Menendez book fights stereotype

Source: The Star-Ledger

In "Growing American Roots: Why Our Nation Will Thrive as Our Largest Minority Flourishes," Menendez highlights the contribution of the Latino community to American history and its expanding role in years to come as the Latino population rapidly expands. In the book -- co-written with former Washington Post editor Peter Eisner -- Menendez combats xenophobic perceptions of Latinos in the media and calls for "sweeping social and economic legislation, immigration reform, improved health care, and an end to the discrimination and prejudice that Hispanics face," according to a release from Penguin Group, the book's publisher.

"There are some that suggest we shouldn't be counted," Menendez said of Latino immigrants. "The Constitution clearly says that every person needs to be counted."

Those "some" include conservative television pundits such as Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs, whom Menendez says, "speak ill of our community."

Anastos also took issue with the fears of immigration propagated by pundits such as Dobbs and Beck. "We are a nation of immigrants, so they should be afraid of themselves," she said.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-15/12547101055970.xml&coll=1

out there as there are negative. I don't think Latinos are held back anymore than any other group here in the U.S.

Menendez, of course, is trying to sell a book.

Nothing has held me or my family back. We are dentists, teachers, attorneys, engineers and business owners and all thanks to the American dream.