Transcript Hispanic Heritage Month 2013

Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15–October 15, 2013
Hispanics: Serving and
Leading Our Nation
with Pride and Honor
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic
Heritage Month from September 15th to October
15th, celebrating the histories, cultures, and
contributions of American citizens whose
ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the
Caribbean, and Central and South America.
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Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
The observance started in
September 1968 as Hispanic
Heritage Week under President
Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan
expanded the observance to
become Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Photos courtesy of the
White House
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
September 15th is the anniversary of
independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
In addition, Mexico declared its
independence on September 16th, and
Chile did so on September 18th. Also,
Columbus Day, or Día de la Raza, falls
within this 30-day period, on October 12th.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Generations of Hispanics have shaped and
strengthened the fabric of the United States
since its inception.
Hispanics have enriched
every facet of our
national identity with
traditions that stretch
across centuries and
reflect the many ancestries that comprise the
Hispanic/Latino community.
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Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
LTC Alfred Rascon,
USA, retired
Public servant
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“We do not choose our
fate or our family
circumstances. Those
who have little in life to
begin with can find
success if they have
survival instincts and
are highly motivated to
succeed in life.”
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
As a soldier and public servant, LTC Alfred Rascon,
retired, served the United States with distinction for
nearly four decades.
At the age of four, Rascon came to the U.S. from
Mexico with his parents. Raised in the barrios of
California near Port Hueneme Naval Station during
the Korean War, he was fascinated by the military,
making parachutes out of sheets and staging
imaginary combat jumps off the roof of his house.
At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a
medic in the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
In March 1966, Rascon’s unit moved to reinforce
its sister battalion that was under attack. A
firefight broke out, beginning what Rascon would
later recall as “ten minutes of hell.”
Ignoring orders, “Doc” Rascon ran to tend to the
wounded soldiers. He was hit by shrapnel and a
rifle bullet that traveled from his hip through his
shoulder blade. He managed to drag one man to
safety, then crawled back into the melee to bring
ammunition to a wounded machine gunner.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Fearing an abandoned machine gun would be used
by the enemy, he went to retrieve it. A grenade
exploded, spraying his face with shrapnel. Later, he
saved the life of another GI by shielding the man
with his own body as he administered treatment.
When a grenade landed near an injured sergeant,
he threw his body over the sergeant. The explosion
blew off Rascon’s helmet and rucksack. He refused
morphine so he could continue treating his
wounded comrades.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
He was nominated for the Medal of Honor days
afterward, but the paperwork was lost. Upon his
discharge from the Army in 1966, he joined the
reserves, attended college, and became a naturalized
citizen. In 1969, he returned to active duty and was
commissioned as a second lieutenant. He returned to
Vietnam in 1972 for another tour.
In 1993, some of the men whose lives Rascon saved
heard that the recommendation for his medal was
lost. They took the case to the House Veterans Affairs
Committee.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
In 2000, Rascon was awarded the Congressional
Medal of Honor for his service at a White House
ceremony with the men he had saved looking on.
In presenting the Medal of Honor, President Clinton
said, “On that distant day, in that faraway place,
this man gave everything he had, utterly and
selflessly, to protect his platoon mates.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Alfred Rascon, medic in the
U.S. Army (center)
Vietnam, March 1966
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President Clinton and LTC Alfred
Rascon, USA, retired
The White House, 2000
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Rascon became the 343rd person awarded the
nation's highest military honor.
Today, describing himself as “Mexican by birth,
American by choice,” he is a role model for students.
He also works with soldiers, veterans, and their
families, offering support, assistance, and
recognition for their contributions to the country.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Linda Alvarado
Entrepreneur
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“Whether we’re called
Hispanos or Mexicanos or
Puertorriqueños, Cubanos,
or Latinos, we are a
family connected to a
community of very
talented people from very
different backgrounds
who are doing amazing
things that our parents did
not have the opportunity
to do.”
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Born in 1952, Linda Alvarado was raised with five
brothers by parents who had high expectations for
their offspring.
They also gave their children pride in their heritage.
