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Millions of Children of Color Poised to Lose Health Insurance in 2018

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Millions of Children of Color Poised to Lose Health Insurance in 2018

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States are running out of money to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance for nearly nine million children in low-income households.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

As the battle over federal spending wages on in Congress, one crucial program has remained largely neglected: the Children's Health Insurance Program. Also known as CHIP, the program provides health care coverage for nearly nine million children from low-income families, almost half (48 percent) of whom are children of color.

CHIP's federal funding expired three months ago, and Congress has not yet passed legislation aimed at paying for the program. If it doesn't act soon, states will soon run out of money to fund it, and millions of children will begin losing their health care coverage starting in January, as reported by The New York Times yesterday (December 14).

The program, which was established in 1997, provides coverage for children in families that earn too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. According to the government's website, CHIP covers basic prescription drugs, special health care needs, and many other requisite medical services, including the immunizations children need to enroll in school.

Members of Congress reportedly agree that the federal govenment should provide funding for CHIP until 2022, but they are split along party lines on how to fund the $14 billion per year program, The Times reports. While many states are reworking their budgets to pay for the program, five of them plan to phase out or terminate the program by January 31, 2018, according to a brief from Kaiser Family Foundation. And it's likely that a total of 46 states plus Washington D.C. will run out of money by summer 2018-which could impact up to 8.4 million children. Many states plan to issue letters to families by the end of 2017, advising them to seek private health insurance in preparation for the program's termination.

On Monday (December 11), governors from 12 states wrote to Congress urging them to take action. From that letter:

For twenty years, this program has successfully provided vital health coverage and care to about nine million children. Without it, access to essential health services like well child exams, asthma medicine and hospitalizations will be at risk. As health insurance premiums climb at unsustainable rates, this program gives hardworking families access to otherwise unaffordable coverage.

View an infographic from The Times that breaks down how 46 states will fare if Congress does not renew CHIP's funding here.

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Millions of Children of Color Poised to Lose Health Insurance in 2018

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States are running out of money to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance for nearly nine million children in low-income households. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images As the battle over federal spending wages on in Congress, one crucial program has remained largely neglected: the Children's Health Insurance Program.

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Declaring 'Thant's Me,' and Empowering Latinas

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Declaring 'Thant's Me,' and Empowering Latinas

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Watch: Bomba Estéreo - Soy Yo (Official Video)

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For Sarai, the video became like a home movie forever on repeat. "My mom was always checking it," Sarai said. "My dad was playing it when he was washing clothes."

It all came together through a mix of accident and authenticity.

Sarai's father, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, is from Costa Rica. Her mother, Diana Gonzalez, is from Peru. They came to the United States when they were about Sarai's age. Devout Catholics, they met in church. Mrs. Gonzalez is a computer analyst at a Newark hospital and Mr. Gonzalez left his job as a construction engineer to be a stay-at-home father. Sarai is the oldest of their three daughters, and as a child, "she would sing everywhere. 'Mother Goose,' " Mrs. Gonzalez said. "The microphone, that was her best friend." And she was always self-assured. In her mostly pink bedroom, a hand-painted sign says, "I am awesome!"

Last year, recognizing her charisma, Sarai's parents enrolled her in a program run by Actors, Models and Talent for Christ, or A.M.T.C., a Christian talent and modeling ministry. She traveled to Orlando, Fla., and was picked up by an agent in New York. But it was her father who saw the casting call for the video on an actors database.

The director, Torben Kjelstrup, also entered the picture almost by chance. Mr. Kjelstrup, who lives in Copenhagen, won a contest to make the video for "Soy Yo," which is off Bomba Estéreo's 2015 Grammy-nominated album, "Amanecer."

He didn't intend to make a political statement. He was inspired by the message of the song - "about being yourself," he said - and by a photo of his girlfriend from high school. "She had braces, red hair, this incredibly ugly track suit," he said. "She just had something."

He pictured "a story about her walking down the street, just emitting this self-confidence that rubs off on the viewer."

He wanted to "paraphrase a hip-hop video," so he headed to Brooklyn. (The video is shot in Williamsburg and Bushwick.) He held auditions over the summer that drew more than 100 young actors. "When I saw Sarai," he said, "when she was waiting, the look on her face was just priceless."

