Although I am certain they do not realize it, certain students at Dartmouth, especially those in Bones Gate fraternity, have forever altered my conception of Cinco de Mayo. Although I have a Spanish surname, I was born in southern California, and both of my parents were born in the United States. I think it may surprise the brothers of Bones Gate that there are American citizens at Dartmouth who celebrate what some view as strictly a "Mexican" holiday.
I am a Mexican-American, as fully American as anyone who crossed on the Mayflower, but one who has historically been perceived as a foreigner in the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Actually, my claims to the southwestern United States are greater than those of any European-American because it was the land of my ancestors' country long before it was the land of the United States.
I am but one of thousands of people across the United States for whom Cinco de Mayo represents a day to celebrate their Mexican heritage and culture. For me, it represents a day to take pride in my own ancestry as well as to celebrate what makes me distinct from Anglo-American society.
I doubt any Bones Gate brother actually knows what Cinco de Mayo commemorates, and I am certain none of them realize the day's significance in the Mexican-American community. Bones Gate seems to think Cinco de Mayo is simply about drinking Mexican beer and listening to Spanish music.
I am sure there are those who will interpret my words as saying that only those of Mexican descent can rightfully celebrate Cinco de Mayo. However, I understand that Cinco de Mayo is a day of celebration and I do not favor excluding anyone from this celebration. Yet at the same time I do feel there should be some knowledge of what the day represents, and I demand that Mexican and Mexican-American culture be treated with dignity and respect. It is not simply another day to have a party.
Perhaps I would not be so offended by the actions of Bones Gate had it not been for the manner in which the "celebration" was publicized. For those unfamiliar with the poster, it presented a Mexican man with the body shape of a worm (like those found in tequila), wearing a sombrero and firing a gun. In the background, there was a Mexican woman at a bar wearing a provocative dress.
The poster promotes the long-standing belief that Mexican men are both heavy drinkers and violent. There is a long-standing myth in American society that Mexicans are inherently prone to violence; some have even attempted to validate this myth by stating it is part of our inheritance from our violent Aztec ancestors. Bones Gate's poster both accepts this myth and further perpetuates stereotypes detrimental to Mexican and Mexican-American people.
The poster also uses the popular image of the Mexican campesino -- the Mexican peasant. It conveys images of a Pancho Villa, the gun carrying Mexican peasant noted for a propensity for violence. The banditry of Pancho Villa and others came in response to their alienation from society as a result of the theft of Mexican land by the United States; it is not an inherent trait of Mexican people.
There is also the issue of the Mexican woman. For too long Mexican women have been portrayed in popular culture as whores, while Anglo women have been viewed as pure. This image dates back to the American conquest of Mexico, when early Anglo settlers commented on the "pliant" nature of Mexican women as well as their affection for Anglo men.
American society has perpetuated these myths of Mexican women formed during the conquest of the southwestern United States, and, as a result, students in Ivy League institutions are visibly portraying their belief in these myths nearly 150 years later.
I am positive the brothers of Bones Gate will be shocked that anyone would take offense to their poster. However, I think they would take offense to a poster advertising a Fourth of July celebration portraying a drunken frat brother aggressively pursuing an equally drunk white sorority sister.
I would not make such a poster because it would convey stereotypes of those involved in the Greek system, as well as degrade the symbolic importance of the Fourth of July. All I ask from Bones Gate is the same respect for Mexican and Mexican-American culture.
Despite my protestations to their actions, I am not angry with the brothers of Bones Gate, for their actions are merely a symptom of a much broader problem facing this campus.
Latinos represent the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States, compromising about 10 percent of the U.S. population. Mexican-Americans represents more than 60 percent of Latinos. However, at Dartmouth, Latinos make up only four percent of the student body, and the numbers have increased only 0.1 percent per year since 1989.
Latinos remain the largest underrepresented minority group on campus without a residential living space. The administration claims this is a result of the lack of an academic program to link to such a house, but it has consistently relegated any attempts to create a Latino Studies program to the backseat in favor of "more urgent" concerns of the College.
The lack of a Latino Studies program results in actions such as those of Bones Gate fraternity by allowing "educated" Dartmouth students to remain completely ignorant of Latino history and Latino issues.
Until the administration decides that Latino history and culture are worth teaching, I am afraid Latino students, such as myself, will be forced to confront the ignorance of students who act in a manner similar to that of the brothers of Bones Gate.