Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Chicago Tribune tracks Hispanic trends as revealed in recent Pew Hispanic Center study.



For the first time, second- and third-generation Hispanics account for most of the growth in the Hispanic population, replacing new immigrants, who fueled the growth in the past...



Immigrants' children and grandchildren who were born in the United States are American citizens. They are overwhelmingly people who speak fluent English, usually without a trace of an accent, and thus meld into the work world with few problems...



"For me, being of Salvadoran descent and speaking Spanish are important for me," said Marcos Villatoro, a professor of English at St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. "But for my kids it is a shadow in the house. They know it is there, but they kind of ignore it..."



"One of the great ironies of the changing demographics in the United States is that, as the Hispanic population grows, it becomes quickly assimilated and, in a sense, becomes less visible," said Janet Dudley-Eshbach, president of Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md...



"The new generation of American-born Hispanics are becoming such a part of the cultural fabric that the Hispanic name is losing its `edge' as a foreign name," he said. "The same thing, from a cultural standpoint, is happening to the Hispanic surname. For example, Cameron Diaz, Christina Aguilera, even Jennifer Lopez, are hardly thought of as `Latin bombshells.' They're just considered attractive, successful women who happen to be Latin..."



Dudley-Eshbach said a recent study by the American Council on Education found that about 32 percent of Hispanics attend college. "As this percentage grows," she said, "Hispanics will increasingly be perceived as intelligent, hardworking and sophisticated..."



The political ramifications remain difficult to determine. Hispanics--like the rest of the population--come in many political stripes.

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