Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo marks the unlikely victory of 4,000 scrappy Mexican fighters over 8,000 French soldiers on May 5, 1862.

Their victory at the Battle of Puebla did not stop the French invasion of Mexico. But it boosted the morale of the Mexican fighters and became a symbol of resistance and national pride, celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo.

Ironically, this echoes the story of a small group of Texan (Texian) defenders held out for 13 days in 1836 against the much larger Mexican army led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

The Texians ultimately lost the Battle of the Alamo. But their stand became a symbol of resistance and a rallying cry (“Remember the Alamo!”) for the cause of Texan independence from Mexico.

Yet, this historical feat seems lost on many Mexican-Americans. They celebrate Cinco de Mayo in a blur of drunken revelry, much like the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

Cinco de Mayo tops St. Patrick’s Day, Super Bowl Sunday with U.S. beer drinkers.

(Washington Times, May 4, 2015)

The Trump effect

Sadly, Donald J. Trump’s anti-immigrant presidency diminished and cast a shadow over everything we cherish in Mexican-American culture.

Previous presidents celebrated immigration and America’s diversity. But Trump’s racist outbursts now evoke visions of poor, menacing Mexicans swarming across the southern border.

Moreover, government records indicate that more Mexicans are now leaving the US voluntarily than arriving illegally — a trend not seen since the Great Depression.

The poor, huddled masses at the border yearning to breathe free are mostly Guatemalans, Hondurans, and El Salvadorans from the Northern Triangle.

But, before they all leave, you should join our Mexican-American friends in celebrating their culture. And there’s no better way to do that than to celebrate the things we all love about Mexico:

tequila, Acapulco, tequila, Chichen Itza, tequila, los mariachis, tequila, Diego Rivera, tequila, Cancun, tequila, fajitas, and much more.