Mary Sanchez
Born and raised in Kansas City, Mo., with family roots in Mexico, Mary Sanchez brings an uncommon perspective to the issues that tend to divide Americans into groups of “us” and “them.” A reporter foremost, Sanchez has spent years covering immigration, schools and other volatile beats for The Kansas City Star.
Now an editorial columnist for the Star, Sanchez understands that Latinos in the United States — now the largest minority group in the country — make up a number of diverse and complex communities. Sanchez knows that commentary on immigration, culture and politics needs to reflect that fact — the one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.
Across the United States, some Latinos are prospering and gaining political power, while others are running up against a changing mood in the American public. Making sense of all these currents requires more than just retelling stories or sharing of thoughts. It requires a reporter’s instinct for discovering how issues play out on the street, at work and in the lives of ordinary people.
Mary Sanchez strives for this cross-cultural analysis in her writing. She pushes readers to an understanding of the issues from all sides, and provides an incisive, compelling voice to illuminate these issues in new ways.
Recent Work
OpinionsThe black silhouettes posted to BlueHelp.org are immediately recognizable as police officers. Nameless and faceless, each outline represents an officer who took his or her own life. Three police suicides are listed for February 11, the day that the Kansas City Police Department announced the death... Read More
OpinionsPresident Donald Trump neglected to mention gun violence in his State of the Union address. The following day, the congressional stalemate over what to do about the killing and mayhem played out at a House Judicial Committee hearing on gun violence. Most of the news coverage... Read More
OpinionsThere are a lot of ways to build a wall, as Donald Trump can attest. Although it's quite possible that even the president doesn't fully grasp what a cadre of lawyers, policy makers and advisers are accomplishing on his behalf. He's simply too focused on his... Read More
OpinionsDonald Trump should have realized that his presidential clout was weakening when a GoFundMe account became the leading source of funds for his long-desired "big, beautiful wall." The social media effort, started by an Iraq... Read More
OpinionsPerhaps it was all those holiday wishes for "Peace on earth" and "Goodwill to mankind" that crept into the mind of retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch. In his farewell address to Congress this week, the Utah Republican floated an... Read More
Opinions"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder." Most Christmas seasons, the Bible passage from Isaiah prompts only the best of humanity to come forth with abundant blessings for the baby Jesus. Read More
OpinionsWhen FBI released its report "Hate Crimes Statistics, 2017" earlier this week, Srinivas Kuchibhotla's name was nowhere to be seen. Yet his widow, Sunayana Dumala, knows his murder in Olathe, Kan., was a hate crime. She... Read More
OpinionsPresident Donald Trump, in a pre-midterm snit, is obsessing over his fear of brown babies. It's not surprising. After all, this is a president who manages to label any group of Latino migrants as "very bad people." It was only... Read More
OpinionsKathleen Sebelius might as well be spitting into the Kansas wind. Don't try this. People who have stood against the blistering gales of the prairie can attest to the futility. And yet Sebelius, a former Kansas governor and U.S. secretary of health and... Read More
OpinionsOne deftly worded tweet. That's all it took for a 19-year-old college student to school GOP pooh-bah Mike Huckabee about voter demographics. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, likes to let loose his stilted wit on Twitter, and the other day he chose to mock pop star... Read More
OpinionsWhen Barack Obama was asked about the future of the Democratic party in a final White House interview, without hesitation he said one name: Missouri's Jason Kander. Obama likely recognized that Kander had the zest and charisma to enthrall voters, and that he could do so ... Read More
OpinionsHell hath no fury like an entitled man scorned. America met that man on Thursday, in all his caustic glory. He's federal Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, now well on his way to becoming the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. Read More
OpinionsFor all their well-learned politesse, the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have scarcely been able to conceal their determination to get Christine Blasey Ford out of their hair. Read More
OpinionsPresident Trump's callous disregard for his fellow citizens is well known to people of a certain hue, shall we say. It was in full display this week in his insistence that only a few dozen Puerto Ricans died as a result of Hurricane Maria, whereas nearly 3,000 ... Read More
