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JBSA News
NEWS | Oct. 4, 2012

JBSA-Randolph supports Hispanic Heritage Observance Month

By Airman 1st Class Lincoln Korver Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs

With only about a week left for people to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Observance Month, the equal opportunity staff and the observation coordinators at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph urge people who live and work here to participate in the remaining events.

"There have been many events at Randolph within the last three weeks to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Observance Month," Master Sgt. Daniel O'Hannon, 502nd Air Base Wing Equal Opportunity superintendent, said. "We have had a fun run, movie showings and salsa dance classes. Our last event will be a fiesta luncheon at 11 a.m. Oct. 15 at the Randolph Kendrick Club."

Due to San Antonio's predominant Hispanic influence, members stationed at any of the Joint Base San Antonio locations have a distinct opportunity to surround themselves with, and experience first-hand, a prevalent Hispanic culture, uncommon to many other parts of the country.

"Growing up in San Antonio, I wasn't really grateful for being Hispanic," Master Sgt. Melissa O'Kane, 902nd Mission Support Group Law Office superintendent, said. "However, once I moved away after joining the military, it made me appreciate my heritage, explore my culture and learn to value my ethnicity and where I came from so much more.

"For me, Hispanic Heritage Observance Month means a time of reflection," she added. "It's a time for me to think about the struggles my grandparents, who lived in downtown San Antonio during the Depression, and my other grandparents, who were migrant farmers, faced and overcame to give me better opportunities growing up."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized National Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. President Ronald Reagan extended the week-long observance in 1988 to National Hispanic Heritage Observance Month, which lasts from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

The dates of the observance correspond to several significant events. Sept. 15 is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico's independence was declared Sept. 16 and Chile's Sept. 18.

For more information, contact Master Sgt. Kelvin Diaz (Lackland) at 671-6322 or kelvin.diaz@randolph.af.mil, or Tech. Sgt. Melanie Wester (Randolph) at 652-7508 or melanie.wester@us.af.mil.