Discussion: The Latinx Giant: What the Demographic Shift Means for the Future of American Politics, Economics, and Culture

Located in Building 12 – Smith Auditorium. Email michele.marcum@sinclair.edu to register.

2044: The year the United States of America is projected to become a “minority” majority nation. Birth rates of people of color already exceed those of Caucasians. What many don’t know is that Latinxs alone will make up roughly a third of America’s population in a number of decades. Immigration from Central and South America has changed everything. We are witnessing the rise of “the Latinx Giant.” Join spoken word artist David A. Romero as he asks the important questions: what has caused the great migrations from Latin America? How do immigrants and first-generation Latinxs simultaneously embrace and reject previous trends towards assimilation and integration? How has “the Latinx Giant” already affected the outcome of the national elections? Perhaps most importantly, who in America recognizes this shift, and how are they responding: for better, or worse? This presentation will include multimedia and performances of spoken word poetry.

David A. Romero, is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella. Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. Romero’s work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, and Canada. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero’s work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero offers a scholarship for high school seniors interested in spoken word and social justice: “The Romero Scholarship for Excellence in Spoken Word.”