1 big thing: Latino workers rise up

2. Square goes Spanish

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3. Visionaria:  Sylvia Mendez

Sylvia Mendez speaks with a microphone after being honored at an event in Colorado

4. Gen Z's dreams of homeownership

5. Stories we're watching

Colombian President Gustavo Petro stands with shadows behind him

6. 🪅 Pachanga: David Plazas 

We made it almost to the end of the week. How's everyone doing? 

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Puede leer la versión en español aquí.

🚨Join Axios’ Russell Contreras and Jay Jordan in Houston, Texas, at 8am CT Tuesday as we celebrate the launch of the Axios Houston newsletter with an event focused on sustainability efforts and eco-friendly initiatives in the city. Register here to attend in person or virtually. 

This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, is 1,439 words, a 5.5-minute read.

Thank you for reading! And a big thanks to Carlos Cunha for copy editing today's newsletter. 

National

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Keep tabs on the stories that most affect the U.S. Latino community on both sides of the border, a collaboration with Noticias Telemundo. Weekly - Thursdays

Axios Latino

1 big thing: Along the way we lost the accents

Illustration of a letter n with a missing virgulilla (tilde) mark indicated by a dotted line. 

2. Why tech is barely catching up 

3. Reclaiming culture through accent marks 

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4. In your own words: Reader responses 

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5. Stories we're watching 

📢 A couple of weeks ago, we asked whether you use accent marks in your surnames and your reasons for doing so or not. Your responses blew our minds! 

Today's newsletter is devoted entirely to this topic. Check below to see if your response was published!

🚨Axios and Noticias Telemundo invite you to join us virtually for the inaugural Axios Latino Visionarios event on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 6pm ET, featuring interviews with White House senior adviser Julie Chavez Rodriguez, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Siete Family Foods co-founder and CEO Miguel Garza. Register here.

This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, is 1,204 words, a 4.5-minute read.

Thanks for reading! Thanks to Patricia Guadalupe for copy-editing this newsletter. 

1 big thing: Latinas climb in the Western Slope

Colorado Democratic State Senate candidate Elizabeth Velasco and Roaring Fork school board member Jasmin Ramirez pose in Aspen, Colorado.

2. Sundance Film Festival's first Latino leader

Eugene Hernandez, who was just named the next Sundance Film Festival director, smiles

3. Opposing consultants start "Latino Vote" site

Logo of the Latino Vote podcast with Chuck Rocha and Mike Madrid.

4. Inside the battle against human smuggling in Guatemala

Guatemalan law enforcement prepare for an early morning search warrant execution. Photo: Stef Kight/Axios

Waorani Indigenous people outside of Ecuador’s Constitutional Court, September 6. Photo: Rodrigo Buendía/AFP via Getty Images

6. 🪅 Pachanga: Lea Márquez Peterson

Photo illustration of Lea Marquez Peterson.

It's. Almost. Friday. Thanks for joining us today! 😁

🚨 Axios and Noticias Telemundo invite you to join us virtually for the inaugural Axios Latino Visionarios event on Sept. 29 at 6pm ET, featuring interviews with top Latino newsmakers across policy, culture and business. Register here. 

This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, is 1,357 words, a 5-minute read.

Do you also want to be featured in our🪅pachanga series? Reply to this email. Thanks for reading!

1 big thing: Latino output eclipses U.K. and India GDPs

2. Interview: Rigoberta Menchú Tum

3. Most Latino workers don't feel fully included

A disappearing briefcase held by one hand 

Space satellites monitor pollution daily to find impact to US cities

4. How pollution hurts neighborhoods

An airplane flies above an orange-yellow Los Angeles skyline. The smog nearly obscures the city skyline. 

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio waves to a crowd before boarding a spacecraft

6. 🪅 Pachanga: Helen Torres 

💌 You are invited to join us virtually for the inaugural Axios Latino Visionarios event Sept. 29 at 6pm ET. 

The event will feature interviews with top newsmakers like White House senior adviser Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)

Request an invitation to join us in-person here. 

This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván, is 1,340 words, a 5-minute read.

Thanks for reading and thanks to Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath for helping edit and Carlos Cunha for his copy edits. 

1 big thing: Childhood poverty gains threatened 

2. Puerto Rico's new hurricane ordeal

A man in a hoodie cleans floodwater in Puerto Rico 

3. Mexico's tremors sow trauma 

A couple embraces after an earthquake that struck Mexico City 

4. Ecuador's U.S.-China straddle

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso sits on a wooden engraved chair, with a microphone in front of him

Chilean president Gabriel Boric speaks at a podium at the UN General Assembly 

6.🧵Smile to go: Sew to grow

Hi! Are you following the UN General Assembly? We have a little bit about the speeches from Latin American leaders so far. 

