CNN News "Campbell Brown" - Transcript

Interview

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BROWN: It's so interesting. I want to bring in Congressman Xavier Becerra who just joined us. And, Congressman, we're talking about how you define Latino in this country right now and whether there is a distinction between Hispanic and Latino, whether certain people feel there should be. What's your take on all of this?

REP. XAVIER BECERRA (D), CALIFORNIA: Campbell, I don't think it matters a whole lot these days. I agree with what some of your guests have said earlier. It's more a definition of opportunity, pride in your heritage, but still at the end of the day I think all of us would say we're very proud of the Americans. We just have a little twist to it. We come with particular food, maybe speaking another language as well, but all of us bring with us a heritage that makes us very proud to be able to share with other American.

BROWN: All right. Stand by, everybody. We've got a lot more to talk about. Politics, the economy, the economic power of Latinos in this country.

And be sure to join the live blog at CNN.com/Campbell. Soledad, John and CNN producer Rose Arce (ph) are waiting for you there, right now blogging away. Later we're going to be answering some of your questions on-line right here tonight as well.

Again, as I mentioned, we're going to look at the economic power that comes with being "Latino in America" when we come back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are counting down to "Latino in America" at the top of the hour. Host Soledad O'Brien, our panel back with us again along with John Leguizamo who's joining us as well. Welcome back. You were here last night.

JOHN LEGUIZAMO, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: Exactly. Yes, yes.

BROWN: He's on-line blogging also.

LEGUIZAMO: Trying.

BROWN: We're trying to get the computer working.

John, I just want to follow-up with you, the conversation we're having with the other members of the panel a moment ago talking a little bit about image, what it means to be Latino. And you've got a lot to say, I know, about Hollywood's image of Latinos and what that means. Explain.

LEGUIZAMO: Well, I feel like a lot of the problems that we have I take responsibility and feel like our community should take responsibility for the amount of high school drop-outs and all the other ails that happen to Latin people. We need to be responsible for that. But I think part of it as I thought as a young man and when I visit high schools and go to prison or whatever, the lack of dreaming. And to me dreaming was seeing yourself on television and recognizing yourself and seeing your future like when you see Soledad's show and you see all these affirmations out, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm this, I'm almost moved to tears. I hold them back because I'm emotionally constipated, but that's something else. But I'm really moved by it.

BROWN: You don't think Hollywood gives enough of that in any form.

LEGUIZAMO: Not at all. I mean, they do work really hard to understand that the Latin market is huge. For "Ice Age," when the biggest animation movies of the world, the biggest demographic was Latin families. So they know how to market to Latin people to get us to come to the movies.

O'BRIEN: Right. And "Fast and Furious, also.

LEGUIZAMO: But they're not giving us our stories the way we deserve and our stories with us in it in a positive image.

O'BRIEN: It's kind of a crazy thing, Campbell, that in 2009 we're doing a story that we could have done in 1960, about some of the stereotypical roles. I mean, the idea that you're still doing a story about people playing the gardener and the maid in 2009.

LEGUIZAMO: If you look at "Mad Men," I love "Mad Men" but when I see that show I get a lot of anxiety because I go, we Latin people, we didn't exist in the 1960s. What happened to us?

BROWN: But there is an acknowledgment now, and I want to play a little clip that will demonstrate this, of the power, the economic power that Latinos do have. Take a look at this from the Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSIC: You're going to feel the rhythm in Miami tonight. Show me some Spanish, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So that's the ESPN Monday night football. But I mean, clearly now there is a recognition that this is a powerful force.

LEGUIZAMO: Huge market.

BROWN: So there's this dichotomy here. Maria, you're in the media. I mean, you understand that that at the same time you are seeing these stereotypes and, yet, there is a certain acknowledgment that Latinos and the economic power of Latinos can't be ignored.

MARIA ELENA SALINAS, CO-ANCHOR, NOTICIERO UNIVISION: Well, you know, that Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan are now part owners of the Miami Dolphins, and so are Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. And we understand there are other Latin artists that are also trying to become part owners of the Miami Dolphins.

