Consider the patriotism of Hispanics who have sacrificed for America

Jim Hemenway, in his April 28 Open Forum letter, “One reason patriotism is waning,” reacts to an April 6 TC picture showing a protest sign written in Spanish at a Skyline student protest against gun violence. It “turned me off” he wrote. He then cites numbers of foreign born people in the U.S., as well as his disaffection with border policies, as an explanation for why Americans are less patriotic.

There’s a lot to unpack there. Still, let’s just address the patriotism angle.

The Department of Defense puts the racial profile of the U.S. Military (2020 data) at just under 60% white. Black/African American and Hispanic total 36% (18% each). Asians represent about 4%. The Pew Research Center agrees. It further comments, “The share of racial and ethnic minorities in the military has grown steadily in recent decades. Hispanics, in particular, are the fastest growing minority population in the military.”

Racial and ethnic minorities are also dying in service to our country. The DOD puts the total number of U.S. service member deaths since 1980 at over 56,000. Roughly 25% of those deaths are classified as not white, although there is no separate Hispanic category.

As an aside, the fastest growing category of deaths is female.

My war was Vietnam, in which 58,224 Americans died. Their names are listed on The Wall in Washington, D.C. Some 13% of those killed were Black/African American. I find no DOD listing by Hispanic. Yet, read the names on that memorial and it becomes crystal clear the Hispanic ethnicity paid a high price in Vietnam as well.

I would hope the next time Mr. Hemenway proudly flies his American flag, he does so to also honor those racial and ethnic minorities who serve to protect our freedoms.

— Bruce Wilson, Longmont