UA campus celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

By: Taniah Tudor

Posted: 9/15/08

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins today and events celebrating Latino culture are scheduled for students and nonstudents alike.

The celebration coincides with the commemoration of Independence Day in many Latin American countries. It was first authorized in 1968, when the U.S. Congress adopted a resolution which calls "on the people of the United States, especially the educational community, to observe National Hispanic Heritage Month with appropriate ceremonies and activities," according to the Encyclopedia Britannica online edition.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the holiday being extended for an entire month by former president Ronald Reagan, according to the UA Multicultural Center Web site.

Veronikha Salazar is the associate director for the Multicultural Center and chair of the Hispanic Heritage Month Committee, which plans the events for HHM.

The committee is made up of faculty, staff and students from the UA, and members of the community from outside of the university. This year the HHMC asked donors for the event to join the committee, and it has been meeting since May, Salazar said.

The theme this year for HHM is "Getting involved: Our families, Our community, Our nation," and Salazar said this influenced the committee to target the whole community when it began planning the events.

The members discussed what non-Hispanics would want to learn about Latino culture, and what Hispanics wanted to teach, Salazar said.

"Not everyone on the committee is Hispanic," she said.

Events ranging from a panel discussion entitled "Challenges of Latinos in the U.S. and in Northwest Arkansas" to a photo display by Brazilian photographer Jean Paul Nacsimiento will be available to the community, Salazar said.

The HHMC is highlighting certain events, she said, such as the panel discussion today, Campus Day for high school students on Sept. 23, a conversation on Mexican cinema with actor Damian Alcazar on Sept. 25, Friday Night Live: Latin Soul, which will be on Oct. 3 and Plaza de las Americas on Oct. 7.

The panel discussion will include Jim Miranda, who is a member of and involved in several civil rights organizations; Margarita Solorzano, the executive director of the Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas; Ana Claudia Aguayo, a junior at the UA and an advocate for education, health awareness and civil rights for the Hispanic community; Ana Bridges, who explores Latino mental health and service utilization in the department of psychology at the UA; Javier Boyas, an assistant professor at the UA School of Social Work; and Charlie Cervantes, the state director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Arkansas, Salazar said.

Plaza de las Americas will be in the Arkansas Union Connections Lounge, and will include displays of artifacts and information about specific Latino cultures, Salazar said, and performances from 22 Hispanic countries will be available at the event.

There will also be a Latino-related film series and the return of the off-Broadway play "Plátanos and Collard Greens," a romantic comedy that tells the story of an African-American man and a Latino woman, according to a UA Multicultural Center flyer.

"People need to be aware that Latinos and African-Americans are coming together in relationships, not just friendships," Salazar said.

Daniel Diaz, a senior history major from Texas and member of LULAC, is also on the committee, putting forth ideas and helping organize events such as Friday Night Live. A Latin band from Dallas, TX., will be at the event, as will authentic Mexican food and activities for the whole family, he said.

"There's still work to be done, but this is the first step in closing the gap between cultures…the first step for students in Arkansas to get to know the Latino culture better," Diaz said.

Rafael Arciga, a senior from Mexico majoring in political science and international relations, is the president of LULAC. He said there has been a great deal of student involvement, from being part of the committee and events, to volunteering and getting the word out about HHM.

Arciga said he thinks the most important thing is that HHM gives the Latino community a chance to educate all the communities within society, to create understanding among the cultures and educate about the varying aspects of Latin American countries.

"Every country has a different culture, and a different way to celebrate," he said.

"This is a great time to highlight the contributions that many Hispanics have made to this country, things that people sometimes ignore or don't take into account - what the Latin cultures bring to this country," Arciga said.

Nancy Cabrera, a senior in international relations and Latin American studies from Bolivia, said she thinks many Latinos in America lose their background.

"They should never forget where they came from," she said. "It definitely makes me proud that we celebrate Hispanic heritage on campus. There are a lot of Hispanic people [on campus] and they are really tied to each other."

"We tend to forget for the rest of the year some of the issues that make us different or unique, but also make us a working part of society, which is unfortunate," Arciga said. "It would be great if as a society we could celebrate it for not just one month but incorporate it into the cultural society in which we live."

The estimated Hispanic population of the U.S., as of July 1, 2007, is 45.5 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Several resources for studying Spanish and Latin American histories and cultures are offered by the UA Libraries, and are listed on the Web site in honor of HHM.

HHM kickstarts its festivities with a panel discussion 11 a.m. today at the Multicultural Center and will end with a film series Oct. 16.