And, you're right. This is what it shows. That Latinos have an incredible buying power. As a matter of fact, now it is about $1 trillion, and it's growing 50 percent faster than it is among non- Hispanics. So definitely marketers are beginning to see that. You see that in football and you see that in almost everything. And the way to get to Latinos, of course, is in Spanish.

I would say that the language -- that's definitely one thing that unites most of Hispanics. It's the language. Even though the majority, about 75 percent are bilingual, a lot of them identify with the language and also because of what they see in Spanish language media is something that they identify with.

This is the first time I can tell you with this "Latino in America" that I see myself portrayed and I see Latinos portrayed in a positive light where people can actually relate to what is happening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time --

SALINAS: I think that the future is there. It's in the Latino --

O'BRIEN: When you talk about marketing -- I mean, when you're talking about this marketing power, even more important? The brand loyalty.

LEGUIZAMO: Right, right.

BROWN: Right.

O'BRIEN: So not only do Latinos have these huge dollars to spend, $1 trillion. She's not making up that figure.

BROWN: Right.

O'BRIEN: That is exactly right on. But loyal, loyal, loyal, who doesn't want that?

BROWN: I was struck, Daisy, by something that she also said, which is in the documentary, is really the first time she's seeing, you know, positive role models and positive images. Do you feel that way?

FUENTES: I do. You know, I started in this business about close to -- well, 20 years ago. Yes, more than 20 years ago now. So probably right around the time that John Leguizamo -- I remember John was starting in this business as well.

I remember. And I started trying to audition around that time, and I gave up. I mean, first of all, I hated the auditioning process, but I had a real problem going to auditions where they wanted a Latina, and then had a problem with me because I didn't look like I'm a Latina, and I just -- you know, and I just thought, really? You can't get past the highlights. For real?

(LAUGHTER)

So -- right? But I have seen, I have seen the changes. It's not anywhere near where I would like to see it, because the stereotypes in Hollywood still exist. But I think economically the respect is there. There is no way for it not --

(CROSSTALK)

LEGUIZAMO: I think Hollywood is so far behind. I mean, in the black community, when was the last female black lead on television? "Julia," in the 1960s, and that's the black community. We haven't even had a lead female in a TV series. I mean, it's so backward. I mean, look at where Sotomayor is.

BROWN: Right.

LEGUIZAMO: Look at all these great ladies and yourself are. I mean, why isn't that representation somewhat equal?

BROWN: We're going to talk about Sotomayor. I want to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll look at politics. You know, are politics and economics way ahead of where Hollywood and the images are?

Stay with us. A lot more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are just about 15 minutes away from "Latino in America." Our panel back now to talk about Latino political power, how it's changing the landscape for all Americans, not just Latinos.

And, Congressman, let me go to you on this one. I know politically, Latinos, a key demographic group with the power to swing an election this past year. Latinos went for Barack Obama 2-1 over John McCain. Talk to me about how else Latinos are wielding political power.

BECERRA: Campbell, it's a growing force. Remember, we're a lot younger than most of the rest of the country is. We're also not all citizens yet, so you're going to see over the next several years a large growth in the number of Latinos that are voting.

We're already the fastest growing demographic in terms of voting than there is in the country. But what you're also going to see is a better combined use of our growing voting clout to get things done. We're still a small number within the Congress, of the 435 members in the House of Representatives. There are about 24 of us, but that's going to expand greatly as we continue forward.

BROWN: Rachel, though, Latinos, by no means a monolithic voting bloc. You're a conservative and for a while, do in part to the efforts of George W. Bush, a lot more Latinos were attracted to the Republican Party.

DUFFY: I think one of the frustrations for me as a very assimilated second-generation Hispanic is that when the issue of politics comes up, there's this assumption that we're all concerned almost exclusively with immigration and that's not my experience at all. The Hispanics I know are small business owners. They care about the same things and want the same things that their white neighbors want for their children.

