National Hispanic Heritage Month

by Carlos Gutiérrez

Associate Professor, Romance Languages

"Do I need a passport or a visa to go there?" Supposedly, this is the first question asked by tourists from other states before visiting New Mexico, which is 43 percent Hispanic. Of course, this could be just an Internet legend

(http://www.newmexicopassport.com/faqs.htm)

. Or Gov. Bill Richardson's advertising conspiracy to attract tourists.

Even if the anecdote is not true, it points towards an increasing awareness of the Hispanic presence in US history. This was not always the case. In 1883, Walt Whitman criticized a widespread perception that continues among some today: "Thus far, impress'd by New England writers and schoolmasters, we tacitly abandon ourselves to the notion that our United States have been fashion'd from the British Islands only." Some contemporary scholars such as Samuel P. Huntington ("The Hispanic Challenge," Foreign Policy, March-April 2004) still see the presence of other cultures in the United States as a cultural and linguistic threat.

But much has changed since Whitman took his fellow Americans to task. Today other cultures are publicly celebrated as part of a shared heritage. Thus in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed the National Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, it was expanded to a full month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), and UC celebrates this year's National Hispanic Heritage Month with an impressive array of cultural events

(http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=1914)

.

The approximate 40 million Hispanics living today in the United States come in all possible colors and from many different origins. They can be full-blooded Americans, Latin Americans, Caribbeans, or Europeans. Some of them do not speak Spanish, while others barely speak English upon arrival. Some came yesterday, so to speak, while the ancestors of others were here before the arrival of the Mayflower. Many keep coming, even risking their lives in pursuit of a better future, and their coming keeps the foundational spirit of this country alive.

The Hispanic presence in American history runs wide. For example, the oldest continuously occupied city in the nation, St. Augustine, Fla., was built by Spanish settlers in 1565. With the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty (1848), Mexico ceded 55% of its territory (present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah) to the United States. People and all.

Today Spanish is the official language of 21 countries spread in three continents from Mexico to Argentina, from Spain to Equatorial Guinea. According to language expert David Graddol (Science 303 [2004]: 1329-31), five major languages will emerge in the future: Arabic, English, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, and the most prevalent, Mandarin Chinese. Accordingly, the citizens of a global world will become bilingual or multi-lingual. In other words, more Americans, including my son, will be expected to speak English and some other language(s).

Our time has placed us at an exciting historical juncture. We freely acknowledge and celebrate Hispanic heritage, but our challenge is to determine how we can use this and other cultures and languages to the benefit of ourselves and future generations.