| 1990 |
According to the 1990 US census: The number of Latinos in the US grew by 53% since 1980 to 22,354,059 and 9% of the population in 1990 due to a combination of immigration and a high birth rate; The major Latino population increases were concentrated in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Maryland where the Latino population increased by more than 100% as well as California where the Latino population increased by 3.1 million, a 69.2% increase; Seventy percent of Latinos are concentrated in California, Texas, New York and Florida; Forty percent of Latinos live in the metropolitan areas of New York City, Miami and Los Angeles; 8,309,995 of those in America who do not speak English `very well' are native Spanish speakers; Latinos outnumber blacks in 4 of the nations 10 largest cities (LA, Phoenix, Houston and San Antonio); Latino women had the highest birthrate at 93.2 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 24; Among women giving birth in 1990, 23.2% of Latinos and 17.2% of whites were unmarried; a median priced home is beyond the ability of 74% of Latino families to purchase as opposed to 43% of white families; Twenty-eight percent of Latinos were below the poverty line as compared to 10.7% of whites; Twenty-three percent of elderly (65 or over) Latinos live below the poverty line compared to 10% of elderly whites; The median annual income of individual Latinos was $22,330 as compared to $31,231 for whites; Of those Latinos living below the poverty line 41.3% were uninsured as compared to 30.6% of whites; Latinos were consistently less educated with only 49.8% graduating from high school, 9.2% receiving a B.A. and 3.2% receiving a graduate degree as compared to 77.9%, 21.5% and 7.6% respectively for whites. |
| Jan 9, 1990 |
The Quality Education for Minorities Project releases a report which concludes that "most minority children remain in schools that are separate and decidedly unequal," resulting in a "glaring gap between minority and non-minority educational achievement" in the US. |
| Jan 12, 1990 |
2 pipe bombs explode at the US Navy Recruiting Office at Santruce, Puerto Rico and at Westinghouse Electric Supply Company at Carolina, Puerto Rico. A Puerto Rican independence group claims responsibility. |
| Feb 6, 1990 |
A federal judge rules unconstitutional an Arizona law making English the language "of all government functions and actions" in the state because it restricts free speech. 15 other states, many of them in the south, have laws making English the official language. |
| Mar 22, 1990 |
The Justice Department files a civil suit against the village of Island Park, N.Y. alleging that village officials had conspired to subvert the goals of a federally subsidized low-income housing project. Among other things, the charges include the fact that none of the homes went to black or Latino families. |
| Mar 29, 1990 |
The General Accounting Office reports finding "widespread discrimination" against Latinos and Asian-Americans as a result of the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. Due to penalties for hiring unauthorized aliens, employers were found to be turning away Latino and Asian-American job applicants because of their foreign appearance or accent. |
| Apr 23, 1990 |
President Bush signs into law a bill that requires the federal government to keep records on crimes motivated by racial, ethnic or sexual prejudice. |
| May 27, 1990 |
In what the FBI classifies as a terrorist incident some trucks are set on fire at a Puerto Rican Army National Guard compound. |
| Jun 1990 |
During ANC leader Nelson Mandela's visit to the US many Latinos are upset over his refusal to condemn Castro. |
| Jun 4, 1990 |
A federal judge finds that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had violated the constitutional rights of the city's Latino population when it drew new voting districts in 1981. |
| Jun 27, 1990 |
The LA County Board of Supervisors votes 3-2 to redraw political boundaries to create a new district with a Latino majority. The Supreme Court upholds a federal affirmative action policy designed to increase the number of broadcast licenses held by minorities and women. This decision, Metro Broadcasting v. FCC is the first time that the court has approved of affirmative action programs for any other reason than simply to correct the effects of past discrimination. The court says that the goal of diversity of broadcast programming is sufficient justification for the program. |
| Aug 4, 1990 |
A federal judge rejects the LA County Board of Supervisors' plans for redistricting and imposes an alternate plan. He also orders special elections in the one new district that has a Latino majority. |
| Sep 17, 1990 |
2 bombings occur in Puerto Rico. In both cases, a caller to a radio station claims that the bombings are in protest against the recruitment of Puerto Ricans into the Army and for the upcoming plebiscite. |
| Sep 18, 1990 |
The FBI promotes 11 Latino agents who had won a discrimination lawsuit against the Bureau in 1988. |
| Oct 22, 1990 |
President Bush vetoes a comprehensive civil rights bill designed to overcome several recent Supreme court decisions that made it more difficult for individuals to win job discrimination lawsuits. Bush has opposed the bill from the outset because he claims that it will lead to racial quotas. The veto is condemned by many Congressmen as well as interest groups representing women, trade unions, blacks and other minorities. The veto is upheld by 1 vote in the Senate. Bush offers an alternative bill which civil rights leaders call a "sham." |
| Oct 27, 1990 |
Congress passes the first comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system in 66 years. The passage of the bill is delayed by Latino House members who object to a pilot program requiring documentation and screening in the issuing of driver's licenses. They believe that the provision, which is deleted from the bill, could lead to the establishment of a national identity card. |
| Dec 3, 1990 |
The acquittal of 6 Miami police officers in the beating death of a Puerto Rican drug dealer sparks a riot in the city's Latino Wynwood section. |
| Dec 8, 1990 |
Dallas voters reject a plan intended to increase minority representation on the city council. The plan would have eliminated at-large members of the council whom many contend dilute minority representation. |
| Dec 12, 1990 |
The Education Department announces that it will prohibit colleges that receive federal funds from awarding scholarships designated for minority students. The policy is later amended to allow minority targeted scholarships if the funds are privately donated or come from federal programs set up to aid minority students. |