And so, I think that, you know, there was a lot of hand wringing after the last election when people went for Barack Obama within the Republican Party. And I think that some of the answers they come up with again are about immigration. And I think when they stop talking to us or talking down to us or patronizing us and just treat us like Americans and talk about taxes, and let's talk about, you know, education and some of the things that we all have in common and the fears and concerns we have with the economy, that's the way to win back Hispanics. And that's the message I'm trying to give to, you know, Republican leaders when they talk to me and say how do we get back those Hispanics. Just speak to us like Americans. We're Americans, and we have the same concerns as everyone else.

BROWN: Sheila, how do you feel about that, when you think about what issues are of concern to you in the political universe.

SHEILA E.: Well, for me, really, I am really concerned about the children, about the kids. I have a foundation called Elevate Hope Foundation for foster kids, and we see in foster care there's a lot of Hispanics coming to these foster facilities, and the concern is that the parents aren't educated. We need to educate the kids, educate the parents.

There are people that work with us that are not able to read or write, and that is a huge concern. So I think the government helping us to stop cutting the programs and put their foot down and make a stand and make a difference and teach education. Stop taking away these programs for the kids.

BROWN: Maria?

SALINAS: Well, you know, it's interesting when you talk about political power because I've seen it. I've been working for Univision for 28 years, and I have seen it grow tremendously. When I started working, there were 14 million Hispanics in this country. Now, there are over 50 million Hispanics, and really now we see over 5,400 elected Hispanic officials in the country and over nine Hispanics voted in the last election. That was two million more than the previous election.

So Latinos are beginning to be more savvy as an electorate, more outgoing, more outspoken as an electorate. And more important than that is that politicians are beginning to realize that they cannot win an election without the Hispanic vote. That's why you saw the phenomenon, for example, in the last election of politicians speaking Spanish, giving speeches in Spanish, the debates, the famous debates that we had on Univision for both Democrats and Republicans. So I think that that shows the power of the Latino vote, how politicians are doing everything possible to reach the Hispanic voter and they're trying to reach them through Spanish language media.

BROWN: And a big concern for the Republican Party.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely. And you covered the story. And we've covered the story as well.

There are people who are sort of on the fence and in some ways would very much like to agree with some of the values of either party and yet at the same time feel like maybe they're not being spoken to on other issues. And that, you know, with all that clout, a couple things can happen. You know, opportunity to change things if they can sort of leverage and mobilize the clout, but also some of the big problems we have and they've been mentioning just a moment ago, education.

You know, you would hope you can get people to realize that some of these problems can be solved. They're really financial problems. You have to put money into -- you can solve -- you can solve some problems. You can't throw money at. Education is one.

You can chuck a lot of money at it and actually make some big inroads. And education is a big issue for Latino kids, for African- American kids, so as there's clout in those areas, that's kind of something we've got to work on.

BROWN: All right. A lot more to talk about. We're going to take a quick break.

Stand by. We've got more time on the other side. "Latino in America" just minutes away. Next, we're going to be asking some of your questions. Log on to CNN.com/Campbell. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are live blogging our conversation about "Latino in America" at CNN.com/Campbell. Hundreds of you joined the chat last night. So do want to bring our panel back right now and they answer some of your on-line questions.

And, John, let me throw this one at you. This came from a viewer named Monica, and she writes -- My question is why are people coming here from Mexico and other Latino countries? Are they ashamed of their own country? If so, why not try to change their own country?

LEGUIZAMO: Right, a lot of pride.

BROWN: I mean, I know, you all feel a lot of pride. Certainly not shame.

LEGUIZAMO: First of all, who discovered this country? I mean --

BROWN: Yes.

LEGUIZAMO: ... cowboys, customs (ph) Spanish. Rodeo is a Spanish word. Lasso (ph), all your cities, Florida means flowery city. California means tepid land. Arizona means dry land. We were here.

