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125 Celebrating
years
1891
2016
Volume 126, No. 27
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
SPORTS
CSU offense confident after win against UNC PAGE 8
A&C
Kindness Campaign event to offer live music, yoga and more PAGE 12
Maria Hinojosa speaks at the Diversity Symposium.
PHOTO BY TONY VILLALOBOS MAY COLLEGIAN
Latina keynote speaker addresses Latino media representation, treatment of immigrants By Nicole Towne @nicole_towne21
Maria Hinojosa, Latina journalist and founder of the Futuro Media Group, spoke at the Lory Student Center Theater as part of the 16th Annual Diversity Symposium Tuesday night. The keynote speech, which was sponsored by Ram Events, discussed the political climate, Latino representation in the media, treatment of immigrants and various correlating topics. “We are excited to have Maria Hinojosa come and speak about the Latinx population
and the changing demographics in the U.S.,” wrote Richard Guzman, Office of the Vice President for Diversity coordinator, in an email to the Collegian. “It’s timely in the state of Colorado, as well as in the current political climate for our election season.” In reference to the growing Latino population, Hinojosa said that the country is getting more diverse. Hinojosa said that with increasing change, comes increases in fear. Hinojosa addressed that some Americans are uncomfortable with the prospect of
minorities becoming majorities. “I don’t want to dismiss people’s fear of change,” Hinojosa said. “I need to understand it. In fact, it is my job as an American journalist to understand people’s difference of opinions and try to understand what is moving them. I have to do that in a way that is fair, that is curious and that is not about convincing anyone of anything.” Hinojosa brought up concerns about diversity in news media and life for Latino Americans and immigrants. “Newsrooms are less diverse
now then they were 25 years ago,” Hinojosa said. Not only are news organizations lacking diversity in their employee make-up, they are lacking diversity in their content, Hinojosa said. She said because of this, news organizations such as Futuro Media group, a non-profit organization which serves to tell stories with a focus on diversity, are seeking out and reporting on stories which otherwise would not receive coverage. “We know that we are in fact a part of American History and
we are not going to allow our stories and our narratives to be erased,” Hinojosa said. She also discussed concerns for Latina adolescents and cited that Latina teens have the highest rate of attempted suicide. “We know in high schools today there are walls being built,” Hinojosa said. She said these metaphorical walls, much like the physical walls presidential nominee Donald Trump is advocating for, are pushing people out and promoting a culture of inclusion and isolation. see KEYNOTE on page 5 >>