A Feet in 2 Worlds Podcast Series

In August 2008, reporter Diego Graglia drove from New York City to Mexico City, talking to Latinos along the way about that year’s historic presidential election.

These podcasts feature interviews with Latinos from several states, where they talk about the issues that concern them and about Latino life in the areas where they reside.

You can learn more about Diego’s trip by visiting his blog NY·DF, La Ruta del Voto Latino.

Queens, N.Y.: Getting Ecuadorean immigrants to focus on U.S. politics

August 6, 2008

At New York’s Ecuadorean Independence Day Parade in Queens, representatives of Ecuadorean political parties drew lots of attention, not all of it positive. But at least one community leader at the parade was trying to get people to focus on the U.S. presidential election: Diego spoke to Francisco Moya, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and, in fact, the first Ecuadoran to be a delegate to a major party convention in the U.S. Moya talks about the challenge of getting Ecuadorean immigrants, including those who are American citizens, to pay attention to U.S. politics.

Fi2W · Fi2w Laruta Ecuadorparade

Manassas, Va.: The impact of a local immigration law

August 7, 2008

Manassas, in Virginia’s Prince William County, had recently seen a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Local authorities had passed a resolution allowing local law enforcement to inquire about the immigration status of people they suspected of committing a crime. Officers were also permitted to report undocumented immigrants to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation processing. Diego interviewed Teresita Jacinto, a spokeswoman for Mexicanos Sin Fronteras-Mexicans Without Borders, a local pro-immigrant group.

Fi2W · Fi2w Laruta Terecita

Siler City, N.C.: Rural Latinos face economic downturn

August 12, 2008

Diego visited small towns in North Carolina to find out what Latinos in rural areas thought about the presidential elections and what issues affected them the most. In the South, some of these towns have been changed radically by the arrival of Mexicans and Central Americans –from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador– who work in agriculture, manufacturing and construction. In Siler City, N.C., Diego spoke with Marcia Espínola, associate director of El Vínculo Hispano-The Hispanic Liaison, about what happened in that rural county after a poultry processing plant closed in June and left over 800 people out of a job.

Fi2W · Fi2w Laruta Marcia

Kinston, N.C.: Rural workers not politically fervent

August 22, 2008

Latinos started settling in big numbers in the South about two decades ago. Since then they have changed the face of the region. Diego visited the small town of Kinston, N.C., where he met Juvencio Rocha Peralta. Born in Mexico, he was one of the first migrants to arrive in the area almost three decades ago, and is a longtime community activist in the rural Eastern part of the state. The conversation focused on issues that concern local Latinos in the 2008 presidential election.

Fi2W · Fi2w Laruta Juvencio

Milton, Fl.: What’s left after an immigration raid

September 10, 2008

Restaurant owner Gerónimo Barragán saw ten of his employees arrested and deported in February, some to his native Mexico, others to Guatemala. Santa Rosa County, Florida authorities also went to other businesses, looking for people using stolen Social Security numbers. Since the raid, the already small Hispanic community in the Florida Panhandle town of Milton has all but disappeared. Barragán talks about the raid and his thoughts on the upcoming the election. A committed Baptist, Barragán supports President Bush and may not vote at all.

[audio:http://www.jocelyngonzales.net/FI2W/fi2w_laruta_geronimo.mp3]

New Orleans, La.: Hispanics find a voice in the Crescent City

September 26, 2008

In New Orleans, Diego interviewed Diane Schnell, news and marketing director of the local Telemundo station, KGLA-TV 42, which had recently launched the city’s first-ever Spanish-language newscast. Diane talks about how the Latino community is no longer an invisible market in New Orleans, and which presidential candidate is doing more to reach out to New Orleans’ Latinos.

[audio:http://www.jocelyngonzales.net/FI2W/fi2w_laruta_diane.mp3]