It was her first role, if you don't count playing one of "The Three Little Pigs" in a school production.

Mr. Kjelstrup had little trouble building out her character: short overalls, Crocs, big glasses and pigtail braids. That look, paired with Sarai's attitude, was contagious.

Immediately, thousands shared the video on social media; many posted childhood photos. A woman who saw it in Montana, Alma Castillo, tweeted: "#Soyyo you have captured my infancia! Thank you for making me feel proud! #Latina"

#SoyYo you have captured mi infancia! Thank you for making me feel proud! #Latina pic.twitter.com/Hk2L7NTh9e
- Alma Castillo (@AlmaDCastillo) Sept. 9, 2016

Melissa Zepeda, a student and barista in Austin, Tex., wrote on Instagram: "I wish this song and video was released when I was actually around this age, when I probably needed it the most. When I was too nerdy, too American, too fat, too Mexican."

Jillian Báez, author of the forthcoming book "Consuming Latinas: Latina Audiences and Citizenship," about how Latinas perceive media targeted toward them, said the response showed the therapeutic power of the video. "I absolutely think it can be recuperative for Latina audiences who may not have seen themselves when they were little girls."

There have been startlingly few unconventional Latinas in popular culture. "Ugly Betty," adapted from the Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea," is virtually the only nerd; Google "Latina girl nerds" or "Hispanic girl nerds" and the hits are for pornography.

If Latinas are portrayed at all, said Isabel Molina-Guzmán, author of "Dangerous Curves: Latina Bodies in the Media," "the expectation is that they are going to be sexual, they are going to be spectacle."

Sarai's character is empowered, without any of that baggage. She drives off two snickering white girls by playing a recorder to the track of Andean panpipes. She confronts older boys, busting out dance moves learned from watching clips of Will Smith on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

If the video resonated most of all with Latinas, it may have been for this fluid blending of cultures, which came naturally to a little girl raised between them.

"We would blast the music in our family room and my mom and dad would dance with me," Sarai said. "It was pretty funny."

Lately the family has a new ritual. At night, Sarai crawls into bed with her parents to look at the latest photos fans have posted.

"I always cry," her mother said. At Sarai's age, Mrs. Gonzalez and her sister, recently arrived to the country from Peru, had to work in the Georgia tobacco fields with their parents.

"I never saw myself on television," she said. "I see myself finally on the big screen. And I don't have to be a size 2 or have perfect skin or a certain color hair," she added. "I can be myself."

"This little girl is in every Latina woman," said her husband.

When her parents get emotional, Sarai tells them what to write. "Wow!! You look beautiful," she wrote to the barista in Texas, who had never fit in. "Sarai sends a hug."

Then she sent some hearts. Pink ones.

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Opinion | Declaring 'That's Me,' and Empowering Latinas

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For Sarai, the video became like a home movie forever on repeat. "My mom was always checking it," Sarai said. "My dad was playing it when he was washing clothes." It all came together through a mix of accident and authenticity. Sarai's father, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, is from Costa Rica.

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New York Times: "Will people of color be welcomed and respected in Donald Trump’s America?"

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In the days since Mr. Trump emerged victorious at the polls, our colleagues have also spoken to white women who voted for him, and spent time with some of his staunchest supporters in the Rust Belt.

Here at Race/Related, though, we decided to narrow the focus - to reach out to white Trump supporters around the country to ask them to respond to the worries voiced by people of color as they look toward Inauguration Day.v

I spoke to an engineer who described the camaraderie of his multiracial workplace, a retired forklift driver who would like to see illegal immigrants deported, and others.

All of them reflected on what they would like to say to anxious black and brown Americans.

We also discussed policy proposals that have raised concerns in minority communities, including Mr. Trump's promise to sharply curb Muslim immigration and to require Syrian refugees, and perhaps other Muslims, to register in a national database; his pledge to build a wall along our southern border and to deport undocumented immigrants; his call for a national deployment of the stop-and-frisk policing strategy, which was ruled unconstitutional in New York City, and his suggestion that his attorney general might initiate an investigation of the Black Lives Matter movement.

