New York needs a Cesar Chavez

Editor's note: Kerry Kennedy is the president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and author of "Speak Truth To Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World" and "Being Catholic Now." She has worked on global human rights issues for more than 30 years and serves as Chair of the Amnesty International USA.

(CNN) -- Forty-six years ago this month, my father joined Cesar Chavez in Delano, California, to share the Eucharist and end Chavez's 1968 fast for farm workers' rights. It took another nine years, but the state of California would go on to answer Chavez's call for justice and pass its groundbreaking Agricultural Labor Relations Act.

Kerry Kennedy

That law surged California forward in the global labor movement, but New York never had a Cesar Chavez.

And so today -- in the state where my father served as senator and where I now live -- our farm workers suffer from the leftover Jim Crow laws that California addressed nearly half a century ago.

As a resident of New York State, I wanted to see the conditions for myself. So I drove a few hours north of my home to Liberty, New York, and visited the largest producer of fois gras east of the Mississippi.

If you think what farms do to the geese is bad, you should see how they treat the farm workers.

I met a man who worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for 10 years without a single day off. He was paid minimum wage. And though he earned it, he could not claim overtime pay -- overtime that would be paid to any deli worker in New York City. If he tried to form a union, he could be fired.

I walked through one-room shacks that housed entire families and past queues that led to filthy bathrooms -- one toilet for every 20 workers. I met women sexually assaulted in the fields by supervisors in return for employment, and children doing backbreaking labor for $3.20 an hour.

The legacy of Jim Crow is alive today in New York, resulting in inexcusable conditions for people who plant our vegetables, pick our fruit and milk our cows. All this is legal in New York, the remnants of a bargain struck nationally with the Dixiecrats to exclude minority workers from New Deal federal fair labor laws.

Obama: Chavez sacrificed for his family

The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, passed by the State Assembly last year and languishing in the State Senate, is the first step to addressing some of these egregious violations of international human rights New York farm workers still face.

Morgan Spurlock as migrant farm worker

The bill is far from radical; it merely extends to farm workers the same labor protections nearly every other industry in America has enjoyed since the industrial era. But it would be revolutionary for the roughly 100,000 men, women, and children who give New York its daily bread.

The State Assembly has passed the bill several times; where it stalls is in the Senate, a body that has the votes to pass the bill into law, but where special interests have prevented it from coming to the floor for a vote.

We cannot allow partisan politics to condemn New York's farm workers to another year of misery and abuse. New York's legislature must bring the FFLPA to a vote in 2014.

And when it does, I hope the members of our State Senate will think of that day in 1968, when in front of a crowd of 6,000 farm workers, Robert Kennedy said:

"When your children and grandchildren take their place in America -- going to high school, and college and taking good jobs at good pay -- when you look at them, you will say, 'I did this. I was there at the point of difficulty and danger.'

"And though you may be old and bent from many years of labor, no man will stand taller than you when you say, 'I marched with Cesar.'"

All of us still have the opportunity to join the struggle today.

And if we do, one day when we are old and bent, we will to turn to our children and grandchildren and say, "I was there at the point of difficulty and danger. I marched with the New York Farmworkers." Si se puede!

Hispanics, internet and cell phones.

The Internet is how many Americans get their news and weather, or interact with friends and loved ones—and Hispanics are no different. While using a home computer is the most common method of accessing the Internet among Hispanics, it seems that the cell phone is rapidly gaining popularity. According to latest research from Mintel, a quarter (25%) of online Hispanics who often or occasionally access the Internet through a cell phone use it as their primary device for connecting to the Internet.

Hispanic women are leading this trend, 30% of online Latinas report that their cell phone is the primary device used, while one in five online Hispanic men say the cell phone is their primary device for connecting online. Meanwhile, 38% of Hispanics who often or occasionally use their cell to access the Internet use it to check activity on social networking sites.

“For many years, a ‘digital divide’ has been seen between Hispanics and the total US online population. Broadband access lags that of other multicultural groups, largely due to a lack of home internet access among lower-income, Spanish-dominant Hispanics,” says Leylha Ahuile, senior multicultural analyst at Mintel. “But that’s no longer the case—that divide is rapidly being shattered by smartphone usage.”

Whether connecting to the Internet from a home computer or cell phone, Hispanics often use their online time to stay in touch with loved ones across the globe. Thirty-three percent of online Hispanics use the Internet to stay connected with family and friends outside the US, while over a quarter (27%) use it to read news about their home country.

