Latinx/Hispanic Heritage: Making Commitments Past the One-Month Celebration
Celebrating someone else’s culture, heritage, and history means opening up your mind and heart to new ways of seeing the world around you. Humans need connection; plain and simple. And while any connection requires at least a small amount of effort, cross-cultural connection requires commitment. A commitment not only for your own self-growth and knowledge but also to the advancement of the people with whom you are trying to connect. To grow with, learn alongside and understand one another are the first steps to creating a more open and just society. We’re living in a moment in history that is marked by performance and the doing of “just enough” to merely acknowledge someone else’s lived and ancestral experience. We must be committed to moving beyond the performative, check-list ways of celebrating one another. It’s time to put in the work.
Just a few weeks ago our nation finished celebrating Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month. The celebration runs from Sept. 15th to Oct. 15th and each year during these four weeks you can usually spot social media posts and articles about different Latinx historical figures, celebrities, authors, and other note-worthy people. Then there are the streaming sites that pick out all their Latinx related content and highlight it on their homescreen for easy selection. And more often than not you’ll find companies that run sales and use food and trite Spanish expressions in their branding to try and show their support of Latinx culture. All these ways to celebrate Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month (except maybe the “trite expressions”) are just fine AND we can all be doing so much more. What happens after Oct. 15th? What happens after any of the nationally recognized months that our nation celebrates? More often than not we, as a society, move on to the next celebration and leave the previous one to be recognized again the following year. But what if we went beyond the one-month celebration?
Now I don’t mean to suggest that we try to cram every single culture, heritage, language and experience into each and every day of our lives but what if we went about these monthly celebrations in a more thoughtful way? What if we organized the month for ourselves or our organizations as a way to celebrate and uplift the culture while also making a well-thought out commitment to continue serving that community throughout the year? What if the month became more of a kick-off and/or a reigniting of our commitment to the community building and connection that so many of us long for? This doesn’t have to be a one or the other type of deal; all these possibilities can exist in the space. You just have to remind yourself of who you’re trying to invite into the space and how you’re ensuring that their voices are heard.
At we are (working to extend anti-racist education) where I work as the Children and Families Program Coordinator, my team and I understand just how important it is to continue inviting folx into the space. This past Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month we are renewed its commitments to:
Increase Latinx representation by 10% in year-round programming and summer camps
Implement language justice practices in all programming, and
Uplift, share and celebrate the work of existing Latinx-centered organizations
By hiring a Latinx Community Liaison Intern and consistently contracting translation and interpretation services for all of our events and materials we have already begun to work towards standing by our commitments. We may not always get it right and we’re bound to make mistakes but we’re works in progress who understand that relationship building and trust take time. However, it is time that I am, personally, willing to take if it means making a greater impact in our community and beyond.
Sharing posts and including Latinx-inspired “things” into your workplace or classroom are great but I’d like you to take a look around and ask yourself, “How many Latinx folx have made decisions about the space I exist in?” If the answer is zero or too few to count, it might be time to re-evaluate for yourself and/or your team who gets to determine how they get to be represented. To be in a true relationship with a community, different from the one with which we most identify, we must make ample space to invite folx in and allow their voices to authentically help determine what is necessary and good for everyone, moving forward. So, I challenge you to move beyond the superficial ways of honoring Latinx culture. Instead begin brainstorming about what you, as an individual, or your team, at your organization, can begin to include or do differently that allows folx to feel welcomed into the space you’ve created. Outward facing promotions are nice, but internal reflection and systemic change are, in my opinion, the real keys to human connectedness.
Brittany Del Rosario (she|they) identifies as Latinx (Puerto Rican and Cuban) and is the Children and Families Program Coordinator at we are, which stands for working to extend anti-racist education. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides anti-racism training for children, families, and educators.