| Jan 8, 1991 |
According to a survey sponsored by the National Science Foundation, whites continue to hold negative stereotypes of blacks and Latinos. |
| Jan 10, 1991 |
According to the Census Bureau, in 1988 the median Latino household had a net worth of $5,520 as compared to a median net worth of $43,280 for white households. |
| Jan 21, 1991 |
According to the American Council on Education Latinos are "under represented on every rung of the educational ladder." In 1989, the high school graduation rate for Latinos was 59% and 28.7% of Latino high-school graduates went to college. The figures for whites are an 82.1% graduation rate with 38.8% of high-school graduates going to college. |
| Feb 3, 1991 |
2 military trucks are set on fire at a Puerto Rican Army National Guard base. A Puerto Rican independence group claims responsibility. |
| Feb 18, 1991 |
2 military trucks are set on fire at a Puerto Rican Army National Guard base. A Puerto Rican independence group claims responsibility. |
| Mar 7, 1991 |
According to a study released by the Education Department, Spanish-speaking students learn English at about the same rate regardless of whether they are taught in bilingual programs or in all-English programs. |
| Mar 17, 1991 |
A military aircraft is set on fire at a Puerto Rican Army National Guard base. A Puerto Rican independence group claims responsibility. |
| Mar 19, 1991 |
At least 30,000 people gather in Albany, NY. to demand higher taxes on the wealthy and on corporations in lieu of budget cuts. The march is sponsored by the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus and many of New York's largest trade unions. |
| Mar 20, 1991 |
Education Secretary Alexander places on hold a December 1990 decision that ruled race based scholarships illegal. |
| Apr 1, 1991 |
In Powers v. Ohio, the Supreme Court rules that criminal defendants have the right to object to prosecutor's race based peremptory challenges of potential jurors, regardless of the race of the defendant or the potential juror. |
| Apr 12, 1991 |
Education Secretary Alexander challenges the standards used by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in granting accreditation to colleges and universities. Specifically, he questions the association's requirement that the schools promote racial and cultural diversity on their campuses. |
| Apr 29, 1991 |
The Drug Enforcement Agency reaches a settlement with Latino agents in a discrimination lawsuit. |
| May 5 - 6, 1991 |
Riots erupt in a Latino neighborhood of Washington DC after the shooting of a Latino man by a police officer. The riots heighten tensions between the city's Latino and black residents. |
| May 28, 1991 |
The Supreme Court in Hernandez v. New York rules that the exclusion of potential jurors fluent in Spanish from a case involving a Latino defendant does not necessarily violate the Constitution. The prosecutor may exclude jurors based upon their answers to questions about their willingness to abide by the court's official translation of testimony given in Spanish. |
| Jun 3, 1991 |
The Supreme Court rules that lawyers in civil cases can not exclude potential jurors because of their race. |
| Jun 3, 1991 |
According to the Children's Defense Fund, a disproportionate 35% of poor children are black and 21% are Latino. |
| Jun 13, 1991 |
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announces that it has seen an "alarming rise" in discrimination complaints filed against employment agencies. Such complaints of racial or sex discrimination have risen 20% since 1990. |
| Jun 20, 1991 |
The Supreme Court rules that the 1965 Voting Rights Act applies to judicial elections, thereby allowing voters to challenge election methods which are alleged to militate against the election of minorities on to the bench. |
| Jun 28, 1991 |
A Federal District Court jury finds a veteran Immigration and Naturalization Service agent guilty of civil rights violations and making false statements against recent immigrants. Latino New York City grocers charged that the agent had illegally searched their stores, harassed them and forced them to sign statements that they consented to the searches. |
| Jul 6, 1991 |
A plane is bombed at a US Coast Guard airfield in Puerto Rico. No one claims responsibility for the bombing. |
| Jul 15, 1991 |
A leader of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, calls US civil rights enforcement "a sham" and criticized the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) record on Latinos during the 1980s. The EEOC had dismissed without resolution a cases brought by Latinos at a higher rate than those brought by blacks and women and the EEOC had litigated Latino cases less frequently. |
| Aug 7, 1991 |
Labor Secretary Lynn Martin says that a department study of 9 Fortune 500 companies shows that these companies do not make opportunities for advancement as available for women and minorities as they do for white males. |
| Sep 11, 1991 |
A pipe bomb explodes outside a post office in Puerto Rico. Despite a phone call claiming responsibility for the bombing by a man claiming to represent a Puerto Rican independence group, the FBI investigation indicates that the bombing is not consistent with previous incidents. |
| Oct 11, 1991 |
A US District Court judge in Milwaukee voids a University of Wisconsin ban on hate speech as an infringement of Constitutional rights. The ban prohibited demeaning comments about an individual's race, sex, religion, color, creed, sexual orientation, disability or ancestry. |
| Oct 21, 1991 |
The Federal Reserve Board finds that there is considerable racial discrimination in the granting of mortgages. This discrimination is consistent across all income groups. |
| Nov 7, 1991 |
The passage by Congress of a civil rights bill ends a 2-year battle for enactment that includes President Bush's 1990 veto of a previous bill. The bill contains several measures to attack discrimination in the workplace including the reversal of several recent Supreme Court decisions. |
| Jan 6 - 13, 1992 |
Several people are assaulted in New York City in a series of racial bias attacks on children. In several incidents groups of whites attack and beat black and Latino children. Police say that they are investigating the possibility that a local gang of Albanian youths are involved in the incidents. |
| Jan 7, 1992 |
According to a study released by the American Jewish Committee, racist ant anti-Semitic attitudes are on the decline in America. |
| Jan 17, 1992 |
A Florida judge is demoted for making what many consider to be racist comments. |
| Jan 27, 1992 |
