Speech #900315694

President. the particular and distinctive contribution to the Nation of people who bear Spanish surnames has been given special recognition by House Joint Resolution 1299. authorizing the President to proclaim annually the week including September 15 and 16 as National Hispanic Heritage Week. I think it is important that we take a moment to reflect upon the great breadth and significance of the contributions which we are recognizing. In the past. assimilation of immigrants into the American mainstream has tended to eradicate the ancestral minority culture. by majority rejection and disdain. It is remarkable and perhaps tragic that from the abounding diversity of languages and cultures that people of a hundred origins brought to this country. virtually nothing remains except in scattered enclaves of senior citizens who are often viewed as objects of curiosity rather than with respect. Perhaps a more egregious repercussion of the assimilation process has been that the second and succeeding generations of the immigrants grow up rejecting their background as a thing to eschew rather than as an heirloom to prize. These normal rules of assimilation notwithstanding. a distinctive SpanishIndianMexican culture survives in the United States. The strain of the Spanish Conquistador and the Aztec warrior lives in America today. particularly through our MexicanAmerican population.