These conversations, which have been condensed and edited for clarity, reflect only a sampling of the opinions held by the millions of voters who support our president-elect. But they offer some insight at a time when many readers are hungry for dialogue and understanding across racial and political lines.
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Charles Walker, who is 35 and disabled, said he voted for Mr. Trump because he wants a president who will reduce the , repeal the Affordable Care Act and create more jobs. He lives in Eldon, Missouri, a small town that he says has more "country boys flying Confederate flags" than racial or ethnic minorities. He opposes a registry for Muslims living here, but supports curbing migration of Muslims from overseas.

No, it doesn't surprise me (that people of color are worried). It's been that way for so long with minorities over the years, with how people have treated other races. Some people still do look at (minorities) like that. I know some of them personally.

But that's not me. I actually voted for Obama, just the first time. I saw something in him that I liked. I didn't see anything in the Republican side then.

We don't live in the 1960s or the 1800s anymore. There's people out there that do things wrong and should be looked at differently. There are people who start fires and burn buildings, people who go out to start a riot. That's not called for.

I believe some of it needs to be investigated. It may be that some people are infiltrating the Black Lives Matter group. Not all of them are bad people. There are people who calmly and peacefully have their protests, people who do good for people and do good for America. As long as you're not the kind doing the wrong thing, I think everything will be ok.

I've heard about stop and frisk and if it helps lower crime and stops people shooting in the streets, what's a few hurt feelings? That's my opinion. It's better than seeing people die.

I personally think they're overthinking the things he was saying. I think, you know, things will work out for the best. Everybody will eventually come together and make things work.

It's America. We're all here for each other.

At least we're supposed to be, right?
- Michael Tepedino, a 47-year-old structural engineer and a registered Republican, said he works with a diverse group of colleagues in Charlotte, N.C.
I work with people of all races and all colors. I would just say that there's no need to fear the presidency of Donald Trump.

He's not out to get you. He's out, not only to unite the country, but to make it a better place for everybody.

Black people who say they're afraid of a Trump presidency, I think their fears are unfounded. I don't have any reason to think Donald Trump is going to treat anyone differently because they're black.

Now, if you came into the country illegally, you've broken the law, and it doesn't matter if you're Hispanic or German or Canadian, they have something to worry about. They're probably going to get deported. But I know plenty of Hispanics who are totally legal. They have nothing to fear.

Muslims, if they have ties to any radical temples, that's something they need to worry about. I know there are Muslims in the United States who are totally fine. They are great people.

But people who are Muslim who believe in Sharia law and support ISIS, those are the people that everyone would have a problem with.

It's the campaign people, the fearmongers who are trying to instill fear in those people, saying if you vote for the Republicans, he's going to give tax breaks to the white rich man.

But I think Trump is smarter than that. If he's alienating half of the country, that is going to make life hard for him. He doesn't want that. It will be advantageous to him to have a United States of America, not a divided states of America.
- Julia McGath, a 66-year-old retired forklift driver, lives in Zanesville, Ohio and works part-time at a retail store. One plant she worked for relocated its operations overseas. She believes Mr. Trump will bring jobs back to the United States, cut the national debt and reduce spending on entitlements.
I drove a forklift for 24.5 years at a warehouse. I've worked union all my life and I always voted Democrat. Obama, he talked about change, change, change. I did vote for him, both times. But nothing changed. I didn't vote for Hillary because it would be four more years of nothing getting done.

I'm concerned about all the entitlements. That's the big deal for me. I've worked all my life, and with God's help I've not taken any handouts. But there are so many people who live off that their whole life.

I would say (people of color are fearful now) because they're not going to get their entitlements. They're probably afraid they're going to lose their green card, or whatever they have going to get a free load with.

I'm not saying I don't feel bad for people who are poor, but I'm voicing fear for my kids, too. My daughter was working for nine years at the post office, working six days a week for nine years, and it was temporary, no benefits or anything. My kids work their tails off. They see people living off our paychecks.

If people are living right and not breaking the law and doing what they should be doing, there shouldn't be any reason to worry. Honestly, if they just prayed more, they wouldn't have to be worried.

I never heard about stop and frisk. I can't imagine them stopping and frisking people for no reason at all. The cops have plenty to do without doing that. That sounds like harassment to me.

But if they're illegal here, they need to be worried. He's going to find some way to fix the system and move them out.

