Umm… OK.

What a shame. I always enjoyed eating tacos. I didn’t realize I was committing an act of racism by doing so.

Robby Soave of The Daily Caller has the story.

Latino student group says eating tacos is offensive to Mexicans

Northwestern University continued to stumble over diversity issues this week as Mexican students voiced disagreement with a campuswide letter that advised students not to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by engaging in racially-offensive activities, such as eating tacos and drinking tequila.

The letter was sent to students via e-mail, and published in The Daily Northwestern last week. Leaders of Alianza, a Latino student group, and the Associated Student Government called on students to remember that Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla. It is not a day to throw a sombrero-themed party, they said.

“Some of our peers choose to throw ‘Mexican-themed’ parties that are culturally insensitive, offensive, and detrimental to the Northwestern community,” said the letter, which noted that this was a problem year after year. “Drinking tequila shots, eating tacos, and wearing sombreros do not commemorate Mexican culture; on the contrary, that offends, marginalizes, and isolates many of our friends, classmates, and community members, and casts our entire community in poor light.”

The two Alianza presidents who signed the letter are not Mexican, according to The Daily Northwestern.

Their recommendations were quite a shock to Northwestern students who actually came from Mexico. Several of them fired back recently.

“I’d like to say that I proudly embrace my tacos, tequila and sombreros,” wrote Ruben Antonio Marcos Bours, a Northwestern student, in a statement. “To me, they are a key part of my childhood, growing up in Monterrey, Mexico.”

Another student who grew up in Mexico called the letter “over the top.”


 
 0 
 
 0