Joaquin Castro (Texas) lamented Wednesday in his keynote speech for the Raizado Festival that Hispanic culture and history are not routinely taught in the United States. "I fundamentally believe right now, unfortunately, that Americans for the most part don't know who Latinos are," Castro said.
The representative expressed: "being unknown is not only a cultural drawback. It is also dangerous". Castro acknowledged the strides Hispanics have made in the United States, using his own grandmother's immigration story as an example.
"Neither dogs nor Mexicans"
"My grandmother entered the state of Texas where there were still signs that said,'No dogs or Mexicans allowed,' where it was still illegal to speak Spanish in Texas schools. There are many similar stories like that," he said.
Castro also praised the efforts of Hispanics to get ahead: "Our parents, our grandparents, who faced these very difficult challenges in American society and did not give up, persevered, resisted and ultimately, I think, prevailed. And so we say to them, thank you."
The ravages of covid in the Hispanic community
Castro said that within the Hispanic community some people were victims of misinformation and resisted vaccination. "I read a statistic today that made me stop in my tracks. He said that life expectancy had decreased by a few years during the pandemic for Latinos in the United States. Because in many parts of our country, Latino communities were the hardest hit. We were almost twice as likely to die from COVID 19 as the majority community," he said.
