The Economist, March 19, 2008
EVERY Sunday Elias Loera stands behind a pulpit made from motorcycle parts and preaches family values to the people of Fresno. He rails against sinful living and neglectful fathers, yet is careful not to offend. Mr Loera reckons more than half of the women in his almost entirely Hispanic congregation are single mothers. He tries to avoid speaking of “father God”, so dismal are many people’s experiences with fathers in this struggling Californian city.
Whether Cuban, Mexican or Puerto Rican, most Latinos revere la familia. But the Hispanic family is changing. In the past ten years the birth rate among unmarried Latinas has risen from 89 to 100 per 1,000. It is now much higher than the rate among black or white women (see below). Late last year came a significant but little-noticed announcement: probably for the first time, half of all Hispanic children in America were born out of wedlock.
The Latino family is not in such a dire state as the black family, where 71% of children are born to single mothers. Yet the gap appears to be closing. In 1995 the unmarried teenage birth rate for Latinas was 20% lower than the rate for blacks. It is now 12% higher. This is not just a worry for socially-conservative preachers. More than half of all young Hispanic children in families headed by a single mother are living below the federal poverty line, compared with 21% being raised by a married couple.
Many blame these changes on the decay of traditional mores. Ed Moreno, Fresno’s public-health officer, points to the enormous differences between recent immigrants from rural areas—at the moment, the city is seeing an influx from the Mexican state of Oaxaca—and American-born Latinos. The new arrivals rule their children with an iron hand. Among them teenage pregnancies are rare and often followed by marriage, sometimes at the point of a metaphorical shotgun.
By the second or third generation such old-fashioned attitudes are generally forgotten. Among the poor, cohabitation is seen as normal and single parenthood merely regrettable. Research by Wendy Manning of Bowling Green State University and others shows that unmarried Mexican-American couples who have children while living together are slightly more likely to break up than are blacks or whites in similar circumstances.
America is not wholly to blame for the state of the Hispanic family. What may be particularly disastrous is the combination of American inner-city norms and traditional Latin attitudes. Those who campaign against teenage pregnancy complain of a “1950s mentality” among Hispanic parents, who continue to believe that talking to their children about sex puts ideas in their heads. Pedro Elías of Planned Parenthood says machismo persists among young Latinos in Fresno, making them less inclined to use condoms. Latinas frequently obtain imported birth-control pills from flea markets, together with dodgy advice about how to use them.
Although poor Hispanic families are coming to resemble poor black families, they do not feel like them. Marriage is no less prized as it becomes less common. Many Latinos still regard it as deeply shameful to allow one’s parents to enter a nursing home. Yet this may be changing. A question about whether they expect to live with their children in old age provokes confident head-shaking among a group of Mexican mothers who are learning English in a Fresno school.
Above all, the large extended families and networks of godparents, which provide crucial support to young Latina mothers, seem to be weakening. A big reason is language. An immigrant grandmother, for example, may well struggle to communicate with her American-born children. She will probably speak little English, while they are likely to speak almost no Spanish. Extended families are also strained by migration: Latinos are increasingly spreading out from traditional enclaves in California, Texas and New York to places such as North Carolina and rural Ohio.
The alarm that these changes have produced has been picked up and amplified by the fast-growing Latino evangelical movement. Samuel Rodriguez, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, describes the state of the Latino family as a more urgent problem than reform of America’s dysfunctional immigration system. For some, family breakdown presents an opportunity for evangelism. Mr Loera says his congregation has grown in part because he takes in women who are evicted from other churches when they become pregnant. He relentlessly promotes marriage.
A slim majority of Hispanic adults were born outside America, and retain a degree of traditional attitudes. In time the balance between native and foreign-born will surely tip, as it has already done in Fresno. As Latinos become more American, they may be able to achieve a more benign balance between old and new ways. Or they may fail. In which case, just as they overcome one obstacle to progress in America—the English language—they will hit another of their own making.
Original article
(Posted on March 20, 2008)
Comments
What ignorance, trying to blame America for the “breakdown” of the Hispanic family. You can’t break down what never was.
Latin men have never been known for monogamous relationships and out-of-wedlock children have always been common. Not too long ago it was quite typical for a Latin (at least a Mexican) male to have multiple families. Only one may perhaps be legally-sanctioned. The females in the ‘sattelite’ families often had multiple children by other men.
I know this firsthand (very long story).
As for them resisting placing the old folks in nursing homes, well … in the early 90’s I worked in those facilities in California—and they were chock-full of Hispanic elderly. The “kids” didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all.
Maybe this author might want to read some of Oscar Lewis’ books for some info on Hispanic ‘family values’.
Posted by kitty at 5:48 PM on March 20
They will continue to fail, feeding on a culture of victimhood and welfare that we set up for blacks in the 60’s. Until the culture changes, nothing will change. We are dooming america to a worse generation every generation.
Posted by Diamed at 5:51 PM on March 20
MORE excuses for the “hispanic” lack of morals…..It is always America’s
(read Whitey’s) fault. They were absolute angels in their country of Mexico…of course, they were…I live near this city Fresno, and it has become a living hell hole in the last 30 years due to 3rd world immigration! Whole areas of town are no-go zones if you are White. Neighborhoods that were once nice, WHITE and clean are now turned into black and brown ghettos. But the “uppity” Whites claim Fresno is a wonderful place to live! What idiots. They live in their gated and walled communities, in the upper-class sections of town and take the freeways to their jobs, etc. so they don’t have to drive those city streets and SEE what has happened to Fresno. They truly make me sick! They could care less about the poor and low income Whites that have to survive in what these leftists AND the NEO-CONS created in the first place! Their denial of “race” and reality disgusts me to no end. Just listen to their local talk show hosts on the radio and most of their callers! They will defend ALL minorities if a White tells the truth about the reality and WHY it is no longer a “great” place to live. They will call him a “racist” etc. What a joke these people really are.