The California State Supreme Court approves a redistricting plan which, among other things, creates 6 congressional districts with Latino majorities and 9 others with Latino populations of 30% or more (out of a total of 52). The plan is criticized as being biased in favor of the Republican party. |
| Apr 7, 1992 |
A US District Court judge rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to political parties since they accept federal money for their nominating convention and orders the parties to issue rules to insure that minorities are not discriminated against in selecting delegates to the conventions. |
| Apr 14, 1992 |
The city council of Yonkers, NY. approves a plan to desegregate its housing signaling a possible end to a 12-year-old court battle with the NAACP. |
| Apr 17, 1992 |
Independent Party Presidential candidate Ross Perot resigns from 2 private clubs that exclude minority members. |
| May 11, 1992 |
The Census Bureau reports that in 1990 25.3% of full-time black workers and 31.4% of Latino workers earned what the bureau defines as low annual income as compared to a national average of 18% of full-time workers. Low annual income is defined by the bureau as an annual salary of less than $12,195 or $6.10 per hour. |
| Jun 18, 1992 |
The Supreme Court rules that defendants may not exclude prospective jurors solely on the basis of race. |
| Jun 22, 1992 |
The Supreme Court overturns a St. Paul, Minn. ordinance that makes it a criminal offence to engage in speech or behavior that is inflammatory because of its sexist, racist or otherwise bigoted content because the ordinance is an infringement of free speech rights. |
| Jul 6 - 7, 1992 |
As many as 1,000 residents of the primarily Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC riot after the July 3 shooting of a neighborhood man by a policeman. |
| Sep 16, 1992 |
According to the Department of Education, the high school drop out rate for 16 to 24-year-old Latinos increased to 35.3% in 1991 (from 34.3% in 1972) as compared to 8.9% of whites (down from 12.3% in 1972). |
| Oct 8, 1992 |
The Federal Reserve's Boston regional bank releases a report indicating that racial discrimination is a major factor in mortgage lending by banks. |
| Dec 10, 1992 |
A car is burned and an unexploded bomb is defused by police in Chicago, Ill. A previously unknown Puerto Rican group leaves a "communique" at the scene claiming responsibility and states that the "political-military action" is a response to the oppression by the US government against the people of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans living in the US. |
| Jan 5, 1993 |
The 103rd Congress convenes with 17 Latino House members. |
| Jan 11, 1993 |
The National Commission on AIDS recommends that the disease be viewed as a racial issue because discrimination and a lack of health care for poor members of minority groups are fostering its spread. The commission notes that blacks and Latinos account for a disproportionate 46% of AIDS cases. The commission, however, warns that stressing the ethnic dimension of the epidemic may cause whites to view AIDS as a disease that hits other people. |
| Jan 19, 1993 |
The LA County Sheriff=s Department reports that in 1992 violence among Latino gangs had increased to unprecedented levels. |
| Feb 5, 1993 |
A federal appeals court rules that tax-supported colleges could continue offering race-based scholarships. |
| Mar 2, 1993 |
The Supreme Court rules that states have broad authority to design voting districts that are dominated by ethnic minorities. |
| May 5, 1993 |
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announces plans to eradicate illegal discrimination in mortgage lending in banks it regulates. The plan involves the use of testers who will pose as mortgage applicants. |
| May 17, 1993 |
The Supreme Court lets stand a lower court ruling in American Family Mutual Insurance Co. v. NAACP which allows the application of the federal Fair Housing Act to the practice of redlining by insurance companies because most mortgages are dependant upon the obtaining of insurance. |
| May 18, 1993 |
Commissioners in Dade County, Fla. Vote unanimously to repeal a controversial English-only ordinance which required all government business to be conducted in English. Latinos who constitute more than half of the county=s residents complained that the ordinance which had been in effect since 1980 was a divisive force in the community. The Commission was recently elected in April in a court-ordered vote designed to ensure greater racial and ethnic diversity. |
| Jun 11, 1993 |
The Supreme Court rules in Wisconsin v. Mitchell that states can impose stiffer sentences on defendants who commit crimes motivated by racial, religious or other biases. |
| Jun 25, 1993 |
The Supreme Court in St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks rules that workers must provide explicit evidence that they have been discriminated against on the basis of their race, religion or other status in order to qualify for protection under civil rights legislation. |
| Jun 28, 1993 |
The Supreme Court rules in Shaw v. Reno that states with irregularly shaped electoral districts drawn for the purpose of creating minority voting districts could be challenged constitutionally. |
| Jul 13, 1993 |
The Census Bureau reports that 33% of Latino women between the ages of 18 and 44 surveyed in 1992 who had never been married had given birth to a child (up from 23% in 1982) as opposed to 15% of white women (up from 7% in 1982). Also, 27% of all births among Latinos in 1992 were out of wedlock as compared to 17% of births among whites. |
| Oct 4, 1993 |
The Census Bureau reports that in 1992 the poverty rate for Latinos rose to 29.3% from 28.7% in 1991 as compared to 11.6% for whites (up from 11.3% in 1991). |
| Nov 4, 1993 |
The results of a joint Justice and Housing investigation of independent mortgage companies show that there are continuing discrepancies in loan-approval rated for applicants of different ethnic backgrounds. 27% of all Latino applicants for mortgages not backed by the government were denied loans in 1992 as compared to 16% of all white applicants. |
| Nov 14, 1993 |
Puerto Ricans, by a narrow margin, vote in favor of retaining the island=s status as a US commonwealth. |
| Nov 18, 1993 |
A US District Court judge upholds a University of Maryland scholarship program open only to black students. The judge rules the program constitutional because the effects of the university's past discrimination against blacks were still being felt at the school. The suit was brought in 1990 by a Latino student who had been prevented from applying to the program. |
| Jan 24, 1994 |
The Census Bureau reports that the net worth of the median Latino household in 1991 was $5,345 as opposed to $44,408 for white households. |
| Jan 31, 1994 |
