JOURNALIST AND MEDIA EXECUTIVE
Maria Hinojosa shares a personal account of America’s greater immigration crisis. From the September 23, 2020, online Inforum program “Maria Hinojosa: Latino USA.” Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. MARIA HINOJOSA, Founder, President and CEO, Futuro Media Group; Anchor and Executive Producer, NPR’s “Latino USA”; Author, Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America JACQUELINE MARTINEZ GARCEL, CEO, Latino Community Foundation—Moderator
LOVE & HATE IN A TORN AMERICA Trailblazing Latina journalist Maria Hinojosa on immigrants, discrimination and what’s happening with the Latinx vote. JACQUELINE MARTINEZ GARCEL: I have to say that when I got the email from The Commonwealth Club, I actually did a triple-take. I said to myself, “She wants me to interview her?” A hundred thoughts and questions rushed through my mind. Then I got your book, Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America. I got the hard copy, but I also did the audio because you’re an amazing storyteller, and I wanted your voice to guide me through these pages. When I read through it, it just all came together. This book felt like a sancocho for me, honestly, Maria. First, I just want to say thank you for writing this. It’s so powerful. I would recommend this book for any beating heart that is wondering how we’re going to turn this corner from this dark period of history right now. It’s when we read her story that we can understand how our story, our legacy, our generation’s going to fit into this crazy upside-down world we’re living in right now. I actually want to start [at] the moment that you were a baby in your mom’s arms, just come into Dallas, Texas. Here she is, this petite, young woman, five feet tall, facing this man who you later describe as 100-year-old redwood, because he was so tall. It was in that moment that your mom, when she was threatened, the thought of you being taken away from her because you had a little rash on your skin that you had just gotten because you had a blanket in the plane; they threatened that
they would take you away from her. That’s when your mom [reacted], her voice just resounded. I want to hear from you, how did that moment, as you reflected on it, shape your recognition of your own voice throughout your life? MARIA HINOJOSA: The arrival of my mother is an important part of the story, and I didn’t really realize what was happening. I would often tell the story, once I got it, because I didn’t get it until I was in my 30s. Part of what I hope happens with Once I Was You is that people actually start asking. It’s hard to get people to tell the arrival stories, because some of them are really hard. There’s some shame. I realize that this is what happened with my mom. First time I heard the story, it was like, “No, because we arrived. We all
