“Fuerza Mexicana”: Juan González on Chicago’s Mexican Community & How It Saved the City from Decline

Democracy Now! co-host Juan González has co-authored a major new report for the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago titled “Fuerza Mexicana: The Past, Present, and Power of Mexicans in Chicagoland,” which takes a deep look into Chicago’s Mexican community. Constituting one-fifth of the city’s population, Chicago’s Mexican residents are significant contributors to the area’s economy, but the workforce is disproportionately concentrated in some of the most dangerous, difficult, low-paying jobs. “The character of the Chicago working class has dramatically changed and is heavily Mexican,” says González. He adds that “Mexican migration saved Chicago” from the kind of post-industrial decline plaguing other cities like Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland.