Latino USA

Every year, hundreds of children cross the border undocumented and alone, most in search of their parents in the US.  This year, their numbers almost doubled. To find out why, we speak to Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist Sonia Nazario who has been following this situation closely. We also take you to the Upper East Side of Manhattan on a dog walk led by Brazilian dog walkers, we hear from a master kite flyer and we remember author Carlos Fuentes in his own words about love.

In this week’s show, we begin a series looking at how political ads aim to attract Latino voters. A new era of outreach, or old-fashioned pandering? We examine one ad from the Democrats in Arizona that asked young Latinos to express their political outrage by texting for a chance to win concert tickets. We also speak with Dr. America Bracho, a health hero battling diabetes and obesity in Orange County, California, visit women who stitch their deepest secrets into quilts, and find out how those New Yorker cartoons are dreamt up.

What exactly was going on in the Mexican-American studies classes eliminated by the Tucson, Arizona, school district? A new documentary tells us. Then we learn what life is like for lesbians in Cuba, and visit a green haven in San Francisco’s tough Tenderloin District. And we speak to the Mexican jockey who won the Kentucky Derby, turning Cinco de Mayo into Cinco de Derby. 

This week on Latino USA-- we give you our take on Cinco de Mayo with a story about a Haitian charro who’s winning the hearts of Mexican New Yorkers. And we check in with our friends at Alt.Latino and hear some of the Cinco de Mayo tunes that are on their playlist.  We also visit Lahinaluna (LAH.HI.nuh.LOO.nuh) High School, a public boarding school on Maui where students  reconnect with their agricultural past.

This week on Latino USA’s Podcast…we look back to 1992 when four police officers were acquitted of beating black motorist Rodney King and set off several days of rioting in the city of Los Angeles. We talk to journalists, community activists, and a poet who lived through the events—and to a group of Harlem teens who only know about the riots from books.