Accentuate Positives About Hispanics

The Montgomery Gazette
Jorge R. Urrutia | Commentary
Wednesday, June 3, 2009

In recent three weeks, I have seen front page news regarding crimes performed by Hispanics. Clearly, as a member of the Hispanic community, I am saddened to hear about these horrific crimes. I hope some of these articles serve as a deterrent to other people considering joining gangs or committing crimes.

Having said that, I also would like to say that while I understand that crimes usually take front page, I believe that more good news is also needed to bring balance in what we hear; this is especially true for minority groups, to avoid creating a negative image that gives fuel to anti-minority groups.

While Hispanics in this country are suffering the consequences of actions by various groups and are frequently portrayed in the news in negative terms, it is also true that Hispanics have been in the nation from the time of its origins.

Let's not forget that western civilization arrived in our country with the landing of the Spaniards in Florida in 1513. Ponce de Leon sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, and St. Augustine was founded in 1565, 42 years before Jamestown was founded by the first English settlers.

Hispanics have made significant contributions in terms of the military, medical advances, the arts and every area of progress in the United States. Just to mention a few of these accomplishments, Hispanics have been labeled a "first line of defense," given their unselfish commitment to national defense. In medicine, I can mention Dr. René Gerónimo Favaloro, a doctor from Argentina who was a pioneer in coronary bypass surgery, which has saved thousands, if not millions of lives. When it comes to job creation, Hispanics have created more businesses than any other ethnic groups, in the last several years.

On April 2, I was invited to speak at the Montgomery College Hispanic Student Academic Awards Ceremony. I was proud and happy to see almost 200 Hispanic students who had earned a grade point average of 3.5/4.0 or higher; 16 students had perfect scores GPAs of 4.0. Maybe I missed it but I don't remember seeing front page news about this magnificent accomplishment by members of our community.

Here is another opportunity to say something positive about Hispanics. The city of Gaithersburg recently announced the award of scholarships to four students; two of them are Hispanics: Veronica Henrique-Lopez and Francisco Cartagena.

Candace Kattar, executive director of Identity, a Gaithersburg-based non-profit organization, wrote the nomination for Francisco to get this scholarship. Here is some of what she said:

"During his four years at Gaithersburg High School, Francisco voluntarily appeared several times before the county Board of Education advocating for programming to support better academic outcomes for Latino youth. He volunteered as a tutor during Identity's 2005 summer sessions and during the fall of 2006. Throughout these past four years at Gaithersburg High School, Francisco has demonstrated academic excellence. He has been on the honor roll almost his entire high school career and is taking college credit classes through the College Institute Program, which includes business, criminal justice and college survival. He has already been accepted at Montgomery College with approximately six college credits under his belt."

It would be nice to see front page news about students like Francisco, Veronica or any of the students from Montgomery College. I believe that such an article would inspire thousands of Hispanics, who are eager to hear something encouraging and positive about their community.

Jorge R. Urrutia is founder and president of MSI Universal in Gaithersburg. He also is on the Montgomery College Alumni Association Board of Governors, 2008-09.