A federal judge rules that white truck driver Reginald Denny and 3 other victims of the 1992 riots could sue the city of Los Angeles. The claimants contend that police at the onset of the riots had withdrawn fro the South Central section of the city, where the four were attacked, because the area was populated by blacks and Latinos. The judge rules that the victims can sue on the ground that they were deprived of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. |
| Feb 1994 |
A relief bill for the LA earthquake contains a provision that prohibits illegal aliens from receiving federal disaster benefits. |
| Feb 11, 1994 |
President Clinton signs an executive order that directs federal agencies running programs affecting the environment from discriminating against communities in which poor people and minorities are concentrated. Activists had objected to the tendency of state and federal governments to place toxic waste dumps near poorer areas or districts with large concentrations of minorities. The EPA in recent years has launched investigations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to determine whether the placement of waste sites or the pace of clean-up programs in those areas violated civil-rights of minority communities. |
| Feb 28, 1994 |
According to the American Council on Education, the college enrollment rate for male Latino high school graduates rose by 6 percentage points between 1990 and 1992 to 34% as compared to 42% of white males. |
| Mar 10, 1994 |
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, a disproportionate number of blacks and Latinos contracted AIDS in 1993. |
| Apr 26, 1994 |
The Supreme Court issues 2 rulings that bar the 1991 Civil Rights Act from being applied retroactively. |
| Jun 30, 1994 |
The Supreme Court rules that the 1965 Voting Rights Act does not require the creation of the largest possible number of minority dominated election districts. In another case, the Court decides that the size of a legislative body could not be challenged under the Voting Rights Act. |
| Aug 19, 1994 |
A US district Court judge rules that the University of Texas Law School's 1992 affirmative action policies discriminate against white applicants. |
| Aug 22, 1994 |
The Justice Department announces that it has reached an $11 million agreement with the Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank, settling charges that the bank had discriminated against minorities and low-income people in its marketing practices. |
| Sep 8, 1994 |
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that AIDS is the leading cause of death among Latinos aged 25 to 44. |
| Sep 12, 1994 |
An Appeals Court orders the redrawing of the borders of Georgia's 11th House District because the district had been created in violation of the Constitution because it was created solely to create a "minority-majority" area. |
| Sep 13, 1994 |
The Department of Education reports that the high school drop-out rate among Latinos aged 16 to 24 in 1993 was 32%. |
| Oct 6, 1994 |
According to the Census Bureau, the poverty rate among Latinos rose to 30.6% in 1993 from 39.6% in 1992 as compared to a 1993 poverty rate of 12.2% among whites (up from 11.9% in 1992). |
| Oct 26, 1994 |
According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, loans extended to Latinos in 1993 were up 25%. However, denial rates for Latinos were at 25.1% as opposed to 15.3% for whites. |
| Oct 27, 1994 |
A 3 judge panel from a US Court of Appeals unanimously strikes down a University of Maryland scholarship program open only to black students. This reverses a 1993 federal court ruling. The panel rules that the school failed to demonstrate how the program made up for the school's past discrimination of blacks. The suit was brought in 1990 by a Latino student denied the right to apply to the program. |
| Nov 8, 1994 |
Voters in the state of California approve the controversial Proposition 187. The proposition requires teachers, doctors and law enforcement officials to inform state and federal authorities of foreigners who are in the country illegally. Debate over the proposal divided Californians along racial and ethnic lines with Latino citizens and other opponents of the measure staging large demonstrations to rally their cause. After the proposal=s passage, civil rights groups immediately field a series of lawsuits that seek to block implementation of the legislation. |
| Dec 6, 1994 |
The GOP conference sparks ire among prominent Democrats by voting to eliminate government funding for the 28 special house caucuses known as Legislative Service Organizations. Among the groups that would lose funding are the Congressional Black and Latino Caucuses and the Caucus for Women's Issues. |
| Dec 10, 1994 |
A federal appeals court upholds a ruling that struck down an amendment to Arizona=s constitution requiring state and local government employees to conduct all business in English. The measure is deemed too broad and a violation of the right to free speech. A group of Cuban-Americans estimated at over 60,000 people gather at Miami=s Orange Bowl stadium to demonstrate in support of a continued blockade of Cuba. |
| Jan 1995 |
The 104th congress contains 17 Latino House members. |
| Jan 5, 1995 |
The House votes to bar members from using their staff or office budgets to fund the work of special caucuses of lawmakers known as Legislative Service Organizations. The move is expected to severely curtail such predominately Democratic bodies as the Black and Latino Caucuses. |
| Mar 15, 1995 |
The Glass Ceiling Commission, a bipartisan federal panel established in 1991, reports that women and minorities are extremely under represented in senior management posts. |
| Mar 23, 1995 |
President Clinton announces that he plans to review all federal affirmative action programs to find out which ones are effective and whether they have resulted in reverse discrimination. |
| Mar 24, 1995 |
The Senate passes a bill to repeal a 1978 FCC program granting tax breaks to minority owned firms that sought to purchase or establish media operations. This is seen as one of the first attempts of the now Republican dominated Congress to dismantle the government's affirmative action programs. |
| Apr 6, 1995 |
Controversial radio personality Howard Stern reads an on-air Spanish-language apology for mocking slain Mexican-American singer Selena. |
| May 2, 1995 |
President Clinton announces the end of the US= three-decades old policy of granting preferential treatment to Cuban refugees by announcing that Cuban boat people seeking asylum in the US would henceforth be summarily repatriated to Cuba. The decision is a result of the flood of Cuban asylum seekers that began during mid-1994. Cuban-American organizations denounce the decision. |
