He is the first Puerto Rican news anchor in the United States and a two- time Emmy winner for reporting. He is also chairman and co-founder of the political group, Young Lords Party, that has facilitated ethnic pride and civil rights while changing the cultural and social awareness from New York to Puerto Rico. 

Cultural diversity and political apathy have been hotly discussed topics amongst Skidmore students. Although Skidmore’s student body is more homogenous than diverse, the ethnic minorities have a strong presence on campus. The Raices club wanted to continue the dialogue about topics of multiculturalism and ethnicity on campus by inviting Luciano to speak. The event started with a dinner and casual, yet politically sparked, conversation as he traveled to various tables and spoke with a select group of students and faculty. Many questions were raised such as what is American ideology? What is Latino identity? Do we as Americans deal with the atrocities of Myanmar first or Jena 6? We then analyzed the ideology of the United States that tends to criticize and focus on foreign problems rather than being introspective and facing our own national and local issues.

His lecture at 7 p.m. followed the intellectually driven dinner conversation as he elaborated on the power, identity and history of Latinos. He stated that many Latinos feel powerless and worthless due to their ambiguous self image in which their race is neither “white” nor “black.” A debilitating factor among them is what he calls “cultural amnesia” in which many have forgotten their multicultural heritage that makes them such a diverse people.

He then recounted some significant historical events of Spain, Latin America and colonialism.

Before the late 1400s, the Muslim Moors from Africa-ruled Spain. Later after Spain gained their independence, the government expelled several Spaniards to Africa who eventually reached the islands of what is now Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hispanola. Later, the Spanish sent Conquistadors to Latin American countries which devastated the population. 70 million architects, intellectuals, artists, doctors, etc. were eventually brutally killed after being subjected to torture and cultural degradation. Latino culture emerged from Arabs, Africa, Spain and Latin America and they are therefore people of the world. The point of reviewing this historical background was to emulate that Latinos cannot remain submissive to the belief that they are culturally and socially subordinate, and they should not forget who they are and where they came from. The cultural imperialism is what hinders the Latinos’ success and they should instead have pride in their multicultural background. Luciano ended the lecture with some inspirational advice to Skidmore’s Latinos. He exclaimed that they should immerse themselves in education and learning as a means to get ahead and avoid ignorance.  The lecture closed with these empowering words, “Stop validating yourself to others. You are who you are. Stop believing in cultural superiority and your mantra should be I am here to fulfill promise.”

Luciano continues to inspire Latinos of all ages as he advises and raises awareness among local and state government leaders and corporations about diversity, community building and social issues. His candor revealed that he has not always been a successful role model and his mentor Ethel Shapiro guided him and gave him the faith to surmount adversity. His powerful, eloquent and sometimes humorous lecture illuminated several topics on Latino identity and its cultural richness as he successfully inspired the Skidmore students to believe in their ability to achieve greatness.