Joaquin Castro Wants to Know Which Latin Artists You Think the Library of Congress Should Recognize
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There were many significant Latino artists who shaped the soundtrack of Congressman Joaquin Castro’s childhood when he was growing up in San Antonio, Texas. As a kid, his mother loved Joan Baez; Castro remembers that she would play the folk singer’s 1975 Diamonds and Rust album over and over around the house. He also recalls liking a lot of the Tex-Mex fusion sounds pioneered by the Texas Tornados and Freddy Fender, and he’d even listen to Ricky Martin’s late Nineties pop songs once in a while.
But as important as music by Latino artists has been throughout his life, Castro has noticed in recent years that little of it has been preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, which is made up of recordings considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” or that “inform or reflect life in the United States.” In fact, less than five percent of the registry’s 600 titles reflect work by Latino artists, despite the significant role the community has played in all genres of music. Castro has made it his mission to add more Latinos to the registry — and to improve Latino representation in media across the board.
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“The country is pretty unfamiliar with our contributions in art, music, business, government, and more,” Castro tells Rolling Stone. “I resolved that aside from pushing for more inclusion in terms of getting more Latinos as workers and CEOs and executives in media companies, I also wanted us to celebrate these contributions. The Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and National Recording Registry, I think, are the perfect places to do that, because they are they are both prestigious recognitions that highlight the contributions made to American culture and American society.”
Castro has been working on getting more of the Latino experience in the National Archives for several years now. In 2021, when he was serving as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Castro took on the issue of Latino representation by submitting cultural significant films to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Both Selena, the 1995 biopic about the Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, the 1982 Western starring Edward James Olmos, were added through his efforts with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Last year, Castro turned his attention to music, submitting 33 songs and albums by Latino artists to the National Recording Registry for consideration. The list included the 1983 hit “Flashdance…What a Feeling” by Irene Cara, who was of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, and “Gasolina” by Puerto Rican reggaeton star Daddy Yankee. Both were inducted into the registry earlier this year.
Now, Castro is launching a nationwide campaign to get even more works by Latino artists inducted into the National Recording Registry. He wants to hear suggestions directly from people across the country for songs and albums that are at least 10 years old, with an emphasis on artists who are not in the registry yet. Members of the public can submit their picks through this link, or through Castro’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X accounts.
“Throughout the decades, as our community has grown, our musicians have made incredible contributions to music and to American society and have filled a lot of people with joy, whatever their background and wherever they live in the United States,” he says “So, I want to make sure that we celebrate that.”
For Castro, having Latino experiences represented in the media has a much deeper meaning. “I think that when a narrative is missing, when the Latino story missing, and our contributions are not recognized and acknowledged, then it’s not just a matter of being culturally inconvenient. I think that’s actually a very dangerous thing for a community and can lead to greater misunderstandings and greater targeting of people from our communities,” he says.
He saw firsthand what happens when harmful stereotypes are further distorted and put in the hands of dangerous people. In 2019, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and killed 23 people in what’s still the deadliest attack on the Latino community in recent memory. Just before the shooting, the gunman posted a violent manifesto on 4chan that said his attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and described what he was doing as “defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.” He’s since pled guilty to a federal hate crime.
“When our conditions are not recognized, when our role in American society is not recognized, that leaves us more vulnerable to stereotypes that are then twisted by people in my line of work,” Castro says. “Politicians will take those stereotypes and twist them even further for their own political gain, which helps create that danger that I spoke of. And we certainly saw that in El Paso.”
Castro feels efforts like these paint a fuller picture of art pioneered by Latinos in this country, and has the potential to also bring more Latinos to the cultural consciousness. The registry includes a few classics, such as Santana’s album Abraxas, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine’s “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” and Selena Quintanilla’s Ven Conmigo, but there’s still much more that deserves to be recognized. “Hopefully as we make some of these submissions, it’s an opportunity to celebrate who these artists were and their identities,” Castro says.
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