Knowing your Hispanic neighbors requires understanding Latin American diversity | Opinion

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month, commemorating the independence of Latin American countries, many of which celebrate their national independence from European colonizers in September.

We look to centuries of Hispanic and Latinx history, and celebrate our hard-won successes in both Latin America and North America. Here in the United States, this month calls us to shine a light on the contributions we’ve made and our determined persistence in working for full inclusion and equality.

We hope to promote the obvious truth that in order to fully understand what we each bring to our communities, all people should have the same energetic curiosity about each other. One way to address that curiosity is to read “Our Migrant Souls: Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of ‘Latino’” by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hector Tobar. The historical journey our people have experienced determines what we look like, how we view ourselves and others, what pushes our buttons, and what we believe is possible.

“Hispanic” as used in Hispanic Heritage month is just the most common term for a very diverse population. Our comfort in labeling our identity has evolved over decades. Timing and geography play a role.

In the 1960s in Colorado I referred to myself as Chicana. My bumper sticker said “Chicana Power!” It would not have had the same punch had it read “Hispanic Power!” To have used the term Hispanic would have been seen as elitist and denying our Mexican roots. Now some have begun deleting the gender labeling inherent in the Spanish language by using the gender neutral Latinx or Latine. In Hector Tobar’s book, he describes this evolution of labeling. He says a Chicano is a Mexican American with a non-anglo image of himself. That was true in my world!

When you read the histories of people from so many Latin American countries, Tobar notes they are filled with stories of ethno-genocides, and of mixing of diverse peoples. Grounding yourself in this breadth of geography and cultures makes it easy to understand how, though there are some common threads, Latinx is not one culture or race. We are dozens.

We are also politically diverse. I am often asked “Given the immigrant policies of some politicians, how could so many Latinos vote for blatantly anti-immigration candidates?” Sometimes it is just who you are around. In Tobar’s book, he tells of a blue-collar worker who would hear guys complaining about taxes. How he got to his vote, he says, was that “small bits of Republican confetti” fell around him. We each carry our own context and reaction to public policies, even about immigration.

One of our commonalities is how we feel about education for our children. This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month is launched around three themes nationally: Prosperity, Power and Progress. They are all interconnected and even if, especially if, our parents or grandparents had little or none of those things, it is our common desire that our children have it all.

That’s why, for over 20 years, The Hispanic Roundtable has sponsored an annual Latinx Youth Summit for 500 Latinx high school youth. Each year’s theme speaks to encouraging them to reach for it all, and to recognize the potential within them, to use the passion given by their ancestors to believe that they can achieve prosperity, power and progress. The theme for the 2023 LYS is “The culture in me — a blazing ember! La cultura en mi — la brasa ardiente!” It will be on Nov. 17 at Centralia College.

Events such as Hispanic Heritage Month can help us see the depths of a person’s yearning, strengths, and heart. And being seen is the key to community. What is meaningful can be as simple as learning to pronounce the person’s Latinx name correctly.

Kathy Baros Friedt is a retired state agency director, VP of the Hispanic Roundtable, VP of the Strengthening Sanctuary Alliance, a member of the Interfaith Works Program Council, and a member of the St. Benedict Episcopal Church Social Justice and Outreach Ministry.