Pulitzer winner and pioneering Latina journalist Maria Hinojosa is a role model for anyone trying to forge a career in media, but more so for young Latinas across the U.S. Millions of them are currently in the same circumstances she was. once as a mexican. American who immigrated to the US with her parents and siblings.
Hinojosa channeled that and became one of the most successful and leading Latino journalists in the news business at a time when that was unheard of.
Hence the title of her memoir, Once I Was You, which was recently adapted for young readers. It is the story of her life, family and early career, where she, like the rest of us at a young age, realized her voice, role and purpose in life.
In a phone conversation with AL DÍA, Hinojosa spoke more extensively about the stories within the book, as well as the current state of the Latino community in the US.
future family
Latinos are known for their large extended families, where it is normal to grow up not only with their immediate family, but also with tias (aunts), tios (uncles) and primas (cousins). That experience is what informed Hinojosa when she became the first Latina to found an independent national nonprofit newsroom in the US, called Futuro Media. She’s been around for over a decade now, and when you look at her company, it’s like a big Latino family.
She said the strong family dynamic informed how she approached her professional life and career, and said she always knew she wanted to have colleagues where deep respect for one another existed without fear of one another, adding a healthy competition in the mix.
“What we’ve had to realize is that we want our company to feel like a family, but we want to be very clear that we’re actually colleagues,” Hinojosa said. “It adds an added element to it that I really appreciate. We were very intentional about that. I feel like making people feel at home is a part of Latino/Latina culture.”
In its early days, many saw the new news organization as a huge risk designed to last only three or five years. Now, Futuro is going on 11 years, and Latino USA — her flagship podcast that started on NPR — is going on more than 30 years. In many ways, the staying power of Futuro and Latino USA is a testament to Latino power across the country. For Hinojosa, it’s rooted in lines that pay homage to In the Heights and Hamilton writer Lin Manuel Miranda: “Immigrants, they get the job done.”
“This notion of retirement was foreign to my father as well. I’m on a mission. and it’s about helping this country be the great democracy it says it is. I have every intention of continuing to work and am inspired by people who had nothing but dreams. I want to make sure that this democracy grows and flourishes. Given that Latinos and Latinos are the youngest and fastest growing demographic group in the country. We must be 100% committed to democracy,” said Hinojosa.
A US shift on the world stage
In Once I Was You, Hinojosa writes about her father’s initial reluctance to leave his homeland after he was offered and later accepted a research position at the University of Chicago and fulfilled his dream of restoring hearing to the deaf. While many Latinos across America have come to the states in hopes of a better life, Hinojosa wondered if the US still has that allure or if it has lost its charm recently. She said these days it’s much more of a mixed bag.
“People are much more aware that the U.S. is not necessarily a Mecca, that it is a country that, at times, seems to have no heart,” Hinojosa said. “The US has had a long history of involvement in Latin America, and often not for the better. On the other hand, for many people in Latin America, the US still represents that possibility of hope and having a dream. That’s what keeps this country alive is those new immigrants, new arrivals that come here.”
Introduction to media in its many forms
When it comes to the news industry, one of Hinojosa’s first introductions came when she and her mother first heard the news of former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination from the famous news anchor Walter Cronkite. It was the first time she witnessed a journalist breaking news that changed the world, and it helped her see the power of the profession.
Cronkite was long considered the standard bearer for his neutral reporting style, but to Hinojosa, he was still biased in his own way, just as many consider the news industry today.
“It was just men telling him the news,” Hinojosa said at the time. “Right now, the American news media is in a fight for its life. The country did not realize how important independent journalism was and is. We took it for granted. Now you have an active part of society trying to discredit all journalists. I don’t think there’s a problem with too much media, but that it’s not representative enough.”
Beyond JFK’s assassination, Hinojosa also experienced her share of major world-shaping events and the dark times that came with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.
Her older sister and even her mother were politically active at the time and were the ones who took Hinojosa to her first political rally. There, she saw what young people at the time were willing to fight and even die for in some unfortunate cases. It’s similar to what she sees in young people today fighting for equality.
“I think it’s a similar time. There is an incredible amount of activism. We’re living in a strange time where we’re just trying to figure out how to manage a pandemic that’s still here,” Hinojosa said. “It has everything to do with what happened in terms of activism, but I still hold the hope of activism as part of what can save this country and its democracy.”
Beyond Cronkite, Hinojosa also watched 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning like it was church with her family. The work also inspired her career in the field.
“You never know when something you do as a kid because it’s fun or you find it interesting will plant the seed for what you do when you grow up,” she said.
The same approach is what she tells every young person she meets when offering career advice.
“The answer is to trust your gut and that we all know what happens when you get really quiet and listen to your inner voice,” Hinojosa said. “It’s about trusting what you’re hearing from your inner voice and giving yourself the time and patience to develop and listen to that voice.”
Latin political power in 2022
This may be difficult given the political climate the US is currently experiencing, but Latinos will continue to play a larger role.
With the upcoming midterm elections, the Latino community appears to be the key demographic shift. The community has come to the point where it now holds the fate of the country’s political trajectory in its hands. Hinojosa said she was proud of how far the Latino community has come since she was a young girl.
“I always knew this would happen. The demographics were right in front of us,” Hinojosa said. “I think the question now is, ‘What will Latinos and Latinos vote? How do they see themselves in the American political system? What do they see that they can add?'”
Addressing Latino anti-blackness
But with the good of having more political power comes the bad, like the racist scandal that rocked the Los Angeles City Council last month. The leaked recording of a closed-door redistricting hearing put Latino racism on display for the entire country and demands for accountability that continue to this day.
Hinojosa’s reaction was comparable to many major Latin figures, who condemned the statements of Council President Nury Martínez.
“This was definitely a low point for Latino politics, period. I am disgusted and I am horrified. But it doesn’t surprise me. I am not surprised by the deep racism, anti-blackness and anti-indigeneity in the Latino community,” she said.
But also like others that AL DÍA has interviewed about the scandal, the moment a Hinojosa said the Latino community can use to finally address the long-overlooked issue of anti-Gypsy among Latinos.
“I think those of us who are part of this community absolutely understand that it’s a moment to dive deeper and have more conversations,” she said. “I’m looking at it as a possibility, but it’s absolutely a low point. It is not entirely new. It has happened in the past. We have to address it.”
Hinojosa’s adapted memoir for young readers, Once I Was You, is available wherever books are sold and is also available as an audiobook on Audible.
