CNN’s Soledad O’Brien On Being Latina, And More, In America
6 October 2009, 10:35 AM. By Alex Alvarez
For their “Latino in America” feature in commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, CNN profiled news anchor Soledad O’Brien, who is of Cuban, Irish, Scottish and Australian descent and who has a black mother and white father.
In the article, Soledad talks about people’s confusion over her name (”María de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien”) and her role in broadcast journalism as a WOC (a term we’re using for the sake of simplicity, but one that we’ve felt has never been quite… right):
It’s hard to be the lone ethnic face in the room. People look to me to explain a community that is diverse and ever-changing, a community with which sometimes I don’t have a great deal in common. There is so little in-depth reporting on people of color that I set the bar high for myself and the people around me. I see the job I have now as my opportunity to get good reporting about black and brown people on TV, as a chance to bring people together, and to tell a fair and accurate story of communities of color, not just rehash stereotypes for the sake of drama.
This.
She also mentions her Cuban, black mother’s role in forming her identity, mentioning she did not teach her children Spanish, but did urge them to take pride in and ownership of their racial and national identities:
You can be made to feel bad about where you come from or feel bad about succeeding or feel like you’re not a part of a community because your experience is different. My Cuban-born mother is wonderful on this topic. This woman who didn’t teach her children Spanish did teach us pride.
“Don’t let them tell you you’re not black,” she tells me. “Don’t let them tell you you’re not Hispanic or not Cuban.” And I don’t. The fact that I work for CNN has fostered my commitment to telling great stories about people of color.
And it is this, the shaming or attempts at contortion that others place upon members of any group, that is at the heart of what we hope to unravel in discussions on what it means, exactly, to be Latino in America.
Soledad’s ethnicity and identity were recently the topic of conversation in a comment thread right here on Guanabee, where the appropriateness of her interviewing Juanes - about his concert for peace in Cuba - was called into question given her lack of fluency in Spanish and commenters’ feeling that she seemed to sweep her identity as a Latina under the rug in favor of identifying solely or mostly as a black American.
We’ll admit this comment thread didn’t sit well with us, because we have, personally, never had a problem seeing Soledad as Cuban, Latina, black and American all at once, without one identity bowing or giving way to another. We’ve always known her to be all these things fully and completely.
This very discussion about Soledad came to mind when we were reading a Racialicious article on mixed-race individuals and how they choose to identify, specifically questioning the tendency to label multi-ethnic or multi-racial people as “half this, a quarter that, a quarter of this other thing” etc. Writes Racialicious contributer Thea Lim:
It’s not like I can hold my different ethnicities separate from each other. I’m not half and half, something on this side and something else on the other…I’m both. At the same time. There are no parts of my experience that are solely white, or solely Chinese. I don’t have one compartment for Chineseness in my brain and another compartment for Whiteness, living side by side and sometimes visiting but ultimately existing separately. Every single part of me is a 100% white/Chinese mash-up, all the time. There ain’t no separating these things from each other.
At some point, there is the understanding that you cannot please all of the people all of the time and that it’s barely even possible for one please some of the people some of the time. And why would you want to please or placate some people, you know? Take, for example, the people in this comment thread, where Soledad is described as: a fascist, a communist, a racist, a race-traitor (both for taking a hard stance in an interview with a black woman and for marrying a white man), ugly, etc.
Is this what it means, then, to be Latino in America - having people demand you take a side, fit in a box, and stick with it? Is it not possible for Soledad to be completely black and completely Cuban and completely American? To us, denying that would be akin to saying that, for example, our role as a daughter somehow negates or takes away from our role as a girlfriend, or as a friend, or as a sister. We are all these things, completely.
Soledad O’Brien, as we see it, owes us nothing. There is no character or role we want her to play other than herself - a woman who comes from diverse cultures and experiences who is visible on mainstream television, who is herself and, by being so, shows that there is no one, correct way of being Latino in America.
Soledad O’Brien explores Latino experience, mixed-race heritage [CNN]
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Right on
Well said.
One thing I’ll never understand (and this would related to her mother’s decision) is why some Latino parents fail to teach their kids Spanish. Seems like you’re doing them a pretty big disservice. It’s one thing if you as a parent are monolingual in which case there’s not much of an option. (As someone who took French through all of middle school and high school and now can barely order a steak with French fries or ask directions to the library, I’m well aware of the difficulty of learning a language if you don’t have an opportunity to immerse yourself in it for a significant amount of time and thus wouldn’t suggest that everyone should be multilingual.) But if you speak another language fluently it’s pretty fucked to keep that from the child. I’d be so mad at my parents if they’d only spoken English to me as a kid. I get enough of an English fix from media, friends, and school. Home was always the place to work on my Spanish. I’m very grateful I had that opportunity.
