by Soledad O’Brlen
I have only begun to tell our stories with “Latino in America”.
Let me start by saying I think it’s an enormous victory that a major network has enhanced its coverage of our community this year, culminating in this two-part, four-hour documentary.
I am also very proud to have co-authored with Rose Arce a book about our community, “Latino in America,” published in October by Celebra (Penguin USA).
Some of the chief goals of both projects were to initiate conversations about our community, enhance our visibility and start a conversation about relevant issues. Ali the comments thatThe NiLP Network drew make me feel as if we have been successful on all those fronts, just by having engaged you.
When I began to plan our project, I saw it as a news documentary about a vast population, people with roots in some 21 countries who had distinct histories and very different experiences. There is no way to do justice to that range of experiences, even with a number of pieces and an additional four hours of documentaries.
What my team decided was that we would call it “Latino in America” because it was not to be a documentary about history or descendency, as the term Hispanic might imply, but about what happens after we’ve arrived, about an American experience we share and an identity that is born of this country, one that brings together people with roots from all over the Latin world, people who predate the U.S. or came yesterday, people who have some shared values but don’t necessarily have similar racial or ethnic roots or even language.
IT’S ABOUT REAL PEOPLE
It is a storyabout a group of Americans and their U.S experience.
We also decided that, in the spirit of CNN, we were doing a NEWS documentary. That means that we follow real people through their human experiences wherever they may take them, their ups and d:owns and how they confront the greatest issues our community is facing, whether that be by achieving their dreams or confronting obstacles.
If they falter, we watch them falten When they succeed, we are there to record the moment.
Some of you have spoken about negative and positive images in the documentary and it is clear there is vast disagreement as to what each of those means. A lot of it reflects the socioeconomic status of the person defining the terms, their own life experience and the way they see media.
EDUCATORS HAILED US
Many educators have hailed us for telling the story of what an enormous sector of our young population is facing in overcrowded and underfunded schools that do not address their unique needs as children of families struggling with a host of economic, cultural and immigration issues.
Others would rather we had highlighted only success stories and stayed away from casting a spotlight on the struggles of our schoolchildren.
The same was true of immigration stories. So many in our community told us we could not do a story about Latinos without showing how our controversial immigration debate is tearing apart families and encouraging some folks to target the most vulnerable among us. Others wanted no immigration experiences because they considered them depressing.
At the end of the day, I am a journalist and I made every effort to report the unfolding drama of human beings in our community. I take many of your suggestions to heart and because we are not a community that fails to speak up when trouble is afoot.
I feel the same about teen dropout rates, suicide and teen pregnancy. Our community suffers disproportionately from these ills. Our rates are rising. They are higher than they are for other ethnic or racial groups and they are undercutting the lives of our young people.
I am surprised how many people have written on the NILP site and others that they wondered why we’d look at these issues in our community rather than some other community.
That tells me that Latinos, even leaders who make policy decisions, live unaware of exactly what the statistics are and I feel even more strongly that even our own community needs to be educated about what’s happening to too many of our children.
We need to challenge bad schools, shabby health education, even look at our own family dynamics. Not talking about these issues is not going to make them go away, nor is doing PR for those who have escaped them going to change the reality too many face.
The challenge, and it is one I certainly find daunting, is to discuss these issues in context. I did my level best this time. I have learned a lot and I continue to listen, have an open mind and learn more. I am continuing to tour this country many months after this project is over in hopes of getting more ideas, more input, continuing to educate myself about our community and its issues. I pledge to you that I continue my mission to illuminate the many good things about our culture and our life here.
There are many stories yetto be told, about our incredible successes, our astronauts and Congresspeople and Ivy League graduates, as well as how our schools are failing our future leaders. I have just begun to tell them. And, for every one of you who wanted more, I say thank you many times over for joining me in the fight to tell our story . . . and “stand by.”
[Soledad O’Brien is a CNN anchor and special correspondent. In addition to repointing and producing that network’s ~Latino in America,” she a/so respond for the recent CNN series, “Black In America.” To view the full-length version of her commentary, go to www.hispanicilak.org. To view additional reactions to “Latino in America,” including remarks by RaUI Yzaguirre, visit The NILP Network at info@latlnopollcy.org. The Natilona/ Institute for Latino Policy (NILP) /s head quarter at 101 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-1933. Telephone: 1-800-590-2516].
