It’s May 5th another excuse to get drunk

Every May 5th Americans have another excuse for getting drunk. Walk down any main street USA and you will see signs proclaiming “Happy Cinco de Mayo”. All the chain restuarants have festive signs up inviting you in for some good “original” authentic Mexican “Chimichanga’s” and the bars have signs welcoming you to the Cinco de Mayo happy hour.
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The people just love it. Just for a day, everyone is Mexican, just as in March everyone is Irish for Saint Patricks Day. Now ask anyone to explain the significance of El Cinco de Mayo and not one soul will be able to. Fact of the matter is there really in nothing to celebrate. Oh sure there was a minor victory in one of the Mexican war’s. Some small Mexican town was able to fight and defeat one of the larger foes. Who knows, I don’t, if it was during the French or if it was against the Americans. The point is there is nothing really to celebrate.

Cinco de Mayo is another American made thing to extract money from the masses. Think about how ironic it really is. Many of the folks out celebrating today are the same ones that want to get rid of all the “illegal” immigrants. Yeah, happy May 5th to you to.

It’s like that famous word used to describe us, you know which word I’m talking about. I’m talking about the word Hispanic. There is no such a race or ethnicity known as Hispanic. When I was a young boy growing up in Spanish Harlem, New York, the only options on government forms regarding race were white, black, other. Then is became, white, black, Puerto Rican, other. At least on the East Coast, I’m pretty sure that on the West Coast it was white, black, Mexican, other. During the later part of the 1970’s they concocted the term Hispanic in an effort to quantify the many peoples entering the USA that were primarily Spanish speaking. Lets see, we have Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Colombian, Panamanian, Costa Rican, Salvadorian, Chilean, Peruvian, and so many others that I just can’t remember them all. The point I’m trying to make is that we Americans, and I include myself because Puerto Rican’s ARE Americans, we have been since 1917 when legislation granted us citizenship- it was called the Jone’s Act, are hypocritical we don’t want the immigrants but this nation was founded by immigrants and is composed of nothing but immigrants. The only true, native Americans are well, the Native Americans. The one’s that were practically annihilated and forced to live on “reservations.” Everyone else is an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant.
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My favorite TV station is the History Channel. On it I saw a look back to the 1940’s in California and the American-Mexican border towns. When the term zoot suit was introduced in the American culture. It was as a result of the Mexican American youth trying to retain some form of cultural identity as well as a mark of rebelliousness against a Government that systematically discriminated against them. The flashy clothing, big hats with feathers on the side, and cool swagger as they walked, marked the beginning of the Chicano wars.

Because the Mexican males living here in the USA were not citizens they were not compelled to go off to fight in the war (World War II). The Mexican American youth with their flashy clothing would go to parties for fun and since most of the White male youth were in the military fighting the war, it became inevitable that White women would start going out with brown boys. There was big animosity between the White soldiers home on leave and the brown Mexican American boys. The soldiers, so the documentary states, felt that it was unfair the the Mexican boys did not have to go off to war, but it was worst when the soldiers came home to find all the woman “taken” by the Mexican boys. The tension was very thick. Then an event occurred that would change the climate for the worst. One day a white woman was found beaten and raped. When news about this spread, the drunken soldiers began beating up on all the Mexican Males they’d come across. The young, American born Mexicans would fight back. But then it was taken up a notch. One day a Mexican Man was out with his family enjoying the crisp night air as they strolled home. A group of drunk and angry white soldiers (when I use the term soldiers throughout this post, I mean all military personnel. For in fact most involved in the melee were from the Navy) grabbed the man and in front of his wife and children beat him to death. What ensued after that incident was forty bloody and riotous nights. Of course only the Mexicans were arrested and sent to jail.

