"600 words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Dad was just doing his best

“600 words by Esther J. Cepeda”

Wrong is easy to spot, but “right” is sometimes trickier.

Ricardo Gonzalez, the 35-year-old Midlothian, Illinois man who is facing misdemeanor child endangerment charges for locking his two and five-year-old daughters in a makeshift cage in his pickup truck was definitely wrong to do such a thing. But his story tells me he actually was just trying to do the right thing.

Gonzalez was not a cruel monster bent on torturing his kids for fun – though there’s no end to those, a quick clip search will show you that parents from all races/ethnicities, socieoeconomic levels and geographies commit terrible crimes against their children. But let’s dig beneath the headlines: here’s a poorly educated guy trying to raise two small children with the girls’ mother – the same woman who, two years ago, had gotten herself in trouble for driving off to the store and leaving one of the girls, then 3, home alone.

So you’re this guy, scraping by on what you can make foraging and reselling scrap metal and whatever else you can find. You’ve got these two little girls who are out of school, you have no one to care for them (a neighbor was quoted in a news story as saying she would have watched the kids but let’s be realistic here, she probably didn’t mean all day every day) and you know well enough not to leave them home alone. You think about taking them with but you figure letting the girls roll around in the cab of the car isn’t a good idea either.

The lightbulb goes off and though you know a makeshift cage in the cab of your truck isn’t optimal you’ve solved the problem of not being able to have the girls near and relatively safe as you make your all-day rounds in the pickup.

Surely Gonzalez didn’t have the cultural or legal awareness to understand that sitting at a gas station with one daughter in your lap while the other cries in your makeshift cage is not going to go over well. In this country a concerned passerby will bust you out to the police. And so it happened.

Given his resources and expertise, was Ricardo Gonzalez abusing his daughters by keeping them as safe and as close as he knew how? I say no. Gonzalez is just one example of someone doing the best he can with what he’s got – people do unwise things out of desperation.

Either way he was clearly breaking the law and was badly in need of an intervention – good intentions aside, children cannot thrive in an environment devoid of familial support, safe shelter, and healthy stimulation, which anyone can see was not a part of the trash picking rounds.

I’ve heard people twittering about this latest sad story for the last two days, none of whom were able to look past what he did to see why he did it.

Some of us – the lucky ones – can cast an eye at what’s going on with the economy, oil and gas prices, and food prices, and cluck about how terrible this natural market correction is even as we get ready to go to Ravinia to enjoy A Prairie Home Companion and a bottle of wine.

For others, desperate times are calling for desperate and dangerous measures. They need help.

Tonight as I clap along to the Powdered Milk Biscuits song, my mind won’t be too far from Ricardo Gonzalez and his struggling family, and I’ll send them my silent best wishes that they can find any help they need to stay together and move on.

Language Barriers

"600 words by Esther J. Cepeda"

In the grand scheme of all the inappropriate remarks made at commencement speeches across the U.S. during graduation season – from snarky high-school clique announcements to college ceremony swearing – this one doesn't even come close, yet laws are being crafted as you read this to make certain this type never happens again.

Two co-valedictorian in Louisiana used one sentence of non-English language during their graduation speeches.

No, they didn't quote a long-dead philosopher in Latin, as many do. They didn't make offensive, disparaging remarks intended to disrespect their fellow students and faculty without their being able to understand them. It wasn't "'Ich bin ein Berliner'" though their intent was Kennedy-esque in aiming to bestow honor by speaking the native tongue of a special audience.

The young women, Cindy and Hue Vo, residents of Houma, La., dedicated one sentence to their Vietnamese immigrant family members which roughly translated into "always be your own person."

Terrebone Parish School District administrators were so distraught at this un-American display of a foreign tongue during their ceremony that according to the Associated Press which reported the story last weekend, officials there are forming a committee comprised of teachers to set school ceremony standards for the school board to adopt. Standards requiring English-only, and even other Bill of Rights benders such as requiring prayers during a ceremony. Not allowing, requiring.

Rickie Pitre, a board member, was quoted as saying, "I don't like them addressing in a foreign language. They should be in English." Man – that is cold!

