Latino Groups Unite in Celebration of Culture

The sound of live, brassy Latin trumpets and Caribbean drums filled the Quad Friday evening at Fieston, an outdoor dinner and concert that marked the first event in a month-long celebration of Latino culture.

Members of Harvard’s Latino groups danced together, reflecting the evening’s goal of further unifying the College’s Latino population, a community that has been described as divided along national lines.

“There are differences of language and nationality. A Latino can speak Spanish or Portuguese or Quechua,” said the president of Fuerza Latina, Juan Sebastian Arias ’09, before a crowd eating food from all around the region. “This month is about sharing this diversity and getting to know [our] similarities.”

Arias said that only three years ago, there was little intermingling between members of Harvard’s Latino groups. For instance, he said, members of Fuerza Latina, which started out as a purely Dominican group, rarely came to events hosted by Raza, a group focused on promoting Mexican-American culture, or vice versa.

“But now the gap has closed and we’re making a month-long celebration of it to make a more unified community,” he said.

The event was the first gathering in the milestone Latino Heritage Month, in which student groups will hold film screenings and lunches with professors to discuss the topic of Latino heritage.

Nationally, the celebration of Latino heritage typically runs from mid-September through mid-October, marking a period when many former Spanish colonies gained independence.

Melissa M. Garcia ’09, president of Raza, said she was happy to see collaboration between the different groups.

“We won’t have an effect in this country if we don’t join together,” she said, adding that she believed Fieston helped open up the community.

Gabriella Pena ’08, a Peruvian who stood out on the dance floor with her bright white pants, said she agreed that Harvard’s Latino community has been divided in the past. Today, she said, the rifts are vanishing and weren’t a factor on Friday.

“I’m dancing with everybody. I know everyone. We all know each other,” she said before returning to dance. Pena added that she was glad to see students not of Latino heritage in attendance as well.

Lacy R. Kline ’09 of Pforzheimer House, who had never attended a Fuerza Latina event, stumbled upon Fieston only because her House’s dining hall was closed for the occasion. She said that the celebration was a great way to get to know Latino culture.

By the end of the night, a large, mixed crowd was dancing and singing “baila la calle.”

—Staff writer Charles J. Wells can be reached at wells2@fas.harvard.edu.