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UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: AGAINST ALL DISCRIMINATIONS": And you
know you are Cuban if. "Please
Don't Take This the Wrong Way But
it's a proven fact that Cubans are superior:
The purpose of this letter is not to further divide the community but rather to combat the
obvious bias of New Times and to present people
with objective data and research about Cubans.
Some people may be offended by this letter,
but it's time that New Times "cuts the crap already." I have no ill feelings for any group. My point
is to inform and to stress the importance of a culture
that stresses education and hard work. South
Florida has a wonderful and inspiring success story to tell, but you may not know it because
the media never addresses it. Second-generation
Cuban Americans have acquired
an enormous amount of wealth and prosperity
in an extremely short period of time. No
other immigrant group has achieved this as quickly
as the Cubans. Many immigrants have never
achieved it at all, despite being in this country
far longer than Cubans. With
the enormous amount of energy, and obvious obsession, that New Times devotes to anything Cuban,
why hasn't the paper ever mentioned the incredible
economic and educational achievements
of Cubans? Here are some hard cold
facts based not on a biased perception, as found
in New Times, but rather based on U.S. Census
Bureau statistics and numerous studies that
all reach the same conclusions. These facts are 1997 and 1999 numbers, and deal with second-generation
Cubans. (First-generation immigrants
usually start off at the bottom of the economic
ladder. You don't become rich immediately
upon arrival. Analysis of success or failure
of immigrant groups comes after adjustment
for first-generation effects.) In
1997 second-generation Cubans were more educated than even Anglo Americans. More than 26.1
percent of second-generation Cubans had a bachelor's
degree or better versus 20.6 percent of Anglos.
Thus Cuban-Americans in 1997 were approximately 25 percent more likely to have a college
degree than Anglos. This is very impressive.
Other Hispanic groups lag far behind. Only
18.1 percent of South Americans had a bachelor's
or better. Puerto Ricans, despite being U.S.
citizens by birth, recorded a disappointing eleven percent; Mexicans only seven percent. In
1997 55.1 percent of second-generation Cubans had an income greater than $30,000 versus 44.1 percent
of Anglo Americans. Thus Cuban Americans
are approximately twenty percent more
likely to earn more than $30,000 than their Anglo-American
counterparts. All other Hispanic groups
lag so far behind in average income that I will
not mention it. Again the aim is to inform and not divide, yet some of us will succumb to sensitivities. In
1997 36.9 percent of second-generation Cubans had an income greater than $50,000 versus 18.1 percent
of Anglo Americans. Incredible. Cuban Americans
were twice as likely to earn more than $50,000.
Also approximately eleven percent of Cuban
Americans had incomes greater than $100,000
versus nine percent of Anglo Americans and
less than two percent of other Hispanics. This time you can do the math. Again
the purpose of this is not to divide communities on economic grounds but rather to set
the record straight and combat the outrageous letters
New Times receives. Cubans
comprise less than 4 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population, Mexicans 65 percent, Puerto Ricans
10 percent, Central and South Americans 11
percent, and "others" 10 percent. Yet of the top 100 richest Hispanics in the U.S., more than 50 percent
are of Cuban descent (ten times what it should
be on a population basis), and 38 percent of
Mexican descent. The rest is scattered among all
other Hispanic groups. I
believe these data are important to know because they are a main reason for the enormous anti-Cuban
sentiment expressed by all other groups
in this community. In a nutshell, what drives
anti-Cuban sentiment here is clear: economic
envy by other Hispanic and minority groups
and resentment by Anglo Americans because
of the lack of assimilation by Cubans." Juan
Gonzalez, Miami |