Decades of Assimilation | Newsweek Scope

What Sotomayor is Starting
Ellis Cose 8/14/2009 12:00:00 AM
From the moment of her nomination in May, it was clear that, barring some unforeseen scandal, Sonia Sotomayor would be confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was equally clear that her nomination would take on huge symbolic significance. She was portrayed as someone who embodies the values of grit, faith, family, and friendship, and as a living example of the power of the American dream. For Latinos, in particular, she was a sign of long-awaited change. "To have her ascend to the highest court in the land, it is such a strong feeling of belonging," says Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the Hispanic Federation. Sotomayor's nomination was "recognition of the contributions our communities…have made to the United States."
Mid-Atlantic Excellence
Jay Mathews 6/15/2009 12:00:00 AM
Since 1998, when NEWSWEEK began identifying the most challenging high schools in the country, the states with the most people—California, Texas, New York and Florida—have always had the most schools on the list. But size isn't everything, and a new analysis shows that three other states have snuck ahead of much larger neighbors to achieve the highest percentages of high schools and students taking college-level tests. (Article continued below...)
ENVIRONMENT
A Targeted Message
Jessica Bennett 4/21/2009 12:00:00 AM
Perhaps you've heard of Baldwin Hills. The southwestern district of Los Angeles has been called the multicultural Beverly Hills, and is the subject of a BET reality knockoff of MTV's "The Hills." It's also surrounded by more than 400 oil wells in a sector of Los Angeles that's consistently ranked the most-polluted region in the nation. Five years ago, Irma Muñoz watched as two of her closest friends and neighbors, both lifelong Baldwin Hills residents, fell ill. It was cancer—one colon and the other, breast—and within two months, both women, in their late 50s, were dead.
The Editor’s Desk
Jon Meacham 1/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
In November 1940, after Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term, an embattled Winston Churchill, still holding out alone against Hitler's Germany, cabled the White House. A phrase from that distant communication applies to the events now unfolding to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States: "Things are afoot which will be remembered as long as the English language is spoken in any corner of the globe." And Spanish, and Chinese, and, really, any tongue at all.
The Democrats
The Lone Star State Stays Red
Evan Smith 1/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
Even the sunniest Texas Democrats would tell you that 2008 was a rebuilding year. They didn't manage to make George W. Bush's home state competitive at the presidential level—though Barack Obama did rack up 43.8 percent of the vote, more than 5 points better than John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000. They couldn't claim victory in more than 28 of Texas's 254 counties—though Obama did pick off the three largest urban counties (Dallas, Harris and Bexar), a hat trick that no Democrat has made since LBJ in 1964. They didn't reclaim the historic majority in the Texas House that they lost in 2003—though they did come close, and headed into the 2009 legislative session only one seat down, at 76-74. Progress to be sure, but modest at best.
The Candor Gap
Robert J. Samuelson 7/9/2008 12:00:00 AM
It is one of our fondest political myths that elections allow us collectively to settle the "big issues." The truth is that there's often a bipartisan consensus to avoid the big issues, because they involve unpopular choices and conflicts. Elections become exercises in mass evasion; that certainly applies so far to the 2008 campaign. A case in point is America's population transformation. Few issues matter more for the country's future--yet it's mostly ignored.