We’ve been thinking about heritage months all wrong.
Heritage months should be a celebration of different cultures, a way to educate people on a culture that’s not their own. Instead, we are stuck inside an echo chamber of celebrating ourselves rather than also celebrating others.
Women’s History Month isn’t simply about women uplifting each other; it should be about everyone learning about women’s history.
While there’s nothing wrong with uplifting the people in your own community, that shouldn’t be the only way we celebrate.
H-F is a prime example of why we shouldn’t just celebrate ourselves and our community.
Last year was the first year H-F held an event for Hispanic Heritage Month, and frankly, the school as a whole needs to step up.
While many Americans don’t think we need to celebrate months, such as Hispanic Heritage month or Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month, that is simply ignorant.
We need to fight against this trend. We should use these months to our advantage to educate ourselves about all the different cultures celebrated in our community.
With the current political climate in Chicago, this is the perfect time for H-F to step up for Latino students.
The Trump Administration has recently been threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago and has begun to ramp up immigration raids in the city.
“We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,“ said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Many events in Chicago have already begun to cancel their celebrations in fear of ICE raids.
Mexican Independence Day festival “El Grito Chicago” and Oak Park’s “¡Viva!” Festival were cancelled as a result of the raids.
“This was a really hard decision,” El Grito organizer Korina Sanchez said. “What really cemented our decision yesterday was getting a call from the governor’s office and having someone from his office relay that he was recommending us to potentially not hold the event…to think that ICE could be targeting these festivities and tearing apart families is really hard to think about.”
Anti-immigration rhetoric has historically fueled racism towards Latinos in America.
The National Library of Medicine (NIH) conducted a survey that showed a positive correlation between state-level immigration policies and perceived discrimination towards Latinos. The study showed “more anti-immigrant policies were associated with higher levels of discrimination.”
Noem, referring to illegal immigrants as “trash” or “waste” could have dangerous consequences. No community, including the H-F community, is immune to this spread of hatred against Latinos.
In light of this, H-F needs to take this opportunity to educate students and the community as a whole.
