Soledad O'Brien, Eva Longoria-Parker/Kyle Christy/CNN
On the heels of Black in America 2, CNN has expanded its "in America" series to Latinos. Coming at the tail-end of Hispanic Heritage Month (a.k.a. Latino Heritage Month), Latino in America addresses the nearly 50 million Latinos that make up the current U.S. population. Flitting from L.A. to Phoenix and Miami to Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, among others, Latino in America aims to not just introduce the Latino community and culture to other Americans; it also explores internal and external issues and concerns.
A four-hour, two-night special, Latino in America kicks off tonight, airing at both 9pm and 12am, in English on CNN and in Spanish on CNN en Español. Recognizing the fact that Garcia is among the ten most popular surnames in the U.S., the first installment of Latino in America focuses on various Latinos named Garcia who represent a wide range of nationalities and experiences. Latino in America literally traverses the country touching on everything from immigration to poverty, education and bigotry. The second installment, "Chasing the Dream," airing Thursday night, explores the struggles that make it more difficult for some Latinos to attain the American dream.
As with Black in America, there's already criticism that CNN doesn't adequately balance successful Latinos outside of entertainment with the many struggling ones that appear to be the primary focus. Worse yet, extremely successful Latinos in the areas of business, for example, are invisible. At least, this is one of the concerns that The Miami Herald's Glenn Garvin raises. "Almost everybody in the documentary is either poor and troubled -- single chicana moms in Los Angeles, jobless Puerto Ricans in Orlando, suicidal Dominican girls in New York -- or works for the government," writes Garvin. "The major exceptions are a handful of entertainment figures like Eva Longoria and George Lopez."
For many Latinos, CNN's Latino in America is not their primary concern; Lou Dobbs is. Immigration has long dominated the topics on The Lou Dobbs Show. Many within the Latino community, in particular, feel that Dobbs has used his show to fuel anti-Latino sentiments, contributing to hate crimes against Latinos, as well as ongoing rejection of Latinos within this nation.
At a special preview screening of Latino in America, held at the Woodruff Arts Center, Jerry Gonzalez, who heads GALEO, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, didn't keep his mouth shut during the post-screening discussion. Sitting only a few seats away from both O'Brien and Mark Nelson, a vice president and senior executive at CNN, Gonzalez, a selected panelist, represented many Latinos when he emphasized that CNN must dump Dobbs.
The sentiment is so popular that there's even an anti-Dobbs website, bastadobbs.com. In fact, Latino in America is shaping up to be the battle cry to get Dobbs removed from CNN. Many Latinos are further enraged by reports such as that by Michael Colderone at Politico.com that CNN refused to air "Dump Dobbs" during the series.
Still, ratings for Latino in America should be huge. Even with all the criticism CNN received regarding the first installment of Black in America, the ratings were extremely high, with CNN trending very popularly on Twitter. So far, there's been no indication among CNN's other viewers that Latino in America will not reach even greater heights. Numbers revealed on Thursday and Friday, however, will end all speculation as to how this battle played out.
Comments
I'm not of hispania origen; However, I often wonder why CNN is taking chances of becoming another FOX news. CNN is respected throrough the world and I believe this character Dobbs is a liar and a bigot. He belongs with the clowns at FOX.
Latinos in America is fascinating.
The question remaining is why does CNN keep that monster Dobbs on the air? He is an angry, disgusting creature. Deport him over to the Billy Bob Fox News. The network that speaks for angry wold white males balimg their failures in life on "the other"...ugh...
why not haitian in america , i have fought for this country in savannah giorgia .i can see that ,you are not to different from the peole in fox news racist anti-haitian,i know why ,i do not know your history
I saw Latino in America and it was awful. Why doesn't CNN let the Latinos speak for themselves instead of filtering everything through a black Caribbean point of view? Personally, I am not interested in Soledad O'Brien.
I am not Latino but I live in the Southwest and even I know that Mexican-Americans and other Latinos have astronauts, brain surgeons, and Nobel Prize winners. Where were they?
I don't think this series will help CNN with Latinos at all.
I had to turn this special off as it was not at all informative. You have a woman from the Dominican Republic who came here before her daughter. Her daughter now speaks perfect English, and the mother did not speak one word of English. What's that all about? You've been here long enough, you should know some English. As for Lou Dobbs, why is he not allowed to give his opinion? Let him say what he thinks. If people don't agree with him, then the rating will go down. Everyone does not need to see things his way, just turn the dial - like I did last night. I guess anyone who reports from CNN needs to be pro Obama and everything else the those on the far left see? I'm a moderate and like to hear other opinions.
Without Lou Dobb's commentary Americans would never know about the cloaked agenda of the open border zealots. Lou brought the un-exaggerated truth about the 20 to 30 million illegal immigration invasion from every corner of the world?
Call and blast your Senators and Representative at 202-224-3121 in Washington. Overwhelming the switchboard with your calls, as it is having an outstanding effect of--MILLIONS of angry voters. INFORM THEM DO YOUR DUTY OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES ON RE-ELECTION DAY? Tell them you want a PERMANENT E-Verify for--EVERY WORKER, a secure double layer fence and--REAL--enforcement against sanctuary state policies. Read undisclosed facts at NUMBERSUSA. UNEARTH the corruption at JUDICIAL WATCH. Your voice is needed to halt OVERPOPULATION and American Worker survival. Demand NO-MORE-AMNESTIES. Go home and come through the front door, like millions of legal immigrants?
Soledad O'Brien should have mentioned the history of Latinos in America....the mix of Spaniards and Indians that settled the land before it became the USA. Overall, I gave it a "C".
Lou Dobbs makes CNN look bad, I can't believe he's married to a Latina.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!