CINCO DE MAYO: SAN JOSE'S FORGOTTEN HISTORY
By Manuel Callahan | Fotografía by David Kabra
This year's Cinco de Mayo celebration and the valley's historic mobilization on May Day will undoubtedly present opportunities to oppose the recent weaponization of deportations by the current Trump administration and the ongoing assault on our community. For generations, Cinco de Mayo has served as a chance for the ethnic Mexican community of the valley to celebrate, learn, and mobilize.
Most people don’t realize that Cinco de Mayo has been celebrated in the Santa Clara Valley since the 1860s. It began in response to the Battle of Puebla (1862), where Mexican forces defeated the French, inspiring resistance across Mexico and in Mexican communities abroad. In California, the holiday became a way for Californios and others in California who claimed a Mexicanidad to assert their identity in the face of growing Anglo-American dominance, which led to land theft, racial violence, and discrimination. This history continues to shape the fight for immigrant rights and cultural preservation.
On May 5, 2024, San José hosted two major community-wide Cinco de Mayo events. The day began with one parade at City Hall and ended at César Chávez Plaza, while another began at the Mexican Heritage Plaza and moved through King Road to Emma Prusch Park. The 2024 Cinco de Mayo celebration marked yet another critical moment in the ongoing expression of cultural citizenship. Renato Rosaldo, William Flores, and Rina Benmayor, working in San José, developed the concept of cultural citizenship to describe how communities of struggle refuse to accept the unfulfilled promise of citizenship and challenge those systems that deny access to full citizenship by creating and organizing spaces of belonging, resisting discrimination, and organizing for justice. These sites are designed to help individuals understand how the system works, sustain their resistance against its oppressive forces, and facilitate autonomy to explore alternatives. As George Lipsitz and Barbara Tomlinson describe, these "insubordinate spaces" are sites where “new practices, new politics, and new polities” arise to contest second-class citizenship.
Cinco de Mayo has also served as a platform to resist police brutality and discriminatory policies, particularly those targeting the cruising culture. In 2023, celebrations honored the victory against anti-cruising laws, which for decades had been used to criminalize Mexican-American youth. Another growing concern is the corporate takeover of Cinco de Mayo, especially by beer companies seeking to profit from the holiday while disregarding its political significance.
La Raza Historical Society (LRHS) continued its mission with a special event at San José City College in April 2023. Historian Dr. David Hayes-Bautista led discussions on the true origins of Cinco de Mayo, its importance, and how the community can reclaim its history. The gathering became a strategy session that posed questions about: 1) how we might support new individual and collective community-based research projects; 2) how to update or produce exhibits; 3) co-generating K-17 grade-appropriate curricula and learning modules; and 4) engaging local area artists, cultural producers, culture bearers, and grassroots historians around topics related to New Almaden, the site of a Mexican camp where Mexicano miners annually declared their loyalty to Mexico. In every way, the Cinco de Mayo convergence fulfilled LRHS's emerging commitment to decolonizing history, ensuring that community voices shape how history is remembered and taught.
For the diverse Mexican community in the valley, Cinco de Mayo signifies more than just a single day of celebration. It represents standing against injustice, preserving history, and creating spaces where individuals can learn, resist, and reclaim their narratives.
