Hispanic Heritage Month

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, August-Sept, 2003 by Nick Wilson

Few of us could imagine Latino-less baseball, anymore than we could visualize entertainment without Hispanics. But as the nation prepares to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in September, LATINO LEADERS pays tribute to the lesser known, but sometimes richer ingredients Latinos have added to America's multicultural melting pot.

Spain allied herself to 13 tiny, rebel, English colonies, and sent its Governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez, at the head of his army to storm British strongholds in Alabama and Florida. Texans named the city of Galveston after him, acknowledging his contribution to American freedom. Latinos have also died defending US liberty: hundreds of thousands of Hispanics fought in World War II, and many died on 9/11 in New York's fire and police services.

Most of us who celebrate the nation's freedom and foundation on Thanksgiving Day also unwittingly toast ancient culinary Latino heritage: turkeys came from Mexico and Central America, and potatoes from Peru. Pre-Columbian Peruvian agronomists also introduced the world to tomatoes in the ketchup that goes on fries.

And fries are competing with the ever-growing popularity of tortillas and chili salsa, ubiquitous in the most Texan of steak houses, and on many American dining tables.

Another kind of salsa is also spreading across America, along with the beat of Mambo, Samba, Conga, Son, Guaracha, Merengue, Cumbia, Bugalu, Danzon, Bolero, Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz and Cha-cha (Cha cha cha in Spanish), it echoes through discos, bars, dance rooms, TV commercials, and shows. From Desi Arnaz, who introduced Cuba's pulsing African drums to mainstream America with his rendition of "Babaloo" on the hit TV show I Love Lucy, to Ricky Martin, Celia Cruz, and Los Tigres Del Norte, Latino rhythm has resonated across a continent and two centuries. Likewise, movie stars from Dolores del Rio and Rita Hayworth, to Martin Sheen (born Ramon Estevez) and Raquel Welch (born Raquel Tejada) have captured hearts and audiences.

And, as top news anchors and reporters Elizabeth Vargas, Jorge Ramos, and Giselle Fernandez testify, Latino TV influence goes beyond entertainment.

The arts and literature would also he poorer without Hispanic writers such as Piri Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, and Tomas Rivera, And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.

Furthermore, Latino leadership lights the path to success in fashion--Dominican Republic-born Oscar de la Renta created a billion-dollar international empire that made clothes for three first ladies and took over a French couture business.

Cesar Pelli, designs buildings and is one of the America's ten most influential living architects. It is scientists who provide their building materials, and there are plenty of Latinos in their ranks. Antonia Novello, US Surgeon General in the first Bush Administration, stands alongside Nobel Prize in Physics winner and NASA scientist Luis Alvarez.

Hispanic sports stars, of course, need no introduction and could fill a book, as indeed they have on baseball alone (see Shelf Life on page 54). It is enough to say that without them, America would have fewer gold medals and stadium ticket sales. Latinos are also taking the national political stage. Carlos Mayan, the Cuban-American mayor of Wichita, Kansas, is proof that Latino influence extends way beyond the slates that are traditionally associated with Hispanic communities.

America owes a huge debt to its Latino entrepreneurs, laborers, field workers, artists, and athletes. We celebrate their contributions in September during Hispanic Heritage Month.

It is with nostalgia and romance, awe and admiration, that LATINO LEADERS pays tribute to those who inspire us from the past and in the present, so we can proudly say our Hispanic Heritage helped make this country great.