Very true. I never really decided to teach my hypothetical future children Spanish, I just always assumed I would. And it wouldn’t be solely so they can hold on to one aspect of their Cuban heritage, but also because it’ll probably really help them learn other languages down the road, do better on standardized tests, and communicate with more Americans in the future.
some texicans, perhaps more accurately, tejanos, were beaten at school by teachers for speaking spanish (there was a post about this, right?) only because they were monolingual 5 year olds. me thinks this had something to do with this texican having never learned spanish, and having that cycle of crapola (in a different forms other than beatings on the wrist) begin with the next generation.
not saying it’s right or wrong, just an observation as a potential reason for parents not teaching their native language. psychological beat downs survive & get passed down through generations. for better or worse.
You know, I’ve always seen this aversion to Spanish as a regional thing. Like Calitexican said, anti-Spanish prejudice has a long history in some parts of the country. From my experience, you don’t see so much of this in NY or Florida. Soledad is from Long Island though, so that’s peculiar. I wouldn’t be surprised if hers was the only Hispanic family in her neighborhood though.
To be honest, I was born and raised outside of the US, so my immigrant outlook on the Spanish language debate is definitely skewed. When I grew up, there was nothing wrong with speaking Spanish, obviously, and our identities were very much tied up in being Spanish speakers. It definitely took me a while to really feel comfortable with self-described Hispanics/Latinos who are quite proud of the fact that they don’t speak a word of Spanish. The language is often associated with a lower socioeconomic status and low achievement in certain circles, it always bothers me. When I was in college, a fellow Hispanic classmate used to say her mother told her “Spanish is the language of nannies, English is the language of bankers,” or something like that. How eloquent.
This post reminded me of an article I read regarding the ethnicity and race reporting in U.S. schools. In 2007, the US Department of Education set new guidelines for schools to collect data that allows individuals to choose more than one racial or ethnic category. It has taken years for this process to begin. Many local school districts are just starting this re-collection process and the parents have to re-submit the racial and ethnic status of their children.
However, because they can select more than one race/ethnicity, I am anxious to see the new results and compare them to the results from previous years.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/rschstat/guid/raceethnicity/index.html
This is a very nice article, and it is true that each generation of Americans will become more and more of mixed ethnic backgrounds…and this is great for America- it is our diversity that is our strength. But when I read such things as “don’t let them tell you that you are not Hispanic or …something else”, Sloedad, please don’t forget your Irish and Scottish roots as well! Don’t let anyone tell you that you are not Irish, just because you may not look like many Irish-Americans! I know this article is focused on your Hispanic roots, but why don’t we ever see articles about people w/ mixed ethnicities who are proud of their Northern European roots as well! My mother was from Ireland, and I am married to a Brazilian, so if we have kids they will be multi-cultural. I hope that they talk as much about their Irish as Brazilian roots!
We know being any kind of Latino is fundamentally based on culture, rather than ethnicity or even ancestry (e.g. Bernardo O’Higgins). I think there should be two identities: Latinos and American Latinos (or as you called it “being Latino in America”). I grew up both here and, mostly, in Chile, so the difference really stands out to me. And the difference is important. To me, being Latino requires a fluency in Spanish or Portuguese. It’d be like insisting on being called French (as a cultural affiliation, rather than an ethnic marker) without being able to speak or understand French. It makes no sense. You’re shut out of the culture completely!
Soledad definitely belongs with us American Latinos (regardless if we speak our “native” languages fluent or not), but I’m not going to pretend for the sake of false solidarity that she’s a Latina. And I would say that about anyone else who can’t even speak one of the two languages. How is she any different than any other American who can’t speak either language, but grew up in a neighborhood full of Latino immigrants? Are we going to call them Latinos, too, just because of their proximity to actual Latinos and their culture? Again, being Latino is not about ancestry or ethnicity, but culture.
Oh good grief Soledad, Two months ago you were reveling in your blackness, now your going to revel in your spanishness. What’s next?
Are you at all aware that you are ‘not’ the only calico in this nation? That, any family who has been here for several generations has probably also obtained a fairly good mixture of nationalities too. My family has been here since the american revolution and we are Scottish, Irish, English, German and Cherokee, but I don’t go around saying ‘look at me’. And I don’t pretend to be Scottish one month then Irish the next. Although, you seem to be making a career out of it.
We’re all americans here. Why don’t you do a piece on how our mixtures make us all into one people under one roof, instead of seperating us and putting us into different rooms?
My guess is that she emphasizes it because she can easily identify with them both since her black Cuban mother is so close. You say that your family has been here since the Revolution and you’re part this, this, this, this and that. My assumption is by this time it’s pretty hard to find a relative who could educate you on those specific cultures unlike Soledad. That would be like me saying I’m part Spanish, part Carib indian, part Aztec since somewhere hundreds of years ago my ancestors were getting busy. Pointless. Yes we’re all (or some of us) American but why would we ignore our backgrounds when they’re so easy to learn about and relate to. “Thanks mom but no thanks. Keep your evil un-American ways to yourself”.
I wish everyone (especially Latinos) would stop referring to Latinos as a race. There is no Latino race. There is also no single Latino ethnicity. There are various nationalities, and people from different Spanish speaking countries, but this does not make them a race, nor does it make them all ethnically the same because of a common language or history. If you want to do that, then I suggest we include the Portuguese, French, Italian, Swiss, and Romanians under Latino since they also share a “Latin” background.
