermarkets, and health care – has contributed to segregation of cities in the United States. Although the U.S. Federal Government has enacted legislation since the 1970’s to reduce the segregation of cities, this historical discriminatory practice has limited housing options among racial and ethnic minority groups to neighborhoods and residences that have school districts with inadequate funding, higher crime rates, and poorly resourced infrastructure. These conditions may make illnesses, diseases, and injuries more common and more severe among these groups. In addition, access to nutritious, affordable foods may be limited for these groups, and they may experience more environmental pollution within their neighborhoods.

Workplace Conditions

Not all workers have the same risk of experiencing a work-related health problem, even when they have the same job. Occupational health inequities

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are avoidable differences in work-related disease incidence, mental illness, or morbidity and mortality that are closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage, such as temporary work arrangements, socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, gender identity, race, or class), and organizational factors (e.g., lack of worker safety measures, limited or no health insurance benefits).

Education

People who have been historically marginalized, such as people from racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, and people with lower incomes, are disproportionately affected by inequities in access to high-quality education. Policies that link public school funding to the tax base of a neighborhood limit the resources available in schools of lower income neighborhoods. This results in lower-quality education for residents of lower income neighborhoods, which can lead to lower literacy and numeracy levels

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, lower high school completion rates, and barriers to college entrance. In addition to educational barriers, limited access to quality job training or programs tailored to the language needs of some racial and ethnic minority groups may limit future job options and lead to lower paying or less stable jobs.

Income and Wealth Gaps

People from some racial and ethnic minority groups and other historically marginalized groups also face greater challenges in getting higher paying jobs with good benefits due to less access to high-quality education,[25]geographic location, language differences, discrimination, and transportation barriers. People with limited job options often have lower incomes, experience barriers to wealth accumulation, and carry greater debt. The historical practice of redlining

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and denying mortgages to people of color has also created a lack of opportunity for home ownership, and thus wealth accumulation, due to the inability to pass down property and build wealth. Such financial challenges may make it difficult to manage expenses, pay medical bills, and access affordable quality housing, education, nutritious food, and reliable childcare.

nst frivolous lawsuits contesting their claims to land ownership,” Ramos says.

More than a century and a half later, Mexican Americans continue to face claims that they don’t belong and should “go back” to where they came from. For those living in Texas—as well as California, Arizona and New Mexico—the charge is particularly ironic since the land used to be part of Mexico. As many Mexican American activists have argued: “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”

Unfair and Unjust Practices

This information comes from the United States government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage: “Unfair and Unjust Practices and Conditions Harm Hispanic and Latino People and Drive Health Disparities

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.”

Some U.S. historical policies and practices have led to mental and physical health risks and challenges, and related long-term health outcomes, for Hispanic/Latino people. For example:

Historically, Hispanic/Latino people in the U.S. have faced racial, ethnic, and anti-immigrant prejudice, including discrimination in employment, housing, and education.13 Acts of violence and hate crimes have also caused injuries and deaths among Hispanic/Latino people in the U.S. 14,15

Hispanic/Latino people have also experienced discrimination and harm from systems meant to protect and improve health and well-being. Some examples of historical policies and practices that have important implications for the mental and physical health of Hispanic population groups include:

State and federal programs in the 1920s sought to change diets of Mexican American families in the U.S. based on the mistaken belief that traditional Mexican foods were less nutritious than standard American diets.16 This resulted in negative effects on Mexican American health. Today, children of Mexican origin in the U.S. are more likely to experience obesity than other children in the U.S. and children who live in Mexico.17

Harm and uneven treatment from healthcare systems, such as the sterilization of Hispanic/Latino women without their permission, leading to a mistrust of healthcare systems and medical providers by some Hispanic/Latino people.18,19

Discrimination and distress related to immigration policies, such as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, have led many people who live in immigrant communities to avoid interacting with public officials.20,21 As a result, many Hispanic/Latino people who are legally eligible for public health insurance coverage or health services do not enroll.20 Additionally, anti-immigrant public discourse, as well as decreased access to employment, has caused distress.22

There are also current reasons—like the ones explored below—that help explain why commercial tobacco* affects the health of Hispanic/Latino people.

The tobacco industry targets Hispanic/Latino communities with marketing and advertising.

Marketing plays a big role in whether people try or use commercial tobacco products. Commercial tobacco ads make smoking seem more appealing and increase the chance that someone will try smoking for the first time or start using commercial tobacco products regularly.11,23,24,25

Tobacco companies heavily advertise Spanish-language cigarette brand names such as “Rio” and “Dorado” to the Hispanic/Latino community, including ads in many Spanish-language publications.26

Tobacco companies have donated to influential community groups, universities and colleges, and scholarship programs supporting Hispanic/Latino people.26 The tobacco industry has also provided significant support to Hispanic/Latino political organizations, cultural events, and the Hispanic/Latino art community.26

Tobacco companies use price promotions such as discounts of products like cigarillos and little cigars in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of Hispanic/Latino people. In one study, little cigars and cigarillos were more likely to be sold by stores in communities with a majority of Hispanic/Latino residents (vs majority non-Hispanic White residents). In the same study, most stores surveyed in communities with a majority of Hispanic/Latino residents sold such products for less than $1.27

