Remarks by
FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani
Before the
Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces
Las Cruces, New Mexico
February 5, 2000

(as prepared for delivery)


	I am delighted to be with you this evening.  Its always wonderful to come 
home to New Mexico, and to see so many accomplished Hispanos fills my heart 
with pride in my heritage.   And I congratulate the Hispano Chamber de Las 
Cruces for the work you do in your community.  The continued success of the 
International Mariachi Conference is just one example of your fine endeavors.

	Id like to speak about the promise that electronic commerce holds for our 
country --  and for Hispanics in particular. In 1998, the U.S. Internet economy 
generated an estimated $300 billion in revenue and 1.2 million jobs.  E-
commerce is projected to be a trillion-dollar global market in the next three to five 
years.  And the e-commerce revolution offers opportunity for all.  A small 
business in Las Cruces or Mesilla can market and sell its products around the 
globe, while consumers can shop the global marketplace from their own homes.

And just as Americans are dancing to the Latin beat of Ricky Martin, 
American business is realizing that Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of 
the U.S. population.  Indeed, the digital economy offers opportunities that we 
could not have imagined just a few years ago.  

But before I talk about the promise of today, Id like to look back at a man 
who devoted his life to creating opportunities and enriching the lives of all 
Americans.  Id like to spend a little time talking to you about mi abuelo, the late 
United States Senator Dennis Chavez, who represented New Mexico in 
Congress for 32 years.  Id like to tell you about his life and his legacy.

	There is a statue of my grandfather in the Capitol building in Washington.  
His statue has an inscription in English, Spanish and Navajo.  The Spanish 
portion reads Dejo este Seor una vereda trazada que nunca se olvidar.  Lo 
hizo con la esperanza que otros la sigan. -- He left a mark that will never be 
forgotten in the hopes that others would follow.  Id like to tell you about the mark 
of this extraordinary American.

	My grandfather was born in 1888 in the village of Los Chavez in the lower 
Rio Grande Valley.  His parents were poor but hardworking farmers, who in 
1895, moved their family to Albuquerque in search for better jobs and schools for 
their children.  At the age of 13 and after finishing 7th grade, he quit school to go 
work and help support his family.  He didnt go to high school or college, but 
educated himself by reading at the public library in Albuquerque.  He taught 
himself how to be a surveyor and worked as an assistant engineer for the City of 
Albuquerque.  In 1916, by then married to Imelda Espinosa, he moved his family 
to Washington D.C., where he worked for Senator A. A. Jones.  While in 
Washington, he passed a special entrance examination to Georgetown Law 
School and received his law degree in 1920.

	He then moved back to Albuquerque, where he practiced law successfully 
and was elected to the State Legislature in 1923.  Chavez introduced the first bill 
to provide free textbooks to the school children of New Mexico.  In 1930 he was 
elected, and in 1932 he was reelected to the United States House of 
Representatives.  In 1934 he tried to defeat the Republican U.S. Senator 
Bronson Cutting, but was unsuccessful; he was appointed to the seat after 
Cutting died in a plane crash in 1935.  He was elected and re-elected to the U.S. 
Senate and served until his death on November 19, 1962.  

	At the time of his death, Chavez was 4th in seniority and was chairman of 
the most powerful subcommittee of the U.S. Senate  the one that set the 
appropriations for the national defense.  During his tenure, he supported New 
Deal Programs, and was an advocate for national education measures and equal 
rights for women.   He was a tireless champion for tolerance, human rights, and 
civil rights.  From 1945 to 1948, he tried to pass the Fair Employment Practices 
Bill, the precursor to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

	I cant give you a detailed description of all of my grandfathers 
accomplishments but I can say that if there was one characteristic that drove 
Chavez, it was courage.   I can also tell you he stood for the principles of 
decency, fairness, and equality for all Americans.  

And, Chavez was not afraid to use his position or his power to fight 
discrimination.  The story goes that the city of Roswell would not allow a young 
Mexican girl into the Municipal Swimming Pool.  Chavez heard about it and he 
called the Mayor.  And he told him Open the swimming pools and all the public 
facilities to everybody in Roswell or Walker Air Force Base will not be funded.  
And guess what?  The swimming pools were opened to all.  The golf course was 
opened to all.

	Today the floodgates of electronic commerce are wide open and the 
opportunities for Hispanics are abundant.  

	As Hispanics, our voice  nuestra voz -- is as strong today as ever.  Latin 
culture in general is hot.  National news shows and magazines talk about our 
growing political clout.  And as the fastest growing segment of the American 
population, our voice is increasingly resonating in the digital economy.

A recent issue of Hispanic Market Weekly indicates that the Hispanic 
presence on the Internet has reached a level where it is now feasible to use the 
Internet as a Hispanic-advertising medium.  Just last month, Espaol.com, an 
online retailer for Spanish-speakers, released a survey on U.S. Hispanic online 
shoppers.  The survey found that 61 percent of U.S. Hispanics online have made 
a purchase in the last year.  Of those purchasers, 74 percent connect to the 
Internet daily.  

And business recognizes the opportunity offered by the Hispanic 
demographics.  Hispanic-oriented e-commerce is thriving.  LatinGrocer.com, for 
example, is a Miami-based online vendor of Hispanic foods and products.  There 
are at least six web portals aimed at Spanish-speaking Internet users.   And as of 
last year, there were over 200 Hispanic-targeted websites.

