WASHINGTON — Today, two internationally significant annual observances take place: Cinco de Mayo which celebrates the historic victory at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862; and the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
In response, leaders for natural, historic, and cultural resource stewardship in Arizona, Utah, California, Georgia and Washington, DC issue the following statements:
“On Cinco de Mayo we’re reminded of resilience, identity, and the power of people to shape their future. That’s what’s at stake at our national parks. Our public lands tell the story of who we are and that story is incomplete without Latino, Chicano and Hispanic voices adding the culture, legends and histories of our gente. Our people and stories of historic sites, deserts and sacred lands. Today we’re seeing efforts to erase those stories, removing Spanish language resources and creating fear that keeps families from visiting the very lands that belong to them. This should never be okay. Our parks and our national spaces are for everyone,” said Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, representing Arizona’s 7th congressional district.
“Today we take back Cinco de Mayo to uplift the future we deserve: a future where our neighborhoods are cooler, healthier, and more connected in the face of a changing climate; a future where restoring land also restores our well-being; a future where the solutions to climate challenges are rooted in culture and collective action. This is what history will remember us for,” said Amanda Pantoja, GreenLatinos Urban Greening Initiative Coordinator.
“If we memorialized every missing or murdered Indigenous woman or girl in the same way as done at Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge), we would likely run out of national parks to rename before we reached the letter B. That is the scale of the erasure of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. That is the depth of the silence. The stories we tell matter,” said Angelo Villagomez, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow.
“James Baldwin said that to be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. The first (15) months of the Trump Administration has certainly activated a state of rage that we’re witnessing in the resistance to inhuman immigration policies, erasure of truth and science in our parks, and opposition to destruction of our public lands. I am confident that the courage displayed in places like Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Minneapolis will eventually be celebrated. I am confident that the connections and community built in resistance at places like Big Bend National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, and Yosemite will someday be portrayed as a critical chapter in our efforts to defend our land from existential threats,” said Sherman Neal II, Sierra Club Deputy Campaign Director.
“Cinco de Mayo’s roots are resistance and sovereignty. We are reclaiming Cinco de Mayo by defending history and reconnecting to the land, our identity and our power. We’re preventing protections from being rolled back in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bears Ears National Monument and standing up to attacks on our cultural connections in San Juan National Historic Site, the Gulf Islands National Seashore, San Antonio Missions National Historic Park and many others,” said Jazzari Taylor, Latino Outdoors Policy Director.
“Interior Secretary Burgum’s secretarial order whitewashing history at national parks and museums challenges our freedom to think for ourselves. If we let people motivated to obscure histories of enslavement and the hardships our ancestors overcame for civil rights, we are allowing them to make decisions for us. That’s not the kind of independence we want for ourselves and children. As we remember the real reason behind annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations–the victory at La Batalla de Puebla–let us defend the truth at places like Antietam National Battlefield and the National Mall where publications and monuments commemorating the contributions of Hispanics in the Civil War are under threat,” said Olivia Juarez, GreenLatinos Public Land Program Director.
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About GreenLatinos
NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD. GreenLatinos convenes an active comunidad of environmental, conservation, and climate justice leaders rooted in the power and wisdom of our culture, united to uplift our priorities, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.