Alvarado said, “They helped us to understand that as
Hispanics we would probably be faced with some
form of bias in our lives, but that we should never
use that as an excuse not to try.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
She attended college on a full scholarship, but she
worked as a laborer for a landscaping company to
pay her personal expenses. She graduated with a
degree in economics and went to work as a
contract administrator for a development company
that specialized in large retail, commercial, and
housing projects. Her position often put her on the
construction site, and she discovered the
satisfaction of seeing a building design on a
blueprint become a structure.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Alvarado developed a sense of humor about the
bias she faced and remained determined to launch
a successful career as a contractor. Alvarado defied
stereotypes attached to women and Hispanics.
She explained, “Not only was construction just for
guys, it was just for big, burly guys. Women often
talk about a ‘glass ceiling,’ through which they can
clearly see where they want to go. In my case, it
was a concrete ceiling. I couldn’t see any other
women where I was going.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
There were no special programs to support women
and minority business start-ups. Banks turned her
down. Her parents mortgaged their home and
lent her $2,500.
On this foundation, Alvarado built one of the most
successful construction firms in the country,
moving from flatwork and simple paving jobs to
bus-stop shelters, convenience stores, fast-food
restaurants, public school buildings, and Denver’s
aquarium, international airport, and convention
center.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Linda Alvarado
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Alvarado initially signed her
proposals “L. Alvarado,” fearing
that if she used “Linda,” she
wouldn’t be considered because
she was a woman. She recalls
when a male accompanied her
on a project interview and the
clients extended their hands to
him, assuming he was the
president of the company.
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Alvarado is a fervent believer in encouraging young
women not to limit themselves. She uses her own
story to illustrate her points. “I've been mistaken
for a banker, a secretary, and even the office
cleaning woman, but I've never had someone
come up to me and tell me I look like a contractor.
What is important is not how others see you, but
how you see yourself.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Joseph Unanue
Businessman and philanthropist
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“Many Latino
immigrants just need
a little help, and they
will succeed. They're
not looking for a
handout, they're
looking for jobs. All
they need is a chance,
and they will help this
country become
stronger.”
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Joseph Unanue was one of four sons of Prudencio
and Carolina Unanue, who founded Goya Foods in
1936 to sell olives, olive oil, sardines, and other
food to local Hispanic families. He started working
at the company as a boy, delivering food and
running errands during the summer and on
weekends.
He and his brothers built Goya Foods into the
largest Hispanic-owned food company in the
United States.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
At age 19, Unanue fought in World
War II in the decisive Battle of the
Bulge. On his first day in the
European Theater, his sergeant lay
dead; he was the next in command.
PFC Joseph Unanue
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“They wanted me to take over, but I
didn't want to. I was just a PFC,” he
said. He pulled his men to safety
amid intense shelling, a heroic act
earning him the Bronze Star.
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
He returned to the U.S. and enrolled in the
Catholic University of America, graduating with a
degree in mechanical engineering.
He turned down his first job offer because it did
not pay what he thought he was worth. “Instead, I
went to work typing invoices for my father at half
the salary!”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Over the next 25 years, he learned every facet of
the food industry, and he became the company's
president in 1976. Goya Foods now stretches
across the United States and into Mexico, Central
and South America, and Spain.
Unanue was known to possess a certain down-toearth air, remembering his roots and always being
there to give advice to new and up-and-coming
Hispanic-owned companies.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Unanue said that Goya Foods initially “had a hard
time convincing the chain stores that the Hispanics
pay with money.”
Additionally, some supermarkets were reluctant to
give Goya Foods shelf space alongside more
mainstream items, and instead offered the
company a separate section for its goods. “Instead
of refusing the lesser offer, my father used it to the
company’s advantage and took it,” Unanue said.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
“(Unanue) had great vision, he saw the
demography of the United States changing before
anybody talked about it … He also appreciated the
fact, and I think this is part of his genius, that
Brazilians and Venezuelans and Guatemalans, all
Hispanics, had different traditions and different
tastes.”
—Richard Fritzky
Meadowlands Regional
Chamber of Commerce
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Under his leadership, Goya Foods’ annual
revenues grew from about $8 million to about $1
billion, boosted by successive waves of Hispanic
immigrants entering the United States.
In 1993, he told CNN that “the ambition is to …
show the Hispanic population of this world that it
doesn’t matter what you are, you can grow a
company … you can make it work.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Unanue was honored extensively throughout his
life for his community service efforts. The National
Conference of Christians and Jews twice hailed
him as “Man of the Year.” The National Minority
Suppliers Association awarded him its Leadership
Award. In 1991, Hispanic Magazine honored him
with the National Hispanic Achievement Award.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Dolores Huerta
Labor leader and social activist
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“The main purpose of
organizing is to
develop leadership.
