Monthly Archives: December 2012

Falling Off the Cliff Would Hurt Latino Families’ Health

By Jessica González-Rojas
Fox News Latino (December 6, 2012)

How does the looming “fiscal cliff,” which threatens to raise taxes on just about everyone and reduce essential services, impact Latinas? Given that Latinas have barely been mentioned in the media firestorm about the looming budget crisis, it’s not surprising many of us aren’t thinking of this as one of our issues. But the stakes for Latinas and their families are disproportionately enormous.

Many Latinas already face a “fiscal cliff,” living month to month with no safety net. This includes families across the income spectrum, from poor to middle class families, who are just one mishap away from financial collapse, whether it be a job layoff or a sick child or the mundane roadblocks like a pricey car repair that means some months the ends just don’t meet. In fact, studies show that Latino families that self-define as middle class in reality have fewer financial resources than white families who consider themselves middle class. It is families like these, those at most risk of economic collapse, that will be most impacted by a “fiscal cliff” that raises taxes and eliminates essential services.

It will be families like those of Paula, a volunteer with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health in South Texas. Paula is a busy mother who supports her four children, ages 2 to 18, including a son in college. Right, now Paula is the sole breadwinner for her family as her partner pursues a degree in math education. After losing her full-time job of four years, she now works two part-time jobs to take care of her family, juggling her own college schedule, too. Families like hers can’t afford even small tax increases or to lose access to important services. Even a small push could send Paula’s family, and many more like it, over the cliff.

Let’s be clear: Politicians built this fiscal cliff over a decade of partisan gridlock, and, having constructed this crisis, they are now debating whether and how to push us off the edge. If politicians don’t make any changes in the coming weeks, everyone will end up paying more in taxes but it will be the middle class and the poor that will fall most deeply into despair as the take home in our paychecks plummets and Congress slashes social services for the most needy. But politicians have the power to disassemble the hardship cliff they built.
If Congress takes action and President Obama’s plan prevails, those with an income less than $250,000 a year will not be impacted in their paychecks, and many vital social services will remain intact.

The fiscal cliff cuts will hit those who can least afford it the hardest. More Latino children already live in poverty compared to children of any other racial or ethnic group, yet their parents will bring home less pay for the same work when taxes rise. Low and middle-income families will see the child tax credit plummet from $1,000 per child to $500 per child. And those who remain unemployed will lose their long-term unemployment benefits, which is certain to push even more families further into poverty. Overall income status has deteriorated for Latinos over the past decade, and we are more likely to fall into the lower class –and less likely to rise into the upper class– than either whites or blacks, according to the Pew Research Center. Make no mistake: Latino families are in the bull’s eye of this budget battle.

It’s unconscionable that our leaders are focused on partisan bickering while
families are threatened with economic hardship. The impact of demanding more taxes in exchange for fewer services will be significant for years to come. For example, in the wake of new reports showing record numbers of Latino youth attending and graduating from college, the tax credit for low- and middle-income parents who are paying college tuition will be slashed. That means fewer kids in need will get a college education. And essential programs will be reduced or eliminated. From HIV prevention to education, every investment in our communities is at risk.

As it stands today, the White House and Congressional Democrats favor a plan that reduces the national deficit by combining higher taxes on America’s top 2 percent and some spending cuts, which will need to be closely monitored. But the plan preserves key tax credits for those most at need. Congressional Republicans oppose higher taxes on our wealthiest and instead seek to lower the deficit by eliminating the kinds of services that are critical to Latino families.

For Latinas, who already face a disproportionate number of barriers to accessing quality health care, including reproductive care, the Republican plan is nothing but bad news. The same lawmakers that have spent a good deal of energy trying to slash access to reproductive health care services and safety net programs for the poor will be deciding how to slash spending on essential services.

Latinas are the backbones of their families and communities, often caring for many loved ones beyond their immediate families. Being pushed off the fiscal cliff will cause serious harm to Latinas. Latinos have the highest poverty rate of any demographic group – more than half of us live close to or below the poverty line, and imposing higher taxes could push many of us across it and into poverty. As the leader of a national reproductive health care organization, I know that far too often poverty and negative health outcomes, like higher rates of unintended pregnancy and inability to access life-saving cancer screenings, are inextricably linked. Pushing more Latinas into poverty means pushing more Latinas away from quality health care, including crucial reproductive care.

President Obama’s detailed plan will prevent tax increases for Latinas who can’t afford them, while preserving important programs and reduce the deficit without placing additional burdens on Latinas. The bill to enact his plan has been passed by the Senate. I’ll be contacting my representative in Congress to urge them to pass the bill as well, so it can become law. I’ll be telling my representative, “¡No tire a las Latinas!” I hope you’ll join me in ensuring our community remains grounded and a sensible tax plan is passed, so all of our families can thrive.

