Immigration, and ethnicity

“In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela became the hopeful symbol of the Hispanic community at a time when the current wave of immigration was just beginning. Hispanics were a visible, but disenfranchised minority, trying to establish themselves in a new country. More than 20 years later, Hispanics flexed their newly-found strength in the recent protest marches in Los Angeles and across the nation.

These events reminded me of Jackie Robinson’s entry into Major League Baseball in 1947. When Robinson exploded onto the baseball scene, he, like Valenzuela for Hispanics, became a symbol for African Americans trying to find their place in a sometimes hostile society.”

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