In the United States of America, by legal mandate, we celebrate HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH annually from September 15 to October 15. This month is dedicated to recognizing and honoring the growing presence, influence, and contributions of the Latino or Hispanic American community to the history, society, and culture of this nation.

For the millions of Hispanics who live here, these annual celebrations must go beyond parades, music, and traditional costumes. It must be a month in which, as a community, we evaluate, review, study, understand, and renew the importance of our historical and current presence in the United States and, at the same time, the challenges we face, both now and in the near future, to make our life and existence here and now, in the United States, more valid and stronger.

In this annual celebration of our Hispanic heritage, which began in 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded two decades later by President Ronald Reagan, we celebrate the enormous richness and diversity of the culture of the millions of men and women who came here from South American or Latin American countries, from Spain, from the Caribbean, and who, daily and with tenacity, honesty, and work, honor our roots and build the greatness of this nation.

We celebrate the diversity and blend of our national and regional cultural histories and identities, our values, our dialects, accents, music, traditions, cuisine, and customs from so many different places. We remember our historical presence in what is now the United States, a presence long before the constitutional founding of this nation. We celebrate our arts and knowledge and the memory of all Hispanics who, in our countries of origin and here in the United States, distinguished themselves and continue to excel in all areas of social and cultural endeavor: leaders, artists, historians, athletes, politicians, teachers, scientists, etc.

Last year, many voters dissatisfied with the country’s direction and with the policies of the indiscriminate opening of the southern border and non-traditional issues related to sexuality, gender, family, and so on, voted for the opposition party.

The current administration’s policies, especially those regarding immigration, particularly mark and affect the present and near future of the Hispanic community in this nation. We have all witnessed the oppression, petulance, insensitivity, and cruelty with which many Hispanics are being violently expelled from the United States, indiscriminately and without mercy, and with the violation of fundamental human and civil rights.

But, in addition, a law has recently been passed that—according to political and economic analysts—will severely, deeply, drastically, and permanently cut social benefits to the nation’s poorest communities. As President of the International Academy of Catholic Leadership, I am concerned about the impact and effects this law will have on our communities.

That’s why, beyond the noise and folklore of these Hispanic celebrations, it’s important that—within our communities—we question and take an interest in our education and social awareness regarding the impact of our presence as Hispanics or Latin Americans in the United States, through training that allows us to dispel racial stereotypes and prejudices.

It is very important that we seek support for Hispanic organizations and businesses, that we take an interest in civic and political participation through voting, and that we embrace the “best politics,” as the beloved first Latin American Pope Francis called it: the daily exercise of politics that does not seek the personal, individual, selfish, disinterested, and dishonest benefit of each individual’s pocketbook, but rather seeks the best social coexistence through the common good and well-being of all.

Let us take an interest in the development of civic leaders within our communities and in the integration of all into the new society and culture we have arrived in, without losing—of course—our identity, our historical roots, our language, values, and traditions. Let us take an interest in spaces and times for dialogue in which we seek and find consensus that benefit both the dominant culture and the Hispanic community.

Because the challenges that the current reality poses to the Hispanic community residing in the United States are all important and their solutions cannot be postponed. If we want our Hispanic presence—here and now—to be relevant and important, we must all, in solidarity and fraternally, confront and resolve issues such as discrimination and racial and xenophobic prejudices from both the government and society, the stigmatization of immigrants in a country always made up of immigrants, economic disparities, linguistic and cultural barriers, the issue of legal immigration status, issues related to the health and disabilities of so many, access to social opportunities, and the wage gap.

But we must also confront and address educational gaps and differences, lack of financial support, labor exploitation, identity crises or generational trauma, misinformation, food insecurity, and difficulties in acquiring housing, not to mention the challenges we are familiar with and that reach and affect us daily from our families and loved ones in our countries of origin.

These are our main challenges, our important and pending tasks. The importance or irrelevance, quality or defect, value or insignificance, and success or failure of our Hispanic presence in the United States depend on our approach to them and their resolution. HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH is a propitious time and space to celebrate, but above all, to reflect, decide, and act on all of the above.

Mario J. Paredes is President of the Board of Trustees of the International Academy of Catholic Leaders.  The International Academy of Catholic Leaders’ mission is to form leaders from a Catholic perspective, rooted in the faith of the Church, to transform the social, political, and economic world in light of the Social Doctrine of the Church.