Last year, we launched a new “community voices” series to acknowledge history and heritage months. In this series, we ask community members from the group being acknowledged to write short essays about what the month means to them.

 

We asked Jorge Melgoza, the interim principal of Island High School, to write about Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) this year. This celebration, which was established in 1968 as a week and expanded in 1988 to a month, honors Hispanic and Latino history and culture. 

• More information on Hispanic Heritage Month

"Questions regarding identity have been an ongoing question asked of our community since the founding of our nation.  When asked the question, it serves as an opportunity to share the pride of and celebration for the richness and beauty of our culture within the larger tapestry of our country.

 

My parents made the decision to immigrate to this country from the beautiful state of Michoacan, Mexico.  They became a part of the larger narrative joining countless other families from Michoacan and from other states in Mexico choosing to immigrate to this country for the opportunity for a better life for themselves and their children. It was these families and communities which welcomed my parents when they first arrived and supported them until my parents found their own footing.  These communities provided a connection and served as a reminder that one can have love for their new adoptive country and their home country.

 

Growing up in such a community, questions of identity were a given, until it was not and only became salient once I arrived in college.  This new environment provided the space to explore what it meant to be me. It was here that I learned that I was not alone growing up speaking Spanish as my primary language and recognizing that Spanish was both the bridge and door to an entirely different and beautiful world that you learn to appreciate even more as time goes by.  I learned that my experience growing up was not unique.  In fact, there were hundreds upon hundreds of others who shared similar experiences. These experiences were similar in that we had parents welcomed for the labor but not their culture. We had parents welcomed for their labor but limited or denied access to quality health care, employment, housing or education.

 

It was in college where I began to identify as a Chicano and be proud of being born in this country but not at the expense of or being ashamed or denying my parents culture. It was my parents and my community who raised me to be proud of self, proud of family, proud of culture and proud of being born in this country.

 

I would encourage everyone who identifies with the Chicano/ Latino Community to embrace your identity and take pride in the fact that we are both from here and there."