Cinco de Mayo puts me in a mood. Ignorant white people have turned it into racist Halloween targeted specifically at Mexico. Here in Seattle we get the Cinco de Mayo fun run where "costumes aren’t just okay, they’re encouraged." 😠
This holiday (which is NOT Mexican Independence Day btw) is a chance for Mexican Americans to celebrate their heritage. Please respect that and think about the impact your dumb stereotypes have on people. As UW History PhD candidate Michael Aguirre put it:
Here's a link to the rest of the q&a with Aguirre -- it includes more on the history of Cinco de Mayo and how US beer companies appropriated the holiday beginning in the 1980s as a profit-seeking venture: grad.uw.edu/student-alumni…
If you're considering buying @sallykohn's new book "The Opposite of Hate" pls first read @IjeomaOluo's and @aminatou's comments about how quotes attributed to them were distorted, decontextualized, and invented. Kohn has shown 0 accountability but is reaping the benefits anyway.
As Irish Americans, we can’t celebrate our heritage without first coming to terms with the fact that our identity is constructed on a foundation of anti-Blackness. A thread about that history for #StPatricksDay:
In the decades leading up to the Civil War, Irish immigration to the US was reaching its peak with nearly two million Irish arriving between 1820 and 1860.
In the Northern states, Irish immigrants and an increasing number of free Blacks found themselves competing for the same low rung on the social ladder, and for the same jobs.