|
|
Latino Force
Pay attention to these names, some you know
and some you don’t, but you will know them all soon. They
will be in the headlines and on the lips of everyone within the
next couple of years, if they are not already. Among them are politicians,
athletes, entertainers, brilliant minds and patrons of the arts.
No matter their field, each holds the power to make big changes
for Latinos.
By Abraham Mahshie
 Archbishop
José Gómez
Archbishop of San Antonio José Gómez says he believes
immigration to be “the great civil rights test of our generation.”
A vocal proponent of immigration as civil rights, Gómez has
been named one of Time magazine’s and CNN’s most influential
Hispanics.
The Monterrey, Mexico-born Gómez is also founder of the Catholic
Association of Latino Leaders, and he played a key role in the 2000
establishment of the Hispanic Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe
in Mexico City, a seminary that educated Spanish-speaking seminarians
to serve in the United States. Gómez is the only Latino archbishop
in the U.S., where Hispanics make up nearly 40 percent of the Catholic
Church and are expected to be a majority by 2020.
 Luis
G. Fortuño
A struggling Republican party may look south to Puerto Rico for
their new leader. Luis Fortuño, president of the pro-statehood
New Progressive Party and a member of the U.S. Republican Party,
won the governorship of the U.S. territory by the largest victory
margin in 44 years.
Charged with pulling the island out of a $3.2 billion deficit and
12 percent unemployment, the former head of the Puerto Rico Tourism
Company has the people and the business community behind him. As
Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress,
he co-sponsored the Puerto Rico Democracy Act that would give Puerto
Ricans the option to become a U.S. state or sovereign state.
 Dr.
Mario J. Molina
Having decided by age 11 to be a research chemist, Mexico City-born
Molina went on to study chemistry in Mexico and the U.S. and as
a post-doctoral researcher in 1974 published an article that first
described how CFC gases from refrigerants and aerosol cans were
destroying the ozone layer. He continued to research the threat
to the ozone layer while holding teaching positions at the University
of California at Berkley and MIT among other prominent universities.
In 1995, he became the first Mexican to be awarded a Nobel Prize
for science. Having already served President Bill Clinton, Molina
was recently tapped by President Barack Obama to form part of the
transition team on environmental issues.
 Perez
Hilton
Alternately outrageous, cruel, funny and admiring, celebrity blogger
Perez Hilton (born Mario Armando Lavandeira to Cuban parents in
Miami) has turned the entertainment world upside down. His celebrity
commentary draws up to 7 million hits a day and has led to a reality
TV show Perez Sez on VH1 and deal with ABC radio last year. Routinely
sued by celebrities, record labels and others, the openly gay blogger
now mingles with the Hollywood elite and just released his first
book, Red Carpet Suicide: A Survival Guide on Keeping Up With the
Hiltons.
 Ken
Salazar
Responsible for implementing some of the most contentious domestic
energy and environmental policy changes under President Barack Obama,
Salazar was unanimously approved as the second Hispanic Secretary
of the Interior on January 20. The former Democratic Senator from
Colorado has seen a mixed reception from the environmental community
because of his vote against increasing fuel-efficiency standards
and a vote against repealing tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other
major petroleum companies.
Nonetheless, as a rancher and politician in Colorado, he was responsible
for creating a land conservation program and requiring mining and
petroleum companies to better protect the surrounding environment.
Salazar will oversee the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and others.
 America
Ferrera
Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, the 24-year-old Golden
Globe and Emmy-award winning star of the ABC’s Ugly Betty
was named the 2008 ALMA Entertainer of the Year. Ferrera has also
been recognized by Congress as a role model for young Latinas.
Ferrera has increasingly used her star power to promote causes,
endorsing Hillary Clinton for president and saying the U. S. should
take more responsibility for illegal immigration. Ferrera is currently
producing a new movie, an Iraq war-related story written and directed
by her long-term boyfriend, Ryan Piers Williams.
 Narciso
Rodriguez
Once $1 million in debt to suppliers, Rodriguez used fabric donations
to stay atop the fashion world with a critically acclaimed collection
three years ago. The Cuban American from New Jersey’s clients
include Salma Hayek and Sarah Jessica Parker, but perhaps his most
famous client is Michelle Obama, who donned a Spring collection
black and red dress of his on election night. The choice drew instant
attention across the fashion world. Rodriguez became the first designer
to ever receive back-to-back Council of Fashion Designers of America
Designer of the Year awards in 2003, and launched men’s and
women’s fragrances in 2003, with plans for another launch
in early 2009.
 Alejandro
González Iñárritu
The director of Amorres Perros, 21 Grams and Babel has big plans
for the future of Mexican and American cinema. Since his move from
Mexico to Hollywood, González Iñárritu has
shown that he can lure top talent and became the first Mexican to
be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director with Babel.
In a partnership with Latin filmmaking giants Alfonso Cuarón
and Guillermo del Toro, González Iñárritu signed
a five-film, $100 million deal with Focus Features in 2007. He already
has two films on tap for ’09 and one in 2010. Rudo y Cursi
will hit theaters soon and Biutiful, a film he wrote, directed and
produced will come out later this year.
 Judge
Sonia Sotomayor
Widely considered a leading candidate for President Obama’s
first appointment to the Supreme Court, Sotomayor would be the first
Latina on the nation’s highest court. The political centrist
and Bronx native of Puerto Rican decent became the first Hispanic
federal judge in New York State when appointed to the U.S. District
Court in 1992. She currently serves on the District Court of Appeals.
She has made landmark decisions including siding with labor to end
the Major League Baseball strike in 1994 and allowing the Wall Street
Journal to publish White House attorney Vince Foster’s suicide
note.