Anyone who's been reading me for any length of time knows I'm all in favor of English-only in 99.9% of situations – English immersion is the number one way for immigrants to learn the language and culture of our country and translated everything is harming, not helping people acculturate – but this is ridiculous!

How trembling and frightened of anyone who's not exactly like them must a community be to risk becoming a national laughing-stock in the name of ensuring that no student ever utters a single non-English word of love or gratitude to a family member as a special acknowledgement?

The girls were not trying to make political statements, not trying to push a social agenda, not trying to disrespect the cultural or linguistic norms of their fellow students and teachers by cutting them out of their shared graduating experience. They just wanted to tell their families "I love you" in a special way.

"Out of the whole speech, it's one sentence dedicated to them to give thanks," Cindy Vo told an Associated Press reporter, "mine was personal and general for the entire Vietnamese community and something I wanted to share with graduates."

Her cousin Hue Vo remarked that she wanted to express gratitude to her parents for enduring the hardships of moving from Vietnam to the U.S. That would be the land of the free, last time I checked.

Being a buttoned-down, conservative-type, I'm sure Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, that state's first Indian governor, never wrestled with this sort of silliness. Rebuked among some of the Indian community for not being "Indian enough," I'm sure he always sticks to the English, but I'd bet even he's appalled.

If, sadly, we've become an America who no longer wants the world's tired or weary, and heck, let's just throw "uneducated" on that pile, preferring to only welcome the law-abiding, intelligent, and potentially profitable – which the Vo family certainly is – then for Pete's sake let's open our arms and stop harassing them at every turn.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact

eejaycee@600words.com

Black Star Project: shining a light on the darkness

"600 Words" by Esther J. Cepeda

It’s June 19th – not even officially summer yet – and the wave of violence in Chicago has already kicked into high gear.

Just in the last two days more shootings, more death. This morning the Chicago Tribune reports two teens, 19 and 15, are dead and one 14-year-old is struggling to live through a gunshot wound to the head.

Faced with this community-wide epidemic of violence, some look away or gnash their teeth and weep. Some have made a fuss about forming commissions to figure out what to do about murder in their streets. The folks over at The Black Star Project are just out there solving the problem themselves – one kid at a time.

"People say the way to end violence is policemen or with helicopters or automatic weapons. That’s not going to stop violence! If you can teach these young people to read, if we can give them some hope, some vision, and some skills…that’s the only way," Phillip Jackson, BSP’s Executive Director, told me Tuesday afternoon as the media whipped itself into a frenzy over 19-year-old Jose Rivera’s bloody end on a south side playground. "It’s not very popular, it gets almost no funding and people say to me ‘It’s too hard.’ I don’t care how hard it is, it’s the only way."

The "way" to stop the street killings Phil’s referring to is best described by the 165,000 black, Hispanic, and other-wise underserved young students BSP has tutored, mentored, and inspired at public and private schools all over Chicago and its suburbs during a 12-year quest to use education to lift kids above the clamor of their neighborhood’s dangers.

Not to mention the 4,000 parents at BSP’s Parent University program, who get classes and support, in both English and Spanish, on how to guide their kids toward becoming life-long learners.

Oh, and let’s not forget the hundreds of thousands fathers who have come out en masse across 238 American cities on the first day of school to pledge their commitment to their kids' education during BSP’s wildly successful, four-year-old Million Father March.

The Black Star Project is, as I've come to think of them, the most effective, nationally-recognized anti-violence program you've never heard of.

"I try not to do things that are sensational, we do work of substance with all children, even if they're gangbangers," said Phillip, a retiree of Chicago Public Schools' system, "but the newspapers [and television] want more pizzazz – it's only front page news whenever we have a weekend when people are shot and there's a child or woman killed. We're working on solutions not gimmicks so there's almost no interest."

Barriers like media interest matter little to Phil and his team of 5 full-time employees; there's work to be done BSP has put the power of the internet to it. Lucky you if you're one of the 16,000 readers who get their bright, yellow-topped, e-blasted newsletters exclaiming "He who controls the education of the children control the future of that race."

Though that might sound politically incorrect, in reality, the color-blind organization services children of all races and ethnicities but their niche is African-American. "Our board members, mentors and volunteers are diverse – we don't discriminate, we make no apologies," Phil said, "But when you make a concerted effort to reach black boys– the Consortium on School Reform found that of black boys in kindergarden only 3 out of 100 will graduate college by age 25 – then you curtail the pipeline to jails and prisons."