Also during the 1940’s, but in New York City this time, there occurred a mass Migration of Puerto Ricans. In the history books this period is most often referred to as the Great Puerto Rican Migration. Prior to this migration of the 1904’s, Puerto Ricans were shipped to this Country as cheap farm labor. Pretty much the same way Mexicans were. Puerto Ricans picked and loaded potatoes for slave wages and never earned enough to get out of this predicament. The money they earned never lasted the entire month. Soon the foremen in this farming communities began lending money to the workers to “tie them over” until the next pay period. However, when the pay period arrived the workers were flat broke again because of the exorbitant interest attached to these “loans.”

After this mass migration the cheap farming labor jobs all but vanished. In there stead came the factories. During the war factory jobs were plentiful. Soon the factory owners realized that they could hire the Puerto Rican (mostly woman) for a fraction of what they were paying the white factory workers. Needless to say, this caused a tremendous riff between the white workers (mostly Italian, but there were other’s as well) and the Puerto Rican. It is almost as if the entire American system by it’s very design exploits people of color. By the 1950’s there was already a large segment within the Puerto Rican community that were born here as opposed to the Island. These American born and raised Puerto Rican’s were very different than there parents. These would fight back. When the white boys formed gangs to control their turf, the Puerto Ricans formed gangs to. In fact, it was because of what was happening in New York City between the white and Puerto Rican youth that the musical “Westside Story” was written.

Things did not come to a head until the 1970’s. It took an entire decade for the protest mentality that had swept the nation by the white anti war hippies to reach the ghettos. Suddenly all the crime in New York City was attributed to Puerto Rican’s. Puerto Rican youth were hauled off to jail in record numbers. But the worst part was the fact that many of these Puerto Rican males were being found dead, hung in their jail cells. The community was outraged, especially one group of Puerto Rican college students that organized and formed a political party known as the Young Lords Party. Of course the media made the “Lords” out to be nothing more than a gang, and the public, or the white public, believed them.

Tension was high throughout the Puerto Rican community on many front, poor sanitation, absent landlords, lack of heat and hot water, rodent infestation, a deplorable education system, and the organized murder of Puerto Rican males- in jail, while still presumed innocent.

The incident that sparked the riots was very similar to the incident that sparked the Mexican riots. Julio Roldan was a community organizer for the lords. One of the techniques used when doing community organizing is to be were the people are. This cold winter day in Spanish Harlem, Julio was warming his hands over an open flame that a group of homeless men had started to keep warm. (back then the derogatory term used was “bum”, homeless had not yet entered into the American language). A policeman came by and began to harass the men. Julio being more educated tried to explain the situation to the officer. An argument ensued and Julio was rushed off to jail. The next day he was found hanging in his jail cell. This prompted the Young Lords to demand action. Of course, the NYPD did nothing about it. The Lords got the elected officials involved and together demanded an investigation. Eventually an “investigation” took place– it was ruled that Julio Roldan had in fact committed suicide. The community erupted. At the prompting of the Young Lords a massive protest march took place up Third Avenue, one of the main throughfares in Spanish Harlem. With a mock casket carried over there heads the Lords began to march. With every step they took more and more of the community joined in. Mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, little boys and little girls, black, white and Puerto Rican. What could have been a peaceful protest turned ugly. The police wanting to show muscle did not budge. It was only a few year before that Malcolm X had organized a similar protest march and demonstrated his muscle before the NYPD. One could assume that the NYPD did not want to seem weak, and out of control in the other side of Harlem, East Harlem or Spanish Harlem. Nevertheless, the police acted with force and the community retaliated with force. I can’t recall exactly how long the melee lasted — Spanish Harlem was all but destroyed.

After this more landlords became absent, until eventually they just walked away from their properties, abandoning them and their tenants. East Harlem and the South Bronx became havens for crime, drugs, and all sorts of vice. It would take decades for both of these communities, East Harlem and the South Bronx to rejuvenate, revitalize and thrive again.

So, these are the things that I think about every year as the nation prepares to celebrate El Cinco de Mayo. Oh, I’m sorry but I have to go now - my wife, daughters and I are going to enjoy some of the May 5th festivities. While I don’t drink alcohol, my wife does and hey, May 5th is as good a day as any to be with the one’s you love celebrating life. God Bless America.