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(THE COLUMN AND THEN MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR)
Guillermo Martinez: Media should tell world that David Hernández is a hero, and Hispanic
Guillermo I. Martinez
Columnist
January 13, 2011
Journalists
have been discussing and struggling with a particular issue for years.
Namely, when is it proper to identify the race or ethnic origin of a
person in a news story?
The answer most in the media accept is relatively simple: When it is relevant to the story.
For
this reason I ask why hasn't the English-language media reported that
Daniel Hernández, the 20-year-old intern who saved the life of U.S. Rep.
Danielle Gifford, D-Ariz., was Hispanic, or more appropriately
Mexican-American. With his quick action and the lessons he learned in a
high school nurse assistant course, he helped save the life of a
congresswoman for whom he had been working as an intern for five days.
The
English language media has not revealed that Hernández was Hispanic.
Not even The Arizona Republic, which published a story profiling the
young man on Monday. The only place where one could find out the
Hernández was Hispanic was at Univisión, the Spanish-language television
network.
Some may wonder why it is important to say that Hernández was Hispanic.
For one, it is important because immigration is a key issue in Arizona.
We
get enough bad news about Hispanics. We hear and write about how
Hispanics have a higher unemployment rate than white non-Hispanic
Americans. Statistics also show that Hispanics and African-Americans are
way behind in their scholastic achievement scores.
All the emphasis on Hispanics is about undocumented workers, high unemployment and their poor performance in school.
Wouldn't
it be worthwhile to also identify this brave young man as a Hispanic?
It is also important to write and talk about our heroes. Not just those
who are elected to public office or those who are successful in
business. We know about those already.
But, what about a young
hero? A young man who put his own life in jeopardy to try and save the
lives of those who were wounded in a senseless act of violence. A young
man who had the skills to know that by pressing a cloth into a wound and
holding the person against his body would limit the bleeding.
We
need to report that Daniel Hernández is Hispanic, or Mexican-American.
Our community also needs heroes to look up to. We are reminded too often
of our failures.
Guillermo I. Martínez resides in South Florida. E-mail him at Guimar123@gmail.com .
After
reading Guillermo Martinez's column "Hero's ethnicity is important to
story" (Thursday , January 13, 2011) I sent him the following letter:
Dear Mr. Martinez,
With
all due respect how come you, and most of the media, haven't mentioned
that Mr. Hernandez is a Gay man? In most cases I could substitute Gay
for Hispanic in your column and it would be just as relevant.
For example:
The
English language media has not revealed that Hernandez was Gay. Not
even the Arizona Republic which published a story profiling the young
man on Monday. Some may wonder why it is important to say that Hernandez
is Gay. For one it is important because same sex marriage is a key
issue in Arizona.
We have enough bad news about Gays.
Wouldn't it be worthwhile to also identify this brave young man as Gay?
And
after your paragraph starting with "But, what about a young hero..."
Wouldn't the next paragraph but as meaningful if it said, "We need to
report that Daniel Hernandez is Gay."
Why is his being Hispanic relevant to the story and his being Gay isn't?
And did I miss the Sun-Sentinel making that part of any of the articles they have written about Mr. Hernandez?
