Annotations for Subject-headings: Parties

This is Latino USA, a radio journal of news and culture. I'm María Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA: Latinos in South Central Los Angeles.

The realities are, we have a lot of Rodney Kings. We have a lot of Latinos who are being beat up. We have a lot of discrimination going on in the city.

A report card for President Clinton.

It's unfair in a way to say that the Clinton administration hasn't appointed too many Latinos, hasn't appointed too many of anything.

Also, una celebración del Cinco de Mayo y Sesame Street goes Latino.

¿Abierto?

Yes, certainly! Abierto is the Spanish word for open! Abierto.

All this here on Latino USA, but first: las noticias.

Every culture has its special days, Diaz de Fiesta. Most often, they're related to a special date in history: Fiestas Patrias, Puertorriqueños celebrate El Grito de Lares on September 23rd. Dominicanos celebrate on February 27th, the Dominican Republic's independence from Haiti. In Mexico and among Mexican Americans, Cinco de Mayo is one such day of celebration, not an Independence Day, but in memory of a battle which took place in 1862. However, as producers Laura Valera and Arthur Duncan found, the historical significance of the holiday is often lost in the midst of cultural festivities. Here's their Cinco de Mayo audio essay.

[Transitional Drum Music]

Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French forces attempting to occupy Mexico. Essentially what it deals with is the defeat of the French forces by the liberal forces of Benito Juarez in the city of Puebla, in the state of Puebla.

Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

All I know is it's a Mexican holiday. I don't really know what the reason is.

I don't know, is it somebody's birthday?

Ah…for me, Cinco de Mayo is a pretty good… good day.

A big event?

A big Fiesta.

That's when the Mexicans took over. They kicked the French out of Mexico!

Y ganamos los mexicanos.

The independence of Mexico.

From?

Spain.

And one last thing. Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

You bet. There's a battle of somewhere… I forget now.

[Transitional Music in Spanish]

Cinco de Mayo did not lead to the ouster of the French. It would represent a significant victory for the Mexicans because it taught them that they could create a real sense of nationalism for them, that they could defeat invading forces and the like. It was significant on the basis of… you know, sort of a moral strength that gave the Mexicanos.

[Transitional Mariachi Music]

We just know it as a celebration, as a fiesta. Aside from it being a festival event, it's an educational event because it is the time of the year that, for some reason, many of our people put our political agendas, our turf agendas aside, and realize that we are all one of a large majority of people in this hemisphere.

Do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Well, doesn't every Hispanic?

Bueno, cuando celebramos el Cinco de Mayo vamos aquí a las fiestas que tienen en el Fiesta Garden.

Yes, a big party.

Con Mariachi, es una fiesta mexicana.

Bueno… el parque.

The typical barbecue con unas cervecitas aquí y allá. I just have a good time with the friends and family.

The most things that I do is dance.

[Corrido Music]

During these festivals, we also realize that there are no borders.

[Corrido Music]

One could say that the Latino population of the nation's capital swells around mid-September as Latino movers and shakers fly in for a number of fancy events celebrating Hispanic Heritage month. One such happening is the annual Hispanic Heritage Awards, honoring contributions in the arts, sports, literature and leadership. Latino USA sent two of our reporters to the gala occasion, Franc Contreras and Patricia Guadalupe dawn their best studs for the party.

[unintelligible] for the Hispanic Heritage Awards. My cousin from LA, Rita Moreno. [applause]

It was a black tie, long gown night of celebration for well-connected Latinos, a festive night of cultural pride in the nation's capital. With her sleek black dress and huge red earrings, mistress of ceremonies Rita Moreno was joined at one point by a surprise celebrity.

¡Hola!

Hi, hola. ¿Cómo te va?

Hello, Rita.

Mira que linda se ve. ¿Cómo te llamas?

Thank you. You too.

Tell everybody your name.

My name is Rosita la Monstrua de las Cuevas, and I am so excited to be here tonight to receive the Hispanic Hair Award.

Now before you get too excited...

Yeah.

Do you know what heritage means?

No. No.

Okay. Heritage simply means those traditions and beliefs that are passed on to us by our forebears.

Forebears. Oh, I love bears. I love panda bears, you know, with the blacks spot in the eye. And koala bears and polar bears and all that kind of bears.

