Latino In America goes out with a whine
By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García
For a review of Part 1, click here
No way around it: Latino In America was a failure.
At the very least, Thursday’s conclusion, “Chasing The Dream,” seemed equal parts melodrama and bait-and-switch, with the broadcast component weakened by a lack of questions that undercut even its’ more compelling segments.
For instance, in the report on the murder of Luis Mendoza, we got an overview of events in Shenandoah, Penn., leading up to the crime, and of the area’s history with several immigrant populations, but when one individual reported he felt he was being intimidated because of his speaking to CNN, we got no follow-up with local authorities. When it was mentioned that one of the four defendants – who were acquitted of hate-crime accusations – testified the cops told them to get their stories straight, we got no follow-up.
In another major mis-step, the incident was not placed in any sort of context – at least on-air. You had to venture to the series’ website (or look it up yourself) to get this kind of information:
FBI statistics show that anti-Latino crimes are on the rise. There were 595 anti-Latino crimes in 2007, up almost 40 percent from the 426 crimes in 2003; the Latino population in America grew only 14 percent during that time.
In December, Ecuadorean Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhañay died after he was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn, New York.
One month earlier, a group of seven teenagers with a history of harassing Latinos went out looking for “Mexicans to f— up” and fatally stabbed Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, New York.
FBI figures from 2007 show that anti-Latino attacks account for about 8 percent of all hate crimes. About 35 percent of hate crimes were directed at blacks, 16 percent at homosexuals and 13 percent at Jews.
But experts say hate crimes in general are underreported. States are not required to report those figures to the FBI.
Surely including at least some of this information would have been a better use of our viewing time than Soledad O’Brien amiably chatting up the guy starting up his own “Save Shenandoah” group.
A similar lack of layering plagued the story of “Marta,” the undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. To find her mother, only to find herself having to accuse her mom of neglect in order to stay in America. Marta’s story is woven with that of the Cuban “Pedro Pans,” which include Sen. Mel Martínez (R-FL). Never mind that Marta (pictured above) isn’t even Cuban. But, again, you had to go to the website to get more relevant information:
[Marta's] case is typical of the 7,211 children known to have entered the United States illegally in 2008 by themselves, according to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which runs the shelters where the children are detained. Children come searching for family members or a way out of poverty with little understanding of the legal ramifications they face.
And how does Martínez feel about a system that forces children to seek their own legal representation in these matters? Well, you had to watch Anderson Cooper to figure it out, I guess, because O’Brien seemingly never asked.
Other segments just seemed disjointed: the segment on Pico Rivera veered from covering its’ evolution into a “Latino Mayberry” (a rather condescending term) to a law enforcement crackdown against gang and tagging activity to the city’s Scared Straight-esque P.R.I.D.E program to following yet another at-risk teen trying to navigate through it. And in the middle of all this, seemingly staple-gunned onto the narrative, was a visit with a local car club. And all this was before we learned that the city’s otherwise sympathetic mayor, Gracie Gallegos, had to resign for allegedly cashing bad checks. What, exactly, was the lesson to be learned from this? There wasn’t even an online companion to this story to look to for an overall point.
The series’ final segment seemed to focus on the financial disadvantage of a naturalized immigrant who doesn’t speak English; not only would his story have fit in more tightly among those featured in “The Garcías,” but it was shoe-horned against an Anglo baseball instructor who successfully boosts his camp’s enrollments by hiring and recruiting Latino staff and students; and a very successful immigrant couple. In the end we learn that the guy’s girlfriend is pregnant and he failed his Sheriff Department entrance exam again.
And that’s where the series wraps up. Is this how the network wants to attract more Latino viewership? Based on these utterly depressing four hours, I can just imagine the slogan: CNN: ¡No se puede!
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
CDF wrote:
From “BiA, BiA” to “you LiA”…
I caught a few moments of the show, but already knew how CNN was going to run things. Preaching to the choir already?
