Release date: May 28, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Latino Immigrants are Changing the Face of America, Say Emory Experts

The current wave of Latino immigration into the United States will fundamentally change the country in the coming decades, according to Emory University experts. They gave their perspectives on the economic, public health, historical and educational impact of unprecedented Latino immigration into the United States during a May 23 media forum at the university.

Changes already are taking place, noted demographics expert Jagdish Sheth, the Kellstadt Professor of Marketing in Emory’s Goizueta Business School. For the first time ever, African Americans are no longer the largest minority in the country, and by the year 2020, Latinos will comprise 25 percent of the population. Sheth stated that Mexico’s influence in particular is strong as the United States’ second largest trading partner.

"The future of America is tied up with Latin America," said Sheth, and the country will see politics driven more and more by Latinos, as California and Texas are experiencing now. He added that Atlanta also has the potential to be the lead international hub and Latino immigrant city in the country, more so than Miami and Houston, and could be like the New York City of "yesteryear" in terms of diversity and immigrant influence.

But obstacles remain to Atlanta becoming the regional economic center of North America, Sheth cautioned. Tax incentives are not great and the state and region needs to "invest massively in education to make it world-class, as California and New York did so long ago, which will attract corporations, their workers and their families," he said.

Unlike past waves of immigration that have changed the culture of America, where the majority eventually assimilates the minority, American society will continue to see a Latino influence in food, clothing, shelter and culture grow more and more dominant, Sheth explained.

The Southeastern United States, for the first time in the country’s history, is a major destination for migrants, due to the economic draw of various construction, service and food processing industries that rely on cheap immigrant labor, said Mary Odem, associate professor of history and women’s studies at Emory, who is researching the socio-cultural impact of Latin American migration to the southern United States since 1965.

"There are more immigrants now than in the 19th century, during the last great wave of immigration," Odem said, adding that, unlike past immigrants, Latinos are maintaining strong connections with their hometowns and countries.

However, the draw of cheap labor has come at a price, and created a large class of migrants that are shut out of medical care, better jobs and education due to their undocumented status in the country, said Jennifer Hirsch, an anthropologist and assistant professor in the Department of International Health at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health. The American standard of living "relies on the blood" of these laborers, she noted.

"So many aspects of our highly materialistic, middle class lifestyle are dependent on cheap, undocumented immigrant labor," Hirsch said. "We are addicted to it. That is the reason you can get your lettuce cheap, your chicken for 99 cents a pound and masonry work done for nothing on a new ‘McMansion.’"

Education is the key to improving the lives and assimilation of immigrants, said Vialla Hartfield-Mendez, a senior lecturer in Emory’s Spanish and Portuguese department. She has created an advanced Spanish language course for Emory students that incorporates community service at two local schools – Cary Reynolds Elementary School and Sutton Middle School.

Her class has given Spanish literacy lessons to both students and parents with the help of Spanish-language textbooks. The purpose is to improve the literacy in their native tongue, which helps them grasp the challenges of learning English, she explained, and also helps bridge the culture gap between parents and their children immersed in American culture.

"Many immigrant parents are very interested in their children’s education, but do not know how to interact, with language as a major barrier," she said. "Direct intervention is needed to help students. Once they reach middle school, their hopes are diminished and they avoid thinking about the future."

From an institutional standpoint, school systems are still struggling with how to meet the needs of their Latino immigrant students, even as the population continues to grow, Hartfield-Mendez noted, adding that in DeKalb County alone, there are nearly 13,000 Latino students.

From an educational standpoint, "there is no structured way to deal with this issue, to face it and acknowledge it," she said.

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