 Hilda
Solis
The daughter of immigrant parents from Nicaragua and Mexico, Solis
is best known for her work on labor and environmental issues. Currently
serving her fourth term in Congress, Solis followed in the footsteps
of her labor activist father in championing the Employee Free Choice
Act to make it easier for employees to form and join unions. Solis
has voted against free trade deals with Central America and Peru
and has voiced opposition to a pending free trade agreement with
Colombia, whose human rights record she has called “abysmal.”
Solis was named as President Obama’s choice for U.S. Secretary
of Labor.
 Eva
Longoria
One of the most cross-promoted stars in Hollywood, the Desperate
Housewives actress also holds contracts with Bebe, L’Oreal,
Hanes, New York & Co, Magnum and Microsoft. Although a perennial
favorite for men’s magazines and fashion magazine covers,
the wife of NBA star Tony Parker says she considers herself a “very
50s housewife.”
A Mexican American from Corpus Christi, Texas, Longoria used her
stardom to help get out the Latino vote for Barack Obama and is
heavily involved in charitable functions, including her own Eva’s
Heroes. She’s also the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra
El Cancer and supports the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National
Stroke Association and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
 Anthony
G. Romero
Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony
Romero kept busy during the Bush presidency. Romero became the first
Hispanic and openly gay man to take the top job at the ACLU. He
began just days before September 11, 2001, and in eight years has
steered the ACLU to court victories on the Patriot Act, won cases
against torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody and filed
the first successful legal challenge to the Bush Administration’s
NSA domestic spying program. A first generation American of Puerto
Rican parents, Romero was raised in housing projects in the Bronx
and is the first in his family to complete high school, college
and graduate school.
 Oscar
De La Hoya
Although the 35-year-old De La Hoya’s fighting days may be
over, the only Hispanic owner of a national promotional boxing firm
may use his star power to expand the reach of his Golden Boy Productions.
With boxing of growing interest to Hispanic sports fans, De La Hoya
and promoter Bob Arum drew big crowds to a January 24 match between
Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley in Los Angeles.
Born in East Los Angeles of Mexican decent, De La Hoya has drawn
more pay-per-view spectators than any other boxer in the history
of the sport. Last year, he was also welcomed into the U.S. Olympic
Hall of Fame and he released an autobiography.
 Dr.
Lydia Villa-Komaroff
Villa-Komaroff’s 20 years as an internationally recognized
molecular biologist and her breakthrough discoveries are not the
only reason for the myriad honors she received in 2008. The Museum
of Science & Industry National Hispanic Scientist of the Year
and Hispanic Business Lifetime Achievement Award recipient founded
the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans
in Science to promote more women and minorities in the sciences
A researcher at MIT, Harvard and the University of Massachusetts,
Villa-Komaroff helped discover that bacteria cells could produce
insulin, an important breakthrough for diabetes patients. Currently
she is building the first optical cell sorter of human cells to
help overcome immune-system rejection in bone-marrow transplants.
 Alfonso
Cuarón
Although not as prolific as his contemporaries, it seems certain
that any project the Mexico City-born film director touches turns
to gold. Just consider 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban, not to mention 2001’s enormously successful Y
tu mamá también.
Moviegoers haven’t seen a Cuarón-directed picture since
2007’s The Shock Doctrine, but the coming years will change
all of that, as he is currently linked to five projects coming out
through 2010. In the meantime, he has set his sights on producing
(not to mention writing). He’s produced Rudo y Cursi, directed
by his brother Carlos Cuarón and reuniting stars Gael García
Bernal and Diego Luna.
 Mari
Carmen Ramírez
As the curator for Latin American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, Mari Carmen Ramírez has helped to redefine the meaning
and role of Latin American artists. Her exhibits and acquisitions
have garnered international attention to Houston for helping to
broaden the understanding of Latin American art in the Western Hemisphere,
from one based on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to one that now includes
politically tinged works of artists like Gego in Venezuela, Hélio
Oiticica in Brazil and Léon Ferrari in Argentina.
 Dr.
Juan Andrade, Jr.
By promoting Latino empowerment and civic responsibility, Andrade’s
U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute has helped register more than
2 million new voters, trained 200,000 present and future leaders
and published 425 studies on Hispanic demographics including the
Almanac of Latino Politics. Andrade became the second Latino recipient
of the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2001 when President Bill Clinton
cited him “for giving so many more Americans a voice in their
own destiny.”
The son of Mexican migrant farm workers, Andrade labored in fields
as a child and was once arrested for teaching a civics class in
Spanish, violating a Texas state law at the time. Andrade was given
the Lifetime Achievement Award by Hispanic Magazine in 1998.
 Gustavo
Dudamel
Ever since winning a major conducting competition in Germany in
2004, Venezuelan-born Dudamel has been receiving honors and drawing
crowds across the globe. In September, the 27-year-old will take
over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he
will bring his exuberant energy to a city where half the population
speaks Spanish. A product of Venezuela’s music program “El
Sistema,” Dudamel played violin and has been the music director
of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra since age 17, completing high-profile
tours in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He’s even drawn attention
from music lovers outside the classical fold when his album Mahler
5 was the only classical album on iTunes’ “Next Big
Thing” in 2007.
 Pamela
Jimenez Cárdenas
Seventeen-year-old Jimenez Cárdenas may have had a lot to
say on Capitol Hill last April when she campaigned for the Education
for All Act, a bill that would help pay for 72 million poor children
worldwide to attend school, but she was speechless at the National
Council of La Raza ALMA Awards in August when Shakira called her
on stage to receive a Humanitarian Award. Jimenez Cárdenas,
a senior at Presentation High School in San Jose, California was
praised for her “magnificent” work in Washington, where
she first met Shakira, and was called “a role model for all
of us” by the singer for doing something about the lack of
access to education.
|
