AméRican II

At the risk of sounding a little militant, I want to talk a little bit more about why I'm so proud to be Latina. There's just so much to be said about the Latino presence in the US - so much that's never said, never taught; so much that so many of us don't know about ourselves....

1. Hispanics have had permanent settlements in what is now the US since 1565.
The oldest city in the US, St. Augustine, Florida, was founded by the Spaniards. There were Spanish settlements all over the East Coast - LA, GA, FL, on up to VA. Not even kidding. Not to mention that the vast majority of the Western United States was once part of Mexico. As some of my students put it: "Wait, a minute, we're NOT immigrants. We were here first!" and then, "Then why are they so mad that we're here? It was ours first." Hilarious and cute. True, and not. But the fact is, when we look at how long various ethnic groups have been in the US, Hispanics are second only to Native Americans. Interesting....

2. The first full admiral in the US Navy was a Hispanic man.
David Glasgow Farragut was of Catalan descent - in other words, we was a Spaniard. He served in the Civil War. Not to mention all the other accomplishments of Hispanics and Latinos in the military.....

3. The first woman to win a Tony, an Oscar, a Grammy, and an Emmy is a Latina.
Rita Moreno. Double props for being una boricua. That's a lot of statues for the mantle folks. Incidentally, the first Latino to win an Academy Award was also Puerto Rican (José Ferrer).

4. The first woman to serve as Surgeon General of the United States was a Latina.
Antonia Novello, another Puerto Rican, served under the first President Bush.

5. We make up about 14% of the US population.
We're the largest minority group in the US; but you already knew that. What does that mean? It means the US is the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking country. There are more Spanish speakers in the US than in SPAIN, folks! (Let that marinate.) Spanish is the most popular "foreign" language in US schools. One of the most popular tv shows for young children stars a proudly bilingual Latina (Dora the Explorer). One of the most popular prime time shows stars a cast of Latinos from many countries, is produced by a Latina, and is based on a Colombian telenovela (Ugly Betty). Some of the top contenders on American Idol are Latinos. We're on the radio, in movies, on tv (FINALLY!), in books, on the catwalk.... We are everywhere. And we're continually impacting culture.

Proud? Yes. Yes, very.

I am not a foreigner, not someone whose people haven't been shaping this country in profound ways for decades (centuries). I am this brown element that people don't yet understand, though we've been here for so long.

I come from a race of fighters - the kind of fighters who will do it quietly, day in and day out, working to make the most of what they've been given. César Chávez. Luis Muñoz Marín. Roberto Clemente. Dolores Huerta. These are my people.

I come from a race so blessed with creativity that we have had a hand in all aspects of culture in this country. Lalo Schifrin. Tito Puente. Sandra Cisneros. Alfonso Cuarón. Edward James Olmos. Rita Hayworth. These are my people.

The list goes on. On and on and on.

Gabriel García Márquez, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marc Anthony, Pablo Montaner, José Feliciano....

What a rich heritage we have. What a rich heritage we have on this soil.

Ésta también es mi América.