{"id":16715,"date":"2014-04-01T03:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amigos805.com\/?p=16715"},"modified":"2014-03-31T15:36:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T22:36:00","slug":"bilingual-commentary-someone-has-to-do-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/bilingual-commentary-someone-has-to-do-something\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilingual commentary: \u2018Someone\u2019 has to do something\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

David Magallanes<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>Amigos805 welcomes guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>By David Magallanes<\/strong> \/ Guest contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the past few days, there has been much anticipation and excitement, particularly in the Hispanic community, regarding the newly-released movie, C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez<\/em>. The March 27, 2014 edition of the Ventura County Star quoted Marc Grossman, spokesman for the C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Foundation: \u201cWhen Chavez worked in the fields, he would come home after a long day and tell his wife, \u2018Someone has to do something. I don\u2019t want my son to have to go through what I went through.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0 Mr. Grossman added, \u201cHe didn\u2019t have a clue then that that person would be him.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I read this same local newspaper over the next few days, an article caught my eye: \u201cFew jobs found for teens at fair,\u201d referring to the recent High School Job & Volunteer Expo at Ventura City Hall. Amongst the \u201cat least a dozen tables,\u201d only one was offering paying jobs to minors. J.C. Penney\u2019s representatives were \u201cswamped\u201d with teenagers looking for paid work and not just \u201cinformation.\u201c<\/p>\n

Obviously, our young people want to work. However, the unemployment rate amongst teens 16 to 19 years old is an astounding 29.8 percent in California, according to this article.\u00a0 But as I have mentioned many times in this column, we are living in a world much different from that in which the \u201cboomer\u201d generation flourished, relatively speaking.<\/p>\n

A couple of days after this article appeared, the Sunday edition of this same newspaper hits us yet again with the cruel reality for the younger generation with the article entitled \u201cWhere are the jobs for young adults?\u201d\u00a0 A struggling young adult, Molly Greenhouse, 22, from Baltimore, laments saying, \u201cI know plenty of people who have unpaid internships in what they really want to do, and at a certain point, they have to give up and get jobs at restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article states that these circumstances have \u201cleft many young adults without a foundation on which to build their r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201d Andrew Sum, co-author of a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, tells us that the Americans most hurt by this shift in economic prospects \u201care teens from low-income families.\u201d The cycle of poverty, and all its associated social ills, is practically guaranteed when the young and the poor cannot find work.<\/p>\n

The article also shines a light on the darker side of the dilemma faced by young people, referring to a female teen\u2019s younger brother who applied for work at restaurants, retailers and other workplaces that traditionally used to hire teens. No one offered him work. With the same desperation of women with little means and a need to survive who turn to prostitution, he started selling drugs and now has a criminal record.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone has to do something,\u201d I told myself. In my next article, I will share my thoughts on that \u201csomething.\u201d Maybe I can be that \u201csomeone\u201d who at the very least starts a conversation on possible solutions.<\/p>\n

\u2014 David Magallanes is a writer, speaker and retired professor of mathematics. You may contact him at adelantos@msn.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/em><\/div>\n
\n

‘Alguien’ tiene que hacer algo\u2026<\/h1>\n

Por David Magallanes<\/strong>\u00a0\/\u00a0Columnista invitado<\/em><\/p>\n

Estos d\u00edas pasados, ha habido muchas esperanzas y alegr\u00eda, sobre todo en la comunidad hispana, con respecto al recientemente estreno de la pel\u00edcula, C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez<\/em>.\u00a0 La edici\u00f3n del 27 de marzo, 2014, del Ventura County Star <\/em>cit\u00f3 al Sr. Marc Grossman, el portavoz de la Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez<\/em>: \u201cCuando el Sr. Ch\u00e1vez trabajaba en los campos, llegaba a la casa despu\u00e9s de un d\u00eda laborioso y que le dec\u00eda a su esposa, \u2018Alguien tiene que hacer algo.\u00a0 No quiero que mi hijo tenga que aguantar lo que yo aguanto.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 El Sr. Grossman agreg\u00f3, \u201c\u00c9l no ten\u00eda ni una pista de que esa persona ser\u00eda \u00e9l mismo\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mientras yo le\u00eda este mismo peri\u00f3dico durante los pr\u00f3ximos d\u00edas, un art\u00edculo me llam\u00f3 la atenci\u00f3n: \u201cPocos trabajos para adolescentes en la feria de trabajo\u201d, refiri\u00e9ndose a la reciente Exposici\u00f3n de Trabajos y Oportunidades Para Voluntarios<\/em>. \u00a0En medio de \u201cal menos una docena de mesas\u201d, solamente una<\/span> de ellas ofrec\u00eda trabajos pagados a los menores de edad.\u00a0 Representantes de las tiendas departamentales J.C. Penney estuvieron \u201cabrumados\u201d con adolescentes buscando trabajos remunerados y no solamente \u201cinformaci\u00f3n\u201d.<\/p>\n

