Mary Sanchez
Born and raised in Kansas City, Mo., with family roots in Mexico, Mary Sanchez brings an uncommon perspective to the issues that tend to divide Americans into "us" and "them." A reporter foremost, Sanchez has spent years covering immigration, schools and other volatile beats for The Kansas City Star.
Now an editorial columnist for the Star, Sanchez understands that Latinos in the U.S. -- now the largest minority group, with more than 40 million people -- make up a number of diverse and complex communities. Commentary on immigration, culture and politics needs to reflect that fact -- the one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.
Across the United States, some Latinos are prospering and gaining political power, while others, particularly new immigrants, are running up against a changing mood in the American public. Making sense of all these currents requires a reporter's instinct for discovering how issues play out on the street, at work and in the lives of ordinary people.
That's what Mary Sanchez strives for in her writing -- an understanding of the issues from all sides, and an incisive, compelling voice to illuminate these issues in new ways.
Mary Sanchez Samples
Crossing the Rubicon on same-sex marriage
Barack Obama has finally come out. It's fitting that he has taken this step, as the first biracial U.S. president.
The talented, and troublesome, Mr. Chen
This is the kind of thing that happens in the age of YouTube. A blind Chinese dissident escapes from house arrest by climbing over a wall and somehow eludes several cordons of minders.
The Mexican job
Pobre Mexico! Poor Mexico! The angst-ridden quote feels pertinent today. Consider the unfolding bribery scandal surrounding Wal-Mart de Mexico, the arm of the gargantuan U.S. retailer.
Time for Supremes to quash Arizona's insidious immigration law
If the 2008 presidential election was nearly derailed by absurd posturing about "God, guns and gays," look for this year's contest to ballyhoo illegal immigration.
Has the Catholic hierarchy really committed to root out abusive priests?
The headline on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reads like good news: "Child Protection Audits Find Nearly All Dioceses Compliant."
'Gun rights' have morphed into the right to gun down 'threats'
Meet the other faces of Trayvon Martin. They are young men of different races who died recently in situations where deadly force was avoidable. Like Martin, Brandon Zeth wore a hoodie the night he was shot.
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