The challenge of representing a diverse community amid the tension often surrounding immigration issues brought together about a hundred community members and journalists Wednesday night at the Colorado Convention Center.
“Seeing a broad range of people here speaks to the challenge: How do we cover a community as complex as this one?” said Denver Post columnist Tina Griego, moderator for the panel discussion that was part of the opening for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention.
Panelists included former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, lawyer Amber Tafoya, former state Sen. Polly Baca and assistant professor Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamantes of the University of Arizona.
“As readers,” Griego asked the audience, “how can you help us do our job better?”
“One suggestion is to cover the issue of why people have to come here,” said Norman Jacquez of Denver, who lives in Mexico for part of the year. “And the role of the U.S. in these issues.”
Monica Perez of Pueblo brought two of her children to listen to the discussion. She believes Latinos are underrepresented in the American media and that often, the coverage is negative.
“I want them to have awareness about how we as Latinos are represented,” Perez said. “Eventually, they will have to know how to address the issues.”
She said she wanted to hear how journalists planned to address the deficiencies but noted that she also had her own ideas.
“Ideally, there’s going to have to be a time when we all are culturally sensitive,” Perez said. “Awareness and learning is key.”
Some of the panelists agreed.
“If people knew how the law works, it really does shift people’s mind frames,” said Tafoya, a Democrat running for state representative.
Lamm said it should be possible to be against illegal immigration without sounding hateful.
“The issues continue to change,” Lamm said. “I’m very concerned about the number of people coming here.”
Joe Gomez, a Lafayette resident, said he would support tighter border controls, but “one thing that bothers me, though, is when people are described as Hispanics. I always call and ask, how do you know? There’s so much integration.”
“This is the climate in which we live — Latinos are suspect in all coverage,” Griego said.
The convention continues through Saturday.
