OUR CULTURES
Celebrating Latinx Culture BY ALICIA SPINNER Cultural Bridges Manager submitted a bill to expand the celebration. Torres said that supporters of the legislation “want the American people to learn of our heritage. We want the public to know that we share a legacy with the rest of the country, a legacy that includes artists, writers, Olympic champions, and leaders in business, government, cinema, and science. The monthlong celebration will allow our Nation to properly observe and coordinate events and activities to celebrate Hispanic culture and achievement.”
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I still remember the day when I was first labeled “Latina”. I had just moved to the U.S. and started a new job in Silicon Valley during the dot-com bubble in 1999, and the HR executive very enthusiastically went on and on to explain to me that the group I was going to join was always the one having the loudest meetings while enjoying delicious and spicy food like empanadas, burritos, arepas, pupusas, paella, tostones... The truth is that I did not know half of the dishes he mentioned, and he must have seen the surprise on my face because he asked me: Aren't you excited to join the Latinos group? I quickly responded: Absolutely! And then gave him a big smile while I was still trying to process the fact that he was seeing me as a Latina. Previously, I only thought of myself as a Mexican. But not much time passed before I learned that people were seeing me as an immigrant and continue categorizing me with many labels: Hispanic, Latina, and now Latinx. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, Hispanic includes people with ancestry from both Spain and Latin American Spanish-speaking countries, while Latino includes people from Latin American countries that were formerly colonized by Spain or Portugal. That is the same case with Latinx but new generations prefer to have an “x” at the end of the word as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina. With time, I have grown to identify myself with all these labels and to understand that ethnic groups are always evolving, so I won’t be surprised if more terms will be needed in the future. Upon arrival in the U.S. in 1999, I was labeled as a Latina and now my daughter labels herself as Latinx. The term Latino first emerged in the Los Angeles Times in the early 1990s. And it was not until 2004 in social media when the “–x” suffix was used to replace the “-o/-a” endings of Latino and Latina that are typical of grammatical gender in Spanish.
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Almost fifty years ago, the term “Hispanic” was proposed in government statistics. It was during this time that our culture started to be celebrated. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a 1968 bill designating the week of September 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Week. Twenty years later, President Ronald Reagan lengthened the celebration to an entire month. And even if we like to joke that by that time everybody knew how much we like to party, the truth is that it was Representative Esteban Torres of California who
September 15th was chosen as the starting point for the commemoration, because it is the anniversary of the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition to that, Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16th and Chile on the 18th. Our cultures are very diverse and we still identify ourselves primarily with terms of nationality (Mexican, Argentinian, Cuban) rather than Hispanic, Latino, or Latinx. Now, there is a misunderstanding about Cinco de Mayo. That's an annual celebration held to commemorate the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the French Empire in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Though the celebration has been popularized in the U.S. over the last decade or two, I never, ever celebrated this event growing up in Mexico. We did study it at school but it was only a page in the history book. The most important national celebration in Mexico happens on September 16th and for Mexicans who have immigrated to the U.S., September is the month when we pay tribute to the generations of Hispanic/Latinos/Latinx Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society. Here at Cultural Bridges, we want to take the opportunity to say GRACIAS to all the trailblazers who took the hardest road and made it easier for the rest of us to follow: Latinx families, students, teachers, staff, administrators, and volunteers. In Seattle, the Consulate of Mexico presents the MEXAM Festival to give a space for the voices of the Mexican Community in our state: www.mexamnwfestival.com/ The SEA MAR MUSEUM, the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, presents the overlooked history of Latino/ as from prior waves of migration to the present time. The museum has an amazing collection of artifacts, even some small cabins with furniture, dishes, and other items from 1950s farmworkers in Eastern Washington. For more information, visit https://seamarmuseum.squarespace.com/ There are many ways to celebrate, but I believe that the best way to recognize any culture is by learning about it. Sharing other people’s cultures with your kids helps build their respect and curiosity. And since our Latinx heritage comes from more than 20 countries, there are so many rich traditions! After all of these years here, I think I can say that I have eaten all the dishes that the HR executive mentioned in the meeting, and after learning about all the contributions we have done to the American fabric, I feel very proud to be called Latinx.