“The internet has become an important connector between family and friends for Hispanics of all age groups,” adds Leylha Ahuile. “It’s vital for news and information from the US and the nation of heritage for many Hispanics. Additionally, video conferencing services—such as Skype—are used more by Hispanics aged 45-54 than among those in younger age groups.”

Cupcake Digital creates Spanish Language Apps

Cupcake Digital is translating their existing roster of English language deluxe story apps into Spanish with today’s launch of “La Aventura de Wubbzy y Los Dinosaurios.” The company is giving parents high-quality apps that are designed to expose kids to Spanish by offering the option to switch language with a simple tap of a button. The new Spanish app is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store(TM) for $1.99 to download and is free to upgrade for those who already own the English language version. “We have received a wonderful reception from parents who are so happy to have a bilingual option, and we look forward to offering even more of our popular story experiences to this growing market,” said Cupcake Digital Chairman Brad Powers. “These apps have given my own son a great tool for practicing Spanish with his bilingual mother, and we are so pleased to give parents who want to expose their children to the language something they will appreciate as much as we do.”

La Aventura de Wubbzy y Los Dinosaurios features:
– Fun mini-games within the story and added learning games for practice of number, letter and sight word recognition
– Professional narration of the same story in English and Spanish is a good introduction for initiating natural language acquisition
– Individually highlighted words in the app are designed specifically for teaching the basics of spelling and vocabulary and can be used to practice Spanish

By: Eddy Aguilar Saba

Pointlogic and Conill launch planning tools channel to power Hispanic market communications

Pointlogic USA and Conill today announced a multi-year agreement on a new media channel allocation tool based on Pointlogic’s Commspoint, its industry leading communications planning software. Commspoint Hispanic (Conill’s version is named Sherlock™) is the first known channel planning tool to target the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the U.S.

Commspoint Hispanic will give Pointlogic clients the opportunity to develop communication plans using appropriate acculturation levels within the U.S. Hispanic population. Users will be able to immediately determine if a specific media channel (e.g., mobile, television etc) will outshine another for a particular communication effort.

Conill’s Sherlock™ employs a unique algorithm to analyze a variety of data points, providing the best possible media engagement plan targeting Hispanic consumers. In all, the tool is able to provide placement advice to clients and brand planners across 58 distinct media channels, including 22 digital touchpoints. It was developed with insights from the agency’s brand and media planning and purchasing teams.

“As cultural curators, our media planning tools need to reveal the nuances between ethnic group media consumption and the impact distinct channels have on Hispanics in particular,” said Conill Chief Media Communications Officer Brett Dennis. “It’s undeniable that media has become intrinsically linked to creative development. Sherlock™ helps us bridge the gap between art and science, while making the channel planning process faster, smarter and more accountable for our clients.

Health Media Network Acquires National Marketing Rights to America’s Minority Health Networks, Launches Hispanic Health Network

Health Media Network (HMN), the fastest-growing digital point-of-care media company in the U.S., is launching its newest information and education network created specifically for Hispanic healthcare physicians and consumers.  The HMN Hispanic Network is supporting nearly 9,000 doctors reaching close to 4.5 million Hispanic consumers at the point they receive healthcare services.

In May, HMN acquired the exclusive national marketing and sales rights to America’s Minority Health Networks (AMHN). This deal included both Spanish language and African-American-focused medical information content and networks. As a result, the HMN Hispanic Network now supports 8,692 physicians delivering 4,321,505 impressions.

“At HMN we recognize that the Hispanic community has certain medical conditions and thus, specific health needs,” said Christopher Culver, president and CEO at HMN. “We are the first point-of-care information provider to address these needs across such a wide direct-to-consumer platform.”

The 2011 U.S. Census Bureau population estimate states that there are approximately 52 million Hispanics living in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanic health is often shaped by factors such as language/cultural barriers, lack of access to preventive care, and the lack of health insurance. Major causes of illness and death among Hispanics include heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.

HMN’s Hispanic Network facilitates conversations between doctors and patients at the care delivery site with a documented immediacy that drives specific patient actions and requests vital to healthy living. In national examination surveys, Hispanics are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanics to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician. They have higher rates of end-stage renal disease caused by diabetes, and are 50 percent more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanics.

By Eddy Aguilar Saba

The Truth About Bicultural Consumers and How Marketers Are Taking Notice

Cultural Identity Is Crucial and Should Be Represented in Media

By: 

Marina Filippelli

 

I am what you would call a completely bicultural and bilingual Hispanic, living and working in the United States. I use both languages for work and at home, to communicate with friends, family and in general in my day-to-day life.

