John Sarbanes: “every year since 1968, in the period between September 15 and October 15, our Nation observes Hispanic Heritage Month.…”

“every year since 1968, in the period between September 15 and October 15, our Nation observes Hispanic Heritage Month. This month-long celebration offers us a special opportunity to reflect on and pay tribute to the innumerable ways that Hispanic Americans, and Hispanic culture, enrich both our daily lives and the diverse heritage of the Nation. According to the Census Bureau, some 38 million Hispanic Americans today live in the United States--and increasingly, in every corner of the United States. While many Hispanic Americans choose to live in parts of the country with proud and long-established Hispanic traditions; others are finding work, raising families and building vigorous Hispanic communities in places where, until recently, they did not exist or were little noticed. In politics, the arts, the media, sports, our colleges and universities, Hispanic Americans are a vital presence--architects of the American spirit. Even our taste in food reflects the degree to which Hispanic traditions are now woven into the fabric of our lives: tortillas are as much a staple of the national diet as pizza and bagels, and salsa has ended the reign of ketchup as the nation's most popular condiment. Hispanic Americans bring to American life not one culture but many. Their roots reach to Central and South America and the Caribbean, and beyond, to Europe and Africa; every community enriches a great, underlying cultural foundation with its own distinctive variations.”