National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

Since 1988, every September 15 to October 15, in the United States, we celebrate the history and rich culture of Latino Americans. According to the U.S. Department of Education, beginning in 1968, Hispanic Heritage Month was initially observed as Hispanic Heritage Week, but in 1988, it was officially changed to Hispanic Heritage Month (n.d.). During this time of year, there are local festivals, art shows, and gatherings celebrating Latino culture. TSA employs an estimated 45,000 Transportation Security Officers, with an approximate 20% density identifying as Latino or Hispanic. Our frontline Hispanic workforce is as innovative and diverse as the subcultures within the Hispanic community from where they derive.

In recent years, the Hispanic/Latino community has endured racial discrimination due to political rhetoric that has painted migrants, who attempt to flee third-world countries ravaged with gangs, drugs, violence, and inhumane living conditions, as rapists and murderers. Regardless of personal ideology, building walls does not fix poor immigration laws or provide strengthened immigration reform. Instead, building walls separates us, figuratively and literally.

This Hispanic Heritage Month is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Latin culture, which has imbedded itself in communities all over the United States, and get to know our Hispanic/Latino coworkers, neighbors, and friends—or as we call them brothers and sisters. In this spirit, let us commit to understanding that we are all human and that those who appear different than us are not that different at all; in fact, we just may find that our differences are what makes us compatible in the first place.

In Unity,

AFGE Council 100