A 2009 federal law prohibited cigarette and smokeless tobacco brand-sponsorship of cultural events, but other product types, like e-cigarettes and little cigars, are not covered by these restrictions. Tobacco companies are still promoting cultural events designed to bring in youth of color – like a recent campaign for little cigars that held pop-up concerts featuring hip-hop stars in convenience stores.28

To help protect Hispanic/Latino people from tobacco marketing and discourage tobacco product use, states and communities could consider increasing prices and prohibiting price discounts, prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, and either allowing fewer stores in a neighborhood to sell commercial tobacco products or prohibiting tobacco product sales altogether.29

Stress can increase commercial tobacco use, and can make health problems worse

When people face many forms of stress—such as that caused by financial problems, discrimination, or unsafe neighborhoods—they can be more likely to smoke.30,31,32Hispanic/Latino people have been overrepresented among Americans in poverty and, overall, are more likely have lower socioeconomic status than white people.33 One in 6 Hispanic households have at least one person going hungry at some point during the year.34

Racism and discrimination are constant sources of stress for many Hispanic/Latino people.35 Nearly a third of Hispanic/Latino people in the U.S. say they have personally been discriminated against because of their ethnicity:36

Healthcare itself can be a source of discrimination. Nearly 1 in 5 Hispanic people report they avoid medical care due to concern of being discriminated against or treated poorly.37

When people have severe or long-lasting stress, their bodies respond by raising stress hormones and keeping them raised. When this goes on for a long time, they may develop health problems like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.38,39 Smoking cigarettes also leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ in the body.11

*“Commercial tobacco” means harmful products that are made and sold by tobacco companies. It does not include “traditional tobacco” used by Indigenous groups for religious or ceremonial purposes.

Notes

Kaplan RC, Bangdiwala SI, Barnhart JM, et al. Smoking among U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults: the Hispanic community health study/study of Latinos.

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Cornelius ME, Loretan CG, Wang TW, Jamal A, Homa DM. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2020

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. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022; 71:397–405

Pérez-Stable EJ, Ramirez A, Villarea R, Talavera GA, Trapido E, et al. Cigarette smoking behavior among US Latino men and women from different countries of origin.

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Gentzke AS, Wang TW, Cornelius M, et al. Tobacco Product Use and Associated Factors Among Middle and High School Students — National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021

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. MMWR Surveill Summ 2022;71(No. SS-5):1–29. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7105a1

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U.S. Census Bureau. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States and States: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2019.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Leading Causes of Death, Prevalence of Diseases and Risk Factors, and Use of Health Services Among Hispanics in the United States—2009–2013.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General.

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2018 National Health Interview Survey

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Last Reviewed:June 27, 20

US Hispanic and Latino Lives and Livelihoods…” by Millán et al.

As you read the article below, identify the disproportionate conditions Latinos endure, and then list the reasons why those conditions are socially unjust.

Millán, Ingrid et al. US Hispanic and Latino Lives and Livelihoods in the Recovery from CPVID-19

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, a report by McKinsey & Company, 2 September 2020.

Hispanics and Latinos are key to the US recovery but have been damaged disproportionately by the pandemic. Targeted interventions are required to improve their health and economic outcomes.

That the COVID-19 crisis shines a spotlight on socioeconomic inequities in the United States is not news. In particular, the 60 million Hispanics and Latinos in the country have experienced a disproportionate share of the health and economic effects of the pandemic. They are about three times more likely than white residents to test positive for the virus, experience more challenges with accessing care, and are more economically vulnerable

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. As 18.7 percent of the US population, Hispanics and Latinos are a disproportionately young group of voters, workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers—and a group projected to grow from 17 to 22 percent of the workforce by 2030. The population’s size and composition make it crucial to the US economy and society, and its vulnerability threatens the country’s overall recovery from the pandemic.

Economically, the five business sectors most affected by the pandemic generate almost 50 percent of the revenues of Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses, and 65 percent of Hispanics and Latinos work in those sectors. Indeed, the group is overrepresented in nine of the ten lowest-wage jobs that are considered high contact and essential, including food preparation and certain healthcare jobs. In brief, the population’s health and finances are at an outsize risk during the pandemic, and before the pandemic there was already a wealth gap of $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion (in 2018 dollars) between it and white Americans. US Hispanics and Latinos with additional disadvantaged identities—particularly Hispanic and Latina women, Afro-Latinos, and undocumented workers—bear an even heavier load.

Investing in inclusive growth

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—crucial for the future growth of the United States—means removing obstacles that affect Hispanics and Latinos disproportionately and fostering more equitable public-health and economic outcomes, which can benefit everyone in the country. In this article, we outline some of the central insights and possible interventions from our report on COVID-19 and Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Elevated risks and tenuous connections to healthcare

US Hispanics and Latinos are more likely than the general US population to develop COVID-19, to lack access to testing, to suffer from severe cases of the disease, and to die from it (Exhibit 1). Hispanics and Latinos are also more likely to suffer secondary medical effects, such as mental health challenges, from the pandemic. Indeed, as of July 21, 2020, they were eight percentage points more likely than the US white population to report symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Exhibit 1

Our analysis suggests that Hispanics and Latinos are about 20 percent more likely than white US residents to have chronic health conditions that exacerbate the effects of COVID-19. Compounding their vulnerability is a lower likelihood of being insured, even when they qualify for it: 25 percent of the adult Hispanic or Latino population under 65 was uninsured in 2017, compared with 8 percent of the white population. During the pandemic, Hispanics and Latinos are also three times more likely than white survey respondents are to lose, or expect to lose, their health insurance coverage.

