PROGRAM IN LATINO STUDIES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTHRussell Contreras is a reporter for the Associated Press in Albuquerque, N.M. He covers race, immigration, and the American Southwest and serves as President of UNITY: Journalists For Diversity. UNITY is a coalition of journalists founded in 1994 that advocates for “fair and accurate coverage about diversity, especially race, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation.” The organization also “challenge[s] the industry to staff its organizations at all levels to reflect the country’s diversity.” Contreras was selected as one of the “50 Top Latino Voices to Follow on Twitter,” per the Huff Post's Latino Voices in 2012. He worked previously at the _Boston Globe_ and the _Albuquerque Journal_, and teaches composition at the University of New Mexico-Valencia. Contreras’s talk, “Diss/Appearing Latinos: Immigration Politics and Contemporary News Coverage,” tackled the birth of the Latino vote, the polarities of public discourse, ranging from rejection/exclusion to valorization/inclusion and criminal/outsider to consumer/citizen. He is completing a book on President John F. Kennedy’s last night and his historic visit with Mexican American civil rights leaders.
