Hispanic

WE'RE IN THE middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year. Since the celebration's inception during the Lyndon Johnson administration, it has been, along with other ethnic celebrations, a staple of the cultural diversity movement. As the appreciation for diversity has become stronger, so has the length of the celebration -- from a week in 1968, it was extended to a month in 1988. But do we need it at all? What exactly does Hispanic Heritage Month celebrate?

The majority of soldiers and Marines killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were young, white, enlisted personnel from active-duty units, according to a study released Friday by the federal Government Accountability Office. The demographic study involved 1,841 service personnel who were killed and 12,658 who were wounded, as of May 28. Whites, who constitute 67% of the active-duty and reserve forces, accounted for 71% of the fatalities.

African Americans and Hispanics are far more likely to receive high-cost home loans than whites -- and although much of the disparity can be tied to economic factors, the reason cannot be fully explained by existing data, according to a government analysis released Tuesday. The study by the Federal Reserve examined an estimated 80% of all home loans last year. It found that 32.7% of African American borrowers, and 20.3% of Hispanic borrowers, had high-priced loans. By comparison, 8.

As he waited for the bus on a searingly hot day in Denver, Chaz Aguinaldo leaned back and listened to the syncopated beat and Spanish lyrics coming through his headphones. No Beck for Aguinaldo, no Black Eyed Peas -- he was tuned in to KMGG-FM and a new format the radio chain giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. calls "Hurban," for Hispanic urban.

It wasn't long ago that founders of the Destino Hispanic Legacy Fund worried whether they'd be able to meet their modest fundraising goals. But nine years after Latino leaders created the Ventura County endowment, it has easily exceeded expectations and is racing toward the $1-million mark. That makes Destino a major player in the Ventura County philanthropic world, as evidenced last month when it handed out its largest grant awards to agencies serving the Latino community.

It was in the 1950s when Santa Ana banker Manuel Esqueda decided to search for academic sprouts. Invest in young Latino scholars, he told himself, and they will mature into tomorrow's community leaders. "We wanted them to know that we believed in them so that they could believe in themselves," said Esqueda, 82. Education was key to the next generation's success, said Esqueda, who founded Santa Ana's Gemini Club with 15 other Latino businessmen in the late '50s.

The most remarkable thing about New Mexico's Roy E. Disney Center for the Performing Arts, which opened with a festive inaugural concert here Saturday, is neither its architecture nor its varied first-year program of music, dance and theater. What's so stunning about the venue is its location and its mission. Though it has aspirations for national impact, the new building did not debut in the state capital of Santa Fe, the trendy art mecca for outsiders.

El Pachuco stood center stage, bathed in a spotlight. He arched himself and leaned back. A felt hat rested on his head at a rakish angle, and a gold chain dripped out of one pocket. "Andale, pues" (loosely translated as "Alright, then"), he drawled in Spanish. He was scary and charismatic at the same time. Then the lights went out, and the audience at the Mark Taper Forum exploded. "Viva la raza!" I was in junior high in 1978 when a new play premiered at the Music Center downtown.

South Coast Repertory is using the fruits of a projected new $1.5-million endowment to step up its already considerable work in commissioning and developing new plays. But it has shut down the Hispanic Playwrights Project, an annual festival showcase that brought national attention to works-in-progress by Latino writers.

The Latino Wave How Hispanics Will Elect the Next American President Jorge Ramos Translated from the Spanish by Ezra E. Fitz Rayo: 260 pp., $24.95 * All Americans ought to read this book -- or at least know what it says. It is about the future of the United States. The central message in Jorge Ramos' "The Latino Wave" is not exactly what its subtitle says, that Hispanics will elect the next American president. It may or may not turn out that way.