Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Or is it \u00a1Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana?<\/p>\n\n\n
How does one celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month anyway? With tequila and guacamole? Or perhaps empanadas y mate tea? How about with Andean music or reggaeton?And why Hispanic and not Latino Heritage Month?<\/p>\n\n\n
Celebrating anything shouldn\u2019t be this complicated!<\/p>\n\n\n
Each year millions of people celebrate the history, culture, contributions, and DIVERSITY of Hispanics and Latinos to the American experience from September 15 to October 15.<\/p>\n\n\n
Here are five things to keep in mind about one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States:<\/p>\n\n\n
Born in the USA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n According to the Pew Research Center, most of the nearly 62.1 million Hispanics-Latinos in the U.S. were born in this country. However, the number of foreign-born members of this community has been declining since the year 2000. While many are children of immigrants from Latin America, several are generations U.S.-born.<\/p>\n\n\n Se Habla English<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Another politically fueled inaccuracy is that Spanish-speaking Hispanics-Latinos threaten the English language\u2019s dominance in the U.S. Due to English-only schools, research shows that while immigrants tend to be bilingual, they gravitate to English. By the time those children have their children, and they have children, Spanish phases out.<\/p>\n\n\n Regardless of language proficiency, Spanish does continue to be one of the ways Hispanics-Latinos self-identify.<\/p>\n\n\n The Young and the Restless<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Hispanics-Latinos are the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States. About one-third, or 17.9 million, of the nation\u2019s Hispanic-Latino population, is younger than 18, and about a quarter, or 14.6 million, of all Hispanics-Latinos, are Millennials (ages 18 to 33 in 2014), according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.<\/p>\n\n\n Making It Rain!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Hispanic-Latino purchasing power has grown substantially over the last 30 years, from $213 billion in 1990 to $1.9 trillion in 2020. Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and other sources, the Selig Center estimates Hispanic-Latino purchasing power accounted for 11.1% of U.S. buying power in 2020, up from only 5% in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n Hispanic or Latino?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Well, it is a little bit of both.<\/p>\n\n\n Both terms are often interchangeable, but Hispanic is about language, referring to persons from Spanish-speaking countries, and Latino is about geography, used to refer to Latin America. So, for example, Spaniards are Hispanic, but not Latino, and Brazilians are Latino but not Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n The word Hispanic<\/a> was adopted by the U.S. government when Hispanic Heritage Month began to be celebrated in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week and later expanded to a month in 1988.<\/p>\n\n\n There is no turnkey, one-size-fits-all about celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. The best approach is to be mindful of who you\u2019re with; for example, I will be toasting with a good pisco sour and my wife with a shot of aguardiente!<\/p>\n\n\n Hugo Balta<\/a> and his wife Adriana<\/a> are the owners of the Latino News Network<\/a>, a group of English language local news and information websites dedicated to best serving Hispanics-Latinos in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n
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