Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla where a smaller number of ill-equipped Mexican forces took on the larger French force and won. It might have been a minor affair, but it boosted the morale of the people of Mexico who were attempting to get the Second French Empire out of the country and their lives. Sadly, it did not keep the French from coming back, defeating the army at the second battle at Puebla, and taking over Mexico City.
It was like one of those lesser-known battles of our own War for Independence that helped the cause in some way but is really, only celebrated by the locals.
In Mexico it is no big thing, but in the United States it gave Mexican Americans a special day beyond religious ones originally to celebrate their Mexican culture, and even then was not that widely celebrated beyond, perhaps, a family barbeque or large group gathering until the 1980s. I taught in Los Angeles then, and not too many people of Mexican descent with whom I worked and among my friends paid much attention to it.
Tequila, which had not been all that popular, was seen by liquor companies as a potential money maker and not having to look too far for how to start popularizing it chose that little yet to be nurtured minor holiday, Cinco De Mayo, because, how much did they really know about Mexicans. It became another culture’s St Patrick’s day just after the boredom of winter and the depressing religious days of Lent.
A battle with little importance beyond the morale boosting it brought about among the Mexican people lost any historical meaning, what little there was, to get people spending money. We celebrate by getting drunk and dressing up as offensive Mexican stereotypes so we can demean the people we celebrate but in a fun, good-natured way.
We get all Mexican for one day and then all the goo-gaws and costumes get put way and we look forward to Memorial Day when we can forget about what it really means and drink some more.
During the 19th century those of the Irish Diaspora living in the United States had to deal with the fear and hatred generated by the majority WASP population that produced the Know Nothings and Irish need not apply signs. They knew that they had a proud history and began displaying that pride on the feast of the patron saint of the Old Sod.
The WASPS let them have their day.
It was confined to their slums anyway.
Over time more Irish arrived, the celebrations got bigger and eventually they went from dignified, quasi-religious, pride celebrating parades to carnivals and, based on the negative stereotype of the Irish, lots of drinking, and, just as they were to do with Cinco De Mayo, they did with St Patrick’s Day. Instead of celebrating the greatness of the Irish, we have reduced the day by appealing to a negative stereotype that came about because of the way the Irish were treated. Working six days a week for over 16 hours a day, left Sunday, the Lord’s day, as the only time the Irish could gather and as Public Houses are not the same as bars, the Irish would gather there to socialize. Sure, you could see plenty of Irish gathered at Pubs and assume they spend all their time drinking, what you couldn’t see the rest of the week were the Irish working in the factories, digging the ditches, and doing the jobs that the WASPs would never.
Gay Pride began as a night of rioting and became a days-long rebellion and a movement. It was not a pleasant event. The fact that an oppressed minority fought back and did not back down was a matter of pride which began to be celebrated annually. The Rainbow flag, with some deference to Over the Rainbow, symbolized the many types of people in the Community, with each color representing an aspect of the community. There was always a political aspect to Pride Celebrations because beginning in 1969 with the Stonewall Rebellion, Gay people began to unabashedly fight for their rights to be recognized and this took many years and in many places is still on-going. As society began to become more accepting, it was found there was money to be made by slapping rainbows on all sorts of merchandise during Pride Month, June. The companies that had previously gone along with and promoted discrimination against and second-class treatment of the Gay community slapped Rainbows on even the most unrelated products and changed the actual meaning of the Rainbow from representing the fight for and safeguarding of our rights to a light-hearted fashion statement of often questionable taste.
Years ago, living in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, wearing things with rainbows was a political and daring statement. It declared you were proud of who you were regardless of the opinion of others. There was a boldness to it and its meaning clear as, in my days there, I was forbidden to have anything with a Rainbow on it in my classroom because I would be making a political statement as an openly Gay, and, therefore, militant schoolteacher.
By the time the end of June arrives the rainbows are squirreled away until the next year when the merch is dusted off and sold as current.
In the past, I attended Juneteenth celebrations with my friends in their neighborhoods and homes. These were community gatherings of Black people celebrating the serious moment when some Slaves in the South found out after the Civil War that they had been freed long before anyone told them. It is an Independence Day celebration for those connected to it.
The greater community had no interest.
I was a Black people thing.
It was an extended family event with BBQ’s, music, dancing, family time, and red cake and drink.
I knew few white people in my Bible Belt days who celebrated it and many who had no idea it existed.
Then, it became a national holiday.
In a blog from the first year of its being a national holiday, 2021, I cautioned the Black Community to watch their holiday carefully as, once corporations see a profit in its observance, the symbols of the day will be usurped, and the true meaning, the serious meaning, will be replaced by the partying and the merch, and little will remain of its origin and reason for being warning that
“all the holidays have party things like napkins, beads, costumes and costume parts, various types of liquor specific to the holiday, fireworks, parties, lights and other things to hang around the house both inside and out, and merchandise sales that somehow are assumed to have some connection to the holiday and require the reduced prices.
There is a part of me that’s looking forward to the embarrassing cultural misappropriations and examples of lack of racial sensitivity, familiarity, and history that will result in some initial faux pas that, accepted as the stupid and uninformed moves of “our betters”, could prove to be hilarious yet useful in showing the need for some serious racial conversations.”
What I warned about has begun.
Walmart, being the largest employer in the Southern region of the U.S employs the largest amount of Black people in that area. Its supply of employees is often generated by their entering a community, closing local businesses that can’t compete, and then hiring the unemployed people needing work.
The wages are low, and to supplement them, employees rely on programs like WIC, food stamps, and whatever other government programs they qualify for, and they do, while the company uses tax breaks and having taxpayers pick up the difference between what Walmart workers make and what they should to increase profits and pay out bigger dividends for their investors.
Rather than low, taxpayer subsidized wages, perhaps Walmart should be doing something for their employees.
Well, they are.
Acknowledging the importance of Juneteenth for its employees, many of whom are Black, the company is celebrating the end of slavery by offering a special Juneteenth, Celebration Edition, Red Velvet and cheese cake swirled ice cream in a container with the colors associated with Africa and a group of hands in various shades of brown wearing symbolics wrist bands, inviting us all to “share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation, and enduring hope.”
And nothing celebrates the meaning of the day, what this day meant to the people at the time and their descendants now, than a limited-edition ice cream.
Those with a penchant for ignoring the substance of something, such as why this is so inappropriate, by what-aboutisms, can only defend this by pointing to all the other inappropriate merchandise like party favors, party hats, banners, wine, and t-shirts that have popped up for the second year and will be with us now until the end of time.
But, then again, we took a guy who was beaten and then beheaded by the Romans and made his special day the one where we declare our love for one another with cards and heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates. Nothing reminds us of love like a headless, beaten corpse.
It has begun.
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