Oregon daily emerald., May 07, 1973, Page 8, Image 8

Cinco de Mayo celebrated
Woman stresses pride,
calls for Chicano unity
Margarita Mendosa de Sugiyama. a teaching
assistant at Washington State University and a national
vice president of the YWCA, spoke on the Chicano in
higher education to a crowd of about 100 persons at the
Cinco de Mayo celebration Saturday afternoon at Lane
Community College.
‘The kind of mobility that we as Chicanos have in
higher education and in American society depends on
not just how we feel about ourselves as Chicanos. what
that fervor is. but how we extend ourselves and how we
By RUBEN YZQUIERDO
Of the Emerald
can force ourselves into a system that has tried to make
us very hem, ogeneous. made us very American.”
Sugiyama stressed that the melting-pot theory
society. She said that using the melting-pot, “you cut out
a race, you cut our la raza's heart (the people's), its soul
and you put it in a pot and melt it down so tnat we are all
the same.
“And this cannot be," she said. ‘‘It can’t be, for the
kind of pride that we have as being Mexicanos.
Chicanos. Hispanos. whatever we call ourselves, must
not just exist but it must be sustained by getting across
to those that have the power, that make decisions for us,
about us, so that the understanding of where our com
mitment is. what our history is and who we are must be
shared by those that make the decisions
“For until that time you will find, such as I un
derstand at the University of Oregon, programs that are
specifically set up to serve our needs are abandoned,’’
che said.
Sugiyama told about the Chican’s commitment, first
to the family, then to the school. She said this is the
reason for the high Chicano drop-out rate and said that
Chicanos must be aggressive and make people more
understanding and responsive to the needs of the
minority student.
Sugiyama mentioned that many Americans have
always looked at the Chicano as he is depicted in books,
as a "wetback,” a farmworker and are not willing to
look at him as an Aztec king or a great general.
“It is time that we not only share our grief, our
frustrations, our unhappiness but we share the cultural
beauty, the cultural enrichment which the people in
American have been denied.” she said.
She appealed to all Chicanos and Chicanas to unite in
order “to draw strength from each other, to get together
and be able to help each other...we must remember that
we must have the power base where we are, we must
have support from each other.”
On the topic of equality she said that Chicanes are
not equal and will not be equal until, “we are in the same
educational level and the same economic level.”
In her concluding statement she said, “It there is no
struggle, there is no progress. We need to be in power
positions where we can help the movimiento, the
Chicano. and to help the administrations for they are a
decadent group. They are not even relevant to the white
students anymore. So its time that we start relevance for
people People Power! Chicano Power! Viva la
Huelga!”
Photo by Gene Baleomb
The first day of Cinco de Mayo events were
centered at the University. On Saturday
participants moved to Lane Community
Photo by Steve T*veOt
College for another full day of activities
concluding with “Comida Mexicana,” a
Mexican dinner.
A fashion show presented by Chicano students from
Lane Community College, High School Equivalency
Pregram, the University and the Job Corps was part of
the Cinco de Mayo delbration last weekend.
Reporter traces history
of Mexican struggle
By Rl'BEN YZQUIERDO
Of the Emerald
In reference to the Cinco de
Mayo celebration many people on
campus have asked, “What is
Cinco de Mayo!”
One student candidly offered,
“It is Mexico’s Fourth of July.”
Well, not quite.
Roberto Olmos, a special
assignment reporter for The
Oregonian, was one of the
keynote speakers at the Cinco de
Mayo celebration held at the
University last Friday. Olmos
gave his interpretation of the
significance of the celebration to
the Chicano in the United States.
He began with a history of the
situation in Mexico. Olmos told
the audience of about 100 persons
that in 1861 Mexico “was a land
torn apart by a savage civil
war.” This civil war caused
commotion in England, France
and Spain. The reformers were
tired of all the military dic
tatorships that Mexico had en
dured and they were determined
to end European rule in Mexico.
A man named Benito Juarez
who, according to Olmos was, “a
cold and implacable man who to
almost everyone personified
reform,” became president on
June 11, 1861 The civil war
continued and the Europeans
decided to put an end to it. In
December. 1861 England and
Spain sent troops to Veracruz but
the Mexicans made no defensive
effort. France intervened in
January, 1862 and still the
Mexicans had no defense.
Tired of all the oppression, the
Mexicans under Ignacio
Zaragoza, a young heneral from
the civil war, began a retaliation
against the French. "Hie battle
occurred in the town of Puebla.
The French were defeated and
the Mexicans had their day of
celebration. “And here,” Olmos
said, “is the reason we celebrate
the fifth of May, The Cineo de
Mayo. Remember that name,
Puebla, because it is the foun
dation on which rests the
Mexican nation.
“Why do we as Chicano6,” he
asked, “wish to celebrate
Cinco de Mayo when many of us
perhaps have never even set foot
on Mexican soil? A similar
question could be asked of Irish
Americans on St. Patricks Day or
of Italian-Americans on
Columbus Day.”
Olmos said, “As persons of
Mexican descent we bring out the
eagled flag, not because we owe
allegiance to it over Old Glory,
but more because in this day we
hold it up out of respect for our
forefathers.” He continued by
saying that Chicano ancestry
“most likely was lived under the
red, white and green than under
the red, white and blue.”
He said that Chicanos don’t
*ant to forget their origins.
“We do not,” he concluded,
“want to be washed over by a tide
of total assimilation that makes
us seem like everyone else. We
want to hold on to our identity and
be made richer because of it.”