Gen-Z Latino-Americans are reclaiming their culture through language, By Emily Schutz | ABC News

Friends,

This ABC News piece by Emily Schutz beautifully captures a quiet but powerful cultural renaissance unfolding within Gen-Z Latino communities. The stories of Alex Del Dago and Mia Hernandez reflect a broader trend of reclamation—of language, heritage, and intergenerational connection—that is both personal and political. 

As someone deeply involved in education and community-based work, I see firsthand how language is not just a tool for communication but a vessel for identity, memory, and belonging. It’s especially moving to witness young people bridging the silences created by assimilation—not out of obligation, but out of love for their families, their roots, and themselves.

As a third-generation Mexican American/Tejana/Chicana, I carry my own story of linguistic loss. Hard as I tried, I know I missed so much with my Spanish-speaking grandfather, who was from the state of Guerrero, Mexico—something I regret deeply. But it wasn’t by choice. Like so many others in Texas and across the country, I was forced to assimilate through an English-only schooling system in my hometown of San Angelo, Texas.

This is still the norm, not the exception. And it wasn’t just about language—it was about identity. That painful erasure is what informed my book Subtractive Schooling, which is now marking its 25th anniversary.

Thankfully, I had a passive understanding of Spanish growing up—I could comprehend more than I could speak, an experience familiar to many in our community. Over time, with much effort, I regained enough fluency to hold meaningful conversations with my Mexican family. Still, I’ve never quite shaken that lingering sense of loss and longing. So I’m especially heartened to see young people reclaiming what was once taken. 

It's also what we're all about at Academia Cuauhtli, a Saturday school that I and others co-founded 11 years ago in order to honor and nurture children's identities, sense of self, and heritage. We do not teach the Spanish language; rather, we teach in the language. It's a school that I wish I could have attended as a young person.

Mia’s reminder is critical: reclaiming culture doesn’t require fluency or perfection. It requires intention, openness, and care. Whether through food, music, stories, or language—every act of connection is a quiet form of resistance against cultural erasure.

Gracias to Emily Schutz for highlighting this powerful resurgence.

—Angela Valenzuela

Gen-Z Latino-Americans are reclaiming their culture through language

Learning Spanish is bringing together the generations.

By Emily Schutz | ABC News


September 20, 2022, 3:16 PM

Alex Del Dago was in the seventh grade when he attended a Spanish class. It was the first time he was focused on learning his father’s native language. The class also served as the gateway for meaningful communication with his grandmother, who he calls abuela, who speaks only Spanish.

Del Dago’s abuela tells him that she’s glad he learned the language and that his ability to speak Spanish has improved their relationship.

“I knew that if I didn't put in the work or put in the practice to learn it, I may never be, never be able to actually have like a real substantial conversation with her,” Del Dago said.

Mia Hernandez is pictured at age four alongside her Abuela, who was born and raised in Cuba. At the time, Hernandez only knew how to say basic phrases in Spanish. 

Courtesy of Mia Hernandez

According to a 2017 report by the Pew Research Center, 11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic. Similarly, while there is widespread support for the language among Hispanics, the more generations a family has been in the United States, the less likely they are to teach their children Spanish.

MORE: Why Spanish-language voting ballots are critical for democracy, advocates say

But some Gen-Z Latino-Americans like Del Dago are reclaiming their culture via language and learning it later in life.

From seventh grade through college, Del Dago studied Spanish through courses at school. His dad was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old, along with his younger brother and parents. The family left Cuba during the Freedom Flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Del Dago’s dad had a difficult time learning English without a program for non-native speakers and he didn’t feel like his son fit in with the other students in class, which influenced his decision to speak to Del Dago exclusively in English.

“At the time [my parents] decided it would be better just to raise me speaking English because they thought it would be easier for me to fit in and adjust and make friends quickly,” Del Dago said.

Del Dago’s experience is not unusual. With each generation, the number of Hispanic heritage parents who speak to their children in Spanish decreases. Seventy-one percent of U.S.-born second-generation Latino parents speak to their children in Spanish and fewer than half of all third- or higher-generation Latino parents do, according to the Pew Research Center.

“One of the main proponents of allowing children or creating more dual language programs is Dr. Kim Potoski, and she has found no evidence that just growing up in these bilingual settings will take away from your ability to speak English. On the contrary -- it helps you,” said Anel Brandl, a professor at Florida State University who teaches Spanish to students with Hispanic heritage.

Mia Hernandez celebrates her second birthday with her Abuela, and brother, Micheal.

Courtesy of Mia Hernandez

Mia Hernandez is a former student of Brandl’s and has a similar upbringing to Del Dago. Her dad is also from Cuba. Growing up, her parents worried that teaching her Spanish would hinder her ability to speak English, although Brandl says that recent research has disproven that.

Hernandez recently graduated from Florida State University with a minor in Spanish. Now she’s fluent in a language she barely spoke growing up.

“I feel a lot closer to my Cuban heritage now that I speak Spanish than before when I almost completely rejected it in favor of learning English so that I could fit in with my English-speaking American friends,” Hernandez said.Just like Del Dago, learning Spanish transformed her relationships with her family members.

“I think the difference has just been getting to know my grandmother a lot more and about her life growing up in Cuba,” Hernandez said.

Now, Hernandez is training to teach Spanish speakers abroad English, and Del Dago is getting his Ph.D. in art history, focusing on queer Latin artists. Both have worked to connect to their familial heritage through the power of language.

Alex Del Dago stands with his Abuela and father just before his high school graduation. At this point, he had taken four years of Spanish and was able to have substantial conversations with his Abuela, who was born and raised in Cuba. Courtesy of Alex Del Dago

Hernandez emphasized that you don’t need to speak Spanish in order to feel connected to your culture.

“I don't think that it's something that there should be any guilt or shame around not learning, but I think it's also up to us to figure out how to move forward, as Cuban Americans, deciding how we want to raise our children, and so whether we want to teach our children Spanish, we want to teach them about maybe the culture and the food,” she said.