José López Zamorano
La Red Hispana
All Mexicans have known since childhood that Cinco de Mayo is one of the great heroic feats of the Mexican people, a symbolic date that commemorates the historic victory of General Ignacio Zaragoza and his patriotic armies against the invading French army in the central state of Puebla in 1862.
But over the last 158 years, the celebration of La Batalla de Puebla has become not only a deeply binational celebration between Mexico and the United States, but essentially a celebration of Latinity, a recognition of the common roots that connect us in the innards and unique contributions of Hispanic men and women to the culture, economy and diversity of the United States.
Just as Presidents Benito Juárez and Abraham Lincoln faced existential challenges for the integrity and future of their nations at that time, our people and humanity are now dealing with a major challenge with the Covid-19 pandemic, which once again exposes the best of us: our infinite will to fight against adversity, in any of its forms.
Here we have recognized the great anonymous heroes of this new battle, whom we find and honor wherever we turn: in hospitals, ambulances, farm fields, supermarkets. All those who risk their own lives 24 hours a day to save those of others.
But this Cinco de Mayo it is more significant than ever to focus our gaze on a group of unique Hispanic men and women who are in the front row of the battlefield and who, despite living in the most total uncertainty about their lives and their future, show a spirit, dedication and dedication which deserve to be recognized and protected.
Of course I am referring to our “dreamers”, the DACA beneficiaries and our TPS beneficiaries. A total of 202,500 “dreamers” and 131,300 “Tepesianos” belong to the army of essential workers who risk themselves daily against a common enemy.
Of that total, around 29,000 Dreamers and 11,000 Tepesianos work specifically in the health sector, as doctors, nurses, emergency workers, but thousands more are working tirelessly from their own trenches as teachers or vital services workers.
As dreamer Karen Reyes explains, a dedicated school teacher and daughter of an undocumented mother who has also been affected at work by the pandemic, “This is not only my story, it is the story of my mother and people like her.”
What better celebration of Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day than to provide all exceptional patriots with DACA and TPS who work in essential activities with the security and certainty they deserve, extending their stay and work permits. Or better yet, approving the bill in the Senate that opens the door to a permanent solution. They have been and continue to rise to the occasion, now it is up to political leaders to do the same.
