Despite what many non-Mexican-Americans believe, Cinco de Mayo isn't Mexican Independence Day. Mexico actually declared its independence from Spain on September 16th, 1810. Nor is Cinco de Mayo an American holiday, although many will be celebrating Mexican culture today here in the States. What Cinco de Mayo commemorates is the day that General Zaragoza led 4,000 Mexican soldiers into battle and dealt a crushing defeat to 8,000 of Emperor Napoleon III's Legionnaires at Puebla, Mexico, in 1862. This was the first defeat that any of Napoleon's soldiers had suffered in over 50 years. The defeat kept the French from furnishing the Confederate Army with weapons and supplies for another year, which provided the Union Army with a much needed edge.
Did this one battle in Mexico save the United States of America? Perhaps not. But military history is something of a house of cards: when you're missing even one, the whole house looks entirely different. So rather than go with the disturbing trend of xenophobia endorsed by Tom Perry, Jan Brewer, Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, and others on the right, I'm going to have to go with offering our neighboring country to the south a sincere "Thank you, and happy Cinco de Mayo!"
This batch of books is about all things Mexican-American. Below, find Chavez and the UFW, luchadores, "mod Mex" cuisine, and the intersectionality of race and mental illness.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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