Hispanic Heritage Month Editorials

The following was the first in a series of four editorials that were published in PhoenixLaw's weekly newsletter, the Docket.  

So what exactly is this Hispanic Heritage Month? In my thirteen years in this country I have never stopped to think about these monthly cultural celebrations, and especially not Hispanic Heritage Month. It was only this past February during Black History Month when I made it a point to attend the lunch-time talks sponsored by our own BLSA that I realized the unique nature of these events.

For better or for worse, the United States is a really young country; and it set out for itself the most daunting task in the history of nations: to create an all-inclusive society. In doing so, it invited existing sovereigns and territories to form a Union. We all know that this has not been the most perfect Union. To this day, after a civil war and, a century later, a massive civil rights movement, bitter differences still arise from this system of federalism. We can look at the obvious suspect here in Arizona and bring up a certain piece of legislation that is making its way up the federal courts. Whether you believe it is a cultural/racial issue or a national security issue, you must also realize that there is a federalism problem at the very root of the debate and that it speaks directly to what it means for everyone to be American and Arizonan.

Events like Hispanic Heritage Month are nation-building efforts aimed at crafting a more perfect Union, reminding the various States that there is such an ideal as being American that lies beyond their individual borders. But becoming this ideal American is very tough. It’s hard enough for a single individual to juggle two identities and backgrounds, let alone all the different cultural identities present in this country that these events try to highlight.

With this in mind, Hispanic Heritage Month is not designed to make you assimilate and understand all that is Hispanic in order to become a more perfect American; that is just impossible. Hispanic Heritage Month is there for you to discover, to make it yours, to own and digest for yourself. It may be easy to dismiss because you are not Hispanic or precisely because you are Hispanic, but it is not about your cultural or ethnic background. It is about learning to be American and passing on those all-inclusive values to those you know so that they may be enriched in the future.

I understand that preaching about learning to be American and strengthening the future of the Union may strike you as a blatant hypocrisy coming from someone who is not even legally American. Yet I believe I speak for the millions who came before me who stayed and decided to become part of the work in progress that is the United States and the American identity.