Posts by Arturo Sandoval

Taos is riled up over hotelier Larry Whitten, who recently arrived in town and promptly informed his Hispano employees that they needed to change their Spanish names to easily understood English names. He ordered employees not to speak Spanish in his presence. And he required employees to show up 10 minutes before their punch-in time (without pay) or face termination.

All three of my kids can read, write and speak Spanish fluently—they also read, write and speak English fluently. They have become fully bi-cultural, able to move easily in US culture as well as in Mexican culture. It’s helped them immensely in their social, educational and professional lives. Imagine how much richer all of our lives would be if we all spoke several languages?

National organizations do a disservice to all Latinos and all citizens when they blindly adopt a color code to endorse candidates or nominees for high office. Alberto Gonzales, who speaks today in Hobbs, is the perfect example.

Why does it matter if some Anglicize and or butcher all of our First American and Spanish surnames and place names? Well, it matters because there are a majority of New Mexico residents who speak these other languages. And there is increasing pride among First Americans and Nuevo Mexicanos to revitalize their languages.

Health care reform is just the latest issue used by American racists and xenophobes to whip up anti-Mexican bias. There is a long historical pattern to this racist sickness that infects American society and that has been specifically directed at Mexicans and Latinos.

One long overdue idea to fix our pathetic public schools’ performance is mandating dual-language instruction for all New Mexico students in K-12.

The North American summit getting under way today in Guadalajara, Mexico, with President Obama personally attending, will undoubtedly draw attention to the rash of violence currently plaguing our southern border.