But there is a price to pay for being bold, and nationally lauded but locally ignored. Not being the most quoted, or "go-to" social service organization makes it difficult to get people with money excited about the work that gets done each and everyday out of the glare of camera flashes and TV lights. Though BSP does make up part of their meager budget with earned income from CPS payment for mentorship programs, and enjoy generous donations from The Chicago Community Trust, ComEd, and Toyota Motor sales, the needs are many.

"We need funding stability, I spend 50-60 percent of my time making sure the lights stay on and people are going to get paid rather than spending time with the children but it doesn't matter. I'm going to be leaving this planet soon but what does matter is that the children we leave behind are going to be able to live together, work together, and learn together. That's what really matters."

You want an antidote to the daily "violence in our neighborhoods!!" news drama? Sign up for the Black Star Project's e-blast and get ready to receive a dose of real solutions.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact

eejaycee@600words.com

"Suicidio:" death translates to Hispanic teens

"600 Words" by Esther J. Cepeda

Hispanic teens are screaming for your help, can you hear them?

The Centers for Disease Control, in their biannual National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, recently reported that in 2007 the attempted suicide rate for Hispanic teens was 17.5 percent, compared to 11.6 percent for blacks and whites.

In their survey of 14,000 U.S. high school students, the CDC also found that while fewer whites and blacks drink, smoke and engage in sexual activity now than 16 years ago, Hispanic teens have made no progress. Sadly, horribly – in the death department, they've gotten more organized: more than one in ten (1.3) Latinos and Latinas (1.4) had a suicide plan.

Having been a high school bilingual algebra teacher I can tell you it wasn't just the gang-banger-wannabes, the straight-from-the-farm-immigrants, or the "emos" (those sporting a style of dress reminiscent of the 80's new-wave style which leans into all-black "Goth" clothing indicating depression, but features splashes of color which symbolize strong emotions), who have serious emotional issues they want you to recognize, it’s the good, popular students, too.

In a story published in Hispanic Link Weekly Report, Glenn Flores, professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is quoted thusly about why the rates of suicide attempts are higher among Hispanic youth. "One can speculate that it may relate to a combination on the extra stress of being caught between two cultures and languages…along with poor mental health care for Latinos," he says.

Understatement of the year!

According to the data, in 1991, the number of Hispanic high school students attempting suicide one or more times in the previous months was 7.9 percent. It spiked at 13.6 percent in '93, fell with some blips – one in 2005, which coincided with the rise in public animosity toward illegal immigration – and settled at 10.2 percent in 2007.

During all this time, few of the environmental factors have changed: these kids were still living in a society completely new and in many ways completely at odds with their parents' country of origin – a reality universal to all first generation Americans. Even when language isn't a barrier, trying to navigate the "old culture" while trying to fit into the new one they're immersed in is no walk in the park.

The culture at home – I generalize Hispanic households here – is one where rigid Catholicism is a main driver, and "depression" doesn't exist. If you're reading this and you're Hispanic, raise your hand if you ever heard the following statement: "Sad? What in the world do you have to be sad about? When I was your age we didn't have shoes or running water, we had nothing. You have nothing to be sad about."

And forget, for a moment, troubled kids – those with alcoholism or abuse in their families, those tied to rough gang-types, those who don't have a lot going for them – the "good kids" have serious struggles as well.

Again, raise your hand if you know what it's like to be the shining beacon of hope for your family, with all the promise of the family's future – and, not coincidentally – and all the weight of the world on your shoulders. First to go to college? Going to get in trouble if you don't get straight A's? Depended on to better the family's life? Some of you already know what I'm talking about.

These are but few examples from the spark-eliciting process of blending cultures with generations with sexes and new experiences during the torrid teen years.

None of these are judgements – many of these cultural norms and expectations have positive aspects, and a rightful place in the context of the immigrant and first-generation experience – they are simply realities you, and everyone who comes into contact with a young Latino man or woman, should know.

