Presenter Q&A: Maria Hinojosa’s Favorite Episodes of Latino USA

“The truth is that they are all of my children, so it’s very difficult to choose [my favorites]...Usually what happens is that the most recent episode is the one that is in my heart and in my mind and in my brain.” —Maria Hinojosa

Maria Hinojosa is the anchor and executive producer of the nationally syndicated and longest running Latino-focused program on U.S. public media, Latino USA. This September, CHF aired a conversation between Maria Hinojosa and Jose Antonio Vargas discussing her new book, Once I was You. Ahead of her program, we asked Hinojosa about her top five favorite Latino USA episodes.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

1. Episode: After The Mississippi Raids

Hinojosa: The most recent episode that really has stuck with me is the piece that we did going to visit central Mississippi, which is the site of the largest workplace raid in the United States. It happened a year ago in August of 2019. We went to the central part of the state of Mississippi where these are very forgotten communities of mostly Guatemalan Indigenous people who are processing all the chicken that we eat across the country. We did a deep dive, spending several days there. We did a beautiful one hour documentary about our time there, and the lives of the people there, and why people end up in a place like Mississippi. So I’m very, very proud of that work.

2. Episode: The Strange Death of José de Jesús Parts 1 + Part 2

Hinojosa: Just recently we re-aired our two-part documentary called “The Strange Death of José de Jesús”. It won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for Reporting. We did the story of one man who committed suicide three days after he was put into an immigrant detention facility, even though he was on suicide watch.

3. Episode: A Latino History of Hip-Hop Parts 1 + Part 2

Hinojosa: One of my other favorite episodes is one called [“A Latino History of Hip-pop’], because it’s really important that we realize that this musical history wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for Latinos and Latinas.

4. Episode: A Day at the Bodega

Hinojosa: I love the episode that we did when we spent 24 hours in a New York City bodega to understand the culture and space—cultural space, really—that the Dominican and Puerto Rican bodegas capture. They’re a dying breed. I loved doing that episode.

I love all of my interviews for Latino USA, whether it’s Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice, or it’s Sandra Cisneros or Yesika Starr [Salgado], Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. We do these beautiful deep, intensive profiles of powerful Latinos and Latinas. I love all of our “Portrait Of” interviews. They’re really quite beautiful.

5. Episode: A Child Lost in Translation

Hinojosa: There’s a lot of accountability reporting that we do, which is really important. One story we followed was how a child was adopted away from their parent in Mississippi. The parent didn’t realize that the child was in the midst of being adopted away from them. These people became their friends and before you know it they were having them sign papers, which they didn’t understand, and the child was adopted away. That’s a powerful piece of reporting and documenting the life that we lead right now in the United States and the challenges.

I think we do a lot of beautiful arts and culture, whether it’s uncovering the truth about Dora the Explorer and what she means, or Frida Kahlo and her relationship with Barbie. We do a lot of fun segments that also uplift and make us appreciate the creativity of Latinos and Latinas in the United States.

Listen to more episodes of Latino USA at latinousa.org.

Follow Latino USA on socials at @LatinoUSA: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning winning journalist, anchor and executive producer of the Peabody award-winning show Latino USA, the co-host of The Thick, and founder of Futuro Media. Hinojosa is also anchor and executive producer of the PBS show America By The Numbers. She is a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning and a frequent guest on MSNBC. Hinojosa’s nearly 30-year career as a journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring the Emmy Award winning talk show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One. She is the author of two books and has won dozens of awards, including: four Emmys, the John Chancellor Award, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award.

Follow Maria Hinojosa on socials: Twitter @Maria_Hinojosa, Instagram @maria_la_hinojosa, Facebook

Watch the conversation between Maria Hinojosa and Jose Antonio Vargas discussing her new memoir Once I Was You.