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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
Month
Thirteen-years-ago I came to
Washington, D.C. as an 18-year-old
Hispanic Association of Colleges
and Universities intern, one of
250 interning for the federal
government that summer. We were
young students fascinated with
the city, the people and the
experience. What we did not know
then was that we also were a
source of pride for the Latinos
in Washington, D.C. Hearing
Spanish on the streets of D.C.
then was rare.
Thirteen-years-ago,
every professional Latino in
D.C. knew each other, today our
numbers have grown and we are
gaining representation in every
aspect of America life.
Celebrations of Hispanic
heritage then were a small
affair that brought together a
few hundred Latinos from across
the country.
Today we are in the White House,
the Halls of Congress, the
Senate, Armed services, Fortune
500 companies and leading
universities. Today, we as
Latinos are fulfilling the
dreams and aspirations of our
past leaders, our parents and
grandparents. As our numbers
have grown so have the
celebrations. Now the events
attract thousands of Latinos and
Latinas from all over the
country and every event is a hot
ticket. Festivities follow one
after the other and many
actually conflict with each
other. I guess that is an
indication of the impact we are
making in our society. Events
like the Hispanic Heritage
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Veronica E. De La Garza
(right) joined by Joy
Hayes and Gabrielle Lake
of Latina Style Magazine. |
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Awards
take place at the Kennedy
Center, the Smithsonian Latino
Center hosted a wonderful
reception at the Smithsonian
Castle, the President hosts a
reception at the White House,
the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus brought thousands of
people to their awards dinner,
nearly every Latin American
embassy including Mexico and
even Spain have hosted
celebrations. The National
Hispana Leadership Institute
celebrates their 2006 graduates,
MANA hosts their “Las Primeras
Awards,” the Hispanic
Scholarship Fund, the National
Association of Hispanic
Journalists, the National
Association of Hispanic
Publications and every federal
agency gather all their Hispanic
employees to celebrate.
Get the
picture? It is a big Hispanic
bonanza.
The interesting thing is that
the celebrations are taking
place not only in D.C. but all
over the country, from the
Pacific to the Atlantic, and
from the Canadian to the Mexican
border. It is a bit overwhelming.
It gives me great pride to be
part of these festivities and
experience the achievements that
our community is so proud of. At
LATINA Style we get to see these
dreams and goals being achieved
on a daily basis. We need to
continue to support and elevate
each other as our community
grows in numbers and strength.
The strength of the Hispanic
community is the strength of a
family and every day that
becomes more evident as we
caucus in Congress and in
marches across the country. We
must unite, work in trust,
continue to build and maximize
our strengths as Hispanics.
Veronica E. De La Garza is the
director of Strategic
Partnerships at Latina Style
Magazine |
