Mexican Independence Day

September 16th is Mexican Independence Day. For Mexicans, that means a day off from work and a time to express pride in being Mexican. The night before, "el quince de septiembre" is also a time for celebration – it commemorates the cry for freedom of Manuel Hidalgo that set off the war for independence from the Spanish in 1810. Around 9 pm, people started gathering in the Zócalo of San Cristóbal. The Municipal Palace was lit up with lights in the colors of Mexico’s flag. At 10:00 was the reenactment of the Hidalgo’s “grito” for freedom. The emcee called out the names of all of Mexico’s heroes through the sound system and, after each one, everyone screamed “¡Viva!” (long live the heroes). Afterwards, there was a fireworks display right over our heads. Then came the music. One of the bands that played was a popular Mexican Duranguense band called AK-7. One of the songs they played was particularly striking. I don’t remember the exact words, but the basic gist was “I want to tell all the gringos that we Mexicans come to the U.S. to work and that we’re hard workers and they shouldn’t discriminate against us and we’re better than them in some ways anyway.” Very interesting how this consciousness about what emigration means for Mexico enters into pop culture in so many ways, particularly on the night of celebrating Mexican Independence. I think there’s a pretty significant double meaning here – that Mexicans would like their independence from the cultural imperialism and economic/political control of the United States in their country. This thought isn’t just coming out of thin air – I’ve heard this opinion articulated quite clearly by a number of friends of mine. These friends have lamented that many people in their country seem to only aspire to be more like the gringos up north – that they dye their hair blonde and follow the fashions and eat up the pop culture the U.S. feeds them. As one friend put it, “we have to decolonize our minds and start focusing on advancing our own culture.” All this is very interesting for me to hear, especially from my perspective, not only as an outsider, but also as a citizen of the U.S. And perhaps the viewpoint of my friend is more widespread than she thinks – because when AK-7 started to play their “gringo” song, everyone in the zócalo lifted up their arms and cheered.