| May 27, 1995 |
According to a study by the U.S. Center for Health Statistics, the average black woman became pregnant 5.1 times in her life, the Latino woman 4.7 times, and white women 2.8 times. Over their lifetimes, Latino women bear an average of three babies, black women 2.6 and whites 1.8. The differing rates of childbirth were explained in part because of the (mostly Catholic) Latino women=s reluctance to have abortions. (London Daily Mail 5/27/95) |
| Jun 1, 1995 |
A report done for the Clinton administration revealed that most types of affirmative action were helpful, by increasing productivity by reducing discrimination and finding the best candidates for particular jobs. But it expressed concern about programs that establish hard set- asides, or rigid quotas, for blacks, Latinos and women, noting that they often led to resentment by those who were rejected by such programs, such as white men. (International Herald Tribune 6/1/95) |
| Jun 12, 1995 |
Forty-five Latino groups launched a boycott of the ABC television network to pressure for more Latinos in programming. Additionally, the Cultural Environment Movement, made up of 100 black, Asian-American, Latino, women's and health groups, announced it would hold a convention in 1996 to fight for more accurate ethnic portrayals on television. Note: Complaints about the lack of nonwhite characters on popular media recur regularly throughout the period covered by this update, and will not be further mentioned unless otherwise noteworthy. (Toronto Star 6/12/95) |
| Jun 12, 1995 |
In Adarand Constructors v. Pena, the Supreme Court ruled that "all racial classifications" were unconstitutional, unless government could show a "compelling interest" for them in a narrowly drawn, specific instance. The decision overturned a federal law which awarded cash bonuses to states which used minority-owned contractors to perform work. (London Independent 6/21/95) |
| Jul 19, 1995 |
President Bill Clinton defended affirmative action programs in a speech after a released poll showed that of 120,000 employees in 64 private U.S. firms, a majority of whites believed they had fewer opportunities for promotion than their minority colleagues. (Toronto Star 7/20/95) |
| Jul 20, 1995 |
The University of California Board of Regents voted to end minority programs promoting the hiring of personnel and in student admission, sparking a demonstration led by Reverend Jesse Jackson. (Agence France Presse 7/21/95) |
| Jul 24, 1995 |
According to a study by the RAND Corporation, which measured household wealth by conventional means - financial assets, home equity and business holdings - the top 5 per cent of white families over 70 had wealth of $655,000, while the median for all white households was $90,000. By contrast, the typical black or Latino household had less than $20,000, and more than one in four black families or one in three Latino households had no assets at all, the study found. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 7/22/95) |
| Aug 2, 1995 |
A raid by the Department of Labor uncovers a sweatshop outside Los Angeles. According to industry studies, the vast majority of California's estimated 140,000 garment workers were Latino and Asian immigrants. More than 80 % were women, and thousands were illegal aliens. According to federal and state officials, social workers and union leaders, legal and undocumented workers alike were commonly exploited by employers who shortchanged them on wages and avoided billions of dollars in state and federal taxes. A 1994 survey by the U.S. and California labor departments found that even among the state's legal garment firms, half paid less than the minimum wage, 68% did not pay overtime, 72% failed to keep adequate records and 93% violated health and safety regulations. (International Herald Tribune 9/12/95) |
| Sep 7, 1995 |
Republican Representative Bill Emerson of Missouri proposed legislation that would make English the official but "not the exclusive language" of the United States. The effects of such legislation were not described; however 22 states passed such laws and used them to prevent government business from being transacted in any language other than English. (Agence France Presse 9/7/95) |
| Sep 17, 1995 |
According to a poll released by US News & World Report, 73 % of registered voters supported English as the official language, and 60% of them supported it strongly. The main opposition came from Latino voters, 56% of whom opposed such a measure, while support was overwhelming among white voters (76%), regardless of their political affiliation. (Agence France Presse 9/17/95) |
| Oct 2, 1995 |
Disney Studios announced it would begin releasing a number of Spanish-language translations of its children=s videos for the US Latino market. (Toronto Star 10/2/95) |
| Oct 21, 1995 |
Plans by the state of Texas to build a nuclear waste dump in the town of Sierra Blanca drew protest from residents, environmentalists, and the Mexican government. Activists charge that the town was selected because of its proximity to the Mexican border, and because its residents were poor and 70% Mexican-American. (London Guardian 10/21/95) |
| Nov 21, 1995 |
A U.S. District Court overturned key provisions of California=s Proposition 187 which would have prohibited state and federal resources, including teachers and medical funds, from being used for illegal immigrants. (see 11/8/94 entry for details) The court ruled that since immigration was a federal concern, states had no authority to regulate it. (Agence France Presse 11/21/95) |
| Jan 15, 1996 |
US Customs inspectors who speak both English and Spanish threatened to refuse to speak Spanish if they don't soon receive a promised five percent bonus for bilingual staff. (Agence France Presse 1/15/96) |
| Feb 25, 1996 |
Mexican-Americans jeered a parade float for presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, who promised to "to stop this massive illegal immigration in this country cold". Note: throughout the presidential primary season, Republican candidates made many references to ending illegal and legal immigration, especially in states with high Latino populations. These references will not be further listed in this chronology unless otherwise noteworthy. (London Independent 2/26/96) |
| Mar 7, 1996 |
The U.S. Census Bureau predicted that Latinos will outnumber blacks in the United States in 15 years, based on birthrates and immigration. It also predicted that by 2050, the non-Latino white population would make up only 53% of the US population, while in contrast, Latinos would make up 24.5 percent of the population, up from the current 10.2 percent. (Agence France Presse 3/7/96 and International Herald Tribune 3/15/96) |
