While Great Bend celebrated Cinco de Mayo with downtown festivities on Saturday, the name of the holiday is literally The Fifth of May — think Fourth of July — the day is the holiday’s name. But don’t confuse May 5 with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is Sept. 16.

On May 5, 1862, Mexico’s army defeated French forces at the Battle of Puebla. The Mexicans were the underdogs in that battle; they were outnumbered but successfully repelled the French army.

It’s a festive holiday in the United States but the celebrations are less about history and more about Mexican culture. The food, music and traditional costumes were on display.

According to 1440, “The holiday was little celebrated in the U.S. until the Chicano civil rights movement popularized it in the 1960s as an expression of cultural pride. Today, Cinco de Mayo is observed far more widely in the United States than in Mexico, largely shaped by beer and spirits marketing beginning in the 1980s.”

In 2022, Mexican Americans (Americans of full or partial Mexican descent) made up 11.2% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and in 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States. The only country with a larger Mexican-origin population is — Mexico.

Great Bend’s 2024 population was 14,306 and nearly a quarter (24.9%, or more than 3,500 people) are Hispanic. That included more than Mexican Americans but many of those are from Mexico or are of Mexican descent. These are our neighbors. They are with us year-round, not just on one weekend in May.

If we can celebrate Mexican ethnicity for one day a year, and eat Mexican food throughout the year, it is hypocritical to demonize those same people for the other 364 days. Our historic motto for over 170 years, a national ideal still found on the Great Seal of the United States, is E pluribus unum, “Out of many, one.”

Susan Thacker is managing editor of the Great Bend Tribune. Contact her at sthacker@gbtribune.com.