There is an effort underway to erase or diminish what it means to be Hispanic in this nation, replacing a rich and complicated history with a false narrative that treats our presence as recent, our contributions as peripheral, and our place in the United States as somehow conditional.   

We are not newcomers to the American story. We are not a footnote to it. We are not a political constituency to be courted when convenient and vilified when it is not. 

We are part of the foundational fabric of this country.