In a wide-ranging symposium Monday called “The State of Race in America,” award-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas said that “in some ways, the soul of the heterosexual white man is a stake” in the 2012 election.
His comments were part of a larger monologue on political and social power moving to minority groups, which he said will hurt former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign.
“For everybody in this country in which America’s always been a fight,” he said, “They’re looking at him [Mitt Romney], in which everything’s been given, and we’re going, ‘OK, do you see yourself? Do you fully and comprehensively see yourself and how you fit in this?'”
The panel, hosted by the Aspen Institute, mainly addressed questions of American identity and immigration issues. It included MSNBC contributor and author Touré and Fox News political analyst Juan Williams.
Vargas is best known for his Pulitzer Award-winning work covering the Virginia Tech shootings for the Washington Post, and for his essay, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” for The New York Times Magazine, in which he revealed his status as an illegal alien in the country.
Videography by Sarah Muro