Hispanics and Latinos are also less likely to seek care, owing to factors that include a lack of insurance coverage and a lack of linguistically and culturally compatible healthcare providers. In 2019, 25 percent of nonelderly Hispanic and Latino survey respondents reported zero healthcare visits, compared with 15 percent of white nonelderly respondents. Adult Hispanic and Latino patients admitted for COVID-19 in two large New York City hospitals waited on average two days longer than their white counterparts to seek care.

In addition, the size of Hispanics’ and Latinos’ households make viral transmission more likely. Current knowledge of COVID-19’s transmission patterns suggests that clusters of people in close proximity to each other are at a heightened risk for transmission. With a median of 3.25 members per household, compared with 2.37 per white household, about 6.6 million Hispanics and Latinos are at greater risk for COVID-19 transmission than a similarly sized cross section of their white peers.

Interrupted upward mobility

Before the pandemic, Hispanic and Latino families and communities had been making socioeconomic progress, albeit precarious. The number of Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses with at least one employee increased by 13 percent from 2014 to 2016, compared with about 3 percent for non-Hispanic- or non-Latino-owned businesses, but our analysis

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shows that before the pandemic Hispanic- or Latino-owned small businesses were twice as likely as non-minority-owned businesses to be classified as at risk or distressed. The pandemic has disrupted these businesses’ progress and added economic challenges to healthcare-related obstacles specific to Hispanic and Latino families and communities.

Indeed, many Hispanics and Latinos face work in vulnerable sectors, locales, and types of businesses. Our analysis shows that about 50 percent of revenue of Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses is in the hardest-hit sectors, including leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and construction (Exhibit 2). Since Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses

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are disproportionately small and already more likely to be at risk or distressed, their overrepresentation in places that are more likely to struggle to resume normal economic operations make these businesses even more vulnerable.

Exhibit 2

During the pandemic, Hispanics’ and Latinos’ incomes—and safety—are in jeopardy in jobs that are vulnerable to both the pandemic and automation. The net effect is a drain on families’ financial and emotional reserves, and Hispanics and Latinos are more likely than white Americans to report being concerned about the financial implications of the pandemic. To deal with the ongoing crisis, Hispanic and Latino communities must be connected to resources and safeguards, but Hispanics and Latinos are less likely to have high levels of social trust. In 2019, 12 percent of Hispanic and Latino adults, and 27 percent of white adults, reported high levels of trust.

Potential interventions

Hispanic and Latino population growth means the country’s long-term recovery is inextricable from the recovery of Hispanic and Latino families, communities, and businesses. Indeed, the community’s unique assets—such as its relative youth and above-average rates of entrepreneurship—can contribute to more equitable postpandemic recovery and growth.

In the meantime, major stakeholders in the public, private, and social sectors could contribute to Hispanic and Latino families’ and communities’ financial health. For instance, public-sector stakeholders could provide additional liquidity and issue—or extend—education, planning resources, and even moratoriums for major debts such as housing-related debts. Large customers of Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses, especially small and medium-size enterprises, can expedite their payables to those businesses.

The private and public sectors could also collaborate to make the mainstream financial system more inclusive for Hispanic and Latino families and businesses, starting with ensuring that resources in consumers’ preferred language are easily accessible. In both the short and long term, credit, basic financial services, and greater financial literacy can help both families and businesses plan for their financial future.

Educational institutions and the technology sector could partner to improve remote learning experiences and content—and help students access remote learning through increased broadband connectivity. Combined with the proper training of educators, this improvement could help provide access to remote learning to an additional 2.4 million students.

Finally, US stakeholders should foster and maintain positive interactions with US institutions and society to build US Hispanics’ and Latinos’ social trust. This social trust is required before any group can be civically engaged. Indeed, the intertwined effects of trust and civic and socioeconomic engagement are underlying themes of our report.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted an ethical and economic imperative to create more equitable outcomes

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throughout US society. Beyond the human considerations, helping US Hispanics and Latinos regain the interrupted trajectory of upward mobility would be a significant contribution to the US’s long-term economic growth. The return on this investment would be lives and healthy years saved and a stronger economy that benefits more people in the United States.

Download the full report on which this article is based, US Hispanic and Latino lives and livelihoods in the recovery from COVID-19

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(PDF–807.90 KB).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Ingrid Millán is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Washington, DC, office, where Nick Noel is a consultant. Lucy Pérez

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is a senior partner in the Boston office, and Alfonso Pulido is a partner in the San Francisco office.

The authors wish to thank Jorge Amar, Xavier Azcue, Bertil Chappuis, Erica Coe, Judy D’Agostino, Eduardo Doryan, Oscar Gonzalez, Fidel Hernandez, Pablo Illanes, JP Julien, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Deepa Mahajan, Alex Mandel, Duwain Pinder, María Jesús Ramírez, Rafael Rivera, Vivien Singer, and Shelley Stewart for their contributions to this article.

“Latinos Face Disproportionate Health…” by Zamarripa & Lorena

As you read the article below, identify the disproportionate conditions Latinos endure, and then list the reasons why those conditions are socially unjust.