This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, is 1,385 words, a 5-minute read.

See ya Thursday! Don't forget to send us your 🪅Pachanga submissions by replying to this email. And thanks to Carlos Cunha for the copy edits!

A new documentary examines how the U.S. military in the 1960s prepared police for unrest in cities by using a fictional town and soldiers as actors. 

The big picture: "Riotsville, U.S.A.," released Friday in selected theaters, shows the origins of the militarization of police amid demands by poor communities of color to end police brutality -- demands that continue today. 

The film only uses archive footage from the military, newscasts, and police from the era. 

Filmmakers used those to piece together a story of how police departments in the U.S. came to use military tactics, mainly against Black and Latino residents, for decades — immediately after the civil rights movement.  

Details: In the late 1960s, the U.S. Army built fake towns, known as "riotsvilles,"  on its bases to stage and film the military response to riots.

Soldiers posed as white rioters instigated by Black agitators (also played by plain-clothes soldiers) as the military and police used tear gas and ferocious force to quell the staged unrest.

The Amy filmed the performances for training and for officials to analyze strategies.

What they're saying: "At some points, it seems like a joke. And then in other points, there's real violence. There are people being arrested and shoved into a tank," film director Sierra Pettengill told Axios.

Pettengill said she was stuck that the footage appeared to show trainees really beating up Black soldiers, who were acting out a part. 

Then news footage of actual riots showed how that training became a reality.

Between the lines: Just two years ago the killing of George Floyd, the nation still is grappling over policing, systemic racism, and poverty. 

Pettengill says the film reminds us that these issues have not been resolved. 

"I felt like I'm in Alice in Wonderland. We're hearing the same thing over and over again." 

"I also find that I hope that by showing how a system gets built...we can start to imagine how to unbuild it."

Film shows origins of police response to 1960s riots

The military built fake towns to stake fake riots.

A scene from RIOTSVILLE, USA, a film about  a fictional town built by the U.S. military to train police on riot control.

A scene from the documentary, Riotsville, U.S.A. Photo: Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. 

Police

Politics & Policy

Data:LDC U.S. Latino GDP Report; Chart: Tory Lysik/Axios

The total economic output of U.S. Latinos reached $2.8 trillion in 2020, surpassing the GDPs of the U.K. and India, according to a report released Thursday.

Why it matters: The report showed U.S. Latino buying power and economic output grew during the pandemic despite the disproportional impact it had on Latino communities, Russell writes.

The Latino GDP even surpassed those of the United Kingdom, India and France.

Latinos' total economic output was $2.7 trillion in 2019.

By the numbers: The report showed U.S. Latino GDP grew 65% from 2010, when it was $1.7 trillion, to 2020.

In 2020, Latinos spent $1.84 trillion, representing a consumption market larger than the entire economies of Canada or South Korea, the report said.

Details: The study by the Latino Donor Collaborative, a non-profit organization researching Latino issues was unveiled Thursday at the L'attitude conference in San Diego. 

That's likely due to a strong workforce that rebounded quickly despite a disproportionate rate of infections, the report says. 

Pay in low-wage positions like hospitality and service jobs — in which Latinos are overrepresented — also grew over the last couple of years as businesses struggled to find workers. 

 What they're saying:  "Latinos have proven to be a tremendous source of resilience for the broader U.S. economy, even in the face of a one-in-a-century global crisis such as COVID-19," the report's authors wrote. 

"The performance of Latinos during the pandemic is exemplified by income data. From 2010 to 2020, Latinos enjoyed significantly higher wage and salary income growth than non-Latinos," they added. 

Go deeper: Report: U.S. Latino GDP tied with France, greater than Italy in 2019

 Subscribe to Axios Latino to get vital news about Latinos and Latin America, delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Despite pandemic, U.S. Latinos’ output eclipses U.K. and India GDPs

The report showed U.S. Latino buying power grew during a pandemic, which disproportionately impacted Hispanic communities

Hispanic and Latino Americans

Latin America and Latinos

The total economic output of U.S. Latinos reached $2.8 trillion in 2020, surpassing the GDPs of the U.K. and India, according to a report released Thursday.Why it matters: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="The report" data-vars-click-url="https://www.latinodonorcollaborative.org/original-research/2022-ldc-u-s-latino-gdp-report" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.latinodonorcollaborative.org/original-research/2022-ldc-u-s-latino-gdp-report" target="_blank">The report</a> showed U.S. Latino buying power and economic output grew during the pandemic despite the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="disproportional impact it had on Latino communities" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2021/07/08/us-latinos-covid-devastated" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2021/07/08/us-latinos-covid-devastated" target="_self">disproportional impact it had on Latino communities</a>, Russell writes.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Sylvia Mendez has dedicated much of her life to ensuring that the legacy of her parents' landmark school desegregation crusade on her behalf be remembered. But, at the age of 86, she's ready to pass the torch, she told Axios.

