Rubén Hinojosa: “I rise today to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month. Indeed, our Hispanic language, culture and history is recognized…”

“I rise today to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month. Indeed, our Hispanic language, culture and history is recognized and appreciated worldwide by millions of people. I am pleased that the President has again designated September 15 through October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month. Today, Hispanics make up the largest and fastest growing minority group in the country. We have produced scholars, entrepreneurs, scientists, musicians, philosophers, and Nobel Prize laureates. Approximately 500 years ago, our ancestors led the way in the great rediscovery of the Americas, including the ground we now know as the United States of America. Today, however, my remarks will focus on the education of Hispanic Americans. Our education history parallels the development of the public schools and the treatment of other minority groups in our educational system. Because time does not permit, I will only go back a few years to make my point regarding the treatment of Hispanics in our society. Twenty-four years before the renowned Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the League of United Latin American Citizens filed class action suits on behalf of Hispanic children who were the victims of discrimination of public schools. I, myself, would have been forced to walk to a segregated school far from my home if not for the resolve of my brother, a Korean war hero, who demanded that the nearby white elementary school accept me and my brothers.”