| Apr 1, 1996 |
California news stations broadcast a videotape which showed two Mexicans being beaten by California policemen, who suspected they were illegal aliens. The tape prompted days of protests by Latino groups and the Mexican government. (Agence France Presse 4/2/96) |
| Apr 12, 1996 |
According to a statement by the President, American women earned only 75 cents for every dollar a man brought home, with African American women and Latino women collecting just 66 cents and 57 cents, respectively. (M2 Presswire 4/12/96) |
| Apr 16, 1996 |
The Washington-based National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), and New York-based Univision, the country's largest Spanish- language television network, announced the start of a nationwide voter registration campaign to sign up at least a million new Latino voters before the November 1996 elections. (Xinhua News Agency 4/16/96) |
| Apr 18, 1996 |
Congress began hearings on the repeal of the Voting Rights Language Assistance Act which requires counties to make voting information available for populations of Latino, Asian American, American Indian and Native Alaskan U.S. citizens numbering more than 10,000. (PR Newswire 4/18/96) |
| Jun 13, 1996 |
The Supreme Court invalidated the boundaries of five Congressional districts in Texas and North Carolina, ruling that they had been drawn primarily to create districts where candidates of racial minorities could succeed. In some cases, the districts had been drawn with the help of computer programs and census data which showed the ethnic makeup of the areas. (Agence France Presse 6/14/96) |
| Jul 14, 1996 |
Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans attended a conference of the National Association of Governors, with most protesters demanding recognition for the island's status as a separate nation. Protesters claimed that Puerto Rico was an independent nation, but some groups demanded the island be made the 51st U.S. state. (Xinhua News Agency 7/14/96) |
| Aug 6, 1996 |
President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform legislation into law. The bill, which had set limits on the amount of time one could receive assistance and would prohibit legal aliens from getting benefits, had been opposed by many Democrats, and by all Representatives with Latino constituencies. (International Herald-Tribune 8/7/96) |
| Aug 12, 1996 |
About 300 Latinos, mostly of Mexican descent, marched through the streets of San Diego, where the Republican National Convention was being held, to protest racist policies toward Latinos by both the Democrats and Republicans. They also complained that Republican anti-immigrant rhetoric had blurred the distinction in American minds between legal and illegal immigrants. (Agence France Presse 8/13/96 and 8/15/96) |
| Aug 23, 1996 |
Texas A & M University and the University of Texas announced that beginning in the fall of 1997, they would no longer consider race in their admissions policies, but would rather take into account a wide range of factors, including high school grades, extracurricular activities, recommendation letters, socio-economic background and the parents' level of education. The racial considerations were meant to reverse previous discrimination. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 8/23/96) |
| Sep 18, 1996 |
President Bill Clinton declared the month from September 15 to October 15 to be National Hispanic Heritage Month. (M2 Presswire 9/19/96) |
| Sep 26, 1996 |
According to the US Department of Commerce, The median income among Latinos dropped 5.1 percent to $22,860 in 1995. The national median income was $34,076 while the federal poverty level for a family of four was $15,569. (Agence France Presse 9/26/96) |
| Oct 12, 1996 |
Some 30,000 to 50,000 Latinos protested in front of the White House to demand social and economic equality and protest welfare reforms and immigrant bashing. (Agence France Presse 10/12/96) |
| Oct 30, 1996 |
The Immigration and Naturalization Service announced that it had deported 67,094 undocumented immigrants in fiscal year 1996. This represented an increase of 33% over 1995 removals and 58% over removals in 1993. Almost 50,000 of those removals were of Mexicans, leading to charges that they had been specifically targeted in raids, or because they were easy to identify due to language and physical characteristics. (InfoLatina News 10/30/96) |
| Nov 5, 1996 |
Voters in Puerto Rico reelected a governor and resident commissioner who backed plans to turn the commonwealth into a full-fledged, 51st US state. (Agence France Presse 11/7/96) |
| Jan 31, 1997 |
According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Latinos became the poorest ethnic group in the United States in 1995. In 1995, median household income rose for every other American ethnic and racial group, but for the nation's 27 million Latinos, it dropped 5.1 percent. Of all Latinos, 30 percent were considered poor in 1995, meaning they earned less than $15,569 for a family of four. That was almost three times the percentage of non-Latino white people in poverty. Of the poorest of the poor, those with incomes of $7,500 or less for a family of four, 24 percent were Latino. Moreover, the decline was not limited to new immigrants, but affected American-born Latinos as well. (International Herald Tribune 1/31/97) |
| Feb 27, 1997 |
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that the rate of AIDS in Latinos was three times that of whites in 1996. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 2/27/97) |
| Mar 3, 1997 |
The Supreme Court struck down lower court rulings overturning an Arizona law which stated that English was the official state language. They said the case, brought by Spanish-speaking government employee Maria- Kelly Yniguez, became irrelevant when she quit her job, but that the law needed to be definitively interpreted by the Arizona Supreme Court in another case. (Toronto Star 3/4/97) |
| Mar 26, 1997 |
According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, 83 % of whites completed high school, compared to 74% for blacks and 53% for Latinos. The census bureau also reported that the number of foreign-born people had doubled since 1970, rising to 23 million foreign-born in 1995 (8.8% of the population), or nearly one in 11 people. The largest foreign-born population is in California, at 25 percent of the state's population, followed by New York and Texas. (Agence France Presse 3/25/96) |
| Apr 1, 1997 |