Why it matters: Mendez was at the center of the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster case that ended legal school segregation in California and helped set up the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decision. 

The big picture: For 20 years, she has campaigned to raise awareness of the case. Now the city of Westminster is building a Mendez Historic Freedom Trail and Monument to tell her family's story. 

Mendez was honored last month at the Raizado Festival Icon Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Aspen Meadows Resort, but she told Axios she is ready for her younger sister,  Sandra Mendez Duran, to take up the campaign. 

The younger sister was born after the case was decided and said she never heard her parents talk about it. “They didn't brag. They were humble people.”

Background: In 1945, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez sued a school district in Westminster that refused to enroll their children because of their dark skin color.

The case brought together Black and Latino intellectuals and lawyers. Education scholar George I. Sanchez and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, then with the NAACP, soon started corresponding about future school desegregation strategies

The result: The case went to trial in federal court in Los Angeles and the plaintiffs won. On April 14, 1947, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. Two months later, then-California Gov. Earl Warren outlawed school segregation in the state.

Yes, but: The Mendez case for decades was forgotten outside of historian, legal and academic circles since it was overshadowed by the more well-known Brown vs. Board of Ed case.

"I saw my family's name in a book once and told this Chicano professor that was us. He didn't even seem to care," Sandra Mendez Duran, the younger sister, told Axios.

Subscribe to Axios Latino to get vital news about Latinos and Latin America, delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Latina behind landmark desegregation case is passing the torch

The 1947 Mendez v. Westminster case ended legal segregation in California.

Sylvia Mendez speaks onstage durin the Raizado Festival Icon Awards Ceremony & Dinner at Doerr-Hosier Center at the Aspen Meadows Resort.

Sylvia Mendez speaks at the Aspen Meadows Resort. Photo: Nick Tininenko/Getty Images for The Latinx House)\

Sylvia Mendez has dedicated much of her life to ensuring that the legacy of her parents&#x27; landmark school desegregation crusade on her behalf be remembered. But, at the age of 86, she&#x27;s ready to pass the torch, she told Axios.Why it matters: Mendez was at the center of the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="1947 Mendez v. Westminster case" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/04/14/latino-segregation-case-mendez-westminster-brown" data-vars-content-id="648db17d-b502-4cad-beda-5286023a6307" data-vars-headline="Latina behind landmark desegregation case is passing the torch" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/04/14/latino-segregation-case-mendez-westminster-brown" target="_self">1947 Mendez v. Westminster case</a> that ended legal school segregation in California and helped set up the U.S. Supreme Court&#x27;s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decision.

Only about 25% of Latinos say they feel fully included at their workplaces, according to a new report from Bain & Company, a management consulting firm. 

Why it matters: Latinos accounted for around 80% of workforce growth from 2010 to 2017, the fastest growing demographic.

They are expected to represent nearly one in three working-age Americans by 2050.

But feelings of alienation such as being passed up for promotions and not being invited to crucial planning meetings may pose problems for private companies amid a competitive labor market and pressures to diversify staff in a changing nation.

Details: Seventy percent of Latino workers say inclusion is a critical factor when evaluating prospective employers, the study found. 

Latino workers who do not feel particularly included are roughly two times more likely to quit than those who feel fully included.

Nearly 45% of Latino workers who don’t feel completely included are actively seeking new jobs (compared with approximately 25% of those who do feel fully included), according to Bain’s Inclusive Organization Survey.

What they're saying: "Given the ongoing war for talent, this is a big problem," the report's authors Naiara De Leon and Saber Sherrard wrote.

"Having employees feel fully included stimulates better individual and team performance; it also leads to better outcomes with recruitment and retention."

The authors added that their research showed that Latinas highly value growth opportunities and coaching. Latino men find team-building exercises to be a top enabler of inclusion.

Go deeper: Latino businesses get scant venture capital

Report: 3 out of 4 Latinos don't feel included at work

The growing alienation even as the Latino labor force expands may pose problems for private companies.

