CNN hopes that the In America franchise can draw more attention to the struggles and triumphs of diverse communities.
“The In America brand strand gives us the opportunity to look at groups of people in America that have been misreported or in some cases neglected [by the media],” according to Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer for CNN Productions.
Latino In America will be hosted by Soledad O’Brien.The programs will focus on the growing U.S. Hispanic population and the pertinent issues that face the community.
“We found out with Black In America that many people who watched were not only black but Hispanic as well,” Nelson said. “This is the fastest-growing minority group in America today, but we don’t understand how really diverse this group is. The show focuses on how Latinos are changing America and how America is changing Latinos.”
The first part of the series will explore the lives of people across the country who share the surname “Garcia,” the eighth most popular family name in America. The second part focuses on how four different communities are meeting the challenges of disparities, immigration and discrimination in terms of language, education, citizenship, and cultural identity.
Celebrities such as Edward James Olmos, Eva Longoria Parker, Jesse Garcia and Lupe Ontiveros will also be featured in the documentary.
Nelson said CNN will also create a Spanish-language version of Latino In America.
Black In America 2 premieres this July.
5 comments:
Dear Soledad:
I have always admire your work since the early days when I lived in NYC. I am very happy to see how far you have come. I am surprised that you are using the word LATINO/A as a synonym of a person from the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas when that is a misnomer and a very uneducated one,too. I happen to be white of both Spanish and French background, born in Chicago and grew up in the Caribbean; I always considered my self LATIN because of my southern European heritages not because I grew up in a Latin American country and surely not as a race. LATINS are not a race, we are the people, regardless of race,or continent whose lives are mainly based and influenced by the Latin Europeans (Italians, French Portuguese,Spamish and even Rumanians.
I really hope that in your series you make sure not to misuse the word LATIN, LATINO/A as a synomyn of the people whose way of life was influenced by the SPANISH. If they still speak Spanish, the best term is Hispanic(short for hispanophone)
I hope that you understand my point of view, and do not go with the way of many who by lack of knoledge or lack of identity have usurped a name that is not theirs.
Sincerely.
L. Alfonso DuLuc
Actually, the term "Latino" was officially adopted in 1997 by the United States Government in the ethnonym "Hispanic or Latino", which replaced the single term "Hispanic":
"Because regional usage of the terms differs -- Hispanic is commonly used in the eastern portion of the United States, whereas Latino is commonly used in the western portion."
(^ Office of Management and Budget. "Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Federal Register Notice October 30, 1997". http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/1997standards.html.)
U.S. official use of the term "Hispanic" has its origins in the 1970 census. The Census Bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets:
* Spanish speakers and persons belonging to a household where Spanish was spoken
* Persons with Spanish heritage by birth location
* Persons who self-identify with Spanish ancestry or descent
Dear Paradelle:
Thanks for the very helpful information you have provided us with in your comments. Solid facts like this are what we all need to help us dispel myths and misinformation.
Sincerely,
T. Akin
Dear Paradelle:
I appreciate your comment and your pointing us to the Office of Management and Budget of the US. Nonetheless, historically and academically the term "Latin" or "Latino/a" in Spanish, Italian,and Portuguese, still refers to the people and cultures that derive from the Roman Empire, not from the Spanish Empire. See the term "Latin Church" for example.
The US governmet in all its "wisdom" has actually misused a term that already has had a meaning in the academic world. In any school in a Spanish-speaking country, in Italy or Mozanbique, the adjective Latino/a is taught as "related to the Roman derived cultures", not exclusively to the Hispanic World. If the term was meant to unify the Non-Hispanics such as the Maya or the Inca, let us understand that their awesome cultures are not Latin at all, and if anything, they would be more connected to the Hispanic language than to the Latin.
This is an example of wrong terms and ideas that are being propageted thus spreading ignorance, and we need to spread out more accurate information.
P.S. Some people have even asked me how come I am Hispanic if I am white; figure that. They really believe that the American Indian look is the Hispanic race.
Sincerely
L. Alfonso DuLuc
I applaused your work om Latinos in America. And of course it wasn't long after the show Blacks in America. I wonder if your collective powers will be doing a showing about Whites in America. I know it won't as exciting as black teenagers shoting each other on the streets and playing basketball in hopes of putting down the crack pipe and guns. An of course it might even pale to the sea of illegal alliens coming over the wire so they can deliver their babies in the hot sunlight crating new little American that will learn English as a second language while translating for their parents looking for jobs that come with a preprinted Social Security Card. Of course to can alwasy find something to talk about a race so doing a story on whites growing up in a country where much of their tax paying dollars ar funneled to health csre snd schools thst hsve high percentage of illegals. Maybe there could be a show on kids being forced to bus to schools where they are the minority or can't find a need job because the next person to be hired has to be a Cuban Woman who showed determination and grit while paddling an inter-tube at night on the family trip to thr promise land where jobs like working in underground sweat shops or helping the local drug lord cut cocaine for street sale. Or I guess you can just do a follow-up on your current show to try and convince even more people that being illegal in a country and lieing about work documents is ok. Illegal is Illegal and that is a clear fact exccept for those strong swimmer and fast runners that can make it into the US and find the so many safe houses that have been created to help them cheat their way into a life others earned by truely being American. If anything I take offense to all the Hyphenated-Americans. So so-called melting pot won't be melting much if as soon and all these illegal alliens sneak inside the US and go right into neighborhoods created in the image of the drug ruled, rat infested, gang ruled slums they came from. How many White American born and raised in this country walk around rioting and doing marches calinh themselves " "-Amricans?
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