Friday, September 18, 2015
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A ceremony at the Mahoning County Courthouse kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month, which organizers say has grown over the years.
Grimilda Ocasio and Ana Torres, both of the Hispanic Heritage Planning Committee at Youngstown State University, each said support from the university and the community is helping appreciation of Hispanic heritage in the Mahoning Valley to grow.
Keynote speaker at Thursday’s event was Dr. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, a YSU professor of philosophy and religious studies. He said that Hispanics are a rapidly growing population not only in the United States, but also in the Youngstown area. He said the population of Hispanics in the area has doubled from 6,000 to 12,000 from 1990 to 2011.
Palmer-Fernandez, who came from Cuba, also lamented some of the talk lately about immigrants, saying that terms such as “anchor babies,” or babies born to foreign nationals in the United States, who are automatically natural citizens, are demeaning.
“No one says stop before hatred starts,” Palmer-Fernandez said. “Language matters.”
Palmer-Fernandez said the first Puerto Rican to live in the city was Rafael Romero, father of former city Law Director Edwin Romero, who came to Youngstown from Brooklyn. N.Y., in the 1940s to work in the steel mills. That led to a large influx of other Puerto Ricans who wanted to work in the mills, Palmer-Fernandez said.
Mayor John A. McNally declared Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 Hispanic Heritage Month in Youngstown. He told the crowd that Hispanics have helped shape the country and the city’s history, and remembering and celebrating their achievements makes for a better community.
“When we lift up our Hispanic community, we strengthen the rest of the community as a whole,” McNally said.
YSU President Jim Tressel said he was proud of students and staff at the university who are taking part in the event. He said we must recall both successes and struggles to strengthen our bonds with the Hispanic community.
“Each of us are insignificant without every single other person,” Tressel said.
William Blake, head of the YSU Office of Student Diversity Programs, said a lot of input from the community also has helped the event grow, especially from libraries and the Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana, or OCCHA.
Ocasio, an East Side native and sister of last year’s keynote speaker, Atty. Miriam Ocasio, said the event is good for all cultures. “Hispanic Heritage Month is not just for Hispanics,” Grimilda Ocasio said.
Torres said the central event is the Hispanic Heritage Celebration on Oct. 3 at YSU, where there will be music, dancing, food and other attractions to help celebrate Hispanic culture. Admission is free.