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 9:34 am ¶
Renee wrote:
Once again another stunning failure by O’Brien. These little forays into culture that she takes are voyeuristic and don’t reveal anything. It seems that CNN is only interested in affirming all of the social stereotypes about Latin@’s. I am sure Dobbs loved the whole documentary.
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 9:37 am ¶
Urban Suburbinite wrote:
I did take away something positive. In the segment about the Puerto Rican police officer studying for the sheriff’s exam in Orlando. They briefly introduced us to two people in his english class. One was a surgeon, the other a naval officer (or was it commander?), one was employed as pool cleaner the other as a cable installer.
I have to admit, that when I have been in contact with recent immigrants, I never thought about what they could have been in their home country, even though my own grandfather was an immigrant. He came from an english speaking country, so he could pick up where he left off without a language barrier.
My great grandmother was born in the states and did not speak english until her adult years, (The schools she attended in New Orleans were still taught in French.) so her job prospects were limited to maid or cook.
So the language barrier segment really resonated with me.
I did not see the whole series only Thursday, did they ever address teen pregnancy in the latino community, like they did in the Black in America?
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 10:39 am ¶
Kaviani wrote:
CNN’s simply the soft, white underbelly of US profit-driven media. Much like FOX, they ignore incisive points and legitimately hard questions in order to create a spit-shined portrait that people WANT to see (rather than NEED to see).
I’ve ignored them since 2006 and have no intentions of revisiting them any time soon. I dismiss!
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 10:43 am ¶
Valor wrote:
Missed opportunities were a thread throughout O’Brien’s portrayal of Latino’s in America. Each time she had a window to paint optimism in the midst of her depressing depiction, she failed once again. I was waiting for her to dive into the need for health literacy programs to address issues such as those that Carlos and his fiancee faced when they went to the hospital for their ultra-sound. However, we were left with the taste of yet another pregnant Latino struggling to live the American Dream. But wait…O’Brien made sure to let us know that at least one Latino is living the American Dream…oh yea, that’s right the white Latino with the mid-western accent working for Disney, she sure gives hope and can identify with the majority of the other Latino’s depicted in the documentary.
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 10:51 am ¶
GüeraLola wrote:
ugggg thanks for telling me this. Just one more thing to add to my list not to watch.
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 10:59 am ¶
Lola wrote:
it seems the series focused on new immigrants and ignored the experience of Latinos who have been here for generations or come from US territories like Puerto Rico
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 11:34 am ¶
Danny wrote:
To be honest, I think it would be near impossible for media outlets to portray reality. Maybe only glimpses but not the whole picture.
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 1:19 pm ¶
soreal789 wrote:
I’m giving CNN a “C” for effort. I watched both parts of the documentary and was also disappointed. I thought “Black in America 2″ was more positive than “Latino in America”
So for things that I liked: I liked the short little segments between stories of Latinos talking about themselves.
Disliked: the amount of negativity, how just about every young female on the documentary was pregnant and/or being victimized and falling between the cracks of the system.
I would have liked to have seen more discussion on the differences between Latinos kuz we are all not the same. How we view each other and how racism works between us and effects us (not just by whites but racism between light skinned latinos and dark skinned latinos).
I would have liked to see more discussion on Afro-Caribbeans, on Brazilians and how they fit into Latino culture. The influence of the slave trade into Latino culture.
I would have liked the documentary to show one hour or more of successful Latinas who didnt all get pregnant at 15 or succumb to gangs or some other nonsense.
The talks they had on Hollywood would have been better if they included more seasoned actors and talked about what it would take to break barriers. The should have talked more about the ALMA awards.
I could probably go on and on about what I would have liked to see…
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 1:47 pm ¶
AS wrote:
Just a note: Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhañay and his brother Romel were attacked because their attackers thought they were gay. Their attackers did shout anti-Mexican slurs (even though they are Ecuadoran), but one confessed that the beating was motivated by homophobia as they thought the two brothers were a gay because they were walking arm-in-arm. They upgraded their homophobia with racism and xenophobia. Then they took it on home by grinning into a toll camera.
