It has been almost four decades since social unrest resulted in riots by blacks and Hispanics in cities across the country in the summer of 1967. The Kerner commission, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the root causes of the violence, criticized the media’s coverage of the riots and found that our nation’s all-white newsrooms contributed to the “white-black schism” in the country.

It was a wake-up call for the news media. The commission called for increased representation of minority journalists in our nation’s newsrooms. In the 1970s, the print and broadcast industries began measuring the movement toward diversifying newsrooms. But progress, which had been slow to begin with, was basically reversed in the past two years amidst the dramatic economic and technological changes that are forcing the country to rethink and reshape journalism for years to come.

Latinos and people of color remain underrepresented in newsrooms by alarming margins. Daily newspapers, for example, lost 5,900 newsroom jobs in 2008 and virtually wiped out the increases of journalists of color made over 10 years in the process. While one in three people in the United States is a person of color —African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American, or some combination thereof—journalists of color make up just 13.41 percent of all newsroom employees in daily newspapers, and 22 percent of those working at local English-language television stations.

The Kerner commission warned that the lack of minority voices in newsrooms and in news coverage would have serious and negative consequences for our society. The words of caution are still relevant today, as our nation’s population becomes more diverse, with Latinos now the largest ethnic minority. By 2050, most Americans will be people of color. And by early next century, half of all U.S. residents will be of Hispanic descent.

The warning becomes ever more urgent today as journalists, media activists, the private sector, foundations and the government struggle to find the new ways to financially support journalism crucial to our society’s well being. We are at a political, economic and technological crossroads that forces the U.S. to shape new media policies that will ensure broader and more equal access, promote minority ownership of media, and redefine and reestablish the goal of producing media in the public interest.

Latino journalists and our community need to be part of that conversation and we stand ready to do so. This is why NAHJ’s mission remains critical to the future of our nation. Founded in 1984, NAHJ seeks to increase representation of Latinos in newsrooms and to improve coverage of the Latino community. Not content with the status quo, NAHJ has created bold new initiatives toward ensuring that the news media accurately inform the public about the country and the world we live in.

We get more young Latinos into the business by offering more scholarships every year. We place more Latinos in newsrooms with the innovative Parity Project and with job placement and referral services. We raise our collective voice against distorted or unfair coverage to educate all about who Latinos are and the roles we play as friends, neighbors, competitors and leaders. We gather the resources to provide the multimedia journalism training and other kinds of training needed for Latino journalists to remain in journalism in a newsroom or on their own and to compete in a more uncertain marketplace.

We get Latino community members in cities across the country to think critically about the media, realize its influence on their lives, and organize and inspire them to take the lead in advocating for fair coverage and media literacy. In essence, we position more Latinos to tell and fight for our stories and we educate more non-Latinos to include us in their words and images as an integral part of the multicultural and multilayered fabric of U.S. society.

Only then can the news media cease to be a contributing factor to the racial, ethnic and social unrest that continues today, and that fails to educate those ill-informed people who commit violence against Muslims raising families according to their faith, against Mexicans waiting alongside the road for work, or against gay men who simply go out for a drink. Only then can the discrimination reinforced by distorted and unbalanced news reports be diminished, allowing all people to reach their potential and claim their rightful place in American society.

NAHJ’s work is clearly needed as our multicultural society becomes ever more complex. Our children must learn to coexist and to foster the mutual respect essential to a peaceful democracy. With information, with images, we can—and often do—shape minds and change lives. With NAHJ’s work, we do so together.