A lot of Mexican people had been here for hundreds of years. Not everybody is an immigrant. And what this country is built on immigration, no Latin people are coming here for opportunity, to improve themselves, and they feel this economy. And that's what helped us until the point when the recession happened. Latin people were fueling this whole economy, all different levels of it, and then there was the immigration of Latin people that was fuelling that.

So I did leave because of shame. We love our country. We love who we are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's a huge misconception --

LEGUIZAMO: We love to be back there, but the opportunities weren't the same.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: You know what, when I would go to border towns and interview people and say, you jump onto a moving train to try to make it through Mexico to get to the border. They'd say I have five children at home and they are starving. What do you suggest I do?

It's not a shame. It's an absolute drive. If you're going to -- if you're thirsty, you're going to try to find a watering hole. That's just a fact.

LEGUIZAMO: And when did the people do when they came to Ellis Island, it was the same need, the same drive, the pilgrims.

BROWN: Looking for opportunity.

LEGUIZAMO: It was the same drive. They came here to this country. It was owned by the Native Americans, and they came. I mean, that's what this whole country is founded and you can't understand it. You can't go back in your own history to understand and be sympathetic?

BROWN: Daisy, jump in. FUENTES: I just think that that's one of the huge misconceptions, and I do read that in blogs a lot, you know. Or are you not proud of your country?

Latinos and Hispanics are the most proud people you will ever meet of their nationality and of their culture. This country -- we all need to remember that it does live because of immigrants. It's full of immigrants, whether it's Irish, Italian, French, Latinos. Let's not try to pretend that it's just the Latinos, and if that's what you are thinking, then you don't really know what this country is all about.

BROWN: Sheila?

FUENTES: We need to really identify what it means to be American.

BROWN: Sheila?

SHEILA E.: Yes. I mean, I agree. I think that we are proud of who we are, and I think that the Hispanics who come in here for opportunity, this is the land of the free. The land of the free and opportunity. And we've seen many success stories here. People coming from not just Hispanic heritage, but also from other countries to come here to make better of themselves if they can't do it where they are.

But absolutely, I agree with Soledad. I mean, if you're thirsty, you're going to go get water.

BROWN: Right.

SHEILA E.: You know, you're going to do whatever you can to survive.

BROWN: Let's hold -- we're almost out of time. I just want to get Maria Elena to address this. And this is one other question we got that really sparked a nerve. We saw this over and over again. It's the issue of Spanish language.

Will wrote, "We are an English speaking nation that created an economy and way of life which you enjoy, therefore, you should respect us and learn English."

What do you think?

SALINAS: They do learn English but assimilation, like I said, before does not mean leaving behind your language and your culture. Besides, Spanish was the first language spoken in this country since 1513, and St. Augustine was the first settlement, the first city in this country founded by Hispanics. So the roots of this country are Hispanic roots. That's the first thing that we need to know.

BECERRA: Campbell, if I could jump in.

SALINAS: The Spanish language enriches this country.

BROWN: Yes. Go ahead, Congressman.

BECERRA: Campbell, my parents are immigrants. My father got to about the sixth grade. My mother came from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico where she married my father at the age of 18. They spoke nothing but Spanish.

Today, I'm having trouble getting my girls to remember how to speak Spanish, and so within a generation or two you see the transition very quickly. I don't think anyone should fear people wanting to know only a different language. The first thing you see when you go to a kindergarten playground is that that young child who doesn't speak English is trying to do everything possible, yearning to be able to associate with the other kids in the playground. They want to learn English, and they will.

BROWN: We got to go. So much more --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a free country. We should be able to speak any language that we want.

BROWN: Absolutely. So much more to explore here. My thanks to all of you for your time tonight, and certainly Soledad who has put this amazing documentary together.

LEGUIZAMO: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

BROWN: Bravo.

"Latino in America" less than five minutes away. Log on right now, CNN.com/Campbell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: That's it. Thanks to the panel.

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