OUR CULTURE IS NOT A COSTUME

By the time you’re reading this month’s issue of The Buffalo Latin Village, we will be smack in the middle of “Hispanic Heritage” month. All throughout the middle of every September and October, you will see television ads, print ads, internet ads and possibly, depending on the market, radio ads “celebrating” Hispanic Heritage.

It’s just like Christmas. Suddenly, you’ll see a celebration of Latin American Flags and cultures, language, but if you blink, you’ll miss it.

I’ve always been a little critical of the forced inclusion regarding our culturally different communities which were jammed into one “Hispanic” monolith, but alas, this is a battle I grow tired of every year. Outside of the forced inclusion of our cultures for the purpose of celebration, my frustrations are aimed at the commercialization of this monthly celebration and the way these “corporate celebrations” always focused on part of our heritage.

My issues with the term “Hispanic” are tied to the way it ignores what makes up a person of “Hispanic” origin. All the attention is paid to “Hispania” but the cultural and genetic influences from our African and Native Indian ancestors go unacknowledged.

Furthermore, and this is something I mentioned a few columns ago with regards to how we don’t all fit within one identity.

Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rican culture is as like Argentinians and Argentinian culture as Canada is to Australia. Yes, they speak the same language, but they are not the same people. However, having one “celebration” and throwing everyone under that one umbrella basically ignores the beauty of our separate Latin American cultures all in the name of inclusion.

It’s like whenever a person says “I don’t see color” when it comes to issues of race. This phrase has always made me cringe because, to not see color is to not acknowledge the struggle and history people of a certain racial makeup have had to endure, in this racially biased society we live in.

I’m in no way saying we shouldn’t acknowledge or celebrate our cultures, I just have a hard time understanding why so many are OK to see corporations and others who quick to jump on the “Hispanic” bandwagon, celebrating this month with Tacos, Trumpets, and Salsa.

Our culture is not a costume, it isn’t a thing you can pull from a closet once a year and celebrate like an old musty Santa Claus outfit sitting in storage.

We live and celebrate our culture year-round, and seeing corporations, businesses and entities only stop once a month, in the middle of two months, every year to finally say, “Oh yeah, you guys” is a little insulting. I guess anything is acceptable so long as corporate dollars are involved. We should celebrate our cultures, our identities, and traditions, but also make a point of seeing each for what we are; individual cultures that have a similar experience, but very different traditions, even if we speak the same language.

Latinos aren’t one monolithic culture, instead we are many pillars, each with our own stories to tell.