viva mexico, chicago

I just watched some coverage on the 10pm news noticiero in Spanish on the celebration of Mexican independence. It was weird. The reporters were very excited to be covering the event, and proudly commending us for being well-behaved. They mentioned how on huge -scale events we had demonstrated once again that we could 'estar a la altura'; how the event had ocurred without any 'events.' In other words, they meant to congratulate us because: we hadn't stirred up any trouble, there had been no fights, no police force was necessary to put us in order. One reporter even mentioned it was a first-class type of event, for a first-class crowd.

I thought it was lamentable that they should have to mention that as a highlight of the celebration. Do we need to be congratulated for breaking with the stereotypes as 'troublemakers,' 'disorganized,' 'violent,' etc.? Even among our own people, we find ourselves believing the expectations that others groups have placed on us. I found myself wondering, what were the newscasters (and others) proud of the amazingly well-behaved mexican crowd or relieved that all had transcurred without any major incidents?

viva mexico. viva.