American Latinos

Panel at San Diego Screening of “Latino in America” Photo Suzette Valle

Time Warner Cable and CNN Presents jointly held a screening of “Latino in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America”; a television documentary scheduled for October 21^st and 22^nd on CNN, with journalist Soledad O’Brien. I was honored to be invited to attend and participate in the discussion led by panel members Ruben Barrales, President & CEO San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Amalia L. Meza, Judge Superior Court, Central Division (Juvenile Court), Greg Talavera, M.D., Associate Professor Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, and Mark Nelson, Executive Producer, CNN Presents. The event was moderated by Gabriela Frias, CNN en Espanol anchor.

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Sitting among distinguished guests in the audience at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, CA, for the screening of CNN’s “Latino in America”, I optimistically anticipated a positive outlook about Latinos living in this country. I expected the documentary to start off giving us basic information sprinkled with a bit of history. After all, we’ve heard plenty in the media about the plight of Latinos, the immigration debate, and all the bad stats about Latino students not graduating or making it to college.

When the lights came on, I was disappointed with the stories the reporting team selected; they focused on the sad reality many Latinos are still facing, some from countries other than Mexico, and the awful condition the largest minority in this country is stuck in. The names, places and families depicted in this documentary are typical and found in many cities across the USA, this much is true. What were sorely missing were more contrasting success stories about how Latinos are making it in the USA, legally or not.

The barrios, local Latino leaders looking out for human rights, marches, even the raid at the Panda Express in Tucson, AZ where eleven employees were taken into custody, are nothing new. 

A fresh take on this long-standing issue would have been to highlight the positive stories and successful lives of common Latinos (no, Mr. George Lopez, this does not include you at this point since most Latinos are inspired by celebrities like you and their success), about Latino kids IN college, maybe even in a Ivy League or two; entrepreneurship among Latinos has to be found somewhere other than LA. What about a short tale about parents who are desperately trying to give their children a better life and the sacrifices they are making achieving this? The traditional way of living the American dream is with hard work, and Latinos are not afraid of it. Show this!

Of course, this presentation was a screening and not the two-hour episodes airing over two evenings. But, having watched the first part of this series last night, I’m still tentative about the purpose of this documentary: Is it to tell stories about Latino families to shed light on the largest minority of this country and how they are still struggling to adapt? Or, is to highlight their contributions to the American culture?

When interviewed for the program, Eva Longoria mentioned that one must lead by example. I urge you CNN to make follow-up documentaries about how Latinos are leading their compatriots by example, and assimilating in to the very fabric of this society by contributing in all areas like politics, education, literature, etc.

I hope CNN and Miss O’Brien did not miss an opportunity to start changing the perception of Latinos as uneducated, gang members and welfare abusers.  There are many exemplary Latinos living and thriving in the USA.

The theme of  “Latino inAmerica” is raising awarness about Latinos in the US by trying to answer this question:

“How has America changed Latinos, and how have Latinos changed America?”.

Do you think the program answered this question?