No, no, no. Rosita, Rosita. I am talking about parents or grandparents, their grandparents and the [unintelligible].

On stage with Rita and Rosita, the bilingual Muppet from Sesame Street was golfer Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Sister Isolina Ferré honored for her work educating the poor, playwright and Emmy winner Luis Santeiro, civil rights leader Raul Yzaguirre and in the music category, Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Each of the five award winners spoke of concerns that drive their work. When Sister Isolina Ferré went to the podium, she offered an answer for an ongoing problem she's noticed since she first dedicated her life to community service about 60 years ago. It's the lack of educational opportunity for Latinos.

Real community development can only be achieved if a true and liberating educational process has been implemented. This process as it had been done in our centers in Puerto Rico should include programs for school dropouts, alternatives to formal education, formal and vocational education and literacy projects.

President of the National Council of Lara Raza Raul Yzaguirre won the award for excellence in leadership. He said Latinos must unite and solve their own social problems.

Our only hope is to build up our own institutions that can effectively advocate for our interests.

When the formal part of the evening ended, the stars went to a separate room for interviews with Spanish and English language media. Gloria Estefan told about her pride in her heritage about how important her family is to her and about her new album, Mi Tierra, which is in Spanish.

Why did you go in that direction?

Well, I'll tell you, first of all, I waited this long because I wanted to maximize the exposure of this music. If I would've done this album five years ago, half the world wouldn't know about it. So we really have been thinking about it for over five years, waiting for the right moment, trying to choose the right thing to do. We did new music because we wanted to bring something of ourselves to the project but celebrating a very traditional and beautiful form of Latin music. Hopefully, with this album, we'll be able to remind people a little bit of our heritage, especially my son, which is the main reason we did this album. We really wanted it for him.

Outside the media area, dozens of fans waited to see Estefan. They said it wasn't only her stardom that attracted them but what she stands for.

I look up to her a lot. I think she's great. It makes me proud to be Hispanic.

Really? Why? Tell me.

Why. Because there's a lot of riqueza en la raza. So she's a part of that.

When the stars left, the crowd went to the ballroom floor, to the food tables. There were tiny empanadas on one, some fancy fruit on another. The caterer promised the grapes were from Chile, not from California where Latino farm workers are still boycotting. And on a table over in the corner, there were tiny little tamales. The people serving them even unwrap them for you. With Patricia Guadalupe, I'm Franc Contreras in Washington.

So people always ask, "Yo, when is Hispanic Heritage Month anyway?" And then you have to tell them that it's not really just one month but a four-week period of time that starts in the middle of September when El Salvador, Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, and several other Latin American countries celebrate their independence from Spain. The month then runs through mid-October through Columbus Day or el día de la raza, as it's known in Latin America. For many Latinos, this is a time to look back at history and to look forward to see where we as a group fit into this country's future. Commentator Barbara Renaud Gonzalez says that in particular, the 16th of September, the equivalent of the 4th of July for Mexicans makes her realize she really is part of a community.

I'm not afraid to look in their eyes, me, the zippy Latina with the import car and the University of Michigan sticker. They, my Mexican hermanos breathless in the Texas sunrise, clinging to the back of a Ford Ranger, almost ashamed that they are the only ones riding like this on the open road of the LBJ carretera. Or maybe it's too obvious that they're on their way to make another garden out of Plano Prairie for a minimum wage. I smile. I am almost ashamed to not go with them. I love my Mexican people. On September 16th, my construction heroes, Plano gardeners, North Dallas maids, my café con leche waiters and I will come together to celebrate the 16th of September, el dies y seis de septiembre, which is the anniversary of Mexico's independence from almost 300 years of Spanish conquest. On the morning of September 16th in 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla delivered his grito de dolores, his cry for independence in the city of Dolores, Mexico, the city of pain, to claim independence from Spanish rule.

Our celebrated Mexican independence is not like American democracy. The Puritans were free the day they left England on the Mayflower. The Spaniards, however, transformed the America they discovered with every touch and every torment. They came to evangelize their Catholic tradition and so redeemed the Spanish crown with pure Indian gold. While the Puritans established independent colonies from the beginning, the Spaniard established dependent missions.

