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news &
the remarker october 29, 2021
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
Plurality versus reality ACROSS THE STATE From the arid plains of the Panhandle to the halls of the state capitol, Hispanic Americans have made their mark across the state.
With an emerging plurality, Hispanic Americans have a growing influence on the political, social and economic trajectory of Texas. This heritage month, members of the community reflect on the Hispanic American experience.
• Junior Jose Jimenez on growing up Hispanic I consider English to be my second language. I usually speak to my parents in Spanish, but I speak to my brother in English. A few years ago, I started to notice that I began to lose my understanding of certain Spanish words and concepts because I was more involved in learning English. At first, I didn’t speak a lot of English. When I went to kindergarten, I went to a school that was 99 percent Hispanic, but the teachers spoke English. Then, I went to a school that was around 95 percent Hispanic, but everyone there spoke English, too. So I had to increase my JOSE JIMENEZ Junior uency in nglish and learn all the slang because of that. It’s challenging because English is a much larger part of my life than Spanish, and it s hard to be uent in both. or e ample ha e some trouble using bigger words in English for things like vocabulary quizzes in English class. Adjusting to St. Mark’s was pretty tough. The culture and people ere ust really really different rom my old school. hen first came here elt a little le t out. eing rom a completely different culture elt a little separated. But what St. Mark’s does great is getting everybody together and involved, so eventually, I adjusted and felt like I belonged here. Some members of my family are undocumented. here s all this tal about rapists and drug tra c ers coming across the border, but that’s not a lot of people. A lot of people are coming into the United States to work hard, make a life for themselves, and raise a amily. ac in e ico it s really bad. here s a lot o corruption, gang violence, drugs, cartels. The economy is really bad. Whenever something bad happens, news sources, politicians, they all try to blame one race for it. And that makes me mad. My mother came here when she was 17. She was told by her parents to go over to the United States and to get a ob and help them financially. y dad decided to go to the United States because he would be rewarded more for the work he did, and he could also help his family more. It all comes down to opportunity. Hispanic people come here and work incredibly hard. You go to the cafeteria, to construction sites, and the people there are speaking Spanish. Not a lot of people notice that. A lot of the things we don’t see happening, that work is done by Hispanics. Hispanic people have become a much more necessary part of society than most Americans realize.
• Immigrant Correa on cultural changes When I left Chile in 1994, we didn't have a Black population, but then the earthquake hit Haiti and Chile came to help, and they started taking people to Chile. Now we have immigrants, same as the ones that
are showing up here on the border. They started going over there to change, to improve their lives, like all immigrants. There’s a lot to learn, from the language itself, even the way of walking, talking, behaving. My daughter, she’s CEO of March on the Polls, which means to teach people to vote and to encourage them to go out there and vote. Before, if you were not into politics, politics didn’t get to you. You did your life and you didn’t care who was over there in Washington doing whatever. JORGE CORREA Well, that changed in the last few years, where all the politics Spanish instructor come to you, it doesn’t matter where you are — as an immigrant, as a woman, as everything. Every American has heard the word “familia.” They say it with a strong accent. That word – it's very important. We believe in that, and I think it's one of the things that we can bring to the American people in our new home in this culture — the meaning that it has for us.
• An expert weighs in on Hispanic American history For people from different cultural bac grounds recalling important historical events during this period is the important thing. Having cultural celebrations and customs and food and dances, that's a pretty traditional sort of thing. Schools should devote some time to discussing the particular groups that comprise this population because we're certainly not all the same: we have distinct histories and distinct cultures, although we share similarities, especially in terms of language. I think it is important to connect the present population with the ounding o settlements in e as. These groups are culturally connected. Even if individuals arrive later, the cultural connections go all the way back. or e ample the language panish is spo en in e as longer than nglish. e e ood is an offshoot o regular e ican food. So the connections are there, despite the boundary that was established in 1848. There's a sense that Hispanics just arrived yesterday because of concerns about migration. When they're constantly considered immigrants, that's ignoring their deep roots in this place. It's not
like the Chinese arriving in California, or the Irish in assachusetts hen the e icans arri e in e as they re arri ing in a place that as part o e ico. hey ha e a connection that is significant and that connection goes beyond Hispanic. Certainly, migration rom e ico and entral America has been more or less steady over the last 50 years. The numbers have increased so that these populations now amount to about 40% of the total. However, because many people are not yet citizens, many cannot vote, so the electorate is much smaller. They’re certainly not 40% of the total electorate. So their impact has been growing gradually. My major stress would be to stop thin ing about e icans and other DR. JOHN CHAVEZ Latinos as simply immigrants. To SMU history professor gi e an e ample am sometimes as ed hat part o e ico as born in, and I tell them I was born in Los Angeles, hich o course as part o e ico and that my family's been in the United States for over 100 years. They're still considered immigrants. I think that is counter to the historical presence of this population if you tie them into their indigenous past. STORY Keshav Krishna, Toby Barrett PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Keshav Krishna