The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies invited political scientist Angelo Falcón to speak on the issue of Latino representation in American society.

The event was part of the ongoing Latino Heritage Month and focused on the Defend the Honor Campaign, an effort from the Latino and Native-American community that started when they felt veterans from both communities were not represented in Ken Burns’ seven-part World War II PBS documentary “The War,” which aired a year ago.

“We weren’t trying to tell Ken Burns how to frame his argument, we just wanted to tell him ‘hey, you left a little part out,’” said Falcón in his lecture.

Falcón described the political struggles and the public outrage that resulted from the documentary, which ultimately delayed the documentary’s broadcast so Burns could tweak it to include a Latino and Native-American perspective. About 500,000 Latino soldiers served during World War II.

The finished 15 hour documentary series ended up including only 28 minutes of Latino and Native-American material.

Falcón said it was considered a small victory for the effort, but it raised the issue of how much the Latino community was underrepresented in the U.S.

“The image of Latinos is one we don’t seem to ingrain into American society which still looks at them as foreigners or immigrants,” said Falcón. “Ken Burns’ work is a consequence of the ambiguity of the Latino populace.”

Falcón also brought up the Iraq war in relation to World War II, Latinos in the military and serving as a way to earn citizenship and the current state of Latino representation in the media.

Dr. Michael Gonzales, the director of the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, felt the presentation raised important issues for NIU students.

“This is just a very good example for our students, particularly our Latino students, about the political struggles that are sometimes needed to get public and fair representation,” Gonzales said.

Student attendees agreed.

“It was a breath of fresh air with the debate between the Latinos and the media,” said Hanoch Kanhai-Zamora, a junior business administration major.

“A lot of times we [Latinos] get treated like we got here two minutes ago when we’ve been around here for quite some time, and I served in the Marines, so I think what he’s talking about is important,” said senior journalism major José Villalobos.

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