If you want to write something, film something, sing something, produce whatever content possible for an American audience, then you must also produce content for and about Latinos.

Not to be wise-ass Latinas, with all due respect to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but our nation has 51 million Latinos, from Pico Rivera to Puerto Rico. Half the country's new residents are Latinos, one of four children under 5, the largest minority in 20 states.

If you're not telling their story, you're not telling the American story.

That was what we wanted to accomplish with our book “Latino in America,” published by Penguin to complement our documentary of the same name, airing on CNN Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. EDT. The book builds on the...