“Latinos Face Disproportionate Health and Economic Impacts from COVID-19,” an article by Ryan Zamarripa and Lorena Roque in Center for American Progress, Economy, 5 March 2021 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2021/03/05/496733/latinos-face-disproportionate-health-economic-impacts-covid-19/

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Congress and the Biden administration must act quickly to minimize further harm during the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly for Latinos and other communities of color.

A man waits in line to fill out unemployment forms in Imperial County, California, which is 85 percent Latino and has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, on July 24, 2020. (Getty/Mario Tama)

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession have wreaked havoc on the United States’ Latino community. Due to Latino workers being overrepresented in industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, Latinos have faced large losses in employment, particularly among Latinas in the service industry. Hispanics and Latinos are 1.7 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, as well as 4.1 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 and 2.8 times more likely to die from COVID-19. Hispanics or Latinos, along with other communities of color, have also been disproportionately harmed by the economic fallout: They accounted for 23 percent of the initial job loss due to the pandemic while making up only 16 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population—those 16 years and older who are not incarcerated or serving in the armed forces. Hispanic or Latina women have also seen disproportionate economic impacts. Women accounted for 100 percent of U.S. job losses in December, with Hispanic or Latina women alone accounting for 45 percent of that job loss.

How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Latino employment, earnings, and economic security

The economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has rocked labor markets, and the industries that are most reliant on consumer spending have felt its effects most acutely. Between February 1, 2020, and April 1, 2020, consumer spending dropped by 30 percent overall. As bleak as this figure is, it masks even larger drop-offs in specific sectors. During the same time period, consumer spending on entertainment and recreation decreased by 69 percent, and spending on restaurants and hotels dropped by 68 percent. On January 1, 2021, overall U.S. consumer spending was still 5 percent below its February 1, 2020, level, an enormous drop by any measure. Yet this drop is eclipsed by the drops in spending on entertainment and recreation and spending on restaurants and hotels, which were down 53 percent and 38 percent, respectively, as of January 1, 2021, compared with February 1, 2020.

Figure 1

Spending in categories with high Latino employment has not recovered

Percent change in spending from February 2020 to January 2021, by spending category

The stunted recovery in these industries poses a serious problem for Latino workers, who tend to be overrepresented in the jobs that support them. In 2019, the latest year for which detailed occupational data by race and ethnicity are available, 9 percent of all Hispanic or Latino workers were employed in food preparation and serving-related occupations, compared with just 6 percent of the overall workforce. Likewise, 9 percent of all Hispanic or Latino workers were employed in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations, compared with just 3 percent of the total workforce. Latinas alone make up 1 in 10 workers in the leisure and hospitality industry.

More granular employment data on the racial and ethnic breakdown of occupational categories reveal that Latino workers not only disproportionately work in the most heavily affected sectors, but also that they are less likely to hold managerial positions. This means that they often work for very low wages with little job stability and few benefits. For example, Hispanics or Latinos represent 18 percent of the overall workforce and account for 27 percent of total food preparation and serving-related occupations. They represent 37 percent of cooks, yet are underrepresented in food service manager positions, representing just less than 20 percent of these roles. The situation for Latina workers is even bleaker, as they tend to be even more overrepresented in these employment categories than male Latino workers and are subjected to the intersection of gender and ethnic discrimination.

Effects of COVID-19 on Latino employment

These disparities can be clearly seen in recent employment data. The initial employment shock from the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the Hispanic or Latino seasonally adjusted unemployment rate—from 4 percent in February 2020 to 18.1 percent in April 2020, a 14.2 percentage-point jump. White Americans experienced a 10.8 percentage-point increase in unemployment. Black Americans experienced a similar 10.9 percentage-point increase over this period, but like Hispanics, they have not experienced the employment rebound that white Americans have. In January 2021, the Hispanic unemployment rate was still 4.2 percentage points higher than it was in February 2020, while for Black workers, it was a comparable 3.6 percentage points higher. White workers, on the other hand, experienced a much quicker rebound, as their unemployment rate was just 2.5 percentage points above its pre-pandemic level.

Figure 2

The Latino unemployment rate is still far above its pre-pandemic level

The uniquely high increase in the Latino unemployment rate has been accompanied by an equally pernicious decrease in the community’s labor force participation rate. At the onset of the recession in April 2020, the labor force participation rate dropped by 4.7 percentage points for Hispanics and 4.4 percentage points for Black Americans, while white Americans saw a relatively lower decrease of 2.7 percentage points.17 As of January 2021, the Hispanic labor force participation rate was still 3.3 percentage points below its February 2020 level. Alarmingly, Hispanic women workers experienced an even more precipitous drop in their labor force participation rate; the rate for Hispanic women dropped by 5.4 percentage points between February 2020 and April 2020—nearly twice the drop experienced by white women over the same period. At the beginning of 2021, the 4.1 percentage-point decrease in the Hispanic women labor force participation rate relative to February 2020 was still the highest among all racial/ethnic and gender categories.

