Many of you may not watch The View. But lots of women do, and for the first time ever, The View will have a Latina, Nuyorican Rosie Perez as a co-host.
And she's not just any Latina...Rosie is an activist.
NPR had this story Does It Matter That Rosie Perez Is The First Latina Co-Host Of 'The View'?
In hiring Perez, a Brooklyn-born daughter of Puerto Rican parents, ABC did something new: It named the first Latina as a regular co-host in The View's 17-year history.
Which raises an important question: Will it matter?
For those of us who think representation is important, the answer is: lots.
I agree.
Rosie doesn't just talk the talk she walks the walk.
Perez is an activist for Puerto Rican rights. Her film Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tu lo sepas! (I'm Puerto Rican, Just So You Know!) documents her activism. She starred in and directed the Spanish AIDS PSA campaign "Join the Fight" for Cable Positive and Kismet Films....President Barack Obama appointed her to The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). She was sworn in on February 2, 2010.
On January 6, 2000, she was arrested for disorderly conduct in Manhattan following a rally to protest U.S. Navy air weapons training, as well as other forms of payload on the government training range owned at Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico.
Perez serves as the chair of the artistic board for Urban Arts Partnership, a New York City arts education nonprofit that uses arts integrated education programs to close the achievement gap.
If you never saw her documentary film, check out the trailer:
Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tu lo sepas!
The film deals with Puerto Rican history, U.S. annexation and exploitation, nationalist movements on the Island, forced migrations, militancy of young Puerto Ricans in New York. the sterilization of Puerto Rican women and more. It also gives you a real sense of Rosie's family, and what it is like to grow up Puerto Rican in New York.
Rosie talks about AIDS and its impact on her family.
Loved her put-down of Mitt Romney:
Tomorrow is Rosie's 50th birthday. She was born born September 6, 1964.
¡Feliz cumpleaños Rosie!
Looks like I'm going to be viewing The View.