PBS and NPR award-winning news anchor and reporter, Maria Hinojosa, spoke on the campus of The Ohio State University Wednesday evening. The event was held in the beautifully ornate Performance Hall of the Ohio Union. Young and old faces filled the room. Men and women, and faces of all colors came to hear the anchor, and managing editor, of Latino USA speak directly to our University.

“I’m a little short, but I try not to sound that way on the radio”, Hinojosa joked in her opening. That line served as a metaphor for the rest of her speech, which came off as powerful and unapologetic. Covering a range of topics, she urged our students and professors to be an impetus for “changing the narrative” of our society. “The civil rights era didn’t happen in the past”, she urged, “it is happening right now, this very second”.

Hinojosa herself is a shining example of such spirit, having built her career by not backing away from Latino issues. Rather, she embraced them. Among other accolades, she has won 4 Emmys, the Robert F. Kennedy award for Reporting on the Disadvantaged, and this fall will become the first Latina to executively produce and anchor a television news program.

“The Latino narrative is what I call the U.S. Mambo: three steps forward, two steps back”, as she went on to document many instances of injustice in Latino history in the United States. Underground bilingual classrooms, banning of books by Latino authors, and the simple labeling of Latinos as “illegal” are all examples she listed that presently occur with regularity in the United States. Quoting Elie Wiesel, she added, “There is no such thing as an illegal human being”.

She finished with a powerful account of coverage she gave of an undocumented Latino family in the Bronx who lost their father during the attacks on 9/11. A homosexual couple from rural Maine reached out to the family, raised money to contribute to their needs, and ultimately invited them to stay on their farm for a week. When the family obliged, many locals looked askew upon the undocumented Latino family congregating with a local gay couple, a Latina reporter, and her African-American crew member. They asked, “Who are these people, why are they here, and why do they look so happy?” Hinojosa reiterated that there is love in diversity, and that beyond just Latina, she classifies herself as a human being. Upon hearing her story, and seeing the determined looks across the diverse faces in attendance, it appears the message is getting around in Columbus, Ohio. 

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