What People Get Wrong About Cinco de Mayo

For non-Mexicans, Cinco de Mayo should just be May 5. A Chicano activist spoke to Brut about how corporations appropriate the holiday to sell booze.

Transcript

00:00It's a pinche desmadre!

00:13I would say Cinco de Mayo has become this opportunity for alcohol corporations and bars

00:24to sell a bunch of booze to folks and to sell tequila and to just slap the word Mexico

00:32in front of it.

00:33I would say the majority of folks have no clue about the Batalla de Puebla or anything

00:37whatsoever.

00:38I would think they might think it's Mexican Independence Day, but yeah, to Mexicans I

00:42would say it's just a desmadre, yo.

00:44It's an excuse for folks to get really, really drunk.

01:01Cinco de Mayo is hilarious to me.

01:03I didn't really notice it at all growing up in LA.

01:06I think the first time I ever really noticed it was when I went to college at UC Santa

01:10Barbara and folks were talking about Cinco de Drinco, Cinco de Drinco, and I would see

01:17white kids with sombreros and Mexican mustaches and I just did not understand what the hell

01:22was going on.

01:23And the more folks that I met from Mexico, the more ridiculous I thought Cinco de Mayo

01:29was.

01:39Anything having to do with denigrating folks' identity, anything that dehumanizes people

01:43is insanely problematic, right?

01:47So putting on mustaches and sombreros and speaking quote unquote Mexican, it's not supportive

01:55of people, you know?

01:57It perpetuates harm.

01:59If you want to get drunk and drink tequila, that's awesome.

02:01Go do it.

02:02You don't need to put on a sombrero and a fake mustache and pretend to be Mexican to

02:06do that.