This morning, I sat down to my computer with my coffee and checked my regular news sites to see what might have happened since I’d turned it off yesterday, as I do most mornings. The item that immediately burst into my still muzzy brain was a news story about 5 American students, were sent home from an American high school for wearing American flags on their t-shirts because it was May 5th, and wearing Red, White and Blue on May 5th might cause trouble.
May 5th in Mexico is a minor holiday, not much recognized outside the State of Puebla, which celebrates a victory in the city of the same name against French troops in 1862. It has become an important celebration in the United States not because the majority of Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) originally came from Puebla and are accustomed to celebrating the day, but because Latino activists wanted to promote Mexican pride and beer companies saw a potential market and did their best to advertise it.
This is a phenomenon we are accustomed to in the U.S. A relatively minor (in the country/culture of its origin) holiday is turned into a major festival because someone saw a market, monetary or socio-political. Hannukah, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentines Day, Kwaanza: All became what they are in similar ways and for similar reasons.
For most revelers, Cinco De Mayo is not a celebration of a long ago battle, in fact I would guess that a great many of them, if not most, aren’t even sure what the origin of the holiday was. It has become an excuse to party, with obligatory nods towards Mexican culture made between beers. Now, before I get people all riled up, the same can be said for most people celebrating the other holidays I mentioned. How many Irish (or folks of other backgrounds who drink green beers on March 17th) really know who St. Patrick was? How many African Americans know that Kwaanza was never celebrated in Africa, that it was entirely invented by an African American political activist and convicted (2 counts of felonious assault, 1 count of false imprisonment for torturing 2 women) felon?
Well, let us return to the 5 teenagers who were told that if they didn’t turn their potentially troublesome t-shirts inside out, they’d have to go home.
A friend suggested that if they wore these shirts to purposefully show disrespect to other students, they were in the wrong. She had a good point, in a way. But, since the boys disavow any motive of offense, we can never know what was in their minds or hearts when they got dressed that morning.
One student of Mexican descent who attends the same school, lamented the “disrespect” shown by these students, and was quoted as saying that “they” (presumably meaning others of that same descent) wouldn’t do “that” (presumably referring to wearing tshirts depicting the Mexican flag) on the 4th of July. To that, I can only say that I don’t understand why she would think it disrespectful to her fellow students of Mexican heritage. They are living in America, a country their parents or grandparents or great grandparents chose for home, and where they themselves are growing up, going to school and going to make their future. Why would they find it disrespectful for their peers to wear the flag of their mutual country on any day? Does the young lady think it disrespectful for someone to wear Red, White and Blue on St. Patrick’s day? In making the comparison of not wearing a Mexican flag tshirt on the 4th of July, does the young lady forget that the 4th of July is the celebration of her own country as well as theirs?
I have several very good friends who are proud of their Mexican heritage. They are also proud Americans. They seem to find these two aspects of their pride compatible. Aren't they?
No comments:
Post a Comment