Bill Clinton: “Let me make one observation about this. Hispanic- Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in our country.…”

“Let me make one observation about this. Hispanic- Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in our country. Historically, they have done very well in America through an enormous work ethic and an enormous commitment to family. There was a wonderful movie a couple of years ago with Edward James Olmos and a number of other Hispanic actors and actresses called ``Mi Familia.'' It was a wonderful movie; some of you may have seen it. But we have a problem today that athletics could play a role in solving with the Hispanic community, and I hope we'll get into this a little more in the last section--that is, what about all the athletes whose names you never know, who play in junior high or high school or college or even in the pros? And what about the rest of their lives? I hope we can talk about that a little bit before we leave. But last year, for the first time in modern history, the graduation rates from high school of African-Americans and white Americans were virtually identical--the first time ever. The graduation rates of Hispanics is much lower; the dropout rate is higher. Part of that is because there has been a heritage in Hispanic immigrant families of kids dropping out of school and going to work to support the family. The problem is, today if you don't have a high school diploma and a couple years of college, it's hard to get a job where your income grows over time. So one of the things that I'm hoping is that we'll have more Hispanic young people in athletic programs and at least in high school; that will get more coaches to convince them and their brothers and sisters to stay in high school and hopefully go on to college. Because America is not going to function very well if we have a Hispanic dropout rate that's 20 percent higher than the rest of society. [Mr. Lopez agreed, saying that although basketball got him into college, he wanted his education to make him more than just an athlete and he hoped to use his education and success in ways that would give back to his community. Audience member Martin Garcia, a senior at Jesse H. Jones Senior High School, asked Mr. Moores why Little League baseball was not promoted in the inner cities. Mr. Moores responded that it was a good question and that the country would benefit from more support at that level. Mr. Morgan agreed and said that resources in the United States were not adequately tapped, as in foreign countries, for recruitment of baseball players. He noted the success of basketball and its outreach programs for inner-city youth and urged baseball to do the same.]”