Chicago’s annual Cinco De Mayo parade was abruptly halted and canceled Sunday amid reports of gang-related violence near the route, according to Chicago police.
Police made the announcement Sunday afternoon shortly after the parade had been scheduled to get underway. Citing an “abundance of caution,” officials said that the parade was canceled following reports of large-scale fights in the area.
On the one hand, gang violence is horrible and it shouldn’t be this prominent in Chicago.
On the other hand, I can’t get too broken up about a parade of white people in sombreros and sarapes celebrating a holiday Mexicans don’t care much about.
I knew some Mexican-Americans growing up that celebrated it as a recognition of their heritage.
Besides, what’s wrong with people celebrating a culture other than theirs?
Because they’re not really celebrating the culture, they’re celebrating a stereotypical idea of the culture.
Wearing a sombrero and sarape and getting drunk on Margaritas on a day that most Mexicans would be confused by Americans celebrating is not celebrating Mexican culture any more than a Speedy Gonzales cartoon.
I think you’re not giving Mexicans enough credit to assume they’d be confused.
While you paint this picture of Americans oversimplifying Mexican culture for celebration, I likewise find that itself an oversimplification. I think there are lots is areas and communities that do more than wear sombreros and drink margaritas. I think we’ll have to disagree on this one.
Here’s a Mexican on Reddit who is confused about it enough to ask- https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/190in1j/why_do_you_guys_celebrate_cinco_de_mayo_more_than/
Here is an article about Mexican-Americans finding it offensive: https://abc11.com/cinco-de-mayo-what-means-battle-of-puebla-mexican-holiday/10585513/
Here’s an article by a Mexican-American woman who says that, while the original intentions to make it a holiday were noble, it’s become a way for white people to do some typical cultural appropriation- https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/05/02/cinco-de-mayo-from-a-mexican
On top of that, when asked what Cinco de Mayo is, 41 percent of Americans think it’s Mexican independence day, while 19 percent are unsure, so they aren’t really celebrating a culture if they don’t even understand the significance of the day, are they? https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/cinco-de-mayo-celebrates-what-marketing-leads-to-confusion/473255
I did not ever mean to imply that all Mexicans understand why Americans celebrate, nor that all Mexican-Americans view it as a celebration as their culture.
My point was only ever that we should not paint with broad brush strokes. People are not a monolith.
I agree with you on many things but Speedy does not strengthen your argument. Regardless of your feelings on his portrayal of Mexican culture he has been wholly embraced and brought back to the air from cancellation by the same people Speedy purportedly denigrates.
Cinco De Mayo is pretty important to Mexican-Americans. It’s not a major holiday in Mexico, but it has come to represent Mexican heritage in the US.
This is incredibly far from reality. There is a massive Mexican American population in Chicago. If you think it’s white people in sombreros, you are very much mistaken. This comment hurt more than it should.
my ignorant ass thought that sarapes were called ponchos until I looked it up just now, thanks for helping me be less dumb