Journalist sees need to teach Hispanic history
Miguel Perez said prior to his website, there was nothing comprehensive out there to educate the young and old about Hispanic history.
Five hundred years ago, explorer Ponce de León came ashore in America and staked Spain’s claim to the New World. It’s a remarkable milestone, but you’d never know it from the dearth of attention it’s getting, according to nationally syndicated columnist Miguel Perez.
"Remember the Bicentennial? We had fireworks all over the country for that. But why not for this? This is our 500th birthday," said Perez, speaking Friday at a Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in Paterson. "It’s not just the average American that doesn’t know this. It’s the average Latino."
Perez, a former Record columnist and reporter and now chairman of the department of journalism, communication and theater at Lehman College at the City University of New York, is trying to change that with the creation of HiddenHispanicHeritage.com.
"We are building our own Hispanic history timeline," he said of the site, complete with graphics and illustrations. Promotional literature for the site described it as "the bucket list of places, ideas and historical evidence to reconnect Americans with their Hispanic roots."
The site is there to remind Americans that before a word of English was spoken in America, Spanish was spoken.
"Before the Mayflower, the Spanish had been all up and down the East and West coasts of the United States."
Perez said that prior to his website, there was nothing really comprehensive out there to educate the young and old about Hispanic history.
Hispanic heritage celebrations, he said, are all too often big on fun and short on information. "Unfortunately, we have too many fiestas and not enough events where there’s some substance," he said.
"Our own textbooks are not teaching the Hispanic side of American history," he later added.
Perez addressed an audience of lawyers, judges, and courthouse and county staff members, as well as the public, in the Freeholders Meeting Room of the Passaic County Administration Building on Grand Street. The program was presented by the county courthouse’s Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.
Perez said he is planning an extensive road tour of the Southwest right after the November election to see and learn more about the Latino contribution to America’s evolution.
Also addressing the audience was Record cultural diversity reporter Monsy Alvarado, who noted that census figures show the Hispanic population grew from 13 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2010. Despite the growing demographic and what many observers saw as the Hispanic community’s political muscle in getting President Obama reelected, there is still a need for more Spanish-English-speaking reporters at local newspapers, she said.
"I am one of two reporters who speak Spanish at The Record. There is a need for more people like me, who speak Spanish. … A lot of immigrants in our community have things to say, and stories to tell. And I am lucky enough that I have contact with them. … You get to see the world through the eyes of other people."