Hispanic Heritage Month – The Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico
The College World Reporter
Connecting Worlds: Inside Latino America
By Dr. Filemon Zamora, Ph.D.
October 2010
Speech given at Spanish Club celebration gathering at Sul Ross State University
Filemon Zamora, Ph.D.
We thank you for coming to celebrate with us -not only Mexican Independence day- but the independence of the countries of Central America and Chile in South America. These countries celebrate their independence this month, September. September 15 through October 15 has been declared Hispanic Heritage month here in the United States.
Let me tell you that I’ve been lucky; in my life I have seen two bicentennial commemorations: the bicentennial of the Independence of the United States in 1976 and now the bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico this year of 2010. The United States fought for independence against England; Mexico against Spain. México began its war of Independence in the evening of September 15 of 1810.
There are many reasons for us to celebrate this historic event. For one, Mexico is our next door neighbor and we want to be a concerned neighbor and many of us are proudly descendants or immigrants of Mexico. More important for us here in Texas, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, is that all of these states were part of Mexico when Mexico became an independent republic in 1821. The new government was generous toward the American settlers; they were given permission to continue living and working the land they had been granted previously.
The war of independence of Mexico began when Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, our founding father, rang the bell of the church in Dolores Guanajuato, in central Mexico, for armed insurrection against the Spanish colonial government. Since its beginning it was not just a war of independence: it was a social revolution. The leadership was made up of criollos -the sons of Spaniards born and raised in Mexico, all whites. Some of them just wanted to take the power from the Spaniards and were scared that Indians, mulattos, and other poor people would change the social order.
At the end the popular sectors did not win entirely but the war of independence allowed a popular and racial participation which in the past had been excluded. After Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was executed, a mestizo – an individual of mixed race upbringing- José María Morelos y Pavón, took the leadership. And after Morelos was executed Don Vicente Guerrero, a mulatto, took the leadership. Don Vicente Guerrero, a mulatto, who was never accepted by the upper classes, became the second president of Mexico. Let me just give you another example of a change that brought about the Independence of Mexico; in the 1860′s Mexico had a full-blood Indian as president: Don Benito Juarez- something which has not been repeated in Latin America until very recently. Currently Bolivia has the second Indian president ever in Latin America: Evo Morales.
Allow me to finish by saying that the independence of Mexico had -and accomplished- great ideals: one of them is that it abolished slavery. An ideal that has been hard to accomplish -and that it is at the root of all present problems in Mexico- is social justice, for example equality, that is a few extremely wealthy individuals who own everything and most of the people in misery. Also it has been hard for Mexico to become truly independent since – as many third world countries – it has been made dependent by the wealthy industrialized countries.
No matter the tremendous problems that Mexico is currently going through, we have hope that it will change and that it will create a more just society. I say that because there are good people fighting at this very moment for these changes to occur.
¡Viva México!
¡Viva la Independencia!
About Filemon Zamora, Ph.D.: Dr. Zamora was born in México, immigrated to the United States in the late seventies and worked in the agricultural fields of Arizona, California and Oregon. He received an High School Equivalency Diploma in Oregon. He was accepted at San Diego State University in San Diego, California where he completed his BA, and MA in Spanish. He remained in San Diego and enrolled at the University of California, San Diego where he completed his Ph.D. He has worked at community colleges and four year colleges in California, Arizona, and Vermont and now serves as Assistant Professor of Spanish at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas.
Contact Information:
Email: Filemon@CWRMagOnline.com
Blog: CWRLatinaAmerica.WordPress.com
