Cinco de Mayo's connection to anti-slavery in the U.S. is largely forgotten today
05 May 2021
Cinco de Mayois marketed in the U.S. as a fun holidayfor getting drunk and eating tacos. But its origins are linked to California Latinos who saw a battle in Mexico in 1862 as a victory for abolition during the Civil War.
Why it matters: Protests around the death of George Floyd, which brought Latino and Black advocates together over the past year, have prompted a re-examination of this lesser-known piece of U.S. history.
- Listen: I join Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano on his new podcast, “The Times: Daily news from the L.A. Times,”this week to talk about it.
Details: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla and the victory of Mexico's ragtag army, made up largely of Indigenous soldiers, against the better equipped and trainedFrench forces of Napoleon III.
- Spanish-language newspapers at the time showed Latinos in California were worried about Napoleon III's interests in helping the Confederacy, and they saw the win as a victory against slavery.
- The diverse coalition of Latinos from Mexico, Central America and South America had been brought to California because of the Gold Rush and were outspoken anti-slavery advocates.
- David Hayes-Bautista, author of El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition, said for years Latinos celebrated the holidaywith parades of people dressed in Civil War uniforms and gave speeches about how the Battle of Puebla was part of a larger struggle for abolition.
Between the lines: The Mexican Revolution in the 1910s sparked a new wave of migration to the U.S., and Cinco de Mayo's abolitionist connections faded.
- Mexican Americans used the holiday as a David v. Goliath story of Indigenous people beating a European force as inspiration for fighting for civil rights.
- By the 1980s, corporations and beer companies had co-opted the day as a way toreach the growing U.S. Hispanic market.
- Boxing promotersalso used the weekend near Cinco de Mayo to host big fights featuring popular Latino boxers of the moment.
Don't forget: Cinco de Mayo isn't Mexican Independence Day. That'sthe 16th of September.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.