Latina workers have seen the worst employment data of any racial/ethnic and gender group during the coronavirus-induced recession. Hispanic or Latina women have seen the highest unemployment rate of any group—20.1 percent in April 2020. And as of January 2021, more than 1 million fewer Hispanic or Latina women were employed compared with pre-pandemic levels. Throughout the recession, Hispanic or Latina women’s unemployment rate has been consistently higher than that of Hispanic or Latino men. While Hispanic or Latina women workers have seen devastating job losses due to overrepresentation in the hardest-hit industries, they are also leaving the labor force at greater rates than Hispanic or Latino men because they have shouldered more of the increased caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic. As of January 2021, there were 633,000 fewer Hispanic or Latina women in the labor force than in February 2019, compared with 241,000 fewer Hispanic or Latino men.

The effects of COVID-19 on Latino earnings and economic security

These labor market disparities have affected Latinos’ earnings. Between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, full-time Hispanic or Latino workers saw their median weekly earnings increase at a rate of 2.9 percent, slower than that of workers overall. Given that full-time Hispanic or Latino workers earned just $742 per week in Q4 2020—comparable to the $791 per week earned by their Black counterparts but far below the $1,007 per week earned by their white counterparts—the pandemic and recession are exacerbating the already wide income and wealth inequalities that exist across ethnic and racial lines in the United States. The gender wage gap compounds this issue for Latina workers; in 2019, Latinas who were employed full time, year-round earned $36,110 annually—just 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men.

Weakened earnings and higher part-time employment have likewise harmed Latinos’ ability to feed themselves and their families. For Latina mothers—41.4 percent of whom were the primary or sole breadwinners for their families in 2018—the disproportionate job losses and lower earnings have harmed their ability to pay for basic necessities for their families. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 13 percent of Hispanic or Latino households that responded to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey expressed that they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the previous seven days, compared with just 5 percent of non-Hispanic white households. And during the week of April 23, 2020, Hispanics or Latinos reported the largest increase in food insufficiency at 2.7 percentage points above their pre-pandemic level. For non-Hispanic white households, food insufficiency increased by 2.1 percentage points. As of the week of January 6, 2021, food insufficiency had grown significantly worse in the Hispanic or Latino community, with an 8.1 percentage-point increase above pre-pandemic levels. In comparison, the increase for non-Hispanic white households over the same time period was 0.9 percentage points. At the same time, Black Americans experienced consistently high levels of food insufficiency both before and during the pandemic, with insufficiency levels rising slightly from 18 percent prior to the onset of the pandemic to 19 percent during the week of January 6, 2021.

Housing too has become more unaffordable for Hispanic or Latino families. Early in the pandemic, during the week of April 23, 2020, 40 percent of Hispanic or Latino renter households expressed slight to no confidence in being able to make next month’s rent payment. Among Black households, that figure was also a startling 40 percent, while it was only 19 percent among non-Hispanic white households. During the week of January 6, 2021, Hispanic or Latino renters had not recovered any certainty in their ability to make next month’s rent, and more Black households had actually become uncertain. And because renters of color are subject to higher rates and threats of eviction than white renters, they are more likely to experience homelessness than their white counterparts.

How the federal relief package can provide solutions

Given the unique nature of the pandemic and the resulting recession, the upcoming relief package needs to address several key issues in order to ensure that all communities—especially communities of color, which are most at risk—experience as little harm as possible going forward.

Prioritize a more equitable vaccine rollout

For starters, a more equitable rollout of the various COVID-19 vaccines will ensure that infection, hospitalization, and death rates do not remain disproportionate—or become more so—among the Latino community. According to data collected in the month following December 14, 2020, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics or Latinos accounted for only 11.5 percent of those who had received at least one vaccine dose, despite 53 percent of Hispanics or Latinos being high-proximity workers who must work in person and in close contact with others—the highest rate of any racial or ethnic category. Moreover, 31 percent of Hispanics or Latinos are essential workers. Hispanic households also make up 18 percent of multigenerational U.S. households with high-proximity workers despite representing only 13 percent of such households overall. Given these circumstances, a more equitable vaccine rollout is essential to mitigating harm to Latino families, and governments at all levels should increase outreach to historically hard-to-reach communities, such as those with limited English proficiency, about the availability and safety of the vaccine.

Provide support for struggling renters and homeowners

The American Rescue Plan should include critical support for renters and homeowners on the brink of eviction and foreclosure. Given Latinos’ current heightened volatility in employment and earnings, they are particularly at risk of being unable to meet future rent or mortgage payments. Moreover, Hispanic households are far likelier to be overcrowded—meaning that they contain more than one person per room—than households of any other racial or ethnic group. This means that relying on family or friends for temporary housing in times of need is particularly dangerous for Latino families because it is difficult for them to social distance and isolate if a household member is sick. As such, Congress should expand and extend the federal moratoria on evictions and foreclosures as well as significantly extend financial aid to renters and small landlords throughout the recovery . Without such help, Latino families will be at even higher risk of homelessness and exposure to COVID-19 than they already are.

Extend federal unemployment benefits

It will also be necessary to extend federal unemployment benefits through Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which makes unemployment insurance available to self-employed workers, independent contractors, and part-time workers; through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which extends the duration that an unemployed worker is eligible for assistance; and through Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which provides weekly payments of $400 to unemployed workers on top of state unemployment benefits. The Congressional Budget Office has reported that without additional relief, labor market conditions will not return to normal until 2024. Given just how badly workers of color have been affected by the coronavirus-induced recession, these unemployment benefits should be extended to at least the end of 2021 and potentially beyond.