Anti-immigration laws went into effect, which denied immigrants welfare benefits, made it easier to deport undocumented immigrants and gave instant authority to border police to turn away anyone they think is making a frivolous claim for asylum. It also allowed anyone who in the U.S. illegally for more than six months to be barred from re-entering the country for three to 10 years if they were deported or left voluntarily. The laws immediately became the subject of suits by the American Civil Liberties Union. (Agence France Presse 4/2/97) |
| Jun 19, 1997 |
A UN Special Committee on Decolonization heard testimony from representatives of Puerto Rico, who complained about the way the United States had handled the issue of a Puerto Rican referendum, and had asked that all Puerto Rican political prisoners be released before more action of the island=s status was taken. (M2 Presswire 6/20/97 and 6/23/97) |
| Sep 15, 1997 |
A report by the RAND Corporation declared that the United States needed to revise its immigration laws to emphasize admissions of those with English language and professional skills. While the report said immigration had generally boosted the economy, the influx of unskilled labor threatened to erode the gains and not make up for the costs - in education and public health benefits, among others. (Agence France Presse 9/15/97) |
| Oct 31, 1997 |
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) deported more than 111,000 illegal immigrants in fiscal year 1997 -- 76 percent of them Mexican nationals. The number was 62% higher than the 69,040 deported in fiscal year 1996. The disparity prompted some to file lawsuits, saying that Mexicans had been targeted, that officials were seeking out criminal records for Latino residents, or that officials were asking for immigration documents selectively of Spanish-speaking or Latino people. (InfoLatina News 10/31/97) |
| Nov 4, 1997 |
Houston voters rejected Proposition A, which would have ended the city's year-old policy of giving preference to women and ethnic minority candidates for city council jobs and contracts. Ironically, polls showed that while 72% of Texans polled opposed giving preferential treatment to individuals based on race or gender, 48 percent favored affirmative action programs, compared to 42 percent who oppose them. The results were later taken to court by the man who proposed the proposition, who felt that a change in the wording had affected the ballot result. (United Press International 11/16/97) |
| Nov 27, 1997 |
According to estimates by the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), Latino families were more likely than white or black families to encounter problems in obtaining health care. Roughly 1.4 million Latino families (15 percent of all Latino families) reported barriers. For almost seven in 10 of these Latino families, the problem was the cost of health care. (M2 Presswire 11/27/97) |
| Feb 11, 1998 |
A Presidential report by the Council of Economic Advisers noted that despite the booming American economy, the median wealth of white families was by some estimates 10 times that of black and Latino families. Poverty rates of blacks and Latinos were almost triple those of non- Latino whites. Moreover, 40 per cent of black and Latino children were in poverty in comparison with about 16 per cent for whites." (AAP Newsfeed 2/11/98) |
| Feb 12, 1998 |
The National Center for Health Statistics reported that in 1995, the number of babies being born to Latino women in the United States reached a record high 18% of the nation's total even though Latino residents were 10.3% of the population. (Xinhua News Agency 2/13/98) |
| Feb 13, 1998 |
According to Labor Department statistics, black and Latino women were at the lowest end of the pay scale. Their pay averaged 63 and 53 per cent of what most white men earn in their much better paid professions. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 2/13/98) |
| Mar 4, 1998 |
With a margin of 209 to 208, the US House of Representatives allowed Puerto Rico to hold a referendum to decide whether they want statehood, independence or a continuation of AUS commonwealth@ status. (London Independent 3/6/98) |
| Mar 20, 1998 |
Mexico officially recognized dual nationals, opening the possibility that the estimated 4 - 5 million Mexican citizens legally resident in the U.S. could seek citizenship and voting rights. Many Mexicans had not done so before out of fear they would lose their property or rights in Mexico. (AAP Newsfeed 3/20/98) |
| Apr 2, 1998 |
The University of California, Berkeley, announced that in the first undergraduate class admitted after the passage of Proposition 209 banning the selection of students based on their race, African-Americans, Latinos and American Indians together made up 10.4% of the total pool of admitted freshmen for 1998. In 1997, they made up 23.1%. At the University of California, Los Angeles, minority representation fell to 12.7%, from 19.8% in 1997. (International Herald-Tribune 4/2/98) |
| Jun 2, 1998 |
Californians voted almost 2-to-one in favor of the controversial English for Children Initiative, which would eliminate bilingual education for children with limited English proficiency. Although the initiative affected people from various ethnic groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and other Latino groups considered it especially targeted at them, in part because 80% of those in bilingual programs in California were Latino. On the other hand, one of the proposition=s key sponsors was Latino, and Latino communities in some areas approved the measure. (Daily Yomuri 12/29/97 and Jakarta Post 6/12/98) |
| Jun 17, 1998 |
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that Most HIV-infected young people - about two-thirds - were black or Latino, even though these groups constitute just 27 percent of the population of the age groups studied. (M2 Presswire 6/18/98) |
| Jul 7, 1998 |
Human Rights Watch denounced the unjustified police brutality across United States, which disproportionately struck African Americans, Latinos and other minorities. (Agence France Presse 7/7/98) |
| Aug 10, 1998 |
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to combat discrimination in home mortgages in light of a report which showed lenders turned down minorities more often than whites. In 1997, 72.5% of white households were homeowners, but only 45.3% of black households and 43.9% of Latino households owned their own homes. (M2 Presswire 8/10/98) |
| Sep 29, 1998 |
Amnesty International released a 153-page report, attacking the US for what it called a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations with regard to the treatment of prisoners, and discrimination against blacks, Latinos, and other minority groups. The report created considerable sensation in international media, both because the United States had traditionally supported Amnesty International, and because the U.S. fared much worse under their criticism than many of its enemies, such as Iran. (London Telegraph 10/4/98) |