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 5:48 pm ¶
BAP wrote:
To quote a friend of mine who I totally agree with:
“Why do people constantly bitch and moan about how CNN didn’t EXCLUSIVELY profile happy, successful, wealthy minorities in these documentaries? This is not a PUBLIC RELATIONS video to help your minority look better. It’s a documentary about REAL PEOPLE in REAL COMMUNITIES. To act like teen pregnancy is not an issue in the latino community and one that CNN should’ve glossed over is ridiculous. And of course immigration was a large focus of the documentary, in the #1 topic involving that community!
Overall, I loved the special. I learned a lot and that’s what makes these documentaries so interesting. Soledad did a great job.”
Posted 23 Oct 2009 at 6:27 pm ¶
Shauna wrote:
I find the entire idea of trying to do a few shows about “Latin@ in America” or “Black in America” offensive. Why not just actually cover these segments along with the “regular” news in your show? Look-here’s Latin@ people! Watch them in their natural habitats! This is what THEY’re like!
Posted 24 Oct 2009 at 12:46 am ¶
Harold M. Clemens wrote:
@ Shauna:
while the concept of either series isn’t necessarily offensive to me, I agree with your insinuation that both were produced with a pale mainstream audience in mind. Wetbacks 101 and Darkies 102, respectively, for “them.”
Posted 24 Oct 2009 at 10:15 am ¶
Kelly wrote:
To BAP:
Successful Latinos are also real people in real communities. I would have liked to see an interview with the two Latino astronauts who rode on the space shuttle this summer, Jose Hernandez and John D. Olivas. Instead we got an interview with the actor who plays the captain on Battlestar Galactica.
Posted 24 Oct 2009 at 5:38 pm ¶
maus wrote:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/24/cnn-edits-dobbs/
CNN remains a bunch of self-serving racist jerks.
” [Garcia] who was featured in “Latino in America” and organized an anti-Dobbs protest in Tucson on Wednesday, said that CNN edited her comments about the anchor out of an interview. [...]
She said she called Mr. Arpaio and Mr. Dobbs “the two most dangerous men to our communities,” and said that “because of them, our communities are being terrorized in a real way.” She also asserted that CNN was “promoting lies and hate about our community” by broadcasting Mr. Dobbs’s program. The comments were not included when the interview was shown Wednesday night. “They heavily deleted what I did get to say,” she said.”
Posted 24 Oct 2009 at 10:23 pm ¶
Darkstar wrote:
This ‘news special’ is why I never watch CNN or have it in my satellite sub-it’s a crappy channel that delivers crappy news. If I want news, I have CBC Newsworld or The Real News Network ( http://www.therealnews.com) they promise no ads just real news, and although I disagree with that philosophy, I must admit they get to the real nitty-gritty of news that outlets like CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS don’t do anymore.
Here we go again with yet another law enforcement crackdown targeted at young men of colour-and it’s the same old Sacred Straight crap! Why not have one of these for corporate America? hy not try something different for young Latinos? Better yet, why not try to make their communities better?
Posted 25 Oct 2009 at 6:57 pm ¶
Calvin wrote:
I agree with you (and your friend) 100% BAP.
I’m actually quite surprised this thread and by some of the comments here. Theses documentaries are about the real lives and issues in the Latino community (the good and the bad). It’s not supposed to be some happy story with a fairytale ending. The special captured real concerns and issues in the Latino community.
Overall I thought it was better and more well-rounded than “Black in America.” Unlike Black in America… Latino in America acknowledged the diversity within the community (Black in America completely ignored black Americans of immigrant decent). It also discussed the cultural clashes amongst the generation being raised here and the pressures of complying/identifying with their ancestral culture. Overall it was a nice program. Those who criticize it aren’t being realistic in my opinion.
Posted 26 Oct 2009 at 5:18 am ¶