I'm not sure about a registry for Muslims living here. But I was really concerned that we were going to let a whole mess of refugees in. I certainly don't want them to bring in Syrians or ISIS. We need to take care of us for a change.
- Andrew Jones, a 55-year-old contractor in Southlake, Tex., said that Mr. Trump's comments about Mexicans had been misconstrued. He pointed out that Mr. Trump's remarks describing some Mexicans as "rapists" were directed at illegal immigrants, not Hispanics living here legally.
He wants to be the president for everybody. We're all Americans. We need to stop isolating ourselves and voting in blocks based on ethnicity. We need to become Americans and live the American dream. We all have the opportunity; we just need to take it.

But if they're Muslim and they're coming from Syria, we don't want them here. If they're Muslim and coming from Paris and they don't have a clean record, we don't want them here.

We don't want to bring in any hostile Muslims. Our C.I.A. and F.B.I. said we can't vet these people.

I think it's completely appropriate to have a registry for people who are here on visas. I don't think he was talking about a registry for Muslim citizens. That would be against the Constitution.

He's talking about protecting us and building a wall and getting rid of people who are hurting us. That will be beneficial for all us of us, Latinos, blacks, whites, Muslims, all of us.

He says outrageous things sometimes. But if you take out the bombast and look at the substance of what he's saying, he's never wrong. He's always right.

It would be totally appropriate for the attorney general to look into Black Lives Matter. It's against the law to incite riot and if you listen to their rhetoric, that's what they're doing. And if it is deemed constitutional, I would support stop and frisk. The police need that tool.

If opportunities are made, if the economy is made better, if he's successful in making America great again, once all the people are working and there are opportunities for everyone, a lot of the distrust and the animus will fade.

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In the days since Mr. Trump emerged victorious at the polls, our colleagues have also spoken to white women who voted for him, and spent time with some of his staunchest supporters in the Rust Belt.

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New York Times

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The dominant narrative is that we have just "illegally" crossed the border or are "fresh off the boat." In fact the Spanish are evidence of America's first original sin: We were mistreating indigenous people here long before the British brought slaves to the colonies. People forget that Latinos founded some of America's first cities.

Latinos have been dying for America since before we were a nation. Why have our children not heard that thousands of Latino patriots fought for America in the Revolutionary War?

Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish general, recruited Mexicans, Cubans, Native Americans and free African-Americans to fight against the British in the South, while Cuban women donated their jewelry and money to help the patriots. Where is the Ken Burns documentary about that?

Why don't they know about the many Latinos in the War of 1812? Or anything of the 20,000 Latinos who fought valiantly in the Civil War? Or of those who earned Purple Hearts or the Croix de Guerre in World War I? Or of the up to 500,000 who served in the military in World War II?

It's as if our heroism and sacrifice somehow counted less, as if we didn't exist in history at all. Without a past to glorify and uplift you, how do you propel yourself into an unknown, tenuous future?

I'm only an amateur historian. But I am an expert on my own life and career. So to bring it around to more contemporary slights: Hispanics are the most underrepresented ethnic group in film and television. " Saturday Night Live " has only just hired its first Latina comic.

Are we really to believe there are so few funny Latinos? We are similarly marginalized in business and corporate life.

This exclusion sends a painful message to every Latino child about how he is seen and judged. Latino people face a double challenge: to create our own positive self-image while battling against the way the broader society portrays us.

Without textbooks in schools that do justice to our contributions to the making of America, and without media representation expanding to include more Latin faces and voices, we are vulnerable to a demagogue like Mr. Trump claiming that we are all "drug dealers," "rapists" and "criminals."

But a range of studies find no link between violent crime and immigration. The fact is that immigrants as a group commit far fewer crimes than the rest of the American population. Almost every immigrant is just here to make a better life for himself.

That can be hard to do when the states where many immigrants live - Texas and Arizona in particular - gerrymander Latino communities out of political power and limit funding to their neighborhoods. Latinos aren't uniformly liberal; some are conservative because of their religious beliefs or fiscal views. And yet if all of the eligible Latinos voted, a number of states would turn from red to blue.

We need a Latino Spring in this country. We need to demand power and equal opportunity.

