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Mexican Heritage
Tri-colored banners absent in Brownsville

BY SARA INÉS CALDERÓN
The Brownsville Herald

MATAMOROS, September 10, 2006 - — Jesus Christ, a green jalapeño and the Virgen de Guadalupe were all sporting Mexican flags in downtown this week.

Merchants were selling their wares flaunting red, white and green in preparation for next week’s Diez y Seis de Septiembre or Mexican Independence Day.

Those same colors — in triage — were noticeably lacking in downtown Brownsville on the same day, where there were plenty of Mexicans but few Mexican flags.


At least one local academic was puzzled: How is it that there are so many people of Mexican descent in Brownsville, and yet no one here celebrates the country’s most important holiday?

“It’s not so much a physical boundary,” said Manuel Medrano, professor of history at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. “The 2,000 mile boundary is a political one.”

Shiny eagle and serpents hang from wires along Matamoros’ main downtown streets. On every corner, there is a street vendor selling everything from tri-colored earrings, noisemakers, hats, flags, pins, wigs and car decorations.

The vendors will be here until the holiday itself, Sept. 16, before they pack up and wait for next year’s celebration.

Not a lot of people from the other side come to purchase Julio Castillo’s independence day trinkets, he said. Sometimes, one or two will come by, but the majority of his customers are Mexican.

It’s difficult to explain, Medrano said.

Why do people in Brownsville — where almost everyone is of Mexican decent — not celebrate their cultural heritage, yet people of Mexican decent in far away places like Chicago and Los Angeles wave Mexican flags every chance they get?

“I think that there’s not enough emphasis on some of the Mexican traditions that occur, Mexican flags, I think are a part of that,” Medrano said.

For people in Brownsville, it’s easy to be Mexican — the border is so close. Yet, Medrano said, for people far away, there is an al-lure that inspires them to seek out Mexican culture.

“There’s a hunger” for culture on the part of people who aren’t from the border, he said, while people who live here may overlook the importance of that culture. “We take it for granted.”

Part of the explanation is that immigrants from Mexico want their children to be Americanized, Medrano explained, and so try to avoid indulging in too much Mexican culture. Another reason is that, once children are Americanized, they no longer hold ties to Mexico, but rather, practice U.S. traditions.

Becoming American for some has meant to prioritize U.S. culture over other cultures, and perhaps most unfortunately, there has been backlash against immigrant communities, Medrano said, particularly those from Latin America. That, too, may play a role in the lack of Mexican flags, he said.

Yet, there are a few Mexican flags in downtown Brownsville. One stands next to an American flag at the offices of H. Yturria Land and Cattle Co. on East Van Buren street, although it’s been there for months.

Eva García, who lives on East Harrison, also proudly displays a Mexican flag — she’s from Matamoros — but that flag is not sea-sonal either, but a constant, flanked by la Virgen de Guadalupe and plastic rose flowers.

“I don’t know why they don’t like to put the (Mexican) flag, but I do” García remarked. What it likely comes down to is trying to consolidate two different cultural identities, Medrano said. For some people, that means placing one above the other, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

“You can be an American citizen and do all the things you’re supposed to do but also maintain a dual heritage,” Medrano said. “It’s OK for people along the border to have dual identities, to understand both.”

sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com