Soledad O'Brien: The Interview

By Elizabeth Macanufo 

October 2010

As the keynote speaker at The Consortium’s 44^th Annual Orientation Program and Career Forum, Soledad O’Brien inspired the crowd with her thoughts on diversity. Sharing her journey from local news anchor to acclaimed special investigations reporter, O’Brien described the obstacles she faced as a female minority. Now reporting for CNN’s “In America” series, she hopes to tell stories about underreported communities across the country. Prior to her speech, O’Brien sat down with IN Magazine to discuss diversity in America.

IN: Why is the topic of diversity so prevalent in America right now?

Soledad O’Brien: The nation is becoming a more diverse nation. I think a lot of the yelling and a lot of the tension that we feel in the country now, if you watch a lot of cable talk shows where people are screaming at each other, is a reflection of that change is underway.

This is my 22^nd year as a journalist and the idea that I do stories, which are pretty much focused on people who don’t get stories told about them, is such a one-eighty from what I started doing when I started working on local news in Boston. I think the story of America is the story of diversity. It’s always been, but what we’re seeing in 2010 and as we move forward is that there’s a massive shift. Minorities as a whole will make up more of the country than white people. I think that’s a great thing for the nation because it means that we have more access to ideas, different markets and the opportunity for growth.

IN: Why does increased diversity spark such heated debate?

SO:  Change is hard, whatever the change is. I would argue that point vociferously that true diversity is about allowing a number of voices to be heard so that the end goal, the end result, is something different, something new, something forging new ground.