politics

CBS News Taps All Latinx Team For Latest Special, Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis

image of daughter and mother embracing face to face through masks

María Elena Salinas is happy that she’s doing exactly what she wants to do in the new chapter of her career. The award-winning journalist told TVNewser that she left as the longest-running anchor at Univision in 2017 to tell Latino stories to a new audience.

“We feel as a Latino community that we’re sometimes ignored by our government and then also ignored by mainstream media, so I thought this was a great opportunity to get more and more accurate coverage of the Latino community and I’m excited for that opportunity,” Salinas said to TVNewser.

In her new role as a contributor to CBS News, Salinas anchors an hour-long special called Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis that takes an in-depth look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the Latino population. It airs at 6 p.m. PT on Sunday July 19 on CBSN news streaming network and is also available to stream online at cbsnews.com/pandemia and on YouTube. It’s the first CBS special dedicated to stories about Latinos by Latinos.

“It was important to have an all Latino staff because of the cultural relevance the group brought to the stories that would be done,” Salinas said in a recent email interview with Luz Collective.

Salinas said that as the pandemic raged on, it became clear that the most affected were people of color. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Latinos are four times more likely to be hospitalized from the coronavirus than the white population. “CBS news executives made a conscious decision to go beyond daily news stories and do more in-depth coverage of these communities,” Salinas said.

With that, the first COVID-19 special called COVID-19: Black America’s Fightpremiered on April 22 with a partnership with BET News. Kim Godwin, Executive V.P. of News and Lorna Jones, CBS News Washington Deputy Bureau Chief who was then overseeing the coronavirus coverage, came up with the idea to produce the Latino-focused special.

CBS News Content Manager Luis Giraldo was enlisted to oversee the project. “It was natural that he would put together a team of Latino journalists that work in front and behind the cameras to work on it,” Salinas said.

The seven on-air correspondents, including Salinas, are Latino. The rest of the team including producers, editors, photographers, coordinators, researchers and bookers, is majority Latino. They all contribute in selecting what stories to tell. Salinas and Giraldo assembled the initial list of crucial topics with the rest adding their suggestions and names of people to profile.

“It was very exciting when we had our first zoom meeting with all the Latino journalists at CBS, you could feel the pride and enthusiasm that we all felt for the project,” Salinas said. “We wanted to make sure all angles were covered and to have as many voices as possible included, especially the ones that are normally not covered by mainstream media, such as Dreamers, immigrants in detention centers, farm workers.”

This news special features stories about the essential workers like the farm workers who continue to provide goods and services during the pandemic and with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees who share their fears of contracting the virus in detention. Javier Quiroz Castro shares his story working as a nurse and is one of the more than 200,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients that are essential workers on the frontlines.

There are also interviews with Latino leaders and advocates that are providing assistance, including actress Eva Longoria, activist Dolores Huerta and New York State Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz.

It took the production team about eight weeks to produce the special. Most of the staff worked on the interviews and film shoots, writing and editing between their other stories while maintaining proper health precautions. The reporters wore masks and kept a social distance during the few in-person interviews, and other interviews were conducted through video conferencing to reduce the risk of spread. “It wasn’t easy because the staff was working on their daily coverage of the news under very difficult conditions precisely because of the limitations the pandemic poses,” Salinas said.

Salinas said the production staff is very happy that it’s available for everyone to see. “[Everyone] hopes it will make a difference by not only shining a light on the plight of Latinos during these difficult times and the contributions they make as essential workers, but hoping it will lead to change,” Salinas said. “We all hope this will be the first of many projects to come focusing on the Latino community.”

Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis airs at 6 p.m. PT on Sunday, July 19 on CBSN news streaming network and is also available to stream online at cbsnews.com/pandemia and on YouTube.

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Six Latin American Indigenous Women Activists You Probably Didn't Know About

From left to right: Berta Cáceres, Comandanta Ramona, Rigoberta Menchú, Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, Guadalupe Vázquez Luna, and Leydy Pech

The world has seen countless inspiring women rise to fight for justice and equality, particularly for marginalized and oppressed communities. Their tireless advocacy has brought much-needed attention to issues such as women's and Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and preserving Indigenous knowledge and culture.

Despite their challenges and obstacles, these Latin American Indigenous women serve as powerful role models and reminders of the transformative potential of grassroots activism. Let’s take a closer look at their extraordinary lives and legacies:
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politics

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.

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Latinos Are Ready to Vote for Abortion Rights This November

hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).

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