Labor Day and National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month

Remarks Sept. 6 2026

Happy Labor Day and happy almost-National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month.

Hispanic and Latino heritage month runs from September 15 to October 15 (it begins in mid-month to mark 9/15 as the independence day of several Latin American nations). This began as a week-long celebration in 1968 under President Johnson, and the Reagan administration expanded it to a month in 1988. It is a time for special recognition of the Latino community’s immense and varied contributions to the history and culture of the United States.

Today, the Latino population in the United States is 70 million, a fifth of the total population.

And most of those 70 million are in a constant state of fear.

Have you noticed that ICE roundups of immigrants are not in the news much lately? In the mainstream media the shock has apparently worn off; it’s no longer a big story like the war with Iran, the flood in Nepal, the Lindsay Clancy trial, and Trump’s building of gold-plated monuments to himself. But the persecution and kidnappings continue and in fact they’re surging. Here is a chilling story from right here, right now.

Last week a man named Miguel was at his job in a Port Orchard restaurant. ICE arrived to arrest him. When they took him, they deliberately booked him under the name of someone else--a felon with a long record named Juan Cruz Villa,. Miguel’s family emphasizes that ICE knew his real name, because that’s who they were looking for, and of course Miguel also showed his ID to them when he was ordered to.

ICE took him to the Tacoma Detention Center. He got one call to his wife. Then for the next two days his family could find no trace of him in the system, and looking up his actual name didn’t help. Just yesterday he managed to call from a detention center in Texas where they had flown him. He said they’re torturing him because he refuses to sign self-deportation papers. 

His family is desperately seeking legal help but no lawyer will take the case because it's so complicated. (One lawyer the family appealed to scammed them for $1,000.) DHS tells the wife to fill out some form or other, maybe to initiate an appeal. But what name should she fill the blanks with, since he’s not there under his own name? Their new vile tactic would make a Nazi proud.

More local news in the last week: --Because the government has now made it dangerous for Latino families to shop, a secret event last week provided backpacks and school supplies to a hundred Latino kids. Hydraulic barber chairs and equipment were trucked into the site for them to get haircuts for school. Even a handful of moms got haircuts from the volunteer stylists. Allies provided security inside and outside the building, and people of all kinds had donated money and supplies. It went so well that the hairdresser team is now planning a Mother’s Day event exclusively for the mamas. And you contributed to this afternoon free of fear and full of love.

--Monday through Friday, as they do each week, small teams patrol Poulsbo and North Kitsap on the watch for ICE. They visit areas ICE has already targeted, they follow up on fresh reports that come in through various channels, and they keep an eye on the schools.

--Following up on the kidnapping of Miguel in Port Orchard, a new network has mobilized in that area, providing support to his family, researching legal assistance, and preparing a media campaign.

--It was pickup week for a North Kitsap food and supplies team that collected fifteen hundred pounds worth, sorted and bagged the items, and delivered to intermediaries to serve the immigrant community.

--On Thursday evening a tip was sent that ICE planned to come on Friday to raid the Poulsbo Walmart. In just a few hours multiple teams formed to take shifts throughout the day to keep eyes around the city. The raid didn’t materialize, but the incident shows that Poulsbo is prepared and has built up good security. It needs more people now with the heart and commitment to respond quickly for our vulnerable neighbors.

How will we locally and nationally “celebrate” Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month this year? How many celebrations can there be in the nation’s streets, with ICE lurking behind every tree?  We do not see any mention of Latino Heritage Month, an official US holiday, on US government web pages. However, we did find references to the National Museum of the American Latino.

This museum was created in 2020 by an act of Congress, as part of the Smithsonian Institution, to provide funding for a director and board and a brand new building on the National Mall.   But Trump subsequently stripped the Latino museum out of his budget. Of course: it’s woke, it’s DEI. So the Smithsonian has decided, just last week, to do what it can do within its existing budget: it’s going to house the Latino museum inside a 145-year-old Smithsonian-owned building, thereby bypassing the need for congressional approval of a new site. [Update 9/8: the director of the Smithsonian, venerable historian and skillful administrator Lonnie Bunch, who has tactfully maintained the relative independence of the 21 national museums under the Smithsonian banner, has announced his retirement at age 73. Now that the Board is padded with Trump toadies, it remains to be seen to what extent the Smithsonian museums will be able to withstand the Administration’s assault on historical truth and complexity.]

We hope, in the month that starts on the 15th, that in our area there will be ways to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of our Latino brothers and sisters. We will share information of upcoming events.

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What do you know about Labor Day, besides that it’s the day for picnics, parades, and not wearing white any more?

It’s also the national holiday that honors the achievements of workers. In the very first Labor Day celebration, on September 5, 1882, in New York City, about 10,000 workers marched to protest dangerous working conditions. Twelve years later, to extend an olive branch to the labor movement after violent confrontations between federal troops and railroad workers in the Pullman strike, President Grover Cleveland pushed a bill through Congress to establish Labor Day as an official federal holiday.

Over more than a century since then, the tenacious organizing work of labor unions has fought to improve working conditions, established a minimum wage, and brought us the 40-hour work week.

But union membership has declined significantly. In 1954, more than a third of American workers belonged to unions. Today, that rate is about 10%.  Labor protections have regressed in many ways, as our entire system, including the legal system, has shifted to favor the employers. The decline of the American labor movement has been a major cause of stagnating wages and ever more obscene income inequality, and U.S. workers are again facing more dangerous working conditions than people in other wealthy countries. The decline of labor unions leaves American democracy vulnerable.

The cruelty of the second Trump regime ironically has a silver lining: as Americans wake up to the oppressive reality of the billionaires’ stranglehold on the economy, there’s an uptick of interest the power of unionizing.

Illinois lawmakers have granted rideshare and gig drivers the right to organize and bargain collectively. Washington state extended collective bargaining rights to university student employees.

It’s getting to be time for a GENERAL STRIKE, folks, so happy Labor Day, and organize, organize, organize!