Take action to ensure economic equity

Immediate congressional action is necessary to prevent more widespread suffering and economic damage in the Latino community and other vulnerable communities. But in order to ensure that the economic recovery is equitable, the Biden administration should work toward longer-term solutions as well. For starters, it should increase the federal hourly minimum wage to $15 per hour, since Latino workers are more likely to work in the service sector and hold low-wage jobs. It should also eliminate the tipped minimum wage, as Latino workers make up only 17 percent of the overall labor force but 24 percent of key tipped industry employees. Likewise, the Biden administration should strengthen workers’ right to organize, ensure that health care is affordable for all, and promote universal retirement savings plans.

In the next COVID-19 relief bill, Congress should reinstate and expand emergency paid leave in order to guarantee that all workers have access to it throughout the pandemic. The bill should also increase relief funding for the child care industry to $50 billion. Both emergency paid leave and child care are critical to supporting mothers, including Latinas, who have heightened caregiving responsibilities because of the pandemic. In addition, Congress should help those who are struggling to shore up finances by expanding the CTC to $3,000 per child, raising the maximum qualifying age to 17, and making the credit fully refundable. Congress should likewise boost the earned income tax credit (EITC) so that those who are employed but still struggling receive additional financial support. Given that more than 1 in 4 children in the United States are Hispanic, that Hispanics are more likely to work part time, and that Hispanics’ weekly earnings—particularly those of Hispanic women—are among the lowest of all racial/ethnic groups, expanding the CTC and EITC is critical to keeping Hispanic families, along with other at-risk families, out of poverty amid weak labor market conditions.

Provide support for undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients

Finally, Congress should ensure that undocumented immigrants—the vast majority of whom are Latino—are included in future relief measures and are granted a pathway to legal citizenship. Unfortunately, the expanded unemployment benefits included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act were not available to undocumented workers, regardless of tax-paying status. Likewise, the direct relief payments provided by the federal government—of up to $1,200 in May and $600 in December—were not available to taxpayers who filed their taxes using individual tax identification numbers (ITINs), which undocumented workers often use.

This oversight meant that some 5.1 million children—the vast majority of whom are American citizens—were left out, as were the more than 200,000 essential critical infrastructure workers who are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Scrapping the ITIN requirement would not only aid some of the most vulnerable workers but would also provide ample income to small businesses that have seen their revenues drop as a result of depressed consumer spending. Moreover, President Biden’s forthcoming economic recovery and jobs package should build upon provisions contained in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act—which twice passed the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in 2020—to provide permanent protection and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented essential workers and their families, Dreamers, and Temporary Protected Status holders. Such a program would stimulate the economy, create jobs, and raise the average wages of all Americans, as well as strengthen worker power and help advance racial equity in the recovery.

Conclusion

It is hard to say with certainty when the economy will regain a sense of normalcy. This means that workers—especially Latino workers and other workers of color—will continue to face obstacles to maintaining both physical and financial security. Since Latinos have been disproportionately negatively affected in the U.S. labor market with respect to earnings, as well as in terms of COVID-19 deaths, it is imperative that lawmakers take into consideration the needs of the Latino community and what must be done to ensure that Latinos are provided the help they need.

As Congress continues to negotiate the terms of the next COVID-19 relief bill, it should make sure to provide relief to the most at-risk workers and people in the country. A more equitable vaccine rollout, expanded and extended unemployment benefits, boosts to the CTC and EITC, expanded rental assistance, and protections against evictions and foreclosures would go far toward protecting vulnerable Latino households, as would ensuring that undocumented workers are able to benefit from any future relief. As the country learned in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the costs of doing too little far outweigh the costs of not doing enough. Latino families need help, and Congress and President Biden must act quickly to minimize harm.

NPR Report

As you listen to this 6-minute report by National Public Radio’s Noel King, identify the disproportionate conditions Latinos endure, and then list the reasons why those conditions are socially unjust.

King, Noel. “Why COVI-19 Disproportionally Impacts Latino Communities

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.” NPR, Morning Edition, 1 July 2020.

Stanford Medicine Report

As you read this news release in Stanford Medicine, identify the disproportionate conditions Latinos endure, and then list the reasons why those conditions are socially unjust.

Duff-Brown, Beth. “In California, the

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pandemic hits Latinos hard.

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” Stanford Medicine, 13 May 2021.

Members of the state’s largest ethnic group have faced greater exposure to COVID-19 and have contracted and died from the coronavirus at higher rates than non-Hispanic whites, a Stanford-led study finds.

May 13, 2021 – By Beth Duff-Brown

California’s Latinos, far more likely than whites to live in a household with an essential worker, have faced greater exposure to COVID-19.
Iakov Filimonov/Shutterstock.com

In every corner of California, the Latino population has faced a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19, undergone testing at a lower rate, and suffered more deaths than any other race or ethnicity, according to Stanford-led research.

The effect of the finding is substantial, given that the proportion of Latinos in the Golden State surpassed that of non-Hispanic whites in 2015 — they now make up 39.1% of the population. Whites make up 37.5%; Asians, 14.4% and African Americans, 5.3%. Although Latinos are overrepresented in cumulative cases, Black Californians have died of COVID-19 at a higher rate.

