Over the years, the terms Hispanic, Latino, and most recently Latinx have been used to describe the Latin American community in the U.S. While each of these terms have been used at different times in history, the debate continues on how to refer to this diverse group. National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to honor the impact that the Latin American community has had on the United States.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
The idea for National Hispanic Heritage began in 1968 when it was known as Hispanic Heritage week under President Lyndon Johnson. On August 17, 1988, under President Ronald Regan, Hispanic Heritage week was expanded to a month starting on September 15th and ending October 15th. September 15th was picked as the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month because on this day, many Latin American countries celebrate the anniversary of their independence including: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Also, Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16th, and Chile celebrates its independence on September 18th.
National Hispanic Heritage Month is a celebration honoring the impact that Latin Americans have had on the United States. There are many ways to celebrate this month including:
Defining Hispanic vs. Latino
Even though the terms Hispanic and Latino have been around for hundreds of years, it was because of the census that the terms started being used in the United States. The census counts every single person living in the United States in order to see what resources and representation they will have in the federal government. The word Hispanic is directly tied to the Spanish Monarchy. It goes back to hundreds of years ago at the time when explorers such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro came to the Americas and claimed the land for Spain, even though Native Americans were already living there. The explorers called themselves hispanos, or people from Spain. Later, the term Hispanics began to mean everyone from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, but not Brazil where people speak Portuguese or Caribbean countries, like Haiti, where people speak French.
It was during the 1970s census when the term Hispanic became popular in the United States. The U.S. government needed a term for the group of people who came from Latin America or had Latin American backgrounds. While Hispanic was picked as that term, some in these communities did not like the word. This came from the fact that Spain had taken over the land in Latin America and mistreated the natives already living there. The term Latino became popular in the 1990s as a word to use instead of Hispanic. It is a shorter way of saying Latinoamericano, meaning Latin American or people from Latin America. The term Latino covers all Latin American countries including Brazil and other French speaking countries in the Caribbean, but not Spain since it is in Europe.
The main difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino, is that Hispanic is based on language and includes people that speak Spanish, while Latino is based on location and includes all people in Latin American, even places where they don’t speak Spanish.
Even though the word Latino does cover a bigger group of people compared to Hispanic, it is a gendered word. Because Spanish is a gendered language, Latino is a masculine word and means “men from Latin America,” despite it being used to mean men and women. The term Latina on the other hand means “women from Latin America.” Some people also believe that the term Latino leaves out people of Afro-Latino backgrounds or those from Latin American countries with African ancestry or backgrounds. Because of this, a new term was made, Latinx. This term was created to be gender nonbinary and inclusive.
The Rise of Gender Neutral Terms
Latinx is a gender neutral alternative to Latino. Experts say the term became popular in 2004 with the LGBTQ+ community who wanted a term that they could identify with. Latinx does not refer to just men or women, it also includes nonbinary individuals. The purpose of the term is that it can be used by anyone, but it is really only popular in the United States, and not in Latin America. It is also more popular on social media than with people of Latin American heritage.
In fact, according to a 2019 Pew Research study, 76% of Latino adults living in the United States had never heard the term “Latinx,” 23% had heard the term, but only 3% use Latinx to describe themselves. A possible reason for this is because the word ends with an X, and in the Spanish language there is not a word that ends with an X after a consonant, or any letter that is not a vowel. Because of this, “Latine” was created to be a term that would work within the Spanish language and was also still gender neutral. Many hope that this term will become more popular and that the Latin American community will use it.
There is no one answer on which term is best to use when referring to someone that is part of the Latin American community in the United States. It is important to ask people how they wish to identify and go from there. No matter what label is used, National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanics, Latinos, Latinas, Latinxes, and Latines.
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