THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight's cover story looks at the changing face of America. The census shows the Latino population has surged by nearly 60 percent over the past decade. But just 2 percent earn more than $75,000 a year. CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the story of one Latino who made it to the top.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his swank, corner office on the 50th floor, Cuban born Jose Fernandez really is at the top of his game. He is the only Latino partner at the prestigious law firm O'Melveny and Myers.
JOSE FERNANDEZ: At times you wish you weren't the only Hispanic in the room.
HINOJOSA: But for Fernandez, being Latino is a plus. A member of the wealthy Latino elite.
FERNANDEZ: This is a seminar we have been asked to give in Peru.
HINOJOSA: He collects Latin-American art, and studies Portuguese, but money has not bought him freedom from stigma.
FERNANDEZ: Someone will look at me and they'll realize that I'm 6'5" and don't have a mustache, and they'll say, "Jose, you don't look Latino." And that's intended to be a compliment; that's a pretty insensitive comment.
HINOJOSA: Because Latinos can look like anyone, like his two daughters, who are Cuban, like him, but also Eastern European Jews, like their mother. Jose insists they be bilingual.
DAUGHTER: Me come un ice cream!
FERNANDEZ: Un helado.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see the future of America before me everyday.
FERNANDEZ: We're trying to somehow create a melange here and have it come across as naturally as when we have a schizophrenic conversation in Spanish and English. HINOJOSA: Fernandez is secure enough to keep his Latinoness in the forefront. He serves on the board of one of the oldest New York Latino institutions, the Ballet Hispanico.
TINA RAMIREZ, FOUNDER, BALLET HISPANICO: He brings the expertise and the approval of the company that he works for, so he is giving us like a certificate of worthiness.
HINOJOSA: Being able to celebrate his culture so publicly without fear of backlash or discrimination, Jose acknowledges, is a province of the wealthy.
FERNANDEZ: To move from an Anglo culture to a Latin culture and back, at my choice rather than at someone else's behest and that's something I realize that it's not everyone has.
HINOJOSA: But he hopes his daughters will, well into the future.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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