The study, published May 12 in Health Affairs, analyzed testing and case rates by race or ethnicity, at the sub-county level, from March 22 to Oct. 3, 2020. Previous studies of COVID-19 disparities in California have focused on single neighborhoods, specific health-care systems, a single county or the state as a whole.

Grim death toll

Using demographic data from the American Community Survey, the researchers estimated community-level risk for exposure and transmission of COVID-19 based on the proportion of people living in households with an essential worker and fewer rooms than household members, a measure of ability to self-isolate at home if exposed. Essential workers

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are those the government deemed as critical to operations during the pandemic, such as health care and agricultural workers and emergency service personnel. The researchers combined these community-level exposure risk estimates with data on COVID-19 testing, cases, and deaths through a partnership with the California Department of Public Health.

They found that Latinos living in California, who are 8.1 times more likely to live in households facing these higher exposure risks than White Californians (23.6% versus 2.9%), had a COVID-19 case rate more than three times that of whites (3,784 versus 1,112 per 100,000 people). Further, California’s Latino population was tested for COVID-19 at a lower rate than white population (35,635 versus 48,930 per 100,000 people). The Latino population had strikingly worse COVID-19 mortality outcomes as well: The estimated death rate for Latinos (59.2 per 100,000 people) was 1.5 times higher than white residents (38.3 per 100,000 people).

Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert

Black populations in California, who also face structural risk factors that put them at high risk of COVID-19 infection and mortality, had the highest death rates (65 per 100,000 people) among the racial/ethnic groups included in the study. During the timeframe of the study, there were 8,635 deaths among Latinos, compared with 5,330 among whites, 2,053 among Asians and 1,295 among African Americans.

“A particularly striking feature was just how concentrated our measure of risk exposure — households with an essential worker and insufficient space at home to self-isolate — was among Latino populations throughout the state, and the strong association between the risk exposure in these communities and the extremely high case rates,” said Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert

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, PhD, the senior author of the study.

“This is an important finding for this pandemic and has relevance for at-risk areas for future respiratory infectious disease pandemics,” added Goldhaber-Fiebert, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford Health Policy

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“The fact that Latinos in California are the majority racial or ethnic group yet have the worst COVID rates highlights that this is not just a small-population issue,” said Marissa Reitsma

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, a PhD student at Stanford Health Policy

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and co-lead author of the study with Anneke Claypool, who recently earned her PhD from Stanford in management science and engineering. “Across California, Latinos disproportionately face structural risks that put them at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19, including the housing and occupation risks identified in our study.”

During the coronavirus shutdowns, Reitsma said, essential workers provided many services that allowed other people to shelter in place to avoid the epidemic risks—and many of those essential workers were Latinos who are paid an hourly wage and have no guaranteed paid sick leave.

Role of racism

The researchers noted that racism could have played a role in the burden the pandemic has placed on California’s Latinos. “Although analyses such as ours provide a powerful tool for understanding the epidemiology of the pandemic and for developing more effective interventions to control it, one limitation of this study and others like it is in understand the role of racism itself in contributing to disproportionate COIVD-19 burden among racial/ethnic groups,” the researchers wrote. They added: “Just because we did not analyze a definite indicator of exposure to racism in this study does not mean that such an association does not exist.”

The other Stanford co-author of the study was Joshua A. Salomon

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, PhD, a professor of medicine at Stanford Health Policy and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

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The research was supported by the State of California, the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence Foundation, Stanford’s Knight-Hennessy Scholars program, the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, the Stanford Clinical and Translational Science Award to Spectrum, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention though the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Stanford’s Department of Medicine also supported the work.

Beth Duff-Brown
Beth Duff-Brown is the communications manager for Stanford Health Policy.

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine

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is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine

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and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu

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The Latino Pain of Sept 11″ by Russell Contreras

It is now 22 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11.

One of the issues rarely discussed about this event is the number of Latinos, among them undocumented Latinos, who were killed.

This short article gives some details: Contreras, Russell. “The Latino pain of Sept. 11

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.” Axios, 9 Sept. 2021.

A Mexican American woman listens to a prayer in Los Angeles for immigrant workers who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Photo: Lucy Nicholson/AFP via Getty Images

Around 250 Latinos were killed during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, including some undocumented immigrants from Latin America whose families faced daunting tasks to prove they even existed.

Why it matters: As the nation prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, advocates are working to memorialize the toll the attacks had on Latinos, whose sacrifices that day are often overlooked.

By the numbers: Of the more than 2,700 people killed at the World Trade Center, 9% were Hispanic, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

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Latino men accounted for 177 of the deaths at the World Trade Center.

Latinas comprised of 81 deaths.

Details: The Windows on the World restaurant that sat at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center employed a number of Latino immigrants.

The hospitality workers’ union UNITE HERE said 43 immigrant workers, mainly Latino, at Windows on the World

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lost their lives on Sept. 11.

Brothers Enrique and Jose Gomez were among those killed. A relative said the men were from the Dominican Republic.

The Puerto Rico Urban Search and Rescue Task Force being honored on Sept. 11, 2002, in Spanish Harlem, New York. Photo: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images

The first responders: Dennis Mojica‚ 50‚ a lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department, was among the firefighters killed while trying to save people from the World Trade Center. The Puerto Rico Urban Search & Rescue Task Force would later honor him.

