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Better or worse, for Latinos: The Caudillo Family, Part 3

February 4, 2015  |  Christopher Cook, Nathaniel Bozarth  |  2 min read

Three generations. Three different possibly ways to answer the question, “Are things getting better for Latinos in America?”

In this week’s visit with the Caudillo family, Velia Salazar, the family matriarch, says things are better – because you can sit wherever you want to at the movies. She remembers a time when Latino audience members were sectioned off to one side of the theater.

Velia’s grandchildren – Julian, Sophia, and Olivia – agree that things are probably better now than they were for the grandparents’ generation. But their dad, Ryan Caudillo says confidently that things are getting worse, and we need to find out why.

All three viewpoints are explored with this week’s Your Fellow Americans as we make a third visit with the Caudillo family.

I don’t know that I’ve experienced discrimination, but I feel like I get stereotyped when people assume I speak Spanish.

— Olivia Caudillo

Continue the conversation about race, immigration and the American Dream around the dinner table with Mac and Velia Salazar, Irene and Ryan Caudillo, and the grandchildren Julian, Sophia, and Olivia, who identify as Mexican-American, even though they don’t speak Spanish and don’t have firm roots to the Latino culture.

In this week’s discussion with the Caudillo family, they discuss what they see as a growing racial tension that is  felt by members of the Latino/Hispanic community.

KCPT’s Hale Center for Journalism presents Your Fellow Americans, a documentary web series exploring race, immigration and the American Dream. In this pilot season, join multiple generations from six different families as they discuss their American experience around the dinner table. Watch episodes, go behind the scenes and join the conversation at kcpt.org/yourfellowamericans.

Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.

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