Los Angeles, CA – The Community Service Organization (CSO) and supporters held a protest Friday night, May 2, at a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) license/sobriety checkpoint located at a major intersection in the immigrant Mexican-American community of El Sereno.

The organizers called this a repeat of the Battle of Puebla, where a ragtag Mexican army defeated the imperial French army in 1862. With volunteers and little resources the community took on the LAPD, informed the community, and protested what they see as a racist attack during Cinco de Mayo weekend.

“Why during Cinco de Mayo and why in El Sereno?” organizers asked the LAPD. They pointed out that police continue to target Mexican/Chicano communities that have majority undocumented immigrants. With no driver's licenses, the undocumented are easy prey for car confiscations.

Car confiscation generates high revenues to local cities, as well as the Official Police Garage Association and their owners, who donate money for campaigns to local politicians for Los Angeles city council elections. For example Councilmember Mitch Englander has received large donations from Official Police Garage Association participants in the past. He in turn is a supporter of the Police Protective League, which also supports police checkpoints and car impounds. The protest was successful as the community came out and joined. Many drivers avoided the police trap, honked their car horns and waved in solidarity. The CSO and supporters will continue to protest any police checkpoint in our community.

#LosAngelesCA #immigrantRights #LAPD #CincoDeMayo #LaBatallaDePuebla #CommunityServiceOrganization #BattleOfPuebla

Tampa, FL – It is Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, but before you participate in “Cinco de Drink-o” and yell, “Happy Mexico Independence Day!” read this article.

In the late 1960s the Chicano movement started to commemorate the battle of Puebla and held annual events to mark that history. Over the years the Cinco de Mayo events spread to the point that they reached the ‘mainstream.’ Then U.S. beer companies started to sponsor the Cinco de Mayo events. Eventually Cinco de Mayo increasingly lost its political significance and became a marketing tool for alcohol and other products.

Looking back, it all started around 1862. Mexican President Benito Juárez, of indigenous, Oaxacan descent, declared Mexico would not pay any foreign debts for two years. France reacted by sending in troops to Mexico and demanding payment. What happened on May 5 was the Mexican victory in La Batalla de Puebla, or the Battle of Puebla. The battle was fought in the state of Puebla, Mexico and it was one of the few victories against the French. The poorly-equipped Mexican army defeated the powerful French army.

Just under 15 years earlier, in 1848, Mexico was invaded by another foreign power – the United States. After supporting pro-slavery American settlers who broke Texas away from Mexico, the U.S. took one-third of the land of Mexico, which is now the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and even parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Once-Mexican people would now become trapped in a land that would not acknowledge them as Americans and one that Mexico would shun as non-Mexican. This was in 1848 – the U.S. war and takeover of what is now called the U.S. Southwest would become the homeland of the Chicano nation.

In Mexico, the Battle of Puebla is still remembered and will forever remain a victory for the Mexican people. But Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in Mexico the way it is commercially celebrated in the U.S. In the U.S., we see major companies and various types of businesses push for parties, drinking, new liquors and ‘Mexican’ memorabilia.

The fact is, Cinco de Mayo is not mentioned in the U.S. as a day when Mexicans fought and won against foreign domination and in particular against France, which is still sending its troops to other countries. Never is the day called “La Batalla de Puebla,” and much less is it ever linked to the Chicano Nation and how it came to exist.

Donning ‘sombreros’ and shaking maracas is just plain incorrect and should not be encouraged. As far as the Independence of Mexico goes, that day is the 16th of September. In 1810 when father Miguel Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores, a cry for independence from Spain. And while U.S. beer companies and Dos Equis will keep finding a new beer to market, we remind everyone Cinco de Mayo meant much more to the people than getting drunk. The fifth of May symbolized the day people united to fight back against colonization and against the pillaging of their people by a foreign occupier.

Marisol Marquez is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Marquez organizes in Tampa with a group called Raices En Tampa. If you wish to contact her, you can message her on her twitter account: twitter.com/elmaryelsol

#TampaFL #Mexico #CincoDeMayo #history #antiimperialism #France #ChicanoMovement #MexicoIndependence #LaBatallaDePuebla #Americas

San Pablo, MN – En el desfile del Cinco de Mayo en San Pablo, el candidato Republicano para el gobernador Tom Emmer recibió una reacción no esperada — rechazo. El rechazo fue debido a su apoyo por la nueva ley anti-inmigrante en Arizona, SB1070. En un programa de radio en MPR, Señor Emmer calificó la nueva ley como una cosa “maravillosa”. Muchas personas han comparado la ley SB1070 de Arizona con las leyes racistas que existían en el sur de los Estados Unidos en contra de los Afro-Americanos hasta las victorias del movimiento para los derechos civiles en los años 1960.

Cuando activistas pro-inmigrantes se dieron cuenta de que Emmer iba a hacer presencia y hacer campaña en el desfile del Cinco de Mayo en San Pablo, decidieron no quedarse callado. Tomaron la iniciativa de informar la comunidad sobre la posición anti-inmigrante de Emmer y para enfrentar su campaña en el desfile.

Los activistas pro-inmigrante llegaron con pancartas con mensaje pro-inmigrante y anti-Emmer, explicando que Emmer apoya la nueva ley racista en Arizona. También gritaron “booo!” cuando llego el grupo de Emmer en el desfile, y gritaron consignas como “Emmer, escucha, No Somos Arizona! No leyes racista aquí en Minnesota!” Muchas personas que simplemente llegaron a ver el desfile también se unieron al coro de “booo!” cuando se dieron cuenta que Emmer apoya la ley anti-inmigrante en Arizona.

Emmer no solo apoya la ley SB1070 en Arizona, sino que sus aliados más cercanos en la Casa de Representantes de Minnesota han propuesto la misma ley aquí en Minnesota. Emmer ha promovido muchas otras propuestas de ley anti-inmigrante aquí en Minnesota durante su tiempo como miembro de la Casa de Representantes estatal, por ejemplo una propuesta de hacer ingles el idioma oficial del estado, una propuesta para requerir la ciudanía para recibir becas para asistir a la universidad, una propuesta para eliminar cobertura de salud para los inmigrantes con la única excepción del parto de un bebe, y otras medidas extremas en contra de los trabajadores inmigrantes.

Alejandra Cruz, una de los organizadores de la protesta dijo “Sentimos la necesidad de denunciar públicamente su apoyo al SB1070, una ley de odio que sanciona el perfil racial en contra de los Latinos. Tuvimos que denunciar su presencia en un desfile que celebra nuestra cultura. Le mandamos un mensaje fuerte que Minnesota no es Arizona, y no vamos a permitir este tipo de odio y intolerancia en nuestro estado!”

#SaintPaulMN #Arizona #SB1070 #TomEmmer #CincoDeMayo