A little over a month ago, a replica of the Templo Mayor was erected to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the former Aztec capital, which also happens to be the present site of Mexico City. I found it curious yet oddly comforting that there is an intentional acknowledgment of the original communities in this area, as this is long overdue. In many ways, the reimagining and repurposing of memory carries a lot of weight in syncretized communities.
This celebration, which intentionally lacked the participation of Spanish government officials, occurs at a moment in time when Mexico City is also actively replacing the Christopher Columbus statue that was sculpted by a French artist in the 1870s and was a relic of a Euro-centric, pre-revolutionary Mexico that treated Indigenous people with benign neglect or outright systemic violence. In place of this erroneously inaccurate figure (Columbus never set foot anywhere in modern-day Mexico), the city plans to install a new statue celebrating Indigenous women as progenitors of Mesoamerican culture.
These events happen to coincide with acknowledgment of the two-year period (1519-1521) exactly 500 years ago during which agents of the Spanish crown arrived on Mexican shores and later colonized Mesoamerican and South Americans lands for the pursuit of power and profit.
This early introduction of global capitalism inevitably led to genocide and enslavement of tribes in the Americas. As Indigenous groups were decimated, the Spanish crown introduced Asian laborers from China and the Philippines, who arrived on Spanish galleons in the 1500s, and Africans, who were kidnapped wholesale to toil in harsh and inhumane conditions to build the Spanish empire. The deep soul wound inflicted on these communities, who now comprise the “Latin American” populace, deserves to be told honestly.
It goes without saying that Spanish officials were taken aback when, in 2019, the Mexican president asked for an official apology for past wrongs and abuses. Many of our communities live with the legacy of colonialism. Ceremonial gestures and visual acknowledgment are good first steps. That said, decolonization also means meeting people’s material needs and doing what is necessary to allow our communities to heal.
This is what comes to mind when I think about “Hispanic Heritage” month. As I noted in a column earlier this year, mythmaking is a way for certain discourses to promote a particular ideal — in this celebration, unity based on perceived language and cultural commonality. This is disrupted when we think about how “Hispanicization” in Latin America has created a long history of inequality riddled with systematic violence and exploitation for power-mongers’ needed efficiency. Truthful examination is necessary to move forward.
Oscar Rosales grew up in the Yakima Valley and works and resides in Seattle.
Read more of the Sept. 22-28, 2021 issue.