	Despite the promise of the Latin e-commerce market, real challenges 
remain.  As you all well know, Hispanics and other minorities are not just 
consumers of e-commerce but are also entrepreneurs.  The major costs for an E-
commerce business can be divided into start-up costs  typically advertising and 
production and back-end system integration.  A Chicago Tribune article 
estimates that the ratio of start-up costs to back-end costs is 1 to 4.  Getting 
people to your website can be expensive.  But once you sell the product or 
service, you incur even greater costs.  You have to be able to deliver the product 
or service in a timely manner, or you lose the customer.  

And as businesspeople, minorities cannot count on color-blindness and 
profit motive to help make our businesses a success.  We need to be working 
together and one place to do that networking is on the Internet.  Thats why I was 
so pleased to find that your chamber has a website devoted to business 
networking and education.  Your site offers Hispanic-owned businesses an 
opportunity to develop web pages and Internet advertising, and soon the entire 
membership will be listed by product or service rendered.  It is this type of 
marketing and networking that will enable your businesses  including minority-
owned small businesses  to succeed in this dynamic e-commerce marketplace.

Other challenges still remain.  Too many Americans remain on the losing 
side of the Digital Divide.  For many Americans who are minority or poor, or who 
live in rural areas or inner cities, there are far too few on-ramps to the Information 
Superhighway.  

	Between 1994 and 1997, ownership of personal computers increased 52 
percent and e-mail access expanded by almost 400 percent.  Not surprisingly, 
this growth occurred to a greater extent in some communities than in others. The 
Commerce Departments latest report confirms that poorer families have much 
less access to computers and e-mail than families with more money.  In fact, in 
1997 there was an even wider gap in computer ownership levels between upper 
and lower income households than there was in 1994.  

The Report further indicates that white households are twice as likely as 
Black or Hispanic households to own a personal computer and three times more 
likely to have on-line access. 

	And the Digital Divide separates our rural citizens from their urban  
counterparts.  A reality that we are well aware of here in New Mexico.  Indeed, 
Americans living in rural areas  at all income levels  are lagging behind in 
Internet access, let alone high-speed Internet access. 


We cannot afford to be a society of information haves and have-nots in 
a world in which the ability to access and manipulate information is the currency 
of the day.  

	All Americans must have access to this new technology.  In particular, all 
Americans must have access to computers and to the Internet through their 
schools and public libraries.  This is why I have strongly supported the e-rate 
program.  The e-rate provides discounts to schools and libraries for internal 
wiring, Internet connections and Internet service.  The most disadvantaged 
schools and libraries, as well as those in rural areas, receive the highest 
discounts.  Since November 1998, New Mexico schools have benefited from 
nearly $48 million in e-rate funding, and Las Cruces schools have received well 
over $1 million.  The e-rate is one way we can ensure that our children  
particularly low-income and minority children  can gain the skills to compete in a 
digital economy.  I am proud that this year we funded the e-rate at the cap of 
$2.25 billion.  

For rural communities, e-commerce and broadband capability provides a 
unique opportunity to overcome traditional geographic barriers.  Small 
businesses can develop a global customer base.  With advanced 
telecommunications capabilities, rural communities can compete with larger cities 
for information technology and other businesses. 

To that end, I also wish to support and applaud President Clintons 
announcement this week of specific budget proposals to make access to 
computers and the Internet as universal as the telephone is today.   Through tax 
incentives, training, tech centers, and other initiatives, the President and Vice 
President Gore are committed to creating new opportunities for all Americans in 
the digital age.    And I applaud businesses such as Ford Motor Company, which 
just announced that it will provide every one of its 350,000 employees with a 
home computer and Internet access.  With efforts like these, I know that together, 
we will bridge the Digital Divide.  

	The Internet offers us all tremendous opportunities.  On the Internet, we 
have a virtual Mercado, where we can buy and sell, where all indications are that 
shoppers will continue to increase in numbers if we can figure out how best to 
respond to consumer needs.  The Internet also provides us with an opportunity to 
network, to help one another enter this new marketplace, to build solid 
businesses.  Finally, with the Internet comes an enormous responsibility to our 
children.  We owe a duty to the next generation to make sure that they have 
Internet access in order to gain the skills, the expertise, and the resources 
necessary to compete in this whole new marketplace.  

Id like to leave you with a story that taught me that the possibilities of the 
Internet and e-commerce are limited only to the imagination.  I learned this from 
a young New Mexico boy named Luke Merry.  Luke and his mother have had a 
computer and Internet connection for almost three years, since Luke was in first 
grade.  The bill for their Internet access had always been $20 a month, until one 
month when his mother received a bill for $65.  Shocked, she called her access 
provider and asked what had happened.  The provider replied that the Internet 
access fee was still $20 a month but that the commercial account that had been 
set up was an additional $45 per month.  She, of course, asked what 
commercial account? and was advised that K and L Website Design had 
opened an account under her access code.  

	She soon learned that her son Luke  the L of K and L Website Design  
and his friend Kyle had decided that they could design websites for people 
through the Internet.  They had seen a market opportunity and acted on it.  
Fortunately, the Internet access provider saw the humor in the situation and 
cancelled the account with no charges, telling Lukes mom that if Luke lived 
another 9 years to the age of 18, he should call about a job.  E-commerce, the 
sky is the limit.  
 

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