Latinos Again Will Heed the Battle Call

As President Bush prepares the country for the inevitable, and necessary, military response to the terrorist attacks, he can be thankful that he has taken pains to court the Latino vote. For, make no mistake, a lot of the recruits he will need to conduct a new war will be the children of recent immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America.

And perhaps having Latino Americans again giving their all for their country will earn them the honor and respect they deserve from their fellow citizens.

President Bush has been a popular president with Latinos thus far. Last year his presidential campaign made a special effort to reach out to them, in refreshing contrast to the anti-immigrant stance taken by some other notable Republican politicians in recent years.

So while some Latino activists on the political fringe are already voicing opposition to the coming war--mostly using 1960s-era “this is not our fight” rhetoric--there is little doubt that most Latinos will join their fellow Americans in rallying to defend the nation.

That is, after all, how their forbearers felt 60 years ago after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Those soldiers set a standard for Latino participation in the U.S. military that remains a special point of honor for Latino citizens to this day.

You’d be hard pressed to find a Mexican American family that doesn’t display with pride the fading pictures of fathers, uncles or other padrinos in the uniforms of World War II and the Korean War. More recently immigrated families have similar photos of other young men and women who fought in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.

Many of those veterans were awarded medals for valor. All told, 37 Latinos have been awarded the Medal of Honor since the Civil War. The city park where I played as a young boy is named after one of them, David Gonzales, a Pacoima native killed in the Philippines during World War II.

Those proud memories help explain why so many Latinos have been troubled, and a few even angered, that the recent resurgence of pop culture portrayals of that era--movies like “Saving Private Ryan” and books like “The Greatest Generation”--make little or no mention of Latinos’ contributions to the war effort of the 1940s.

That should not happen this time around, because with the demographic changes taking place in the country, it is most unlikely war can be waged without significant participation by young Latinos, not to mention the children of other recent immigrants from Asia, Africa and, yes, even the Middle East. Of course, there is also the risk some Americans may doubt the patriotism of recent immigrants to this country, their natural unease with foreigners fed by anti-Arab feelings generated by the terrorist attacks. They really have nothing to worry about.

I spoke with a veteran who understands this last week--former Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera. Now the vice chancellor of the California State University system, Caldera passionately defends the campaign he waged while at the Pentagon over the last three years aimed at convincing young Latinos to enlist and pursue careers in the military.

“The Pentagon understands that the future of this country, in terms of population growth, is Hispanics,” Caldera said. “That is where they know recruitment must focus.”

Caldera’s campaign was widely criticized by some Latino activists, who questioned the wisdom of encouraging Latinos to look for opportunity in the military rather than in college. The choice was never that black or white, actually. But, in any case, the argument is moot now. For if Bush is true to his tough talk, the “first war of the 21st century” will be long and difficult, like World War II was, and will require a broad mobilization of every segment of our population, most especially the young.

That is why one glimmer of hope I see on a darkening horizon is the fact that a new generation of young Latinos and other children of immigrant families will soon get the chance to show their patriotism, not to mention their courage. I have no doubt they’ll succeed, and the nation will once again be reminded--as we face a fanatic enemy that would destroy our very civilization--that one of our great strengths is our diverse population.