Reflecting on the Foundations of Latinx Civil Rights: Looking Back and Looking Forward

I am grateful to Dean Kevin Johnson for his thoughtful and generous review of my scholarship on Latinx civil rights. Dean Johnson has been tremendously influential in the field, and he has led by example through his long tenure as dean at UC Davis School of Law. So his insightful assessment of my contributions is especially meaningful. Like all good retrospectives, Dean Johnson’s got me thinking—not only about the past but also the future.

So much has changed since I began writing about Latinx issues at the beginning of my career, and yet much remains the same. Because demography is often presumed to be destiny for the Latinx community, I would like to share a few thoughts about how this population has evolved in recent decades and how those changes pose new challenges and opportunities. It seems especially important to recognize the transformations because the law and policy landscape for Latinx remains relatively stagnant and not particularly well-suited to adapt to evolving circumstances.