And don't fall into your own despair, there's nothing but upside here: now that you know, keep your eyes and ears open and just be there. Your informed, nosy, well-intentioned intrusion into a surly teen's life can make all the difference in the world.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Dangerous optimism: JAMA study not as happy for Hispanics

“600 Words” by Esther J. Cepeda

Let’s just face it: we’re fat. Ok, maybe not you, specifically, dear reader, but we Americans are tipping the scales.

The latest world ranking put our affluent girths at numbers five for men and eight for women, not surprising for the home of the super-size value meal. The statistics are astounding: the Endocrine Society of America and the Centers for Disease Control estimated from 2004 Census numbers that obesity currently results in an estimated 400,000 deaths annually and costs the U.S. nearly $122.9 billion bucks. And, just one mortality statistic for you just to put it in context: the number one killer of women? Heart disease – obesity’s good pal.

But there is, seemingly, a light at the end of the tunnel. The Journal of the American Medical Association just published a report called High Body Mass Index for Age Among US Children and Adolescents, 2003-2006 which posits that maybe the incidence of childhood obesity in kids ages 2-19 has leveled off. Possibly.

In terms of longitudinal studies, data collected from the 1960’s to 2006 is a small data set, and the authors didn’t make any firm proclamations. But after accounting for ambiguities such as the difference in what was considered obese then and today, researchers found that obesity rates in kids have held steady at 32 percent since 1999.

This is progress, this is good news! This proves that with education and advocacy lives can be changed…for some. For others the numbers are not as celebratory. Let us be happy that Hispanic and African American children are experiencing the possible plateau at the same rates as the rest of the population but in truth, compared to white kids, they’re still not doing very well.

The most recent data show that 14.5 percent of white girls ages 12 to 19 are obese compared to 20 percent of Mexican American girls and 28 percent of African American girls. Mexican American boys are also heavier than Caucasian boys. Any school teacher in America could accurately recite those statistics without reading the study but just by looking at their classrooms: Hispanic kids are fatter than other kids.

My colorblind side, of course, believes that no child should suffer from the kind of over-malnutrition that leads to Type-2 diabetes, increased risk of heart-attacks and general ill-health regardless of race or ethnicity. But my brown eyes see dark-skinned ticking time bombs and I wonder what the shape of our young Latino adults will be in 2050 when we make up 29 percent of the population.

And why should it matter to anyone who’s not Hispanic?

“Because the Latino is the backbone of the American economy,” Dr. Elena Rios, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Health Association told me yesterday. “We are fast becoming the biggest group [of employees] and the youngest. [The concern] is not just about helping ‘our community’ understand, it’s important that everybody understand that if we don’t control this we’re going to see more diabetics, more amputations, more blindness and lower employee productivity.”

“If we ignore this, it’s going to have a direct impact on the general economic health of America,” Elena said, “it’s going to be worse for Hispanics and for all the small business, hotels, factories, and every industry that relies on productive and healthy Hispanics.”

This is not an “immigration issue” so don’t bother emailing me to question the legality of these workers. The facts are that by 2050 most of the Latinos you know will be U.S.-born and as American as mami and apple flan. So let’s turn our attention to both.

“Food is an important part of the Latino culture,” Dr. Elena said sort of rolling her eyes, “we do believe in celebration and we have strong family values so our celebrations end up being every Sunday at dinner, but that’s why we need to communicate about how to eat right and eat better.”

“We can’t stop the good efforts to target the Hispanic population, and we have to do better at helping the non-Hispanic health providers share this knowledge with the communities they serve,” Elena said, “there is no magic bullet. It’s a social change, a transformation in society. It’s just like what happened with smoking it took us thirty years for knowledge and research studies to trickle down to everyday life.”

So bottom line: less obese kids is great all around but even less Hispanic and African American kids obese will be that much better. JAMA’s statistics aren’t cause for a sigh of relief and a turn to other matters. As Karen Carpenter and Dr. Rios said: “We’ve only just begun.” But we’re on our way, and already seeing the positive progress.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Coming attractions

The link on the left takes you to my upcoming events:

Esther J. Cepeda is deeply committed to opening minds and broadening horizons through aggressive thought leadership and the dissemination of positive, analytical ideas.

That means she gives speeches/Q&A, moderates roundtable discussions/panels, shows up ready to rumble or rumba, take your pick.

