We have just finished observing Hispanic Heritage Month. I’m looking forward to next year’s. It was a good observance, as it always is. Everybody had a good time. We forgot about the price of eggs, stopped worrying about tariffs, the government shutdown, and of course, boats blown out of the water.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a nice break. Relief like that is something that doesn’t happen too much lately. It’s always a fun time because we like to think that after 30-years or more of this celebration we have a good idea about the reasons for Hispanic Heritage Month. But no.

We are still explaining good reasons for it to anybody who will listen, to Americans who think, we assume. There are a whole gamut of reasons why it’s a good and necessary thing, especially in this time of radical change when anything “woke” is roundly condemned.

One explanation given is that Hispanics want to educate Anglo Americans about their rich and beautiful culture, and that is true. In that sense, Hispanic Heritage Month is for everybody.

But contrary to what you may expect, explanations for Hispanic Heritage Month are as necessary for the Hispanic community as they are for the larger community. Explanations are especially necessary for certain people: the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Congress, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of Defense, White House officials, and the Vice President and the President. People like that.

You don’t need to be “woke” to understand Hispanic Heritage Month. You can be asleep and understand the concept. There is nothing “woke” about it. No special jargon, no ranting, no guilt-inducing speech-makers on high-horses of morality. In other words, no invocations of racism and white guilt. The ideas enunciated are mainstream ideas. There is actually very little mention of the main hateful “woke” thing, DEI–Diversity, Equity and Inclusion–even if those ideals are what make America great.
When we teach DEI, we stop racial, ethnic, gender, religious prejudice and discrimination. This strengthens the country, not weakens it. If Hispanic Heritage Month is not woke, then what is it? Consider the recent meeting of the generals and admirals with the DefSec, which was a real challenge to many of us. The talk there was about the “warrior ethos.” DEI and woke were roundly blamed for undermining it. It was understood that annual events like Hispanic Heritage Month are woke and henceforth banned in the military. This is ironic because Hispanic recognition first got its biggest boost in the military. To take the ax to it is a serious loss and a tragedy. Such a draconian policy stems from ignorance.
Hispanic Heritage Month does not undermine the warrior ethos, or any other kind of ethos, attitude, mindset, or culture, including mainstream culture. Because the recognition that is Hispanic Heritage Month creates psychological pride, the respect accorded reinforces the warrior ethos, which is deeply ingrained in Mexican-origin and other Latino soldiers. This should not be underestimated. It is vital for our fighting men because 20% of the U.S. military is composed of Hispanic soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen from every single HIspanic country in Latin America. And of course Chicanos from the U.S., which is the second largest Hispanic country in the world.

In my infantry platoon in Vietnam, in 1967-1968 during the hard slog in the Central Highlands along the Laotian-Cambodian border that was the Battle of Dak To, the Tet Offensive, and the Mini-Tet Offensive, battles which are now all but forgotten except by those of us who fought and suffered there, my comrades included men from Mexico, from Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. And Mexican Americans like me, men from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado. At least five or six of the Mexicans were “illegal aliens,” men who had silently crossed the border with the express purpose of going to the nearest Army recruiting station to volunteer for the infantry to fight in Vietnam. In those days, recruiters didn’t look too hard at citizenship or the lack thereof. Hispanic Heritage Month is for those border crossers.

Joe Barrera, Ph.D., is the former director of the Ethnic Studies Program at UCCS. He teaches American Ethnic Studies, Mexico/U.S. Border Studies, and U.S. Military History. He is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.