Celebrate and Appreciate Hispanic Heritage Month with Ashley Marie Mireles

In today’s episode of the “Helping Families Be Happy” podcast, host Christopher Robbins,

Co-founder of Familius publishing, husband, father of nine, author, fisherman, backpacker, and aspirational musician based in the Central Valley of California talks with guest Ashley Marie Mireles, the Director of Sales and Marketing at Familius Publishing, working to help families be happy through the books she writes, and sells. They are discussing Hispanic Heritage Month.

 

Episode Highlights

• 01:56 – Christopher enquires about Hispanic Heritage Month and why it exists.
• 03:32 – Ashley says, it is called Hispanic Heritage Month, but it is 30 days from September 15 to October 15.
• 05:56 – The goal is to make the language more inclusive. So, in these spaces, they will use an ‘e’ instead of an ‘o’ or an ‘a’ when they want to be more inclusive, says Ashley.
• 07:41 – Ashley gives a couple of examples of those of Hispanic descent who have contributed to the nation.
• 09:10 – With this theme, they are aiming to be focused on the people who have made a difference in the US community and are going to make a difference in the future from Hispanic backgrounds, mentions Ashley.
• 11:22 - If you are somebody who is a part of the Hispanic Heritage just learn about your own family or your ancestors, states Ashley.
• 13:30 – Ashley mentions her book “Proud to be Latino”.
• 15:03 - Appropriation happens when one is characterizing a culture or using things that are sacred to the culture as an aesthetic rather than appreciating it for what it is, says Ashley.
• 16:50 – Ashley recommends some Familius titles that can help us celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Three Key Points

1. Ashely shares that Hispanic Heritage Month is started as a national week observance. So, it was then Hispanic Heritage Week, which was started by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. There was a lot of talk in Congress about making this a month-long celebration, and it was officially turned into a month-long celebration in 1988 under the Reagan administration. It goes from September 15 to October 15, it is originally with a weekly observance that started on the 15th which is national Independence Day to a lot of Latin American countries. The goal was to celebrate the Hispanic Heritage in the US and all the contributions that people from Hispanic culture have made to our country. So, now it is a month-long celebration and they pick a theme every year, there are a lot of different celebrations that the national government will put together as well as other organizations.
2. Ashely says, this year's theme is Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation. The theme this year also aims to teach people how to be more inclusive with each other, not just within the community, but also outside of it. It focuses on the melting pot aspect of the United States and shows how people of Hispanic Descent have made important contributions to the US.
3. Ashley highlights that the biggest thing to remember when you are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month or any of these Heritage-themed months is to do your research to find out the history and the intention behind it and ensure that you are celebrating not appropriating.

 

Tweetable Quotes

• “It's called Hispanic Heritage Month because they are focused on celebrating folks from Spanish-speaking Heritage.” - Ashley Marie Mireles
• “If you're not somebody who is of Hispanic Heritage, learn about it.” - Ashley Marie Mireles
• “If you're not of Hispanic descent, it's easy to assume that somebody of Hispanic culture is going to be exactly like somebody else.” - Ashley Marie Mireles
• “It's important for people to remember and not just kind of paint everyone with the same brush.” - Ashley Marie Mireles
• “Appreciation goes into knowing what you're truly celebrating.” - Ashley Marie Mireles
• “Remember that there's somebody from Cuba is going to have a very different culture and practices than somebody who is from Mexico.” - Ashley Marie Mireles

Resources Mentioned

• Helping Families be Happy Podcast  Apple
• Ashley Marie Mireles: Instagram LinkedIn
• FamilySearch.org
• Podcast Editing