Fifty years ago Maria's "problem" was a would-be nun who wanted to marry a widower and become the mother of his five children. Today in the United States the problem is that the Von Trapp kids would more than likely be fatherless, and more and more Maria's are having children...

Post-election analysis is in full force and the prominent role of the overwhelmingly pro-Obama Hispanic vote is front and center. From hues and cries (Bill O'Reilly) to demographic tut-tutting (Juan Williams' "Obama's Daunting Demographic Message for the GOP"), pundits and columnists alike are opining on how Republicans have...

We have a new oxymoron that's entered our popular culture vocabulary. Recent front page news announcements in many leading newspapers reported the first ever demographic shift of non-white births outpacing white births, which has created a "minority-majority" youth population. This oxymoron has come into common parlance, as accepted...

Developments in social science, global trends and demographics all reinforce the significant benefits of bilingual education. Despite that, American schools show a steady decline in language programs. How can this be?

First, let's look at the conditions for bilingualism. There have always been benefits to being able to speak more...

As Benjamin Bratt gets physically older are his character choices on TV regressing?

By most standards, Bratt has had a fantastic career; he's a serious, thoughtful actor whose fine work has earned him ALMA Awards, a SGA Award, and an Emmy nomination. So, how did this actor, whose credits...

How will Texas, with 38% of Hispanics uninsured, and California, with 29% of Hispanics uninsured, handle the coming influx of Hispanic healthcare consumers? Truth is -- no one really knows. The impact, however, will be enormous, and the system is not ready to handle it.

When the federal health...

Let's consider unintended consequences and the growing Hispanic market: Laws and regulations that start out with the very best intentions for Hispanics may now actually be impeding their progress. Take for example, a recent meeting I was in with a major financial services company. I was with a group of...

Hispanics and immigration reached its apex of visibility during the 2006 street protests, where a coordinated, national series of street marches occurred with Hispanic participants estimated in the millions. These events were facilitated and amplified by Spanish-language media outlets, in particular Univision, Telemundo, Azteca America and various Spanish-language radio stations...

The rapid growth of the U.S. Hispanic market these past couple of decades is messing up just about everything regarding dominant norms on race and ethnicity in the United States. It was once so easy. The post-war era ushered in an ethnic/race system of classification of what Berkeley historian David...