National Association of Hispanic Journalists

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists was created in 1984 to create a national voice and unified vision for Latino journalists. (The organization was created during a time when the term “Hispanic” was widely used.)* The organization is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Latino/a/x people in the news industry.

The Emerson College chapter of NAHJ was founded in the fall of 2014 by student Angelika Romero under the guidance of Professor Cindy Rodríguez. It was officially recognized by the Emerson SGA in the spring 2015.

Its goal is to provide Emerson journalists with opportunities to network, sharpen their skills, enhance conversation and understanding of issues impacting the Latino community, and promote the hiring and retention of Latinx journalists at all levels of news reporting and management. We also work in solidarity with members of NABJ, AAJA, NAJA and NLGJA.

We welcome students studying journalism who support the mission of NAHJ.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NAHJEmerson

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NAHJEmerson

*Note from Cindy E. Rodríguez, faculty advisor:

No one term can adequately describe us. Latina/o/x people come from 22 countries in the Western Hemisphere. Most of us have a mix of indigenous, African and Iberian (Spanish/Portuguese) heritage.

That ancestral mix was borne out of violence and an attempt to “whiten” the race. Spanish conquistadors raped indigenous women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean during colonization, just as they did with women of African descent in the U.S.

There are many other ethnic and cultural groups who can claim Latin American heritage because their ancestors arrived from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Waves of Jewish people also arrived, escaping the Spanish Inquisition and, later, Nazi Germany. (Nazi collaborators also escaped to countries like Argentina.) Some were fleeing poverty and persecution; others came from elite families.

For these reasons, many of us reject the term “Hispanic” as it erases this history and ancestry and seeks to identify us by our connection to savage colonizers.