Against the Black Legend and for the pride of being Hispanic

The Black Legend is one of the biggest lies in history. It is, furthermore, absurd for a people to deny their own roots; Hispanic Americans are also Spanish. We are much more Spanish than indigenous, if we want to be precise. And the heritage we have is not small, we are children of one of the most extensive empires in history, and perhaps the most important.

We Hispanic Americans are children of the empire that, instead of eliminating the population of the territories it conquered, educated them, built hospitals and universities, and freed them from living like savages. We are children of the empire that, among other things, saved Europe from being taken over by Islam. What's the point of denying what should be pride?

The idea that the Spanish came to America to carry out a genocide and steal everything that suited them easily falls apart when studying the enormous improvement in living standards that the indigenous population of the territories conquered by Spain had. Historical facts how that the situation for indigenous people in Spanish America was completely different from that of the natives who were in the territories later conquered by the English, who ended up exterminated. However, curiously, there is no Black Legend for the British Empire...

The Spanish never really had colonies in the sense that the British or French empires did, The Spanish saw in American a new Spain. Our Spanish ancestors, those who came to America and left us their surnames, their language, their customs and their genes brought us civilization. The indigenous people before the arrival of the Spanish barely survived; they had a survival-based economy. In some areas of Central America, in addition to misery and disease, the indigenous people had to live with the terror of tribes that carried out practices such as sacrificing people to the gods.

One of the great lies contained in the Black Legend is the idea that the Spanish had weapons with which they subdued the indigenous people. Most of the natives supported the Spanish and welcomed their arrival. It could not be any other way, when the Spanish empire freed them from total misery, continuous fights between tribes, and a primitive life.

How Spanish we Hispanic Americans are is very easy to see. If someone goes to France, Germany, or any other country close to Spain, they clearly see the differences, not only in the language but in the way of being, the tastes, etc., but if someone compares Spaniards with Hispanic Americans, although we have a ocean in the middle, the similarities are evident.

No matter where we are from, we all have Spanish roots. And Hispanics in America should feel proud, because we are children of the empire where the sun did not set, and descendants of those Spaniards who came to America to bring civilization. Happy Hispanic Heritage Day!