Cinco de Mayo – I prefer to call it Stinko de Mayo - has become a de facto national holiday in this country. It is celebrated in our schools with Mexican flags prominently displayed on the classroom walls and by individual students. Our president, state governors and city mayors officially salute the Mexican holiday. Parades are held in most major American cities with the participants proudly carrying Mexican flags.
Hey folks, this is the United States of America, not the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. I believe people of Mexican heritage in this country have every right to celebrate Mexico’s national holiday in the privacy of their homes, in churches wherein they are a majority of the congregants, and in private parties held in public parks or rented halls. However, I strongly object to making Stinko de Mayo a public spectacle officially endorsed by government and school authorities.
There are no public Fourth of July celebrations in Mexico. There are no Texas Independence Day celebrations in Mexico. I don’t know if they celebrate ‘Remember the Alamo’ in Mexico or not, but if they do, it’s only because Santa Ana’s army slaughtered all but two of the Texians that were trying to defend the tiny mission. (I doubt the Mexicans would want to remember the Alamo because it took their army of 1,500 men 13 days to win the battle, killing around 200 Texians while losing up to 600 of their own soldiers.)
The Fourth of July: Yes! Stinko de Mayo: No!
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