Manuel Mojica Jr., another firefighter, was also killed on Sept. 11. His son, Manny Mojica, 25, took the oath two years ago

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to become a firefighter like his father.

The intrigue: The documentary Seen But Not Heard follows the lives of four women from Mexico who lost loved ones on Sept. 11. They worked as waiters, cooks, or delivery workers; all were undocumented immigrants.

The film shows how the women struggled to support their families as they tried to convince authorities that their husbands and boyfriends existed. Some were able to access the compensation fund; others were not.

Don’t forget: Fernando Jiménez Molinar, 21, of Oaxaca, Mexico

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, failed to return from his job delivering pizzas two blocks from the collapsed twin towers on Sept. 11, according to the Latino immigrant advocacy group Asociación Tepeyac.

He is among the missing workers

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not included in the official toll of those who died when the Twin Towers collapsed. Authorities can’t prove he existed.

Tepeyac keeps a database of missing immigrant workers from the attacks.

Environmental Racism is the New Jim Crow

This short video by The Atlantic staff writer Vann R. Newkirk summarizes what constitutes environmental racism

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How America’s Hottest City is Trying to Cool Down

This video shows us a perfect example of environmental racism: a part of Phoenix, Arizona, where poor brown people live, has no trees, and thus is much hotter than the leafy affluent white section of Phoenix.

How America’s Hottest City is Trying to Cool Down

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Probe Further–Itinerant Farm Workers & Arely Morales’ Art

Think about all of the “invisible” work that gets done in a place like Silicon Valley, especially because lots of people in the tech industry work long hours, and their time is consumed by their jobs, thus they hire others: gardening/yard work, child care, helping children do their homework, helping the elderly at home, after-school programs for the children, cleaning houses, walking dogs, handy person to take care of maintenance around the house, car wash.

Think about the “invisible” work that cities must do: landscaping, road maintenance, grocery store clerks, bank clerks, restaurant workers, garbage and recycling collection, construction work, all kinds of workers in hospitals, people who grow and pick the food we eat–all of the services that you expect when you live in a busy area.

Then, think amount who does those jobs, those jobs that we all expect. Statistically, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center Data Explorer

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, that work is done predominantly by low-wage workers: 56% of all low wage workers are Latinx

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(24% are white). Workers of color constitute the majority of California’s workforce.

Without making an effort to “see” these workers, oftentimes they fly under the radar. A young Mexican American portrait artist, Arelys Morales, has determined to humanize Latinx low-wage workers, often those who are undocumented.

Learn about Morales

Analyze her three portraits

Then think about the people in your life who do “invisible” work,

and make a list for yourself about the injustices and/or human rights abuses that come to your mind.

Arely Morales talk about her art on 17 April 2021.

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Learn more about Arely Morales

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‘ paintings at the Talley Dunn Gallery.

Morales completed the following three portraits for her MFA thesis.

This oil on canvas 96″h x 64″w portrait done in 2019 is titled “Aurora.”

This 65 1/2″h x 60″w oil on canvas portrait done in 2017 is titled “María.”

This 65 1/2″h x 60″w oil on canvas portrait done in 2017 is titled “Guadalupe.”

This is the poet that Morales quotes:

Juan Felipe Herrera

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is the first Mexican American poet laureate

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, author, and professor of creative writing at UC Riverside. He is a second-generation Californian, raised between two cultures and two languages, and a successful UCLA graduate who is imprinted by an immigrant upbringing. Here is an excerpt of “Mexican Differences Mexican Similarities,” where Herrera writes:

You dance on the floors we mop the floors

You sleep in hotel beds we make the hotel beds

You’ve got the law on your side we got history on ours.

And later:

You wonder about the universe we wonder about the universe

You wheel grandmother to the home we wheel grandmother to the home

You ride the BART to nowhere we ride the BART to nowhere

Probe Further–Elizam Escobar & Puerto Rico

As you review the following, analyze HOW colonialism and imperialism are manifested in the case of Puerto Rico’s relationship with mainland United States.

Listen to this episode from When We Fight We Win: The Podcast

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Season 2, Episode 5: Elizam Escobar, in the Minds and the Hearts of the People

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This episode is about Elizam Escobar who was an artist, painter, poet, and member of the FALN (Armed Forces for National Liberation). He was arrested with 10 other Puerto Rican freedom fighters in a van in Chicago, Illinois on April 4th, 1980. They were all charged with seditious conspiracy.

The podcast presents the stories of other people like Elizam who fight for social justice. It pairs with a book of the same title: When We Fight, We Win!: Twenty-First Century Social Movements and the Activists that are Transforming Our World

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by Greg Jobin-Leeds (2016).

This oil painting is by Elizam Escobar

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. It is titled “Naufragio/Shipwreck.”

The quote below is from “A Portrait of Elizam Escobar

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” by Erin Sheridan (published in People Live Here, 28 June 2019).

Puerto Rico’s colonial status is inseperable from Escobar’s work. In solitude, he painted his dreams. He picked through his psyche and experiences, studied art and theory, and in turn crafted the various papers for which he is now known. The result is a collection of work that documents the real and unreal, the seen and unseen, and that strives to celebrate a culture, community, and a proud sense of identity in spite of external circumstances. Escobar’s work is self-reflexive — is aware of its own form — and in its quiet power is capable of expanding minds.