Posted by at 6:02 PM on March 20
“America is not wholly to blame for the state of the Hispanic family.” What a classic line. America is not to blame period. How about Hispanic “family values” and people who can’t keep their urges confined to their pantalones?
Posted by at 7:04 PM on March 20
Importing crime and poverty throughout the West was hardly a good idea to begin with, but lately it is showing us why it was not a good idea at all.
And the future will reveal to the whole world what a disaster it really is by example.
And, yes, nations will come to rue ever having anything to do with diversity, but for the time being they’re still only in the process of imploding. There’s still some more learning to do just yet.
And when the smoke clears multicults will maintain that it would have worked, if only ……….. And that will mark the beginning of their effort to try again, only this time………
Does anybody see as I do how dangerous it is to have these people in our society? Ever?
Posted by w.r. at 7:58 PM on March 20
I’m shocked. I was told we were getting a bunch of hard working Christian people, better Christians and better workers than the people who live here now. Now it seems we got the people Mexico didn’t want.
Posted by W. Smith at 9:03 PM on March 20
There is a very good reason for that. The “hispanics” they are talking about are “black” hispanics. There are “black” hispanics and “white” hispanics. Oddly enough, black hispanics share many of the same behaviors and belief systems that blacks do. White hispanics are much more like whites. The two groups hate eachother and won’t live in the same neighborhoods. As black hispanics displace white hispanics, the character of the “hispanic” population changes.
The problem is the PC guys taking the stats are either unaware or unwilling to measure, the differences.
Posted by at 12:43 AM on March 21
“I’m shocked. I was told we were getting a bunch of hard working Christian people, better Christians and better workers than the people who live here now. Now it seems we got the people Mexico didn’t want.”
Posted by W. Smith at 9:03 PM on March 20
Yes, this country is a dumping ground for every loser and malcontent south of the border.
Remember the Mariel boat lift where Castro emptied his jails and nut houses and sent them here in response to Carter’s naive offer? Well, what we have endured the last 15 years is a giant Mariel boat lift from points south of Texas, amounting to about 20 million people.
It’s an excellent way to create a larger uneducated pauper class, plus an extremely large contingent of criminals right along with them.
Posted by Ranger at 2:13 AM on March 21
Well, Latino families have 5-6 on average compared to the
“typical” White(according to Obama) family. Some years later the father disappears, leaving us(the White taxpayer)to pick up the tab(feed, educate and, eventually deal with their gang activity). What a great culture we’re enabling!
An effective fence must be built NOW and properly guarded with the same determination we do in most foreign countries or our White(European, arguably the most successfull on Earth) culture will cease to exist…possibly in our lifetime.
Our grandchildren will be outnumbered and outvoted in the country their ancestors created. America will descend to a Third World status.
Posted by D. Andrews at 2:14 AM on March 21
Dear D Andrews….you see they can afford to have 6 kids or more….our stupid government and states give them money hand over fist…you try it see who would support your 6 kids??? Does that answer any questions?
Posted by lydia at 12:25 PM on March 21
Many non-white immigrant groups assimilate downward toward black norms. I am most familiar with Filipinos in the US. Some will admit to Chinese heritage (something they are conditioned to deny since the Chinese diaspora in the Philippines outperforms the natives and fears attention). Those families in the US maintain their values and have high-performing kids. But mestizo Filipinos can’t compete in school with whites so “drop out”, either figuratively or literally, and take up the values of the ghetto. Sad for their parents, but I’ve seen it many times.
Posted by at 4:17 PM on March 21
Yet another reason to view “assimilation” with suspicion if not outright contempt. The more “American” latinos become, the higher the illiteracy, drug-abuse, gang-affiliation, mono-linguism (if that!), and incarceration along with a corresponding decrease in family values i.e. the American Nightmare.
Posted by ENDURING at 7:29 PM on March 21
“There is a very good reason for that. The “hispanics” they are talking about are “black” hispanics. There are “black” hispanics and “white” hispanics.”
This article is out of California. There are very, very few “black” hispanics on the west coast.
Posted by at 10:52 PM on March 21
ENDURING is stating something that’s been obvious for decades in L.A. and the Bay Area. American-born children of Mexican immigrants quickly break away from traditional Mexican ways and assimilate into ghetto culture in a position just above blacks. The situation doesn’t improve in subsequent generations.
The Economist is usually pretty rah-rah about third-world immigration’s benefits to the economies of the U.S. and Europe, so it’s interesting to see an article like this one. Maybe it’s starting to dawn on them that the inevitable resulting social decay isn’t some xenophobic racist delusion after all.
Watch for the next shocking article, revealing that blacks and Mexicans hate each other and cause violent mayhem wherever they’re expected to celebrate diversity with each other, such as in schools, prisons, and formerly white neighborhoods. Again, this will be decades-old news to whites who’ve been celebrating diversity firsthand since the twin disasters of the civil rights act of 1965 and the immigration act of the same year.
Silent Bureaucrat
Posted by silent bureaucrat at 3:15 AM on March 22
