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Redefining ourselves - on our terms

"You don't define Latinos - they define themselves."

That quote hangs framed on my wall and was uppermost in my mind as the brain trust at Latino Perspectives Magazine mapped out editorial policy and story lists for 2006.

Earl de Berge, director of Behavioral Research Center in Phoenix, made the comment. It came during one of his seminars on the Hispanic market. After he displayed a flurry of statistics and survey results, one perplexed Anglo in the audience asked, "There are so many studies, how do we define Latinos?" His response is the wisest commentary I've heard on Latinos coming from a non-Latino.

This brings me to why we launched 2006 with an up-close, in-depth look at Latino leadership in Arizona. We at Latino Perspectives felt a responsibility to define Latino leaders - and their leadership standards and styles - in a critical yet culturally sensitive way.

Why? Because we are a Latino-owned media company. We know the culture because we live the culture. We believe that for too long now Latino leaders have been defined by others.

In addition, leadership skills are crucial to the advancement of the Latino community in each of the areas in which we will write special reports this year: Politics, education, economic development, arts & culture, health and nonprofits.

LEADERS LISTS

There are those that joke (too many of them Hispanic) that the concept of Latino leadership is an oxymoron. I believe that very notion is moronic.  There are non-Latinos who say they can't find Latino leaders to put on their boards, or attend their conferences. To erase this myth, we are publishing a list of emerging leaders, and a longer list of established Latino leaders - just the ones we have space for. There are so many more out there.

To put our Arizona leadership in perspective, we went to those who have researched Latino leadership across the country. They had encouraging news of the emergence of leaders, on a national and local level. There also are sobering observations that we still have a lot of
work to do.

What finally emerged from the growing body of notes, studies and interviews was a pattern of new Latino leadership skill sets and mindsets.

The consensus was that skill sets needed for the confrontational leadership of the turbulent civil-rights struggles are no longer needed for the complex problems facing the Latino community today. We are increasingly confronted by crucial problems facing a Latino community growing more fragmented by divisions among recent Hispanic immigrants Ð many of them undocumented - and the growing ranks of second-, third- and fourth-generation Hispanics in the United States.  

The difference is that today these problems are not just limited to our Latino community, but increasingly impact - for better or for worse - the larger U.S. society as well. Latino and mainstream leaders now find themselves in the same boat and must clasp hands to keep from being washed overboard.

NEW TOOLS

The new Latino leadership tool box now includes the ability to forge "unconventional alliances" and broad coalitions with eyes on the prizes of pragmatic solutions.

Using this measure, searching across our state we found hundreds of Latino leaders in every professional or academic area. We found them in all communities, rural or urban, small town or big city. Many were not anointed, appointed or elected, but leaders defined by other Latinos as leaders.

In addition, elected Latinos are proving more effective than in the past because of their evolution of leadership skills.

Congressman Raul Grijalva is a good example of a former Chicano community activist who over the years has shifted strategies to the point in 2005 he was able to align with the GOP leadership to pass legislation giving lands back to Arizona Native Americans. Antonio Villaraigosa, the new mayor of L.A., is another who changed tactics to succeed to the highest political office in the second largest U.S. city.

We invited Raul Yzaquirre, a Latino leader for half a century who has come to Arizona to booster its leadership base, to submit an essay.  He shares his vision in My Perspectives this edition, and we are honored to present it. 

Each piece of this important leadership project has at its heart Latinos defining themselves. As it should be.