Today is Mexican Independence Day. I find it interesting that Mexico, like most of Latin America, shares a story similar to that of the United States, of having to fight a European colonizer for the ability to be a sovereign nation. A big difference between the US and Latin America, however, is that unlike in the Northern part of the Western Hemisphere where the indigenous populations were all but disappeared, in the Southern part of the globe mestizo cultures were born. These cultures, a blending of indigenous and European ways, live on in varying degrees of vibrancy depending on the region.
I also find it interesting that finally, in 2019, we in the US are acknowledging out loud that our nation was built on the back of the slave trade. Finally, our presidential candidates are bringing reparations to the conversation, and some of the populous is listening. I’d like to add to this dialogue the idea that we may owe reparations to others as well. I don’t say this to diminish the plight of African-Americans at home, but rather to shine light up on the responsibility we have for the woes of our neighbors too, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision to bar asylum seekers at our southern border.
I suggest we pause for a moment to reflect upon our involvement in the dire situations experienced by so many from Central America, El Salvador specifically. That we flash back to the 1970s and 1980s when the native and mestizo people were fighting for their right to land ownership, land that was taken both by the Spanish colonizers and later by US corporations. Maybe we examine the US Latin American policy, which almost exclusively backs military dictators. Maybe we acknowledge that the havoc reaped upon El Salvador —kidnappings, rapes, 75,000 deaths— was primarily the work of government forces trained by the United States. Maybe we acknowledge that the current situation in Central America was largely created by us.
Maybe we educate ourselves on the backstory of all those seeking refugee status in Mexico and the United States from Central America, and instead of building a wall to keep them out, dumping the problem on our brother to the South, we focus for a moment on how we contributed to creating the Central American chaos, on how we can retrace our steps to the origin and start to create health from there. Maybe we also acknowledge that MS-13, the terribly violent Central American gang-turned-mafia, started in Los Angeles, CA as a way for Salvadoran refugees to protect themselves from the Bloods and the Crips. Maybe we acknowledge that our policy of sending non-citizen troublemakers back to their country of origin as opposed to rehabilitating them in our own system (the system that created the problem) spread the deadly MS-13 virus from LA to San Salvador, from where like a cancer it has reached into every nook and cranny of the Americas.
I am not saying I have the answer, but I do believe that looking at how our actions have caused and contributed to the current situation could change the way we choose to move forward. We must not play ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, but examine our mistakes and learn and grow from them as a nation.
Okay, that’s it. Back to tequila, mariachis and el grito.
¡Viva Mexico!