A friend of mine recently did a small experiment to tease out anti-Latin sentiment. She sent out two résumés for an acting job with her picture attached. She happens to be very dark skinned ("morena," as we say in Spanish). On one résumé she used her own traditionally Latina-sounding name, while on the other she used a traditionally white-sounding name.

The Latina name received zero callbacks while the white name received a few responses.

Where else is this racial profiling going on while we are "living while Latin"? It is going on while we are working for the promotion that doesn't come, while we are trying to rent an Airbnb for vacation but no one will respond, while we are hoping to make our children's lives better than our own.

Latinos need to demand our place in American history, and in corporate, political and social fields.

We must demand an equal share of the American dream, and not accept a downgraded version of it. We need to stop accepting exclusion over persecution.

In this critical election, and in the future, I urge you all to register and vote, to be counted and heard.
This essay was published on Oct. 21 on The New York Times Op-Ed page.
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Soy Yo, That's Me

When I saw Soy Yo, the amazing music video by Bomba Estéreo featuring Sarai Gonzalez (above), I posted it on all my social media because it was so powerful to see ourselves mirrored back. We as an ethnic group are so starved to see our own lives reflected in the media and literature, to have a sense of value and belonging.

But what's Sarai up to now?

Annie Correal, a Times reporter here in New York, met Sarai recently and wrote about how the song and the music video have affected Sarai and her family. Here's what she had to say about how the video affected her:

I'm half-Colombian, born in Bogotá and raised between cultures.

My other half is American, but like Sarai, who is only 11, I learned to navigate life in the U.S. with a different set of cultural references and with a second language in my head.

For me, the video felt important. Like we had arrived.

I tagged my Latina friends when I shared the video. It prompted conversations we'd never had. We realized that when we were little, in the 1980s, the only representation of a Latina that we saw was Maria on "Sesame Street."

Maybe at some point soon, we'll see more explorations of the rich variety of Latina experiences, as the country becomes more Latino, and as Latinos (like John) and Latinas gain more power and influence over who gets to tell our stories.

But for the moment, it still feels very new. And this video - which, I discovered as I reported, was created almost by accident - will certainly be part of the discussion.

Don't miss Annie's story about Sarai.

If you have other stories of Latino empowerment, or disempowerment, email racerelated@nytimes.com.

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Around The Web

Race/Related asked me to come up with a list of recommended reading - so to catch up on all things Latino, here's what I recommend:

Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy that Shaped a Nation, by Ray Suarez. I chose this book because, facts! We fought in every war America has ever had!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by . This is just a beautiful work of art about Latino culture, and some history! Everyone should read some Junot Díaz.

U.S. Latino Patriots: From the American Revolution to Afghanistan, An Overview, by Refugio I. Rochin and Lionel Fernandez. This report has the digits on fact checks of our contributions, with the numbers of Latinos who served in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and other wars.

Ghetto Klown, by John Leguizamo. Yes, this book is mine (it was also a Broadway show). But I put in because it captures our experience as immigrants and what it means to be Latino in contemporary times.

, by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hamilton because it has the power to transport us into a world that is color blind and proves we Latin people have arrived.

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In The Times

The Times publishes many stories that touch on race. Here are a few you shouldn't miss from this week, chosen by Race/Related editors.

* Donald Trump's Call to Monitor Polls Raises Fears of Intimidation. The candidate has issued dark warnings about a "stolen" election and voter fraud, using language that is leading to anxiety in minority communities.

* My Asian Pussycat Parents. I was raised by a mom and dad who did not want me to worry about getting C's as long as I was happy in college and beyond.

* Parent Group Seeks More Integration in New York's Schools. The organization challenged the New York City Education Department to take further steps to rezone schools on the Upper West Side.

* Fifty Years Later, Black Panthers' Art Still Resonates. The Black Panther Party is often associated with armed resistance, but one of the most potent weapons in its outreach was its artwork.

* Fascination and Fear: Covering the Black Panthers. Fifty years after the group's founding, a look back at The Times's coverage reveals the influence of the F.B.I. and how reporting on race and activism has evolved.

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The dominant narrative is that we have just "illegally" crossed the border or are "fresh off the boat." In fact the Spanish are evidence of America's first original sin: We were mistreating indigenous people here long before the British brought slaves to the colonies. People forget that Latinos founded some of America's first cities.