Esther can rattle off statistics on population and migration patterns, speak passionately on topics as diverse as sports, culture, education, news, politics, economics and business, and, yes, if pressed she'll give you her take on immigration/diversity/all that jazz (oh yeah, don't get her started on that, she can belt out every song from the musical Chicago...don't ask unless you reallllly want to hear it).

The fun part is that you never know what's gonna come out of her mouth!

These people feel reasonably comfortable:

• May 28, 2008 Perspectives  South Loop Middle school annual graduation  (not open to public)

• June 5-7, 2008 ColumbiaUniversity Next Generation Project American Assembly: U.S. GLobal Policy and the future of international relations @ the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (not open to public)

• June 10-11, 2008 Making Media Connections Conference "Ethnic Media & Beyond" According to recent reports, the ethnic news sector has audiences that are growing rather than shrinking. Learn how your organization can reach out to these audiences. Dee Daniels, Noir Woman News; Ray Hanania, Chicago Arab American Journalist Association; Glen Reedus, Chicago Daily Defender. Moderator: Esther Cepeda, 600words.com. (Register right this moment)

• June 18, 2008 "1,001 Afternoons in Chicago" - "an innovative collaboration between Accessible Contemporary Music and "The Moving Architects" based on the stories of legendary Chicago newspaperman Ben Hecht. During the 1920's Hecht, a writer at the time for the Daily News, challenged himself to write a short story each day and publish it in the paper. He succeeded and the result has been compiled and published as 1,001 Afternoons in Chicago. This collaborative piece explores 12 of the stories through music, motion and visual imagery. The Evanston performance will be preceded by a panel discussion featuring the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan and Neil Steinberg from the Chicago Sun-Times. The panel will be moderated by Esther J. Cepeda, "600 Words" columnist."

• July 26, 2008, UNITY 08 Journalism Convention "Bloggers of Color: The Top Five Reasons Why the Blogosphere is NOT Diverse and What You Can Do About It!" Bloggers have forced the mainstream media to investigate stories of interest to communities of color like the "Jena Six," "Genarlow Wilson" and "Shaquanda Cotton." Bloggers were instrumental to forcing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch to ditch their racial anti-Asian t-shirts. Bloggers helped the Latino community organize their pro-immigration rallies. Yet bloggers of color are woefully under-represented in the blogosphere. Bloggers are regularly invited onto radio and TV shows to provide an "alternative" voice on breaking news stories. However, many of these prominent bloggers are overwhelmingly white and male..." read more and register now.

Contact Esther if you want her to come spread her magic at your gig. Her rates are reasonable, but its extra if you DON'T want her to sing. (Not a wise choice...she's pretty darned good.)

Still separate, still unequal but still hopeful

"600 Words" by Esther J. Cepeda

In overturning of Brown vs. Board of Education – the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed children would not be forced to attend schools based solely on race – Chief Justice John Roberts said Louisville and Seattle school districts’ voluntary public school integration plans failed to justify their desire to integrate schools by assigning certain students to schools based on race.

Last June 28, 2007, the country groaned at this so-called "huge step backwards," the assumption being that race discrimination was the numero uno culprit in the staggering failure and drop-out rates among minority students.

At the time I argued that the flip meant nothing in a society where scores of kids were failing miserably because of the color-blind blight of poverty.

It’s almost a year later and not only are kids still being left behind, we’ve recently learned the numbers are surely worse than we’d imagined. U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is floating a plan to make the formula for calculating the number of drop-outs uniform across states so districts can no longer cheat down their annual reporting.

And the left-behinds? Big surprise – none of them are Carnegies. According to Census data analyzed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty, back in 2006 – before the economic downturn – 17.4 percent of kids under 18 lived in poverty. That’s thirteen million kiddies living in real, actual poverty in the United States, and yes, over half of them were black or Hispanic – but why discriminate? A poor kid with a lop-sided shot at a decent life is just that, regardless of race.

But discrimination comes in many forms and to change how we educate tomorrow’s multi-hued leaders we must start with how every one of us sees them today.

"The challenges of race are not behind us and, in fact, are compounding with poverty," Matthew L. Kramer, self-professed affluent white kid and President of the hugely successful Teach for America – a national corps of new-to-education brainiac teachers dedicated to eliminating educational inequity – told me this week.

