Hispanics urged to stand and be counted

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 11:17 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Hispanic leaders in Nevada are gearing up for the 2000 Census in hopes that their numbers -- representing new political power and social influence -- will be accurately counted.

"Some Hispanic people are very nervous, they are shy, and when the Census Bureau comes to the door, they are afraid it's the feds, or Immigration and they won't open the door," said Las Vegas U.S. Marshal Jose Troncoso. "It's very important that the census is done right and correctly."

The issue of counting the state's surging Hispanic population is just one issue that a diverse group of Nevada's Hispanic leaders are discussing this week in the nation's capital.

About 80 Hispanic leaders from around the state are gathered to meet with each other as well as with powerful Congressional leaders and representatives from agencies such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., organized the event, "Unidos Para El Futuro," or United for the Future, which kicked off Wednesday with a roundtable discussion.

"I want leaders who understand the political system and the process," Reid said. Reid added that Hispanics, when organized, represent a powerful Democratic voting bloc.

"In the last election, they made the difference in California," Reid said.

Nevadans came to Washington this week with different motives.

Clark County School Board member Larry Mason, one of a small number of Hispanic elected officials in Las Vegas, said he wanted to talk to Reid about whether Congress would free up money for high school dropout programs that could be aimed specifically at Hispanic students. Mason, an administrator at the Community College of Southern Nevada, also brought several Hispanic student body leaders.

"I wanted to find out if politics was something that interested me -- I'm always saying that 'If I were president I would do this,' or 'If I were mayor I would do that,' " Mason said.

Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce president Rose Dominguez said she had traveled to Washington to explore how Hispanic-owned businesses might be awarded more government contracts.

"Take the DOT (Department of Transportation). We would like to see more of our contractors get a piece of what has to be built," Dominguez said.

Reid's conference opener on Wednesday fell on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was also one day after new census results revealed that during the past eight years, Clark County had the fastest-growing Hispanic population of any major metropolitan area in the nation.

Nevada Hispanic activist Emma Sepulveda-Pulvirenti said the U.S. Census Bureau needs to hire more census workers who are familiar with Hispanic neighborhoods.

"We need qualified people who can walk the areas among our people who know the language and the culture," said Sepulveda-Pulvirenti, a University of Nevada, Reno professor, author and president of Latinos for Political Education.

Activists say that no one has ever gotten an accurate count of Hispanics, especially in the nation's largest cities, because census takers often send immigrants scattering.

Census workers may have missed at least 1 million Hispanics in the United States in the 1990 Census, according to Marisa Demeo, counsel for the Washington-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She addressed the Nevada Hispanics gathered on Wednesday.

"We're spending a lot of money trying to target those who are hard to reach -- those who are Spanish-speaking, those who are undocumented," Demeo said. Later, she said, "There will definitely be more Hispanics (in the 2000 census). The question is, how accurate will the count be?"