in December 2016 one of the top trending
videos on YouTube was of a person who
was shouting at a Hispanic woman who she
considered had cut her in line at a JC
Penney store some of the statements made
where I quote go back to wherever that
if you come from
probably on welfare the taxpayers
probably pay for all that stuff you’re
nobody speak English you’re in America
the people in the back did nothing to
stand up for this Hispanic woman and
even one seemingly nodded in agreement
but the awful statements made I consider
myself a Spanish and English speaking
latina Hispanic and first-generation
mexican-american born in the United
States over and over again I thought to
myself what if it would have been I in
that woman’s position imagine yourselves
at the end of that receiving line of
such horrifying insults and then have
people in the back agree with the
stereotypes being made about a part of
unfortunately the statements made in the
video are common stereotypes about
Latinos and Hispanics in the US but
unlike it was implied not all Hispanics
and Latinos are immigrants not all
Hispanics and Latinos are on welfare and
not all Hispanics and Latinos speak
Spanish let’s take a second to define
Hispanics and Latinos Hispanic is a term
that refers to people who come from
spanish-speaking countries such as
Mexico parts of Central and South
America
like Guatemala Colombia and it even
includes the Caribbean such as Cuba and
Puerto Rico Latino latina
or latina to represent people of all
genders refers to people who have
origins in Latin American countries and
unlike Hispanics this term includes
Brazil and Haiti the woman in the video
was called a nobody but as you can see
Latino and Hispanic or not terms
synonymous with a nobody
in fact Latinos and Hispanics have a
growing presence in the United States
Latinos make up about 18% of the u.s.
population that makes Latinos the
largest minority group in the US and one
that is ever-growing it is projected to
grow by 30 percent by 2060 this is one
reason why politicians advocate for the
Latino vote more and more every 30
seconds of Latinas turns 18 those are a
lot of potential voters but not only in
politics do we see the growing presence
of Latinos and Hispanics this presence
can also be seen in the economy Latinos
have become a growing consumer power
when that was in 2015 equal to 1.3
trillion dollars that’s equal to the GDP
of Mexico El Salvador the Dominican
Republic and Guatemala combined but not
only through buying products do Latinos
help out the economy the formation of
latino-owned businesses skyrocketed 47
percent while non Latino businesses
declined by
2% new businesses means new jobs and a
2012 Stanford study found that
latino-owned businesses employed 2.5
million workers perhaps somewhere
unexpected and surprising that Latino
influence can also be found is in food I
bet many of you this month have had
tortilla chips and salsa for a midnight
snack in addition to these foods tamales
empanadas and many others have become
quite popular in the US and it’s all
things to Latinos who have preserved
these fruits from their family’s place
of origin the United States cannot deny
that Latinos play an important role in
our country we cannot allow them to be
disparaged by the misconceptions we
create about them instead we should try
learning about the Latino and Hispanic
experience in the US if not it can lead
to incidents like those experienced by
Judge Judy El Gonzalo when he was
mislabeled by our own President as
Spanish and implied to be hostile
because he was Hispanic Spanish is a
term that refers to people who have
origins in or come from the country of
Spain Judge Judy L Gonzalo has Mexican
ancestry and is from New Jersey to avoid
incidents like those experienced by the
judge we have to first tackle a few
misconceptions such as the definition of
Latino and Hispanic Latino and Hispanic
are not terms that define race like
Asian Caucasian or african-american
Hispanic
and Latino our terms that describe
ethnicity which means that instead of
people sharing common physical features
they share a national or cultural
identity in fact Latinos can identify
with any race the 2012 census found that
53 percent of Latinos said they were
white and 37 percent said they were of
some other race and speaking about
origins although it is misconception
that most Latinos and Hispanics are
immigrants many Hispanics have been in
the u.s. or the land that was to become
the US for quite a while now it all
started in 1565 with Saint Augustine to
form the first European settlements in
Florida thus introducing the Spanish
language to Florida the Spanish
continued to settle in parts of the
southwest and the land that was to
become Mexico in 1848 Mexico seceded a
lot of its length to the United States
in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and
these Mexicans remains on these
territories acquired by the US and they
became citizens in the 1930s you have to
account for so much again so much
diversity when talking about Hispanics
and Latinos because not one person is
the same and not one person is defined
by two words you check off a census
sheet like in Cepeda summed it up best
by saying Latino means being from
everywhere and that is exactly what
America is supposed to be about with
that’s
I encourage all of you not to do
something like this guy did who tweeted
hashtag happy Cinco de Mayo the best
taco balls are made in the Trump Tower
girl I love Hispanics
the first problem with this picture is
that taco balls are not any even in
ethnic food – Latinos and Hispanics the
second problem is that Cinco de Mayo is
a Mexican tradition and not all
Hispanics are Mexican the third problem
is that if this politician really wished
to rally Hispanic and Latino votes then
he should have known that even most
Hispanics and Latinos rather be
identified by their family’s place of
origin James a Forbes said it best when
he said when people rely on surface
appearances and false racial stereotypes
rather than an in-depth knowledge at the
level of the hearts minds and spirits
our ability to assess and understand
people accurately is compromised through
this talk I have learned so many things
about what it means to be Latino and
Hispanic I did not know the difference
between these two terms before I began
this talk but because of this I
encourage all of you that before
formulating an opinion or bias against
any group of people to ask questions
inform ourselves and take risk by
putting ourselves in other people’s
shoes and trying to see the world
through their eyes I encourage all of
you to talk to the person you don’t
really know so well or the one you’ve
never talked to before if you do you can
learn something interesting about them
and maybe they can learn
interesting something interesting about
you and then this way we come to a
complete understanding of one another as
human beings thank you [Applause]