September marks Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate the history of Latin America and Spain in Nebraska. However, this year's festivities will look different.
Legal and policy counsel at ACLU of Nebraska Rose Godinez said the Hispanic community has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated with food dancing and just an overall celebration of our culture," Godinez said. "But unfortunately because we are living through a pandemic we are not able to celebrate the same way that we used to."
Godinez said many cases in Nebraska have been linked back to the meat-packing plants that have a large majority of Hispanic workers. She says the best way to honor Hispanic heritage month is to try to protect the community from the pandemic.
"One of the main actions that we can do right now to help prevent the amount of COVID-19 cases within the Hispanic population is to ensure that our meat-packing plant workers are protected."
Godinez said she urges the community to sign a petition to have Gov. Pete Ricketts stand up to meatpacking plant owners to protect workers.