Mexico celebrates "Día de la Raza" on our "Columbus Day"

On this side of the world, October 12 is celebrated by many for many different reasons. In the US, this day (which is actually honored on the first Monday of the month) is a time for admiring the great adventurous spirit of Christopher Columbus that led to his 'discovery' of the great land we now freely inhabit. Since 2002, Venezuelans and other predominately indigenous Latin American countries observe October 12 as the Day of Indigenous Resistance, paying homage to the efforts of the 'true discoverers' of the land to ward off the colonial 'invaders.' Since 1928, Mexico has chosen the more diplomatic approach, integrating into its October 12 celebrations the American (in its continental sense) and European influences that have come to define its people.

In the wake of the 1910 Revolution that would engulf the country for nearly a decade and divide its people between poor and rich, native and foreign, nationalist and globalist, Mexico was in serious need of something around which its people could form a unified identity. Education Minister at the time, José Vasconcelos, was convinced that the way forward was "integration through education," through which ALL members of Mexican society would learn of the same eclectic past from which they had emerged. In place of attaching preference to either influence, native (American) or foreign (European), Vasconcelos sought to reinvent Mexico as a nation of the Mestizo, or mixed, race, 'raza.'

What was crucial, Vasconcelos believed, was the widespread dissemination of this new, unifying identity. To achieve this it was necessary to take advantage of skills offered by women, which Vasconcelos viewed as extremely conducive to filling the role of teacher, in hopes of transforming their social image from "mother of a family to that of mother of the people." Also, he worked to make schooling more accessible to the native population, the majority of which lived in the country side where communication technology was non-existent. Under Vasconcelos, education was reconstructed into a tool for social change that, as opposed to the North American model in which knowledge was restricted to serving practical ends, aimed to make unlimited the imaginative capacity of Mexican peoples' minds. With everyone thinking in big picture terms, Vasconcelos hoped the people could figure out a way to get along with one another.

On Friday, President Fecal spoke to a committee representing Mexico's Jewish community on the importance of Vasconcelos' message of cultural integration.

"Our roots and our multiple identities, originally American and European, but in the last analysis, roots and identity with enormous ramifications that integrate, identify and link all of us that are Mexicans in a single nation."

After being hard-pressed to find much good that came out of the Spanish invasion of the Americas which led to the slaughter of millions of native inhabitants, it becomes evident that celebrating October 12 as a mixing of races is purely a practical solution to a potential problem of societal division presented by Mexico's being a melting pot of ethnicities. I personally find it to be a really interesting balance, without which, the nation would probably come undone at its seams.

Of course, however, the problem is when Mexicans predominately of one or the other cultural influence denigrate those of the other. While Mexicans both of indigenous and Spanish blood can be accused of doing this, I believe there are more serious implications when committed by the latter. In a society in which the indigenous already occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder, the further deterioration of their heritage brought on by an attack on their claim to the land they've lived on for centuries, is obviously a serious problem. Though I have to say, in day to day interactions I have with Mexicans, this balance seems to be fairly well maintained. I guess as long as people from both sides take Vasconcelos' advice and avoid, as I've failed to do, placing themselves exclusively on either side, the Mestizo identity can continue to be a source of unity.