Illustration of a woman holding an eroding briefcase 

Only about 25% of Latinos say they feel fully included at their workplaces, according to a new <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="report from Bain &amp; Company," data-vars-click-url="https://www.bain.com/insights/better-inclusion-for-latino-talent-will-build-stronger-organizations/" data-vars-content-id="813d666f-4f95-439d-8271-51ad0fd84bb5" data-vars-headline="Report: 3 out of 4 Latinos don&#x27;t feel included at work" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.bain.com/insights/better-inclusion-for-latino-talent-will-build-stronger-organizations/" target="_blank">report from Bain &amp; Company,</a> a management consulting firm. Why it matters: Latinos accounted for around 80% of workforce growth from 2010 to 2017, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="the fastest growing demographic" data-vars-click-url="https://lattitude.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/LAT_FactSheet_Full_V2-032921.pdf" data-vars-content-id="813d666f-4f95-439d-8271-51ad0fd84bb5" data-vars-headline="Report: 3 out of 4 Latinos don&#x27;t feel included at work" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://lattitude.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/LAT_FactSheet_Full_V2-032921.pdf" target="_blank">the fastest growing demographic</a>.

Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched an interactive database around racial wealth disparities aimed at increasing Black wealth accumulation.

Why it matters: Two years into a national reckoning following the death of George Floyd, banks and cities are experimenting with programs to expand homeownership among people of color. The new database could provide important information for such initiatives. 

Driving the news: Bloomberg Philanthropies' Greenwood Initiative announced Thursday its creation of the Black Wealth Data Center.  

The project, incubated by the Washington, D.C.-based Prosperity Now, takes existing federal and public data and places it in a user-friendly format.

Organizers say they want to help policymakers with investment decisions using historic and present-day data about racial wealth disparities.

The big picture: The database is the latest project by Bloomberg Philanthropies' Greenwood Initiative, a national program focusing on accelerating the pace of wealth accumulation for Black families.

Named after Tulsa's Greenwood District, which destroyed during the 1921 massacre, the initiative wants to address systemic underinvestment in Black communities. 

By the numbers:  From 2011 to 2019, the percentage of Black adults with a Bachelor's degree increased by 30%, yet in the same period, the average net worth for Black families headed by a college grad decreased by 4%, according to the Black Wealth Data Center.  

In recent years, unemployment among Black adults decreased by nearly 20%. Yet, the Black unemployment rate is still the highest compared to all groups, even among people with a Bachelor's degree or higher.

Education loans make up more than half (53%) of the debt Black Americans carry, as compared to 29% for Latinos and 26% for white residents.

What they're saying: "We want to empower those individuals, those organizations (who) are committed to increasing racial wealth equity," Garnesha Ezediaro, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies' Greenwood Initiative, told Axios.

 "We're hoping that the data will show where there are assets within Black communities."

"Local data disaggregated by race is one of the hugest gaps in the country."

A little more than four in 10 (45%) Black Americans, 48% of Hispanic Americans, and 61% of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders owned a home in the second quarter of 2022, compared to 75% of white Americans, per the Census Bureau.

Zoom out: The origins of the racial homeownership gap lie with the actions of the federal government and the private sector. Through redlining, they worked in concert to exclude majority Black neighborhoods from mortgage lending.

Black buyers couldn't get the federally backed mortgages that helped launch so many Americans into the middle class, setting them on a path to providing generational wealth.

The practice was outlawed in 1968, but its legacy still haunts the housing market.

The intrigue: Bank of America recently announced "zero down payment" loans for first-time homebuyers in predominately Black and Hispanic neighborhoods who specification income requirements.

Two other banks, JPMorgan Chase and TD Bank, offer similar programs. If they were adopted widely in both the public and private sector, programs like these could truly make a dent in the racial homeownership gap — but so far they haven't been.

Bloomberg Philanthropies unveils racial wealth gap database

The project aims to inform efforts to close the wealth gap.

1960s African American family stands before their new home under construction while father holds plans. 

African American family in front of their new home under construction in 1968. Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

Wealth

Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched an <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="interactive database" data-vars-click-url="https://blackwealthdata.org/" data-vars-content-id="fb24fb1a-6354-474e-9d5f-d9013715a7f2" data-vars-headline="Bloomberg Philanthropies unveils racial wealth gap database" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://blackwealthdata.org/" target="_blank">interactive database</a> around racial wealth disparities aimed at increasing Black wealth accumulation.Why it matters: Two years into a national reckoning following the death of George Floyd, banks and cities are experimenting with programs to expand homeownership among people of color. The new database could provide important information for such initiatives.

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Stories

Report: 3 out of 4 Latinos don't feel included at work

Despite pandemic, U.S. Latinos’ output eclipses U.K. and India GDPs

Bloomberg Philanthropies unveils racial wealth gap database

Film shows origins of police response to 1960s riots

Latina behind landmark desegregation case is passing the torch

Newsletter editions

💸 Latino economy grows

🇲🇽 Quake trauma

🏘 Homeownership dreams

⌨️ Reclaiming accent marks

🎬 Sundance's Latino first