I could easily move through life in a completely English-speaking, Americanized world. But I choose not to. That's why I need to be marketed to in a special way. Because I consume media and culture in both languages, I am invested in my heritage and perhaps most importantly, I want my children to have the same interest and respect for both how they are different and how they are like others in their world.

I'm not alone. Statistics show that a majority of Hispanics want their kids to speak Spanish, even when they themselves are not completely Spanish-dominant. That may portend the longevity of Spanish-language media, but more importantly it shows the significance of culture; our lives are not just about language.

Culture is different for everyone, but as marketers we need to know that, unlike past immigrants, today's groups are not looking to melt completely into the pot; they are adamant about maintaining  things they define as cultural differences, and they want these to be represented.

Sometimes these differences are not obvious to Hispanics themselves, but they are nonetheless vital for marketers to understand. Our company recently conducted a study of Hispanic millennials, most of whom spoke just enough Spanish to keep their parents off their back.  They did not consciously verbalize their "bicultureness." Some insisted that they weren't interested in defining themselves by their ethnic background. But it was there in almost all of their choices: TV shows, music, products they consumed, people they admired. To them it was just part of who they are, so deeply ingrained that it didn't warrant a separate definition or an explanation. 

This generation may not be aware that people in the business world are taking notice of how they are different. To them it probably seems normal that TV networks are producing shows in English with Hispanic themes, like "Quinceañeras." Why not, that's how they grew up. Why wouldn't it be on TV? It probably also seems completely normal that in Los Angeles, Miami or New York, you can tune in a radio station where the music is top 40 pop and the DJs seamlessly flow between English, Spanish and Spanglish. This year several contestant on NBC's popular show "The Voice," sang in Spanish, and they made it clear that their dream was to work with Shakira, the Colombian pop star who appears on the show and who has had more hits in Spanish than English.

Still, if we take a broader look, there is a long road ahead. Shonda Rhimes, the creator of popular TV series like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal,"  recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people, has been vocal about the lack of multicultural representation in the entertainment industry.  Rhimes recently tweeted, "Hey @abcfbunheads: really? You couldn't cast even ONE young dancer of color so I could feel good about my kid watching this show? NOT ONE?"

Jennifer Lopez, one of America's most famous entertainers, said the following at this year's upfronts, "Generally speaking, television doesn't accurately portray the lives of Latinos today.  So even though I'm on TV, when I turn it on, I don't see me." She has recently joined NUVOtv, a small cable network  generating programming that Latinos don't see on the main English language networks.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently discussed its need to expand and diversify its ranks by relaxing a cap on membership that has restricted new admittances since 2004. A 2012 Los Angeles Times study found that nearly 94% of academy voters are white, and 77% are male. Blacks make up about 2% of the academy, Latinos less than 2%. Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed.

Why are these changes taking place? Because a movie ticket brings in the same revenue, no matter who buys it, and the entertainment industry is starting to realize that not all of us feel represented watching white males dominate the culture we consume.

As those creating content shift to try to be more inclusive, so are marketing departments nationwide. While some marketers have addressed the needs of multicultural segments of the population for years, some are still in the Stone Age. Some may still think that consumers like myself  don't need to be addressed separately from their general market, but when you consider that over 40% of millennials are not white, do you really want to take that chance?

Latinos Prove To Be Early Adapters

By: Eddy Aguilar Saba According to the Pew Research Center, Latinos are proving to be some of the biggest users of technology in the nation.  They have far surpassed usage of other groups in America for smartphone ownership, going online from a smartphone device and using social networking sites.  Furthermore, it seems that that they are also some of the earliest adapters.  This is partially driven by the fact that much of the Latino population is young.  Nielsen refers to these findings and calls Latinos, “one of today’s most engaged and dynamic populations in the digital space.”  Today, 72 percent of Latino internet users say they are on social media sites as compared to 58 percent of all U.S. internet users according to the Pew Research Center. What are the implications for the Latino community?  Latinos have been able to capitalize on this technological edge and use social media as a platform to affect change.  Social media was used to bolster Latino voter registration during the presidential election, it was used to promote immigration reform and it was used to advise students on how to secure temporary legal status from President Obama’s deferred action program.  According to a recent article, the virtual “iMarch” on Washington last month to promote immigration reform was one of the largest social media advocacy efforts in history.  This reveals a glimpse into the future where savvy Latino activists will have the power to generate momentum through social media and have the ability to leverage this power to affect positive change for the community.