Matthew says the success his 17,000 teachers have experienced in reaching nearly 3 million low-income children since 1990 comes from being focused on solving the problems kids come to school with each day, "but because 90% are either African American or Latino, their particular challenges of poverty and race are fundamentally intertwined – both are factors in their lives."

The difference between the educational philosophy of his corps and the teachers getting pumped out of traditional education programs? It’s all in how they look at their charges.

"Our experience is that even though the majority come to school with these challenges, our teachers have the ability to motivate kids to work harder than they’ve ever been expected to work – and the kids perform! The evidence is overwhelmingly clear, we may not be post-race but it’s not credible to say these kids can’t learn, whether the issue is race or poverty."

Matthew rhapsodized about tangible successes like a phenomenal youth symphony orchestra comprised of low-income charter school students – "It’s hard to see the KIPP orchestra and not start crying" – and evangelized his belief that it is possible to keep poor or minority children from being left behind. And that opportunity is not solely in teachers’ hands.

"It is not legitimate to say is this unfixable and people don’t want to maintain that view. There are many successes out there but I think we’re stuck until many, many more people have seen them with their own eyes," Matthew said. "It’s hard to change our minds but it is only a matter of time at this point before [people] come into more examples of successes."

Until that happens, as you drive past, ask yourself if you can believe the gaggle of kids clustered on the street corner can achieve despite the odds stacked against them. Then tell yourself "yes."

If as a society we start to believe in the promise of today’s left-behinds, they’ll start to believe in themselves. And if we demand that everyone who has a stake in their education – you and me included – expect nothing less than success, we will get it.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Pay to play

by Esther J. Cepeda

"Pregunta del Dia" translates to Question of the Day and today’s comes from R.T., a Cary, IL reader who asks

Q. "Do YOU think DePaul [University, in Chicago] should keep the Minutemen from having their speaker there Monday?"

A. He’s referring to a speech to be delivered Monday May 19 on the campus of DePaul University – the largest private University in Illinois, one of the largest private universities in this country and the largest Catholic university in the U.S., according to Wikipedia.

Let me quote from the Father Jose Landaverde and the "Comite de Marzo," a pro-illegal immigrant rights group, from their press release asking for people to join them in a 24-hour "Prayer Vigil to Stop the Hate & Racism."

"Cris Simcox who is the Minuteman Militia Corps. Leader has been invited to speak by a conservative group at DePaul University on May 19th, 2008.  Simcox is well known for his anti immigrant sentiment against Mexicans.   Simcox travels the country recruiting members and has had growing involvement in his group of racist border vigilantes.  White supremacist groups have openly recruited members for the Minuteman patrols groups like neo-Nazis from the National Alliance & Aryan Nations.  Simcox as of today refuses to acknowledge that vigilante border patrols are a haven for violent racist.  Many groups have asked the university to cancel Simcox's invitation but DePaul University refuses & say that they must allow all groups on campus exercise the right to freedom of speech."

DePaul is…absolutely 100% correct. They have allowed their students to freely exercise their right to freedom of speech in protesting Simcox, been open with the media, and offered these same freedoms to campus speakers – and campus protesters – who were similarly controversial.

But today the DePaul Conservative Alliance, which invited Simcox, is upset. DePaul is making that group pay $2,500 for security officers to make sure things don’t get out of hand between Minutemen supporters and praying protesters.

And again DePaul is…absolutely 100% correct. The Conservative Alliance knew their choice in speaker would draw opposition and went ahead with plans for a hoppin’ event. Fair enough. They should have known that the University routinely asks student groups to pay for the cost of ensuring the safety of large crowds at any on-campus event, instead they’re hurtin’ for money and blaming the protestors for their presence at the speech.

"Basically, I am paying to ensure a protest happens at my event," Nicholas Hahn, the president of the university’s Conservative Alliance told a Chicago Tribune reporter.

No, that would be your speaker fee. Nevertheless, it’s an easy fix. Just pass the hat around at the event, Conservative Alliance, your peeps will be glad to help out. It’s your right to be there and have your speaker say whatever he wants, but as with most things in life: you play, you pay.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Prostitution's Hidden victims: boys

"600 Words" by Esther J. Cepeda

That "dirty old man" who pays cash to use women as disposable sex toys may have started out as a bewildered, ten-year-old boy.

