From – Los Angeles Herald Examiner (September 1, 1989)
Title – “Latinos’ worst enemy”
Thank God for small favors.
The rioting in Lincoln Park during last year’s Cinco de Mayo festivities apparently has forced park officials and Latino politicos to rethink the propriety of the Roman circuses sponsored by the Miller Brewing Co. Hopefully, these public servants will, in the end, do more than reflect and will join the growing number of Latinos already deeply concerned about the alcohol crisis in their community. The problem can’t be cured by just saying “no.”
The reasons for the absence of a full discussion of alcohol abuse among Latinos are threefold. One, many Latinos are reluctant to reinforce racial and cultural stereotypes of Latinos as drunks. Two, there is a growing dependency among Latino organizations, Spanish-language media and politicos on beer-industry revenues, which fosters silence. Finally, the lack of Latino political clout has meant few programs and studies dealing with the problem, thereby creating an information crisis.
Latino alcohol abuse, however, can no longer be ignored. The few studies available on Latino drinking universally establish that Latinos have higher rates of disease associated with alcohol abuse – cirrhosis of the liver, for one – than the general population. A 1975 review of autopsies performed from 1908 to 1970 at USC Medical Center found that 58 percent of Mexican-American male deaths between the ages of 30 and 60 were the result of alcoholism. Among whites, the rate was 24 percent, blacks, 22 percent. Other studies confirm that Mexicans die earlier than other groups from alcohol abuse.
Latinos also have higher rates of arrest for driving, public drunkenness and homicides while under the influence.
Disturbingly, Dr. Juana Mora of the L.A. County Office of Alcohol Programs has recently noted an increase in drinking among Latino adolescents. Other researchers have established a link between Latino teen drinking and school performance. An article published in 1982 found that 46 percent of Latino students who reported a grade average of “D” or “F” drank excessively.
Too many non-Latinos explain these sad statistics by arguing that Mexican culture permits, if not exults, heavy drinking by Mexican males. From such an absurd conception it is easy to conclude that the Latino drinking problem can be solved by getting rid of Mexican culture. Yet, Latinos are no different from other Catholic immigrants whose drinking patterns changed only after their income and education levels rose.
Truth be told, it is the liquor industry, not Mexican culture, that glamorizes alcohol consumption. While many industries ignored the Latino market, the liquor companies, especially the brewers, didn’t. Today, with nearly 20 million Latinos living in the United States, the Latino market is huge. According to Hispanic Business, Latinos spent $141.6 billion last year.
A soon-to-be-released report – “Marketing Disease to Hispanics: The Selling of Alcohol, Tobacco and Junk Foods to Hispanics” – documents the industry’s strategy. According to Professor Marilyn Aguirre-Molina of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, “The one thing that the [liquor industry has] focused on in the Latino market is really understanding the cultural nuances of family, friends and drinking patterns. [It knows] more about our culture than I think health-services providers know.”
The report for the Center for Science in the Public Interest also asserts that “The connection between the targeting of Hispanics by tobacco and alcohol companies and increasing smoking and drinking seems too clear to dispute. The alcohol and tobacco companies like to claim there’s no connection, that they advertise not to hook new drinkers and smokers but only to preserve their market share and steal market share from other brands.”
In California, there are 70,000 retail outlets selling booze. That’s roughly one for every 200 drinkers. In lower-income Latino communities, there are five times as many liquor stores as in middle-class neighborhoods.
It seems absurd that a physician can be sued for malpractice, a bar owner for serving a customer one too many but that the liquor companies face no risk for creating an “alcohol environment.”
It’s time for the Latino community to understand why the beer companies sponsor alcohol-abuse programs, contribute to Latino scholarship funds, orchestrate banquets for Latino mainstream organizations and foot the bill for Cinco de Mayo and 16th of September events. In the past five years alone, five Latino students at Cal State Northridge have been killed on their graduation night in alcohol-related accidents. I wish the Latino beer-company representatives would visit these kids’ parents and tell them about their public service and scholarship aid.