Obviamente, nuestros j\u00f3venes quieren trabajar.\u00a0 Sin embargo, la tasa de desempleo entre los adolescentes entre los 16 y 19 a\u00f1os de edad es un alarmante 29.8% en California, seg\u00fan este art\u00edculo.\u00a0 Pero como yo he mencionado muchas veces en esta columna, vivimos en un mundo muy distinto al de la generaci\u00f3n de los \u201cboomers\u201d (personas nacidas entre 1946 y 1964), quienes ten\u00edan los medios y las oportunidades para prosperar, relativamente hablando.<\/p>\n

Un par de d\u00edas despu\u00e9s de que este art\u00edculo apareciera, la edici\u00f3n dominical de este mismo peri\u00f3dico nos azota una vez m\u00e1s con la cruel realidad para esta generaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s joven con un art\u00edculo titulado \u201c\u00bfEn donde est\u00e1n los trabajos para adultos j\u00f3venes?\u201d\u00a0 Una adulta joven que anda batallando con la econom\u00eda, Molly Greenhouse, edad 22 a\u00f1os, de Baltimore, Maryland, lamenta la situaci\u00f3n diciendo que ella conoce a muchas personas quienes tienen puestos voluntarios y sin pago en lo que realmente desean hacer, pero llegan a tal punto que tienen que darse por vencidos y consiguen trabajos en los restaurantes.<\/p>\n

El art\u00edculo declara que estas circunstancias han dejado a muchos j\u00f3venes adultos sin los cimientos sobre los cuales puedan construir su curriculum vitae.\u00a0 El Sr. Andrew Sum, co-autor de un nuevo informe del Instituto Brookings, basado en Washington, D.C., nos dice que los americanos m\u00e1s lastimados en este gran cambio del panorama econ\u00f3mico son los adolescentes de familias de bajos recursos.\u00a0 El ciclo de la pobreza y todas las desgracias asociadas con \u00e9l est\u00e1 pr\u00e1cticamente garantizado <\/em>cuando los j\u00f3venes y los pobres no pueden encontrar trabajo.<\/p>\n

Este art\u00edculo tambi\u00e9n ilumina el lado oscuro del dilema que enfrentan los j\u00f3venes, refiri\u00e9ndose al hermano menor de una adolescente que entregaba solicitudes para trabajar en restaurantes, tiendas departamentales y otros sitios que tradicionalmente empleaba a los adolescentes.\u00a0 Nadie le ofreci\u00f3 trabajo.\u00a0 Con la misma desesperaci\u00f3n de las mujeres sin finanzas pero con la necesidad de sobrevivir que se entregan a la prostituci\u00f3n, el hermano comenz\u00f3 a vender droga y ahora tiene antecedentes penales.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlguien tiene que hacer algo\u201d, me dije a m\u00ed mismo.\u00a0 En mi pr\u00f3ximo art\u00edculo, compartir\u00e9 mis pensamientos tocante a ese \u201calgo\u201d.\u00a0 Quiz\u00e1s yo podr\u00eda ser ese \u201calguien\u201d quien por lo menos inicie una conversaci\u00f3n sobre posibles soluciones.<\/p>\n

— David Magallanes es un escritor, orador y profesor jubilado de matem\u00e1ticas.\u00a0 Se puede comunicar con \u00e9l por e-mail\u00a0a:\u00a0adelantos@msn.com<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0<\/strong>Amigos805\u00a0welcome comments on stories appearing in Amigos805 and on issues impacting the community. Comments must relate directly to stories published in Amigos805, no spam please. We reserve the right to remove or edit comments. Full name, city required. Contact information (telephone, email) will not be published. Please send your comments directly to\u00a0fmoraga@amigos805.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0Amigos805 welcomes guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805. By David Magallanes \/ Guest…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,13,11],"tags":[21,55],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16717,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16715\/revisions\/16717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amigos805.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}