Meet The Prensa: The Discontent with CNN’s “Latino in America”

The first part, “Meet the Garcías,” displayed stories of success and struggle of people who shared that surname, the 8th most popular in the United States. It was narratively smart and avoided the sentimentality that Hispanic television regularly resorts to when portraying its potential viewers. It included stories of triumph and failure; of celebrities and regular folk; of legal and illegal immigrants; of devoted parents and high school drop-outs; of mother and daughter conflicts; of the hardships of cultural assimilation and the transformation of the Latino identity; of the difficulties of practicing your religion in a foreign country; and of the stereotypes that media has built on Latinos.

The second part, “Chasing the Dream,” had longer stories on the so-called American Dream ranging from the transformation of a city by Latinos to discrimination and hate crimes. The segments were interlocked by monologues of Latinos in the vein of the successful “Habla” series of HBO.

I understand that when the wait for mainstream media to start tackling the Latino question seriously instead of as a stupid tagline (i.e. thinking that dropping a Spanish word in the middle of a script is funny rather than offensive) seems to be coming to an end, expectations and anxiety run high. We all expect Latinos to be treated as equals, with respect for our language and culture(s). But let’s not confuse a television documentary with reality.

Actually, if you take a second to think about it, the fact that this excellent program couldn’t really encompass the Latino experience proves the greatness and complexity of the subject. Moreover, trying to impose conditions on the way serious media can portray Hispanics, or dismissing O’Brien for “not being Latina enough” (she doesn’t speak fluent Spanish, was born here, and is only half-Latina by blood) completely misses the point. It equals the short-sightedness of those who think their version of the United States is the right one, something they could preserve if only these tenths of millions of Latinos went back home, wherever that may be.

The fact that both an undocumented immigrant and someone like me —who came to this country to get a fancy degree and had the chance to stay— can claim to be Latinos, as well as share things that no television report can really grasp, is a wonderful thing. If it did, we would call it art, not journalism.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.