LULAC MARKS SEPT. 16 AS A CALL TO LIBERTY THAT STILL SPEAKS TO LATINOS IN THE UNITED STATES AND PUERTO RICO
Nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization says the cry raised in Dolores in 1810 remains a living charge to defend the dignity, due process and equal standing of every person in this country.
WASHINGTON — The League of United Latin American Citizens today joins millions across the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico in observing Mexican Independence Day, recalling the early morning of Sept. 16, 1810, when a parish priest in the town of Dolores, Guanajuato, rang a church bell and summoned his congregation to rise against colonial rule.
"The bell at Dolores was rung for people who had been told they did not count," said Roman Palomares, LULAC national president and chairman of the board. "That is the historical meaning of this day, and it is also its meaning now. Whenever a family is separated without a hearing, whenever a citizen is asked to prove the right to vote, whenever an American in Puerto Rico is treated as less than an American on the mainland, the question Hidalgo put to his congregation is put to us again. LULAC's answer has not changed in 97 years. Every person in this country is entitled to due process, equal protection, and the dignity that comes from being fully seen."
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla did not address a standing army. He spoke to farmers, miners, laborers, and Indigenous villagers who had been told for three centuries that their station was fixed at birth. The movement he set in motion would, within months, proclaim the abolition of slavery and the end of tribute levied on Indigenous communities. It would take 11 years of struggle before Mexico's independence was secured in September 1821. Hidalgo himself was executed in 1811. He did not live to see the nation he helped bring into being.
Juan Proaño, LULAC chief executive officer, said the organization is translating the day's meaning into concrete work. "Commemorations matter only if they move us to act," Proaño said. "This month LULAC councils across the country are registering voters, staffing know-your-rights clinics, monitoring enforcement actions in our neighborhoods and pressing for the resources Puerto Rico is still owed for recovery and rebuilding. That is how we honor Sept. 16. Not with a speech, but with a docket."
LULAC observes this day not as a foreign holiday borrowed for the season, but as part of the shared inheritance of Latinos in this country. Those values also bind the observance to Puerto Rico. One week after Sept. 16, Puerto Ricans mark the Grito de Lares of Sept. 23, 1868, their own uprising against the same colonial order. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, have served in every American conflict since the First World War, and remain, more than a century later, without full voting representation in the government that governs them.
"For LULAC, the bell that rang in 1810 has never fallen silent," states Palomares. "It is heard today in every courtroom where a person insists on a hearing, at every polling place where a citizen casts a ballot without fear, and in every community that refuses to be told it does not belong. This is why LULAC has and will continue to endure," he adds.
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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. Founded in 1929, LULAC is committed to advancing the rights and opportunities of Latino Americans through advocacy, community building, and education. With a growing network of councils nationwide, LULAC remains steadfast in its mission to protect and empower millions of Latinos, contributing daily to America's prosperity. For more information about LULAC and its initiatives, please visit www.lulac.org/.