| Dec 13, 1998 |
Puerto Ricans voted on a referendum to decide the future status of the island. Presented with the choices free association (a form of independence that delegates certain powers by treaty to the United States), statehood, independence, and none of the above, 50.2% voted for none of the above. Another 46.5% voted for statehood, independence received 2.5 percent of the vote, and the commonwealth and free association options each received less than 1 percent. (International Herald-Tribune 12/15/98) |
| Feb 4, 1999 |
Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, was shot 19 times by New York City Police, sparking weeks of protests against police brutality from black and Latino activists. (Agence France Presse 2/5/99) |
| Apr 1999 |
During military exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the U.S. Navy accidentally killed a security guard, prompting months of protests by Puerto Ricans demanding that the U.S. stop all exercises and occupation of the island. Subsequent revelations that the U.S. accidentally fired uranium-tipped bullets on the island intensified the protests, but brought no real change to the island=s status. (London Financial Times 6/23/99) |
| Apr 8, 1999 |
In a proclamation marking Equal Pay Day, President Clinton noted that the typical woman working full-time year-round earned approximately 75 cents for every dollar the typical man earns, while an African American woman earned just 65 cents and a Latino woman earned 55 cents. (M2 Presswire 4/8/99) |
| Apr 9, 1999 |
The U.S. Customs service announced the appointment of an independent, all-minority commission to review the procedures it uses to identify and search suspected narcotics traffickers in international airports. The appointments came after repeated allegations by African-Americans and Mexicans of baseless stops and searches by agents based on the race of the people involved. (InfoLatina News 4/9/99) |
| Jul 24, 1999 |
A farmer's barn was burned to the ground near a crude effigy of a Mexican, stuffed with cotton and smeared with ketchup. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, labeled the incident a hate crime, and believed the events were linked to the proposed construction of a Head Start facility (a health and educational center) for migrant children, on a tract of land owned by the farmer whose barn was set alight. The Head Start facility would have benefited primarily Mexican migrant agricultural workers, whose numbers had risen over the past few years. (London Financial Times 9/15/99) |
| Jul 30, 1999 |
California governor Gray Davis agreed not to contest the federal ruling that Proposition 187 - which had banned illegal immigrants from receiving public services - was unconstitutional. (London Guardian 7/30/99) |
| Aug 11, 1999 |
President Clinton offered clemency to 16 members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), all of whom had been in prison for years. His wife, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time, later publicly rebuked him for the offer, which was also opposed by law enforcement officers, on the grounds that the individuals had not renounced violence. Latino leaders then rebuked Mrs. Clinton for her stance (Agence France Presse 9/5/99 & 9/6/99) |
| Aug 14, 1999 |
The town of El Cenizo, Texas, became the first US city to stipulate that all official business must be conducted in Spanish and that local government employees are forbidden to help border patrols catch undocumented immigrants. The town=s population was overwhelmingly foreign-born. (London Times 8/14/99) |
| Sep 20, 1999 |
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of foreign-born Latinos, who may be of any race, grew 34.1% (from 8.0 million to 10.7 million) between 1990 and 1998. Approximately one in ten people living in the U.S. in 1999 was foreign-born. (M2 Presswire 9/20/99) |
| Oct 16, 1999 |
Over 10,000 demonstrators, including representatives from 100 Latino groups, marched in Washington to call for a general amnesty for the 5.5 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. (Agence France Presse 10/16/99) |
| Nov 1999 |
The U.S. Coast Guard pulled six-year-old Cuban Elian Gonzalez out of the ocean. His mother and other adults had died trying to escape to the United States, but distant relatives in Florida took the boy in and refused to return him to his father in Cuba, sparking international incidents, and protests within the U.S. Latino community between those who wished to reunited him with his Cuban family and those who felt that his life would be better in the United States. (The Scotsman 12/13/99) |
| Nov 10, 1999 |
Asian-American, black and Latino health groups joined in condemning a new 40-million-dollar cigarette advertising campaign targeting ethnic minority women. (Agence France Presse 11/10/99) |
| Nov 8 - 8, 2004 |
Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado and Republican Mel Martinez of Florida were elected to the United States Senate as the first Hispanics in the Senate since 1976. Martinez is the the first Cuban-American elected to the Senate. (Jacobson, Louis, 11/08/2004, "The New Members of the 109th Congress," Roll Call)
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| Nov 11 - 11, 2004 |
United States President George W. Bush nominated Alberto Gonzalez, former White Counsel, to become United States Attorney General. It is the first time an Hispanic would hold the position. (Katz, Amy, 11/11/2004, "Attorney General Nominee," Voice of America News)
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| Sep 2005 |
Following Hurricane Katrina's devastation, authorities at one Red Cross Shelter in Mississippi ordered people of Hispanic background to leave or face deportation. Three Hispanic migrants had already been arrested in El Paso, Texas. (Stapp, Katherine, 9/30/2005, "Rights-US: Latinos in Crosshairs AS Feds Sweep Hurricane Shelter," Inter-Press Service) |
| Dec 2005 |
Millions of Hispanics took to the streets to protest legislation that proposed the construction of a border wall with Mexico and increased patrols. (Fears, Darryl, 7/14/2006, "Hispanic Cite Rise in Discrimination; Immigration Debate is Called a Factor," Washington Post) |
| May 1 - 1, 2006 |
More than 1 million Hispanic immigrants and supporters took to the streets across the United States, calling for a general work strike to demonstrate their economic importance as immigration reform was debated in Congress. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/2/2006, "Across the U.S.: From L.A. to Miami, More than 1 Million Hit Streets")
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