Of the many shocking revelations meticulously documented in the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation’s report "Deconstructing the Demand for Prostitution" released late last week, the most heartbreaking and disturbing was that among men who frequently pay prostitutes for sex, many had their first sexual experience paid for by a close relative – at as tender an age as ten.

In 2006 and 2007, a team of twelve male and female project interviewers from CAASE and a group called Prostitution Research Education set out to look into the minds of Chicago men who pay for sex from the estimated 16,000 to 25,000 women in the city who sell their services. They advertised their study on Craigslist, Chicago After Dark, and the Chicago Reader, and eventually spoke for two hours each with 113 men ages 20-71.

Their "average" john was 39 years old, only slightly more likely African American than Caucasian, overwhelmingly college-educated and making over $40,000 a year, with a girlfriend or wife at home. A little over half of them bought sex from once a month to several times in one week, soliciting women on the internet, in person, and through escort services alike.

The average age of their first purchase was 21 with the jaw-dropping age of ten pulling down the average. These stark numbers – 29% of these guys’ first time ever was paid and 17% had that first experience on a dad’s dime – round out the tragedy.

"We have to do a lot better job of talking about exploitation and violence toward women just to counteract the overwhelming glamorization of prostitution in this country," study author Rachel Durchslag told me last week. "One thing we need to do is talk to young men about this issue. Moms and dads don’t want to talk to their sons about this but with one quarter of our participants reporting they had their first paid experience before the age of seventeen, it tells me we have to talk to dads about how to bond with their sons with some healthy masculinity instead of based on exploitation and domination."

Up until now, the conversation about the fallout of pay-to-play has been focused on the female part of the prostitution equation. The facts in this report, found on http://www.caase.org, point to the serious need to intervene in the lives of very young men today in order to make a difference in the lives of women and men – both those involved in prostitution transactions and those hurt by after-effects like sexually transmitted diseases, the pain of betrayal, and the inability to have healthy relationships – for generations to come.

That’s a tall order in a society where young boys and girls are constantly bombarded by images of ultra-sexual women, and pimp culture has become so mainstream you can buy pre-packaged costumes at your local Halloween supply store. The same society where parents scoff at the idea of their 8^{th-graders learning about condoms in health ed. classes.}

"Absolutely young women are growing up with unbelievable amounts of pressure to be sexual but that’s only half of the equation. Prostitution not only harms women in communities but harms men as well," Rachel said, citing the guilt, shame, and real remorse the men in the study expressed to their interviewers after having the opportunity – in many cases for the first time in their lives – to talk openly about their behavior and feelings out.

Calling all moms and dads: get over your embarrassment about the "sex talk." Your sons and daughters need you to have frank and open heart-to-heart conversations about sexual health and responsibility, today. Sexual victimization for either gender can happen early but it’s never too late to do everything possible to avoid it.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

We do all get along, mostly

by Esther J. Cepeda

"Pregunta del Dia" translates to Question of the Day and today’s comes from R.M., a Chicago reader who emailed to "ha-ha."

Q. Did you hear about the brawl between the blacks and the Hispanics in L.A.? Aren’t you the one always talking about how there’s no problems between the two?

A. Yes. R.M. was referring to the Associated Press story from last Friday – at around noon 600 students at a high school in Los Angeles got into a huge fight, leaving several injured and three arrested. The fight had been planned between members of rival Hispanic and Black graffiti gangs.

The media loves to report on these things. I’m sure there is some poor Californian soul whose entire reporting job is to find blacks and Hispanics who hate each other. Why not keep a person in Boston to report on the tensions between the Irish and everyone else who lives there? Because it’s not really a story, that’s why.

First off, rival gangs hate each other regardless of skin color – that’s why they come up with convoluted dress and communication codes to transcend race and gender. Second, give it a rest – no monolithic group of any persuasion gets along in complete harmony with any other, that’s just human nature.

If the energy put into pointing out tensions between ethnic groups – a dialogue on Japanese-Chinese relations, anyone? – went into observing the millions of ways in which all of us get along and work together everyday, the world would be a better place.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the “600 Words” & “Pregunta del Dia” columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. “600 words” is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com