Rafael Suarez, Jr. (born March 5, 1957), known as Ray Suarez, is an American broadcast journalist and author. He is currently a visiting professor at NYU Shanghai and was previously the John J. McCloy Visiting professor of American Studies at Amherst College. Currently Suarez hosts a radio program and several podcast series: World Affairs for KQED-FM, Going for Broke for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and "The Things I Thought About When My Body Was Trying to Kill Me" on cancer and recovery. His next book, on modern American immigration, will be published by Little, Brown. He was the host of Inside Story on Al Jazeera America Story, a daily news program on Al Jazeera America, until that network ceased operation in 2016. Suarez joined the PBS NewsHour in 1999 and was a senior correspondent for the evening news program on the PBS television network until 2013. He is also host of the international news and analysis public radio program America Abroad from Public Radio International. He was the host of the National Public Radio program Talk of the Nation from 1993 to 1999. In his more than 40-year career in the news business, he has also worked as a radio reporter in London and Rome, as a Los Angeles correspondent for CNN, and as a reporter for the NBC-owned station WMAQ-TV in Chicago. He is currently one of the US correspondents for Euronews.

Ray Suarez
Suarez in 2007
Born
Rafael Suarez, Jr.

(1957-03-05) March 5, 1957 (age 67)
EducationBA, New York University
MA, University of Chicago
Occupation(s)Journalist, Anchor
Notable credit(s)PBS NewsHour, Talk of the Nation, American RadioWorks, Inside Story
SpouseCarole Suarez
ChildrenRafael, Eva and Isabel

Personal life

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Born and raised in Brooklyn by Puerto Rican parents,[1][2] Suarez attended public schools in the borough from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 1974 from John Dewey High School. In 1975, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Brooklyn Council. In 2009, Suarez was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award by the NCAC.[3][4] He earned a BA in African History from New York University and an MA in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.[5] He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and three children, Rafael, Eva, and Isabel. Suarez is active locally and nationally in the Episcopal Church.[6][7]

Career and publications

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Suarez began working at the campus radio station of New York University upon enrolling there as a student in 1974 and eventually became the station's news director. He subsequently moved to the university's newspaper.[8] He later worked as a freelance reporter in London and Rome, and in 1981 his coverage of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II led to his being hired by CBS Radio.[8] He was, in turn, hired by ABC and then CNN.[8]

He became a regular correspondent for the PBS NewsHour on October 4, 1999.[9] Between 2009 and 2013, he was one of the program's rotating group of anchors.[10]

He is the author of three books. The most recent is Latino Americans: The 500 Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation published by Penguin/Celebra in 2013. He is also the author of the 1999 book The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999,[11][12] a social commentary on the causes of the destitution found in the inner city. In 2006, he authored The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America,[13] which examines the way Americans worship, how organized religion and politics intersect in America, and how this powerful collision is transforming the current and future American mind-set. The book is beginning to gather accolades for its timeliness and fair coverage from many sides of the issue. Suarez was a contributing editor for Si Magazine, a short-lived magazine depicting the Latino experience in the U.S.

Suarez hosted the program Destination Casa Blanca, produced by HITN TV from 2008 to 2011. The program covered Latino politics and policy for a national audience from Washington, D.C.

He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to American Politics (June 2012), and wrote the companion volume to a PBS documentary series on the history of Latinos in America, Latino Americans: The 500-Year History That Shaped a Nation published by Penguin in 2013.

Suarez has contributed to many other books, including How I Learned English, Brooklyn: A State of Mind, Saving America's Treasures, and About Men. His columns, op-eds, and criticism have been published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune.

He co-wrote and hosted the 2009 documentary for PBS Jerusalem: Center of the World,[14] and narrated for PBS Anatomy of a Pandemic, on the H1N1 outbreak.

In October 2021, the first two episodes of Suarez's podcast series Going for Broke were released by The Nation magazine in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.[15]

Honors

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Suarez receiving his Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
  • Named as a 1996 Utne Reader "Visionaries"[citation needed]
  • Named as Hispanic Business "100 Influentials" among American Latinos
  • 1995 Global Awareness Award by Current History Magazine[5]
  • 1996 Studs Terkel Award, Community Media Workshop
  • 1993-94 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards (part of NPR's award for on-site coverage of the first all-race elections in South Africa)[citation needed]
  • 1994-95 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards (part of NPR's award for coverage of the first 100 days of the 104th Congress)[citation needed]
  • 1996 Rubén Salazar Award from the National Council of La Raza[citation needed]
  • 2005 Distinguished Policy Leadership Award from UCLA's School of Public Policy
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award from NYU[citation needed]
  • Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago[citation needed]
  • 2009 - Distinguished Eagle Scout[16]
  • 2010-Hall of Fame, National Association of Hispanic Journalists
  • 2012- Bridge-Builder Award, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
  • 2013 Schwartz Visiting Fellow, Pomfret School, Pomfret CT.
  • Honorary doctorates

Bibliographies

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Suarez, Ray (2013). Latino Americans: The 500-Year History That Shaped a Nation. New York: Penguins Book. ISBN 978-0451238146.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Ray Suarez Biography Archived 2013-01-21 at archive.today
  2. ^ "Latino Groups Rally Around Ray Suarez After He Claimed He Was Marginalized at PBS NewsHour". Fox News. 21 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Distinguished Eagle Scouts" (PDF). Scouting.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  4. ^ "Regional Scout Council honors Hispanic leaders, George Washington University". Ibarra Strategy Group, Inc. 2009-12-09. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  5. ^ a b Connecticut Forum. "Ray Suarez". Biography. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  6. ^ Wolfe, Alan (September 17, 2006). "One Nation Under God". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  7. ^ "Puryevor of truth," San Antonio Express-News, April 16, 2017, p. F2.
  8. ^ a b c Wines, Michael (February 6, 1994). "Radio; A Radio Talk Show That Doesn't Run on Vitriol". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  9. ^ Goodman, Walter (October 19, 1999). "Critic's Notebook; Now a Word From Our Spon ... uh, um ... Our Friend". The New York Times. p. E2. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  10. ^ Stelter, Brian (August 13, 2013). "'NewsHour' Appoints First Female Anchor Team". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  11. ^ Lears, Jackson (October 24, 1999). "Throwaway Cities [review of "The Old Neighborhood ...."]". The New York Times. Section 7, p. 45. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  12. ^ https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684834022 The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999
  13. ^ https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060829974 The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America
  14. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (March 31, 2009). "Visiting the Dry City Where 3 Religions Have Flourished". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  15. ^ "The Nation Launches Going for Broke With Ray Suarez, a New Podcast Hosted by the Veteran Broadcast Journalist". The Nation. 18 October 2021.
  16. ^ received during National Capital Area Council, Boy Scouts of America's Hispanic Leadership Awards on December 9, 2009
  17. ^ "Journalist Ray Suarez Will Deliver K's 2014 Commencement Address, Receive Honorary Degree". kzoo.edu. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
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