The people you are
organizing have to
own the organization.
Power is like love, the
more you share, the
more it grows.”
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Dolores Huerta has fought for more than four decades
to bring justice, dignity, and a decent standard of
living to farm workers.
Huerta learned about social activism from her mother,
who often provided homeless farm workers a helping
hand. Unlike most Hispanic women of her generation,
Huerta attended college. She began teaching but left
because, in her words, “I couldn’t stand seeing kids
come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I
could do more by organizing farm workers than by
trying to teach their hungry children.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Huerta found her calling as an organizer while
serving in the leadership of the Stockton
Community Service Organization (CSO). She
founded the Agricultural Workers Association, set
up voter registration drives, and pressed local
governments to improve barrios.
In 1955, she met CSO Executive Director César E.
Chávez. The two soon discovered that they shared
a common vision of organizing farm workers.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
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Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez
Photo courtesy of the Dolores Huerta
Foundation
Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
In 1962, Chávez and Huerta launched the National
Farm Workers Association. Huerta’s organizing
skills were essential to the growth of this budding
organization. The challenges she faced as a woman
did not go unnoted, and in one of her letters to
Chávez, she joked, “Being a now (ahem)
experienced lobbyist, I am able to speak on a
man-to-man basis with other lobbyists.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Her lobbying and negotiating talents were
demonstrated in 1963, by securing aid for
dependent families and disability insurance for
farm workers in California.
She was also instrumental in the enactment of the
Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. The first
law of its kind in the United States, it granted farm
workers in California the right to collectively
organize and bargain for better wages and working
conditions.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
While she was busy breaking down one gender
barrier after another, she was seemingly unaware
that she impacted not only farm workers but also
young women everywhere.
Huerta advocated for entire families’ non-violent
participation in the movement because men,
women, and children all worked the fields.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
At age 58, Huerta was assaulted in San Francisco
while protesting against the policies of thenpresidential candidate George H. W. Bush. A
baton-wielding police officer broke four of her ribs
and shattered her spleen.
Public outrage compelled the San Francisco Police
Department to change its policies regarding crowd
control and police discipline.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Following her recovery, she took a leave of absence
from the union to focus on women’s rights. She
traveled the country for two years on behalf of the
Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50
by the year 2000 campaign, encouraging Latinas
to run for office.
Her efforts effectively increased women’s
representation at the local, state, and federal levels.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
In 2012, Huerta was named one of 13 recipients of
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s
highest civilian honor, for her meritorious
contributions to the United States.
At 83, Huerta continues to work tirelessly,
developing leaders and advocating for the working
poor, women, and children. She maintains, “Every
one of us has to make a commitment to social
justice. You have to have the courage to get out
there and fight for it.”
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
Hispanics have exerted a profound influence
on our country through their strong
commitment to family, faith, hard work, and
public service.
They have enhanced and
shaped our national character
with centuries-old traditions
that reflect their multiethnic
and multicultural customs.
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
“Hispanics have helped shape our
communities and expand our country,
from laboratories and industry to
board rooms and classrooms. They
have led movements that pushed our
country closer to realizing the
democratic ideals of America's
founding documents, and they have
served courageously as members of our Armed Forces to
defend those ideals at home and abroad. Hispanics also
serve as leaders throughout the public sector, working at
the highest levels of our government and serving on our
highest courts.”
—President Barack Obama
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Hispanic Heritage Month 2013
http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov/about/
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/commemorativeobservations/hispanic-heritage.php
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2012/09/14/presidential-proclamation-national-hispanicheritage-month-2012
http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/ojos/Oral%20Histories%20%20Menu.htm http://www.medalofhonorspeakout.org/bio/alfredrascon
http://www.doloreshuerta.org/dolores-huerta
http://www.horatioalger.org/members
http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/voces/template-storiesindiv.html?work_urn=urn%3Autlol%3Awwlatin.226&work_title=
Unanue%2C+Joseph
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Prepared by the
Defense Equal Opportunity
Management Institute,
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida
September 2013
All photographs are public domain and are from various sources as cited.
The findings in this report are not to be construed as an official DEOMI,
U.S. military services, or Department of Defense position, unless
designated by other authorized documents.
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