Jessica González-Rojas is the executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

Ben Affleck’s Argo and the White-Washing of the Mexican-American

Posted by NILP

By Moctesuma Esparza (December 3, 2012)

Argo is a 2012 feature film Hollywood thriller loosely based on a memoir written by Antonio “Tony” Mendez, a CIA operative, who led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film stars Affleck as Mendez, was co-produced by Affleck, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov, and was directed by Ben Affleck.

The film is well done and satisfying as a thriller, and is now being touted for awards consideration for the Golden Globes and Oscars. Although there are many issues with the historical accuracy of the plot as well as the portrayal of Canadians, and the Iranian people; and I understand these issues as I have made a career of producing historical films and biographies where I have striven to be as accurate as possible. I get that dramatizations and inventions are part of the necessary compromises needed to create a historical dramatic entertaining film. However, what has been done in Argo falls into a different category of perpetuating ethnic and racial invisibility of Latinos in Hollywood.

Antonio “Tony” Mendez is an American hero of Mexican ancestry whose exploits are dramatized in the movie Argo. He wasawarded the Intelligence Star for Valor for his role in the rescue. He retired with the rank of SIS-2, the equal to a two star General in the military. He was also awarded the CIA’s Intelligence Medal of Merit as well as the Intelligence Star and two Certificates of Distinction. Antonio Mendez was one of fifty officers awarded the Trailblazer Medallion from among all officer in the history of the CIA.

I have a tangential connection to the events portrayed in the movie as I was working for Jerold Rafshoon, President Carters’ Communications Director in the White House during this time on the reelection media campaign. I witnessed the impact of the Iranian hostage crisis on the reelection efforts.

The concern I am focusing on here is the director/producer’s choice to portray Tony as if he is a white non Latino, so he could play the role. This is classic “brown face” at its worst. There is no reasonable justification for this choice as the film could have been cast otherwise without affecting its commerciality.

Not only did a Latino actor not play Tony, who clearly in real life looks like a Chicano, but his ethnicity is stolen from the Latino community at a time when Latinos have been demonized. Our real Latino national heroes if acknowledged would dramatize our patriotism and contribution to the United States. The film actually goes out of its way to obscure Tony Mendez’ ethnicity. His name (Mendez) is mentioned only once and the character says he is from New York (Tony was born in Nevada from a mining family with six generations in Nevada and raised in Colorado). Nowhere in the movie does the viewer get that the hero is Mexican American.

Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Antonio “Tony” Mendez was very contained and had very little range, I don’t know what Tony personality is like to judge the portrayal but this did not impact the movie’s success or failure. It was an excellent role that would have elevated a Latino actor like Benjamin Bratt or Michael Peña.

Instead, like with the story of Guy Gabaldon, whose extraordinary achievements in the WWII Battle of Saipan, capturing, by himself, 1800 enemy soldiers, more than any other American soldier in the history of our country, was similarly white-washed as Jeffrey Hunter played him in the 1960 film, “Hell to Eternity.” But that was more than half a century ago, Argo is now.

Jimmy Carter congratulates a
beardless Antonio Mendez on
the successful Operation Argo in 1980

In the closing credits, the photos of the real people portrayed are presented side-b- side with the actors’ photos showing the very close resemblance and care that was taken in the casting process to cast actors who looked like the real people. Yet, for the key role of Tony Mendez, the director/producer Ben Affleck chose a single long shot of Tony with President Carter where his image was not distinct or recognizable, breaking the pattern he had chosen for all the other real people depicted.

In Argo we have yet another instance where the public has been denied of an opportunity for all Americans to learn of an American Latino’s valor, talent and patriotism. This occurs because there has been no consequence to this behavior. It is time for a change.

Moctesuma Esparza is an award-winning producer, entertainment executive, entrepreneur and community activist. He is CEO of Maya Cinemas, a first run mainstream theater chain in the United States principally located in and serving Latino communities , and a partner of Robert Katz in the company Esparza/Katz Productions. He has produced over thirty films, and has won over 200 awards. He is the producer of such films as the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1981), Selena (1997), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Gettysburg (1993), Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders (1997), Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), Gods and Generals (2003) and Walkout (2006). A participant in the 1960s-era movement for the civil rights and equality of Mexican-Americans, Esparza remains committed to public service, donating his time to educational, cultural, and professional organizations, especially those that aim to educate Latinos in business and media. He was born in Los Angeles, California and received a B.A. of Theatre Arts-Motion Pictures, Television in 1971 and a M.F.A. of Theatre Arts-Motion Pictures, TV in 1973 from the University California Los Angeles. He can be reached at moctesumae@mayacinemas.com.