Latino Heritage Month Honors Diversity

Something colorful happened to a blank mural in Lower Level Macintosh on Wednesday night. With brushes and bold acrylic paints, students created a mural for a month devoted to cultural diversity.
With attendance levels twice as high as expected and with daily events from Sept. 29 to Oct. 29, Latino Heritage Month is big. And diverse. And loud. The Latino community at Columbia, a group encompassing students from Los Angeles to Mexico to the Dominican Republic, covers a lot of ground.
The theme of this year's month, "Shades of Empowerment," addresses some of the complexities surrounding the month. The upcoming Showcase on Oct. 25 will highlight events from student spoken word performers to a Dominican Dance group.
"We're so diverse, and that's where we get our shades from, but we're going to come together and be powerful and have a great month. We want to educate the Columbia community in general," said Tania Torres, CC '05, one of the month's organizers.
The choices of programming for the month reflect the organizers' goal of trying to broaden Latino Heritage Month to include non-Latino students, while fostering a sense of unity among Latino groups on campus.
"My personal obstacle is to reach the many small clubs that make up the Latino organizations on campus," said Fidalene Cepeda, CC '03, co-chair of the month.
An example of the diversity within the Latino community is evinced by the leadership of the Latino Heritage Month committee. With participants from such groups as Accion Boricua, the Chicano Caucus, and the five Latino/a fraternities and sororities represented at Columbia, the month is a prominent example of cross-cultural exchange.
"We want it to be all-encompassing. So, everyone has their two cents, but also everyone comes and shares. Within the Latino culture, it's very diverse. It's fun that way," Cepeda said.
The mural itself, which is going to be presented at an art showcase at Casa Latina on Oct. 20, is representative of this theme. The mural is made up of a series of parts painted by individuals. Everyone used the same paint to add their own feelings and experiences.
Another aspect of Latino/a Heritage Month is its focus on educating the Columbia community about issues facing the Latino community. A mural by Victor Cervantes, Fine Arts '01, hangs in the same room where the new mural was painted. Cervantes garnered campus-wide attention in Spring of 2001 when he spent several days living in a painted cell he had built near the sundial to draw attention to the plight of Latinos and other minorities on campus. The cell was vandalized shortly after Cervantes moved out of it.
This year's Latino/a Heritage Month celebration appears not to have been marked by political conflict. The organizers agreed that most Columbia students appreciate the diversity surrounding them.
"If you come to Columbia, you're a certain type of person," said Elizabeth Silva, CC '05, co-chair of the month.
"You're in New York, so you can't avoid [Latino culture]," Torres added.
As the mural became covered in wet paint, the many patterns reflected the openness of the month as a whole.
"There is something going on, and you can partake in it, no matter what color you are," Cepeda said.