Why Latinos Matter...

The purpose of LatinosMatter.com is to inform, and hopefully enlighten, readers who are interested in knowing more about the news, events, issues, and ideas that have a particular impact upon Latinos in the United States. We will be collecting news stories relating to Latinos from a wide variety of sources and developing this Web site as a kind of "one-stop" source for easily accessible relevant information.

LatinosMatter.com will also provide a venue for commentary written by well-qualified and thoughtful Latinos and others. Naturally, we expect that those who are of Latino background may be especially interested in LatinosMatter.com. However, it is also our objective to encourage communication and understanding among all of our fellow humans from diverse backgrounds throughout the U.S. and the world.

It is not at all our desire to separate ourselves from the larger U.S. culture. On the contrary, we want to emphasize that Latinos have been an integral part of the culture and history of the United States. By doing so, we will help to assure that there is a more complete, accurate portrayal of the realities and perspectives of Latinos in this great country today.

The perspectives of Latinos are severely lacking in the “mainstream” news media, and our reality is routinely distorted, and even deliberately portrayed inaccurately in the extreme right wing conservative media. Our efforts to provide more and better information concerning Latinos are especially important at this moment in the history of the U.S.

Currently, there is a great deal of misunderstanding, misguided hostility, and even violence affecting Latinos, and especially those of Mexican descent, as a result of issues including illegal immigration.

We routinely hear undocumented workers referred to as "criminals," and know that legal immigrants, and even U.S. citizens, may be subjected to racial profiling and questioning by law enforcement due the color of their skin. Ironically, according to recent crime statistics, the truth is that cities with large immigrant populations, including those like El Paso, Texas on the U.S.- Mexico border, are among the safest cities with the lowest crime rates in the nation.

In 2003, Latinos, with a population of 37 million or 13% of the U.S. population, became the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing the number of African-Americans.

Recent population estimates from the U.S. census indicate that minorities now make up about 35% of the population in the United States, and that the percentage is rapidly growing.

Minorities already make up 57% of the population in California, while the District of Columbia and the states of Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas also have minority populations exceeding 50%.

But there's more: among children, minorities in California now make up 72% of those under age 15. Nationwide, 46% of children under 15 are minorities, up from 40% in 2000.

The census data also reports that the rate of birth to death among Latinos is nine births for every one death, compared to a ratio of one to one for whites. These statistics clearly demonstrate that the thoughts, concerns, and reality of Latinos really do matter, and will matter even more in the future.

The founders/editors of LatinosMatter.com were born in the U.S., are of Mexican descent, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and currently reside in Texas. Among Latinos in the U.S., those of Mexican national origin by far constitute the largest group. Therefore, our cultural and regional backgrounds may at times be evident on LatinosMatter.com.

However, we recognize that all Latinos in the U.S., as well as non-Latinos who appreciate our diverse culturas, have much in common. Just as Spanish language music artists may be appreciated by anyone who appreciates music, everyone may benefit from the relevant information and diverse viewpoints presented by LatinosMatter.com.

Although Spanish was our first language, and we are now bilingual, most of our education from first grade through graduate school was primarily in English. As a result, we are more easily able to present an advanced level of discourse in English. However, we will feel free to post Spanish-language news sources, use terminology and expressions en Español, or even mix languages. We will leave it up to the readers to either have the ability to understand, or to seek translations themselves.

Ironically, there may currently be more of a need for information concerning Latinos in the English language, than there is in Spanish. The Spanish--language Univision network recently out-rated all English language television networks in the U.S. when it aired a debate on immigration and the controversial Arizona law SB1070.

Of course, many of those viewers were bilingual, but there remains a real need for more significant participation by Latinos in all English-language media, including news broadcasts, television programming, films and the internet. By establishing this Web site and referring readers to other sources of information, we expect that LatinosMatter.com will help to fill this void. We also encourage everyone to FOLLOW LatinosMatter on Twitter and to FRIEND us on Facebook.

¡Si se puede!
Emily Jauregui, Editor/ Founder, MBA
Hector Montes, Editor/Founder, MA
Bryan Alcantar, Creative Director