Today being Cinco de Mayo, I have to note that I doubt that I will ever top my snarky 2012 post, though my following year's post came pretty close. This year, I think I'll be earnest...
White Americans tend have a weird relationship with Mexican culture, a fear of Mexican people combined with a love of Mexican food- hate Tuco, love tacos. Similarly, there's a weird mix of a disdain for black people but a love of black culture (which leads to appropriation) among many white people. Today, many Americans will scarf down fajitas and burritos, washing them down with margaritas and bottles of Dos Equis beer. Many of these same people will make excuses for imprisoning asylum seekers at the southern border and agitate for the construction of a border wall.
Personally, I have an appreciation for Mexican culture, and I find that the vast majority of Mexican immigrants in this country are likeable people. They tend to be hardworking, family-oriented people who embody the very traits that Americans claim to possess. Like Americans, Mexicans deserve a better government, one that serves the needs of the general populace. I am working a split shift today, so I won't be able to go to a Pueblan restaurant for some chicken mole poblano, and I certainly don't have the time for all of the roasting and grinding necessary for making the dish at home, but I do have chorizos in the fridge and tortillas in the cabinet. I personally don't feel ambivalence toward Mexicans and their culture, I have an appreciation for the cultures of all three Mexican countries.
Here's hoping that everybody has a great Cinco de Mayo. If you're eating tacos, buen provecho. If you are drinking beer or tequila, salud. To everybody, felicidades.
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2 comments:
Unfortunately, I wasn't in a condition to consume the best of what the Mexican culture contributes today.
I was born in Omaha, which was always and immigrant town, as successive groups of non-Americans have come in to work on the railroad and in the packing houses.
The Mexican (and Latin American) experience there is really almost interchangeable in many ways with the Poles, Russians, etc.
I've never been sure why that's so hard to get.
HH, I'd chalk it up to racism, pure and simple. The European immigrants could blend in, and even keep much of their culture. Hell, the mainstream culture even accepted them so they could enlist them in their racist efforts against 'the other'.
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