By Megan Wehring
KYLE – The Kyle City Council adopted a proclamation to recognize Tuesday, Sept. 15 through Thursday, Oct. 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month 2020.
According to the proclamation, the city of Kyle “encourages and promotes strong and inclusive communities that recognize and celebrate efforts to bring people together for a greater good” and “commemorates the strong and visible roots of Hispanic heritage in the national, regional and local landscape of our nation.”
Council member Dex Ellison said the proclamation allows residents to be more culturally aware of their community.
“I am always grateful and appreciative of the council being so supportive of proclamations as these,” Ellison said. “And celebrating our diversity and inclusion of people of all different backgrounds in our city. That’s what, I think, makes Kyle great.”
Under the proclamation, the city of Kyle is “proud of the Mexican heritage that includes Indian and Spanish blood and most proud of all the humanity, and centuries of hope and sacrifice, called Mexican-American, Chicano, Latino, Spanish, Tejano, Latin-x or Hispanic, are essential to defining Texas culture that sometimes is impossible to separate ‘Tex-Mex.’”
Council member Robert Rizo said the few Hispanic leaders in the city of Kyle he looked up to at a young age encouraged him to serve his community.
“It was reassuring to know that we could strive, if we worked hard, and we could get our due diligence to be a part of the community that one day we could serve our community.,” Rizo said. “I just want to thank those leaders before us for opening those doors and hopefully we set the example like they did.”
Along with the Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation, Ellison said the role the city council plays in the community also paves the way for future generations.
“Young people are watching,” Ellison said. “We need to be cognitive of that, the examples we set and the things that are talked about publicly. … I encourage and implore future council members to continue that same legacy of what we are doing with that.”