So, when Mexican independence rang in 1810 and Father Hidalgo exhorted his campesinos to rebellion with “Mexicanos, ¡Viva México!” He must have cried for Mestizo courage and independence from Spain and for all the battles yet to come. As Mexicans and Mexican Americans, Hispanics, Chicanos, Latinos, Pochos, and the descendants of Tejanos like me, every battle, every cry makes us braver in our marches, the people we are and will become. While Mexico's battles may be more anguished than those of the United States, this quest for the Mexican soul is still in transition and hardly defeated. Thus, every September 16th, every dies y seis de septiembre, we celebrate this realization of the Mexican self. I love my Mexican people. Original beauty on Spanish bones. Look at the hands in the ecstasy of expression, rainbows of skin on the Indian profile. We are a jeweled people. I know that the Indian gods and goddesses live among us transformed into the Mexicans I see every day, especially on September 16th, el dies y seis de septiembre. I know. I look in their eyes.

Commentator Barbara Renaud Gonzalez writes and teaches in Dallas, Texas.

[festive mariachi music]

In Mexico and Mexican American communities from Los Angeles to Chicago, the night of September 15th is the night of el grito, (singing) literally the yell or the scream, which commemorates the occasion in 1810 when a parish priest named Father Miguel Hidalgo called his countrymen to rise up against the tyranny of Spain with the cry Mexicans que viva méxico.

Viva los [unintelligible] que nos dieron patria y metal .

¡Viva!

Viva Hidalgo.

¡Viva!.

Viva Morelos.

¡Viva!

Viva Guerrero.

¡Viva!

Viva México.

¡Viva!

Viva México.

¡Viva!

Viva México.

¡Viva!

In Austin, Texas, this event was celebrated with a nighttime block party outside the Mexican consulate.

[mariachi music]

I think it shows that we still care about our culture, that it hasn't died, and I hope it never does because that means part of us dies.

It's a really very nice...Event.

And we hope that the American people can come little bit more towards our costumes and our music and our hearts also.

We came here with intention to work and lent our force, labor force, I should say. And we want to be able to also participate in the intellectual development of the Mexico and the United States. So I believe that anybody that wants to disregard our ability to group together and do things like this is kind of not paying attention what the reality of our country formed with immigrants anyway is happening.

[Multiple people cheering] [Accordion music]

Pop rhythms and grungy glamour were the rule at a recent opening night party for MTV Latino. The party in Miami South Beach went late into the night as the global rock music giant MTV celebrated its move into 11 Latin American countries and the US latino market. Nina Ty Schultz was at the celebration and filed this report.

MTV Latino Americano. Wow.

MTV, la mejor música.

With hundreds of exotically dressed people crammed into one of South Beach's hottest nightclubs, MTV Latino is launched. There's as much Spanish as English in the air and as many models as musicians. It's all part of MTV's image of youth and ease and scruffy good looks. Take Daisy Fuentes, she's a model turned MTV host who will anchor the new show in Miami as the master of ceremonies here tonight, she's got the kind of bubbly, bilingual enthusiasm that MTV Latino wants to project.

MTV will literally be in the face of 2 million viewers with another million predicted by the year's end. MTV's, CEO Tom Preston explained why it's all possible now.

We see that cable television industry exploding. As the media is deregulated, huge demand for alternative types of television services like an MTV.

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

He expects the business to be lucrative, not just for MTV, but for Latin American rock and pop stars as well. Gonzalo Morales from Mexico is one of the video jockeys for the show.

They're going to for sure promote their selves all over Latin America. I mean, 10 years ago it was impossible to think that they would be signing to into an international record company and selling the number of records they sell. Nowadays, rock and roll in Mexico, it's really huge now.

The rock groups here tonight come from all over. Maldita Vencidad from Mexico, Los Prisoneros from Chile, Ole Ole from Spain. But oddly enough, the first artist to perform is the not so Latin Phil Collins. That's no mistake. Over three quarters of the music on MTV Latino will in fact be from so-called "Anglo musicians". "That's what Latin teens want to hear," say MTV execs who feel they know the market after running a year long pilot show. Though they say programming may change depending on audience demand. For Latino USA, this is Nina Ty Schultz in Miami.

For now, in this country, MTV Latino can be seen in Miami, Tucson, Boston, Fresno, and Sacramento, California.