What beautiful words!
Yes!!!
Thanks for your “beautiful words,” Alisa Vadles-Rodriguez.
Nah, couldn’t have been her.
of course you’d say that.
Actually, it probably was her. But I don’t know for sure. It was genius, though. If it was a chick who wrote it, I’d like to marry her.
@self-loathing chicano: genius? Talk about easily impressed.
Yes, I am easily impressed, thanks for noticing. So many men out there are way too picky nowadays, if you know what I mean? But not I. Seriously, give me a good lecture on the stupidity of the notion of “Latino” or “Hispanic” or “White” or “Black” and a can of Dr Pepper and I’m all yours, baby.
amen! preach on!
I read O’Brien’s article in CNN and agree with your take on it, I think she’s great. I admit that I wondered what her ethnicity was and it took a bit of internet searching to find out, I think it was more recently that she decided to work her heritage into these big CNN reports on what PoCs are thinking out here in the USA. That’s the only thing I find problematic, of course she works for them, and I guess we should be grateful when big corporate media throws us a bone, but I cannot help but wonder if had we not had a bi-racial President if CNN would have been motivated to hire more PoCs to appear on screen. Did anyone else notice the much larger number of particularly Afircan descent newscasters on the network in the past year? because as far as Latinos are concerned, I find Rick Sanchez an embarassment - but that is of course the problem. Why I should I believe he represents me? Because he’s the only Latino regularly shown on CNN besides Soledad O’Brien? And that is what I find poignant about her narrative - the ways in which you see the stress she feels being one of the few so-called minorities on the network and feeling pressured to tell stories specifically about identity issues or about people normally ignored by other journalists. But what if she wanted to cover other kinds of stories? Why should she be the one to cover this, should not Anderson Cooper or any of the others also care about these stories?
Thank you for this poignant piece! Great article and some insightful comments here.
Soledad O’Brien is such a phony. In April 2008, Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave a speech in Detroit to the NAACP. One of the things that he said in this speech was that black and white children learn with different parts of their brain, and then gave an “unflattering imitation of the way white pastors speak.” Peoples comments were that he gave a racial speech. Soledad O’Brien, on CNN, was quoted as saying, in a gushing manner, that the speech was a “home run” and “really funny.” When questioned about the things he said in the speech, she would say things like, what he really meant was …..or what he wanted to say was… Once again she’s covering the truth and being racist. Just as with the Henry Gates incident. In an appearance on Anderson Cooper, the night or so before CNN’s “The Moment of Truth” she appeared enraged that it was a racial profile against Gates. She said that she got calls from her FRIENDS saying it was all about Gates being black. She went on that show with the purpose, at all costs, to destroy the credibility of the white police officer and throw him under the bus. When Cooper was talking she wanted to make the point that Gates said “Thank You” to the police officers. By mentioning that, she was purposely misrepresenting the truth by playing down Gates’ belligerence and racial remarks, which she didn’t even mention. Even Gates’ attorney and friend, said to the media that he used very strong language. Colon Powell and President Obama both said he should take blame in the incident. I have seen this in many occasions with her, where she doesn’t speak the truth and hides the true facts. Another time on Anderson Cooper, Cooper said to O’Brien that Senator John McCain hasn’t brought race into the campaign, like he said he wouldn’t. You would think her response would have been something like, that’s great because he shouldn’t. Instead she strongly insinuated that he would, even in the last week of the campaign. Also, her questioning style, in interviews is completely different with a white person than it is with a black person. Like in her interview with Henry Gates in “The Moment of Truth” She just went along with his lies. I have seen several comments on various websites about her racism. There are many other examples I could give of her racial bias, dishonesty and hypocrisy. She seems to consider herself to be black. She mentioned in an interview that her parents made it clear to her “you’re black” and that’s all there is to it.
She’s all about being #1, she wants the world to revolve around her. She comes first, before her family. She wants to be a celebrity figure and a star. In interviews she says she works 6 days a week, mostly out of town, and on some holidays. She goes to gala events, concerts, lots of entertainment events, as a single woman, leaving her husband and kids behind.
I think Soledad O’Brien is a very poor journalist. What ever happened to the days of CNN with Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff? They were honorable journalists. You could believe what they said.
john las vegas
Ya, it seems she is just choosing which of her ethnicities is the current “in” thing to talk about, and that’s the one she talks about (she’s basically exploiting her multi-cultural background for career/financial advancement while everyone can see it for what it is)…it would be too boring if she talked about her Irish/Scottish side- God forbid if she actually had anything to say of any substance about that part of her background (don’t forget your last name is “O’Brien”!!). I really enjoyed hearing about Mohammed Ali making a journey back to his roots in Ireland recently…now he is someone I can respect…unlike this boring Soledad journalist who is spending too much time looking at ethnic differences among Americans rather than trying to focus on what unites us!!
OMG…I totes agree with you. And I miss Judy Woodruff so much it hurts.
Juanita, Miami Florida
Amen!
wow … i love these discussions! … now i only wish there was a way to spread this type of message beyond guanabee
She doesn’t speak for Latinos or represent Latinos. Give me a break!