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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Writer says U.S. preparing for multicultural nation

The statistics are startling.

One of every eight people living in the United States is foreign born.

One in four babies born in the United States is Latino, and the majority of babies born in the country today are non-white.

By 2043, the United States will be a multicultural majority nation.

These statistics came from investigative journalist Maria Hinojosa in a presentation titled "Preparing Our Society for 2043" she delivered at Moravian College and Theological Seminary.

Her talk was part of Moravian's observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, during which it is celebrating Latino contributions to American society and culture.

In the course of a distinguished 25-year career reporting on cultural and political changes in the United States, Hinojosa has won four Emmys, the 2012 John Chancellor Award For Excellence in Journalism, and the Robert Kennedy Award for Reporting on the Disadvantaged.

In addition to eight years as a CNN correspondent, Hinojosa was also a senior correspondent for PBS's "Now" and is currently a contributing correspondent on PBS's "Need to Know."

In 2010, she created the Futuro Media Group, a Harlem-based non-profit production company whose mission is to make known the social and civic issues facing an increasingly diverse nation.

Hinojosa is anchor and executive producer of NPR's "Latino USA," considered the premier source of news and issues important to the Latino community.

In addition, Futuro Media has been developing a series for PBS called "America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa," an eight-part series exploring the impact of demographic changes in the U.S, telling the stories behind the numbers and taking viewers to every corner of the nation.

In an effort to alter stereotypes associated with American minorities, Hinojosa peppered her talk at Moravian with surprising statistics.

Although Asian Americans are the best educated ethnic group in the country, those from Cambodia have the highest dropout rate in the nation.

More Latinos than Anglos are attending college right after graduating from high school.

Americans with the highest rate of joining the military are those from Guam. They also have the highest rate of injury and the lowest rate of compensation for injury.

For more than 25 years, Hinojosa has covered stories not appearing in the mainstream media.

Despite the increasing diversity of the population, "newsrooms have never been less diverse," she said, and reporting reflects the perspective of "wealthy white males."

She calls America's relationship to Latinos the "U.S. Mambo."

Latinos take one step forward but two steps back. On one hand, there are the success stories "Latinos who are huge stars in the mainstream."

However, Latinos "have the fastest growing prison population and the fastest growing population detained in immigrant detention centers," she said.

In keeping with her goal of reporting stories not covered by mainstream media, she told the audience about the experience of undocumented immigrants, also known as "illegals," in the "world's greatest democracy."

Members of the IRS, without search warrants, knock on the doors of immigrants, pretending to be police. When immigrants let them in, they are arrested.

A year ago, during the flooding in Colorado, a man was so fearful the IRS was after him he refused to open his door when police repeatedly tried to warn him to evacuate. Only when neighbors came by did he dare open his door.

"It's as though we have Constitution-free zones, " Hinojosa commented on this "violation of due process."

In addition to changing stereotypes associated with minority Americans, Hinojosa works to dispel the "fear around change" she sees.

She has tried to communicate that although minorities have some issues needing to be discussed, Americans should not fear the prospect of a multicultural majority nation.