Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand?

Being Hispanic is not racial but cultural. The Spanish conquered huge portions of the Americas and created a civilization. Kind of like how the Romans conquered all of Europe and the mediterranean region and created the Roman civilization. The Spanish Empire was not like the British Empire in Africa or India, where the British did not bring their Anglo-Saxon culture at all. Thus the indigenous people of the Americas were now Hispanics, as well as the Mestizos. Just as Emperor Hadrian of the Roman Empire was considered a Roman when he was from Iberia (modern day Spain) and was mixed Iberian and Roman. In the Spanish Constitution of 1812, it states: "The Spanish nation is the reunion of all Spanish people of both Hemispheres". This constitution gave citizenship to anybody who was born in the Spanish Empire including the natives. Then the wars of Independence occurred which created many Hispanic nations. Thus creating a cultural diversity but all of them nevertheless are unified under the Spanish language and common historical origin (cultural not racial which is not as important in Hispanic culture as it is in the Anglo Saxon culture). This is what it means to be Hispanic, being part of the Hispanic civilization that was unified for over 300 years until the 1820's and still being part of it although now divided.

I use the gender neutral ENGLISH word Latin. I never use latino/a unless I’m speaking Spanish. I have no objection to Hispanic.

Latino- Folks from Latin America (excludes Spain) Hispanic- speak Spanish and/or are descended from Spanish-speaking populations "Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably though they actually mean two different things. Hispanic refers to people who speak Spanish and/or are descended from Spanish-speaking populations, while Latino refers to people who are from or descended from people from Latin America." https://www.hnmagazine.com/2017/09/difference-hispanic-latino/

I don't know what supports your argument on saying that Latinx is widely adopted. The fact that more Editorials (like you) are using it doesn't mean people is accepting it or using it.

Please stop perpetuating made-up terms like “Latinx”. In Spanish, nouns can be all encompassing and inclusive, therefore the term Latino will suffice. By nature in the Spanish language, nouns end in “a” or “o” but that doesn’t mean it’s female, male, or any shade in-between. “Persona” is a noun for ANY person, we don’t need “personx”, do we? No, we don’t.

As someone who’s mother is “american” (white, Anglo) and who’s father is Mexican (Spanish-indigenous mestizo) I prefer the term Hispanic. To me, it connotes people with a connection to Spanish-speaking countries by way of Spain. Does it harken back to colonialism? Maybe. So what? Find me something that doesn’t, particularly in the Americas. That doesn’t change the fact that Spain is the common link across most Latin American and Caribbean islands. You can’t change that, and ignoring that link is just as silly and unrealistic as ignoring the U.S.’s predominantly British link. Being of Hispanic ethnicity does not interfere with people’s ability to live their truth as it relates to race, origin story or language, so I have to admit, I don’t understand the push to brand everyone and everything “Latin”. In fact, I strongly dislike “Latin-x” because it is factually incorrect; by this definition you should include any and all countries that have a language descendent from Latin, including French, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian, etc... Please: if you want to be called Latino or Latina or latinx, go right ahead and designate yourself as such. But please don’t push this label on the rest of us, especially when it’s significantly less correct than the term “Hispanic”.

Do we need any months at all?

Cubans of "pure" Spanish ancestry are lumped together with mestizo Mexican-Americans who have a very different American "experience". This is an east coast problem, as most Mexican-Americans and other mixed indigenous groups like Central Americans are not very common. I don't think that there are any Mexican-American barrios in NYC or Washington D.C. They are out of sight and thus out of mind, and the belief is that they are just ethnic whites who just need to assimilate. Being from AZ, I can say that anti-Chicano racism is a real. When Devin Nunes (of Portuguese ancestry) is a member of the Republican Hispanic caucus, we know that we have a problem. When we include white folks with Spanish forbears in statistics regarding education income and employment are we getting a true picture of what is happening in communities of color?

Hispanic means someone from, or with ancestors or other background from, a Spanish speaking country, meaning a country where Spanish is an official or co-official language. Latin is too wide and as it’s about origin from countries with Latin languages, should include Quebec in Canada, among others.