Editorial:
For Mexican Americans, Cinco de Mayo should be a time of honor and the celebration of a great victory. Cinco de Mayo represents our Mexican compatriots’ victory over the superior forces from France. The battle at the Puebla was also a battle between the classes of Mexico, aristocrats against the indigenous population, the poor, the farmers, and the people who were considered commoners.
The elitist of those times would have rather lived under foreign rule than be known as Mexicans. The Mexican Catholic Church and the aristocratic elite of Spanish origin invited the French to replace President Benito Juarez, a pure bred Indian, who was struggling to liberate the native population from slavery and ill treatment.
The Battle at Puebla pitted the well-armed French Army under the command of the Marquis de Lorencez against the machete-wielding, poorly outfitted natives led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. 10,000 French soldiers were defeated by a mere 5,000 Mexican farmers, workers, and loyalist soldiers.
On the original Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican natives stood tall with pride. They had fought with honor and courage. It is this same pride, honor, and courage that runs through the veins of today’s Mexican Americans. This is what we should be honoring and celebrating.
Cinco de Mayo is not typically celebrated in Mexico but each year it becomes a bigger and bigger fiesta in the United States. The holiday has become commercialized and seen as an opportunity to sell beer, trinkets, margaritas, and tacos. Our culture and history has become commercialized!
When or if you go to one of the various events around town you will see little or nothing that has to do with the Battle of the Puebla. There will be plenty of Mexican music and plenty of folkloric dancing, but why we are celebrating will go unnoticed.
It wasn’t always that way. There used to be a time when the history and the significance of the battle was on display, talked about, and shared. The Centro Cultural de la Raza would annually host a day of history on the subject along with entertainment and celebration. Even Old Town San Diego would present a re-enactment of the Battle of the Puebla. Today, Cinco de Mayo in Old Town is all about promoting the park, selling trinkets, cerveza, and margaritas, and the Centro has moved on for various reasons, one being the commercialization of the day.
Fortunately there is one event in San Diego that celebrates the day with the Mexican people in mind. Cinco de Mayo con Orgullo Coalition celebrates Mexican heritage and pride. They have been hosting an annual celebration for the past decade. This is their 10th year of hosting the alcohol and tobacco free event. This year’s event will also honor seven community leaders as Outstanding Hispanic Role Models, role models who have contributed to the betterment of the community.
We recommend that this year, when you go out in honor of Cinco de Mayo, drive down to the Urban Village Park at 3795 Fairmount Avenue, San Diego. Cinco de Mayo con Orgullo’s celebration starts at 3 pm. Cinco de Mayo is more than an occasion to have a fiesta, to eat Mexican tacos, drink tequila and/or cerveza!
VIVA MEXICO!
VIVA LA GENTE DE MEXICO!