NY TIMES - THURSDAY, JAN. 30, 1997
By CAREY GOLDBERG
LOS ANGELES -- If he dared tattoo gang symbols on his neck,
Myrna Morales warned her strapping 17-year-old son, William,
she would burn them off with her iron. Or a frying pan. Such
was the desperation of Mrs. Morales, 41, a naturalized American
from Guatemala who has watched three of her American-born children
seduced by the worst of inner-city culture and seen her own earnings
as a housecleaner shrink in recent years. With her diminishing
income, she asked, how can she promise they will prosper like
so many immigrants' children before them? "I tell them go
to school and don't be like me, cleaning bathrooms," said
Mrs. Morales, who scrubs and vacuums for $300 a week despite
her degree as a medical assistant from a local college. To judge
by the latest Census Bureau statistics, Mrs. Morales is right
to be worried.
