Hispanics believe current U.S. leadership lacks compassion to build bridges among Diverse Cultures.

A majority of U.S. Hispanics believe the country’s current leadership is not compassionate enough to build bridges with diverse cultures within the United States and abroad, according to a new survey commissioned by Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (LEADS).

The nationwide study reveals more than half of Hispanics do not believe the United States’ current leadership is compassionate enough to build bridges here and overseas. Conversely, six out of 10 agree building bridges would more effectively address or solve critical global issues such as race relations (65 percent) and disaster relief (64 percent). In fact, Hispanics believe bridge-building could better impact those two issues more than White Americans and all other ethnic groups surveyed. Other interesting findings include:

— Hispanics and Whites concur by nearly 40 percent that the war in Iraq could be better addressed by bridge-building with diverse groups.
— Hispanics and African Americans share a commonality with both groups agreeing that bridge-building could have more impact on AIDS and other health epidemics.
— Hispanics are slightly more optimistic than other minority groups with more than half (52 percent) saying that building bridges could assist in addressing economic issues.

“Hispanics regardless of how long they have been in the United States have strong ties with their countries of origin so global issues such as disaster relief and the economy are very real and often directly impact their and their families’ lives,” said Alma Morales Riojas, president and CEO of MANA, a National Latina Organization and featured speaker at Spelman’s upcoming Third Annual Leadership and Women of Color Conference. “Hispanics are clearly unified as evidenced in marches on immigration and the unification of cultures between the United States and Latin America will be extremely important as the Hispanic population continues to grow in this country.”

“It is evident that Hispanics, as well as all U.S. citizens, are concerned that we are missing opportunities to create advantageous outcomes to critical situations,” said Jane E. Smith, Ed.D, executive director of LEADS. “The ability to connect and understand people of different races, cultures and genders is an indispensable skill necessary for effective leadership. This is an opportune time for us to identify how people in the United States – men and women – view the capabilities of women of color and the way in which their leadership talents can be maximized to better address national and global issues.”

A Woman of Color Could Be President & Support for Condoleeza Rice

As the leading historically black college for women, Spelman College conducted the survey to explore the issue of women of color (African American, U.S. Hispanic, Native American and Asian/Pacific Islander) in leadership positions and discovered nine out of 10 Hispanics believe that a qualified woman of color could perform better or as well as a man or White woman as president of the United States. Slightly more Hispanics believe a White woman (nearly 94 percent) would perform better or as well as a man (almost 90 percent) as commander in chief.

When asked about Condoleeza Rice’s skills as an effective bridge-builder, Hispanics (47 percent) are significantly more supportive of the Secretary of State’s abilities than African Americans (35 percent).