Friend,

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Hispanic Heritage Month lasts from
Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 and celebrates the history, culture, and
contributions of Hispanic and Latinx Americans. America's
Hispanic and Latinx communities, whose ancestors came from Spain,
Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America, are boundlessly
diverse, and this month commemorates important independence
anniversaries for El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Mexico and Chile. Dia de la Raza, or Indigenous
Peoples' Day, which falls on Oct. 11, is also a part of Hispanic
Heritage Month.

At the SPLC, we are reminded of our continuing mission to not only
honor our Hispanic and Latinx communities, but to seek justice for
them as well. The struggle for justice and equity is intersectional,
and the work we do in each of our key issue areas contributes to the
fight.

This summer, the SPLC called for a powerful reimagining of our
national conversation surrounding immigration. During the past four
years, the United States has abandoned its domestic and international
obligations to provide access to the asylum process and largely
dismantled the infrastructure to process asylum claims. Some
restrictive asylum policies enacted by the previous administration are
still in place. Read more here

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to learn how you can contribute to building a fair, humane
immigration system that works for everyone.

Hate and extremism have a devastating impact on Hispanic and Latinx
communities. This year, the FBI reported the second-highest number of
anti-Hispanic hate crimes recorded since 2010. The SPLC also reported
a disturbing relationship between antigovernment militia groups in
Arizona and some Border Patrol agents. Messages posted to an
antigovernment militia group's Telegram channel show how several
militia groups have stopped, interrogated and siphoned migrants into
the hands of Border Patrol agents. Read more here.

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Although immigrant justice is an important part of this work, Hispanic
and Latinx Americans have been here for generations, and some
communities have historically occupied parts of the U.S. before the
founding of our country. Many Hispanic and Latinx Americans do not
identify as immigrants. However, systemically unjust, racist and
discriminatory policies harm both immigrant and non-immigrant Hispanic
and Latinx communities.

Today, roughly 2.2 million people are behind bars in the United
States, an increase of 1.9 million since 1972. We have the
world's largest prison population - with one-quarter of
its prisoners but just 5% of the total population. This broken system
disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people, as well as
immigrants. Hispanic and Latinx communities are often criminalized,
exploited and imprisoned through economic policies that
disproportionately affect Black and Brown people. Our Economic Justice
Project is fighting back against deeply ingrained policies and
practices that exploit or punish the poor simply because of their
economic status. You can read more about the SPLC's criminal
justice reform work here
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, and our economic justice work here
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.

Equitable access to education is a crucial aspect of racial and
immigrant justice, and removing police from schools is an important
step towards creating classrooms where all students are safe and
valued. You can learn more about why and how schools are changing
their policies here. The SPLC's

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 guide

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to help families and advocates of immigrant children defend a
student's right to a public education is another important
resource for educators, students and their families. The SPLC's
Learning for Justice program recently released the first issue of
their new magazine
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, which covers language accessibility, community-based school safety
and more opportunities to build more equitable schools.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Hispanic Heritage Month
and how you can be a part of the movement for racial, immigrant and
economic justice. We appreciate your ongoing commitment to our work to
dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and
advance the human rights of all people.

In solidarity,

Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center

 

 


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