latiNOhoosier

With the 2010 election season already under way, gun-rights groups are ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to side with them on every vote. By telling senators that a vote for Sotomayor was a vote against gun rights, the National Rifle Association and other leading Second Amendment advocates forced a handful of conflicted legislators to choose between their long-standing support for gun rights and their urge to confirm the first Hispanic justice in U.S. Supreme Court history.

It is a decision that could have serious political ramifications next year in states as different as Texas and New York.

Among the Republican senators with significant Hispanic constituencies who chose to oppose Sotomayor were Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas, John McCain and Jon Kyl of Arizona, and John Ensign of Nevada. Hutchison and McCain face 2010 GOP primaries against 100 percent pro-gun opponents.

He has stayed with the Amish in Pennsylvania, Arabs in Michigan, African-Americans in New Jersey, Latinos in Iowa, cowboys in South Dakota, Jews in Connecticut and “red necks” in Indiana.

Growing up in Elkhart, Ind., Cesar Escovar never doubted that he’d eventually go to college. A first-generation American whose family came to the United States from the Dominican Republic, Escovar was the son of two doctors who instilled in him a clear understanding of the importance of higher education.

His perspective seemed unique among the Latino high school students in his acquaintance, however; Escovar noticed that while some of his peers applied for college, many didn’t even consider it as an option.

IU student launches new chapter of PATHE to increase college enrollment among Latinos: IU News Room: Indiana University