The Antiracist Bookshelf

Recent U.S. Census figures provide dramatic testimony to the growth of the Latino population. This program looks at the "Three Houses of Latino Culture"—Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American—and their widespread influence from entertainment to politics to economics. Key issues include how long Hispanics have been in America and how U.S. immigration laws affect their assimilation. Interviews with Latino community leaders—university presidents, professors, artists, doctors, CEOs, bishops, and ministers—bring home the diversity and achievement of this rapidly expanding segment of the American populace. (30 minutes)

The traditional role of wife and mother is changing rapidly to that of independent, self-sufficient working woman for many American Latina women. In this program, several prominent Latina women, including author Isabel Allende, and actress Jennifer Lopez discuss their changing role within the context of Hispanic family values, male machismo, and the traditional role of females as the center of family and community life. A psychiatrist and several Hispanic men examine the issue from the male perspective. Hosted by actor Jimmy Smits. (44 minutes)

In April 2013, Spanish film maker Luis Mancha went to the University of California, Irvine to interview Alejandro Morales, an under-read Chicano author whose works present a vision of Southern California and America so different from the image that the United States projects abroad that Mancha felt compelled to make this documentary film. In it we follow Morales’ journey around Southern California as he tries to understand issues concerning the Latino population in California and the U.S. He and other Chicano/Latino academic experts discuss the first immigrants to California; how California was taken over by Anglo-Americans; how the city of Irvine came to be and its juxtaposition to Santa Ana; Barrios and “white flight;” Chicano literature; institutionalized racism and university barriers to ethnic studies programs; gang violence and the incarceration system; and future relations between the U.S. and Mexico. Also featuring Leo Chavez, María Herrera-Sobek, Francisco Lomelí, Belinda Campos, Raúl Fernandez, Mario García, Ellen McCracken, and Eleanor Guzman.

Though Hispanic people journey to the United States from different homelands, do they all share the same heritage and concerns? This program takes a detailed look at the fastest-growing minority in the U.S. and what it means to be Latino and American. The documentary contrasts the experience of being a Latino in a flourishing ethnic neighborhood of a big city with living in a small town, where many Latinos feel isolated. Interviews with individuals stepping up to the roles of leadership in the Hispanic community cover a large spectrum of subjects, including social services, churches, business, and the arts. (30 minutes)

HBO presents a unique glimpse into the vibrant and burgeoning culture of Hispanic America through a series of highly personal video portraits of Latinos who have richly contributed to the fabric of contemporary society. Funny, poignant and irreverent, The Latino List illuminates the Latino experience today, at a time when the Latino population in the US is booming. The Latino List: Volume 1 spotlights a diverse range of notables from music, science, journalism, theater, politics, business, and government. In intimate interviews with NPR correspondent Maria Hinojosa, these prominent Hispanic Americans discuss such subjects as the childhood inspirations that fueled their ambitions, how they achieved success, the evolving American cultural landscape they helped mold, the importance of preserving a distinct cultural identity for future generations to embrace, and the challenges of discrimination. The subjects share stories of growing up Latino in America, how their backgrounds shaped their philosophies and their feelings on a society where new opportunities abound, but challenges still exist. Hailing from a variety of backgrounds, including Cuban, Colombian, Honduran, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and more, each interviewee has a unique perspective on his or her American success story.

This film follows the efforts of community leaders working to ensure Latino voter turnout. How will these efforts impact the presidential election result, and will 2020 be a tipping point for the impact of the Latino vote?