The Influence from the U.S. Census on ‘Hispanic’ in #HispanicHeritageMonth | via @NPRCodeSwitch
NPR’s Code Switch have a fascinating podcast and accompanying story that sheds light on the emergence of the word ‘Hispanic’ and its ties to the U.S. Census. The podcast is filled with historic tidbits that I never previously knew, such as President Nixon’s “amigo buses” or the “Spanish surname count.”
Know your history! Or as Shereen Meraji writes, ¡Disfrútalo!
Hispanic Heritage Month is a nationally recognized, not-quite-a-month. (It’s the back half of September and the front half of October).
That, according to the government’s website, is because Sept. 15 marks the anniversary of Independence from Spain in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica. (Mexico declared its independence a day later). And Oct. 12 is Día de la Raza, loosely translated as Day of the Race, or “Columbus Day” — a national holiday in a number of Latin American countries.
Día de la Raza marks Christopher Columbus’ landfall in the Caribbean, and is celebrated in various Latin American countries as the start of the “hispanicization” of the “new world.” (Though it seems weird to me that the month spans both September AND October to include a day many believe marks the beginning of the rape, pillage and genocide that began with Columbus’ voyage. But, I digress.)
Now, the whole notion that those of us from the Latin American diaspora refer to ourselves as ‘Hispanic’ or ‘Latino’ or ‘Latinx’ — that’s pretty new. And, it’s something we discussed on the podcast with Cristina Mora, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Mora wrote about the adoption of the term “Hispanic” and how the U.S. census played a big role. So, for “Hispanic Heritage Month,” here’s the Q&A we did with Mora about her book, Making Hispanics: How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Created a New American, edited for length and clarity.
8-6-2021 (August 6, 2021) is the Snakiest day of the year and it’s also this year’s CircuitPython Day! The day highlights all things CircuitPython and Python on Hardware. See you there!
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
