HISTORY FOR ANTI-HISPANIC BIGOTS

 Op Ed   Fri, September 18, 2020 10:52 PM

 

Princeton, NJ - Some bigots ask people not to speak Spanish in public and to speak English.  Some say they should go back home, although the vast majority are home.  What inspires such attitudes?  Fear of the emerging new majority-minority that will become a reality in little more than a generation?  Is it today’s version of historic anti-Spanish, anti-Latino sentiment?  Who knows? 

Reaching these bigots is not easy.  As a Spanish-speaker, I feel compelled to write try to reach them.  Like Spanish-speaking actor and producer John Leguízamo, author of Latin History for Morons, I offer some nuggets that our history books treat inadequately, diminish or ignore.  

·         Spanish was the first European language spoken in what is now the United States.

·         The first European name for Manhattan was Tierra de Gómez.

·         The Bay of Fundy, on the Maine coast, is a corruption of “Bahía Profunda,” or Deep Bay.

·         The Gold Rush was made easy by Spanish speakers who pacified Indians and built roads and ports.

·         The California constitution provided for English and Spanish to be official languages.

·         Spanish was the language of the development of the cattle industry (see below).

·         Spanish forces in Louisiana under Gen. Bernardo de Gálvez, routed the British on the Mississippi, denying supplies to the Red Coats in the Ohio River valley (Galveston is named for him). 

·         Women in Cuba, then a Spanish colony, pawned jewelry to contribute to American independence.

·         Vidalia onions were named for a Spanish general, Vidal.

·         Civil War Admiral David Farragut was the son of a Spanish mariner who fought for American independence.

·         Mexican Texans fought and died at the Alamo against Gen. Santa Anna’s forces.

·         Spanish speaking units from Puerto Rico and the mainland fought in WW I and WWII. 

·         Hispanic Americans have earned more Congressional Medals of Honor per capita than any segment.

·         Spanish exploration on the Pacific Coast is evident: Port Angeles, the Straights of Juan de Fuca and Toledo in Washington and Valdez, Alaska among other places.

·         Spanish is the “foreign” language most studied in colleges and universities.

·         About 53 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish (not all are Hispanics).

Would bigots harass these Spanish-speakers: Christina Aguilera, Jeb Bush, the late Kobe Bryant, Andrew Cuomo, Bill De Blasio, Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Selena Gómez, Salma Hayek, Carolina Herrera, María Hinojosa, Sen. Tim Kaine, Jacqueline Kennedy, María Teresa Kumar, Eva Longoria, Jennifer López, United Airlines CEO Oscar Muñoz, Beto O’Rourke,  Geraldo Rivera, Secretary Bill Richardson, Alex Rodriguez, Marco Rubio, Carlos Santana, Martin Sheen, Sonia Sotomayor, Miami Mayor Francis Suárez and many others?

If anti-Spanish language sentiment were carried to its illogical extreme:

o   Amarillo, TX would be “Yellow, Texas”

o   Boca Ratón, FL would be “Mouse Mouth, Flowery”

o   Calaveras County, MO would be “Skull County”Colorado would be “Red-colored”

o   El Paso would be “The Pass”

o   Florida would be “Flowery”

o   Key West, FL would be “Cayo Hueso” (bone key, its original name)

o   Las Vegas would be “The Plains”

o   Nevada would be “Snow covered”

o   Sacramento would be “Sacrament”

o   San Antonio would be “Saint Anthony”

o   San Diego would be “St. James”

o   Sierra Nevada would be “Snow-covered Mountains”

Spanish in the cattle industry, in Western history and folklore:

Bandido                               bandit

Bronc, bronco                    wild or untamed horse

Buckaroo                             vaquero, cowboy

Calaboose (jail)                 calabozo (jail)

Chaps                                    chapaderas

Cincho                                  cinch

Corral                                    corral

Desperado                          desesperado (desperate)

Hackamore                         jáquima, halter

Hoosegow (jail)                 juzgado (court)

Lasso                                     lazo (rope)

Mustang                              musteño or mestengo

Rancho                                 ranch

Mesa                                     mesa (a flat-topped hill)

Renegado                           renegade

Rodeo                                   rodeo (round up)

Stampede                           estampida

Ten-gallon hat                   tan galán (so handsome)

 

Countless other terms, some from Mexican indigenous languages, have become part of our daily communication and are surely used by the bigots. 

Aficionado

Armadillo

Avocado/aguacate

Barrio

Bodega

Bonanza

Burrito

Burro

Café con leche

Cafeteria

Campesino

Canyon (cañón)

Cargo

Caudillo

Casa

Chicano

Chorizo

Conquistador

Coyote

Embargo

 

 

Fiesta

Flamenco

Galleon

Gaudy (Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí)

Guerrilla

Jalapeño

Latino, latina

Junta

Macho

Mano a mano

Mosquito

Nachos

Oregano

Patio

Piñata

Piña colada

Plaza

Quesadilla

Quinceañera

Quixotic

Rancho

Renegade

Rumba

Salsa

Sherry

Siesta

Sí, se puede

Taco

Tango

Tamales

Telenovela

Tequila

Tomato

Tortilla

Vanilla

Vigilante

Vista

 

 

In 1789, Thomas Jefferson advised his nephew, Peter Carr:

“Pay attention to the Spanish language and strive to acquire an accurate knowledge

of it.  Our future relations with Spain and Latin America will convert that language

into a valuable acquisition.”

 

While many public figures today understand the need to speak Spanish, many others do not get it.  On the other hand, banks, hotels, entrepreneurs, communicators, advertisers and elected officials do get it.  Language is important.  Spanish is important.  And it is not a joke. Spanish has been here for centuries, will increase in importance and will be here for centuries ahead.  Get used to it.