“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana
Welcome to another academic year and to another year long series of E-Updates. We also welcome in another Aliento cohort of students who are beginning their journey towards self and communal healing. Without them, disparities in access and quality of mental health care remain in place.
This E-Update covers two very important topical areas that are important to our work as a Center, but hopefully to our lives as human beings. The issues outlined in this edition are interconnected and remind us of our vulnerability as human beings. One does not need to read too much to learn of the recent deaths of some very high profile public figures who took their own lives. Like most issues in society, they seem to become more real, or significant when the issues impact certain people in society – the privileged. This is important because suicide affects the lives of “normal” human beings all the time, yet we do not seem to prioritize it as a national problem. Much like sexual harassment of women became a topic of discussion due to the high profile public discourse happening around the country recently. Yet, as I mentioned in a previous blog, women have suffered sexual harassment and dehumanization for centuries. The question I always ask myself, “Why do issues matter when they happen to certain people, but not others?” We certainly have a way to prioritizing some human voices over others, which is problematic. We have provided some information that hopefully stimulates your interest to learn and DO more about this very important issue. Suicide affects all of us, including many in Latina/o communities.
Speaking of Latina/o communities, it is Latina/o Heritage Month, which is always a bag of mixed emotions for those us within Latina/o communities. On the one hand, it is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the many contributions of Latinas/os in the United States and our contributions across a range of disciplines, including the arts, education, and in the sciences. Unfortunately, it is also a way for people to culturally appropriate and make money off our cultures. I would like to see us use this time of year to both acknowledge our contributions, but to also educate people about the atrocities and oppression happening towards Latina/o communities today in the United States. George Santayana reminds us that our inability to remember who we are and where we came from, matters. Our selective memory and recall in the United States is evident in our efforts to repeat aspects of our histories that continue to dehumanize people. I am hopeful that over the next month, we are reminded to think of who makes the clothes we wear, who processes the fruits and vegetables we eat, who takes care of our young and older citizens in society, who manicures and cleans our office buildings in the middle of the night away from their families, while we are home sleeping with our loved ones? The answer to these questions is often times people of color and women of color most often, many of whom are Latinas/os. Our contributions run deep in society, and so does our willingness to cast aside and relegate to the margins of society the very same people who ensure that many of our basic needs are met on a daily basis. I am hopeful we center our time this month on issues that matter and that we do not let our privileges blind us to what is right in front of us.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our E-Update and please let us know what areas you would like us to address in future editions.
In connection with all of you,
Miguel E. Gallardo, Psy.D.
Professor of Psychology
Program Director
Aliento, The Center for Latinx Communities Blog 