Hispanic Heritage Month: An Opportunity to Recognize
As we close the month of October and move out of Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM), you may have asked yourself why there were HHM posters hanging up around the school or why you might have been getting emails about it. You also might ask yourself, “What is Hispanic Heritage Month?” Well, according to Wikipedia, “Hispanic Heritage Month is a period from September 15 to October 15 in the United States for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.”
To me, a first-generation Mexican American student here at Riley, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to not only recognize my culture and background but also to really take time to appreciate it. I like to take this time to remember all of my ancestors who fought for equal rights, went against the stereotypes, broke down those barriers, and got us to where we are today.
As a member of the Hispanic community, I felt that it was important for me to speak on the topic and educate some of those who may not know much about Hispanic Heritage since it doesn't get very much recognition. When I was asked what I would like to write about for my very first story this quarter, I instantly thought about Hispanic Heritage month. I feel that in a school that is surrounded by hispanic students, our culture and background does not get as much attention as it deserves and I would like to begin breaking that cycle.
When speaking to others about HHM at Riley, I asked those I interviewed questions such as: “What does HHM mean to you?” To Spanish-teacher Mr. Carlos Mejia, Hispanic Heritage Month “is an opportunity to recognize the roles, achievements, and just the many diverse voices we have within the hispanic and latino community.”
Mr. Mejia is originally from San Juan Puerto Rico, but moved here about 5 years ago and he now teaches Spanish 1 and Heritage Spanish 1 here at Riley. When asked what he does in his classes to celebrate HHM he responded, “I usually like to take breaks from the academic stuff that we do, and give students different ways in which they can engage with history that they might not be aware of. I show documentaries and give research work. Which is a good way to keep things interesting.”
In order to get another perspective, I also spoke with a friend of mine, Julissa Costilla (who happens to be in the top 20 of the junior class), and asked her the reflect on what HHM means to her. Costilla responded that, “[HHM] means that we get to remember all the great things our ancestors did; we get to celebrate our successes!”
I believe that it is very important to acknowledge how far we have come in the Hispanic/Latinx community, despite that we were never really taught much history besides American (often white) history.
Additionally, I spoke to our new Bilingual Education Specialist, Ms. Diana Gonzales, who is a recent addition to our Riley family. When asked about the issue of students not being taught about hispanic heritage and hispanic/latinx students being unaware of their culture she responded, “It sometimes upsets me that students don't know about their heritage, but at the same time I feel that's something that they need to want to explore. Because even if it's taught by requirement, it won't mean anything unless they want to learn about that stuff.”
Although I agree with this Mr. Gonzales’ comment about hispanic/latinx students needing to want to learn about their heritage to really appreciate the knowledge, I feel that hispanic/latinx culture should definitely be a requirement in our history classes. We shouldn't have to go out of our way to learn about things that we should be taught to begin with. Personally I've learned more about Christopher Columbus in history classes than I have anything that has to do with my culture and background. I feel that this is not only an isolated issue with South Bend Schools, but a nationwide issue. In fact, it is not only with hispanic/latinx cultures but all cultures that don’t directly involve just American history.
When speaking the Mr. Mejia, I brought up this issue and I told him my thoughts: “Hispanic heritage is only “appreciated” one month out of the entire school year, whereas American history is taught the majority of the time. What are your thoughts on this and how would you change it—considering we have a large number hispanic/latinx students here at Riley?” After considering my question, he responded by saying, “Latinos are the biggest minority group here in the United States and its projected only to grow…I think that the biggest way that we can change is by empowering our latino students. We need more latino voices in positions in which we can influence the policies and really take charge.”
I wanted to take this opportunity to bring awareness to this issue of our history/culture not being taught. I believe there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the US, not only to get latino voices heard but for all minorities. There needs to be enough people that care enough that want to bring attention to the situation and break these cycles.
I would like to thank Mr. Mejia, Ms. Gonzales, and Julissa Costilla for allowing me to interview them and helping me write this story.
