News flash: Hispanics are Americans; the border is part of the United States and so are its people.

At a Santa Fe, New Mexico, conference focused on changing perceptions about the border region Thursday March 15, 2007, a group of Latino activists, journalists and others outlined what they see as a critical problem in public perception about a swath of the United States where most U.S. Hispanics live.

Participants were unanimous in thinking that the the mainstream media has fallen short in covering Latino issues and portraying the Latino experience in humanizing ways. Indeed, little has changed over the past 25 years.

A portion of the group at the "Beyond the Wall: Reframing 25 Years of Stereotypes" funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation agreed that to change perceptions they must more effectively use traditional public relations methods to make journalists more aware of humanizing ways to cover border issues.

The group drilled into the issue, agreeing that at the heart of the issue is how the United States perceives who is an American.

One referred to a oft-quoted saying on multi-generational Chicanos - "We didn't cross the border the border crossed us."

Also, one participant urged the use of Web 2.0 tools to circumvent much of the negative current in the blogosphere regarding the border.