Dia de La Raza: A Holiday Without Celebration
Tara A. Spears
Mexico is a rich blending of indigenous people with the government recognizing 68 national languages besides Spanish within its borders. Unlike NOTB, Mexico does not view Columbus as someone to celebrate but rather as someone who enslaved its people and destroyed its ancient culture. Mexico established October 12 as Dia de la Raza, Day of the People that focuses on honoring the ethnic diversity of its people rather than recognizing the expansion of European civilization under the Spanish crown. As early as 1836, Oaxaca Mexico historian Don Maria de Bustamente termed the October 12, 1492 event as “the most villainous day there could ever be in America; the day its slavery was established.”
According to Richard McGuire “Mexico has a peculiar love-hate relationship to its indigenous peoples. The great Aztec origins of the country are celebrated, and rich cultural traditions are presented — sometimes in sanitized version — to foreign tourists. Most Mexicans are Mestizo — of mixed indigenous and European blood, and so have an indigenous ancestry. Yet throughout colonial times and the modernization of the 19th century under Porfirio Díaz, purely indigenous peoples were looked down upon as inferior, backward, and as an obstacle to “progress.” These attitudes continue today and were an important factor in the conflict in Chiapas that has continued since January 1, 1994.” 
By the mid-1980s, ethnic groups, historians, sociologists, defenders of human rights and many others all over the world have seriously questioned the historical views of Columbus as explorer. Current assessment labels Columbus as avaricious, cruel, and paving the way for the enslavement of the native people by the conquistadors- a far cry from hero. It would seem that everyone has forgotten that his voyage and claiming of the new continent were an accident; his exploration done in the name of the Queen of Spain; and his purpose was intended to discover a shorter trade route, not a New World.
To get technical: Here it is in numbers….the average Mexican Mestizo is comprised of: for Nuclear DNA, 1.2% Asian contribution, 3.3% African, 40.2% European and 55.3% ‘American’ (indigenous). The mtDNA (inherited from mother) and Y chromosome (inherited if male) results lends some credence to the belief that the Mexican Mestizo is the result of the male Conquistador and the female native. As poet Jose Marti expressed race: “On the tree of humanity, there are many leaves and flowers, but our trunk will always be indigenous…”
So, what do countries like Mexico, Peru, and Central America have to celebrate? They can focus on the conquistador’s’ heirs–or rather–the product of the conquest of the Americas, the mestizos. The Americas can heal its racial wounds when mestizos not only stop hating Indians, but stop hating themselves. Part of the healing requires that we all start to view mestizos as one group, with multiple identities, cultures and histories, albeit begotten of war and conquest. Perhaps a better term for mestizos is bridge people who, because of their unique experience of coming to terms with the conflict that created their culture, can be bridges over the walls of prejudice.
While the controversy is not over, it has produced some positive results. One of them is that it has brought attention to the plight of the indigenous populations of America. Mexico is involved in a broad range of efforts to improve the living conditions of its indigenous groups. Claiming your indigenous heritage typically relegates one to a second class life of poverty. 
In the words of former Mexican President Zedillo: “Mexico’s cultural strength, which is recognized and admired the world over, is the result of the very rich cultural diversity of our states and regions. Our task of greatest importance is to recognize and celebrate that diversity, encouraging its strengths and disseminating it.” 
Now, 500 plus years later, whether one believes that the chance event was a blessing or a curse, we celebrate the actions and influences of all the people who came after Columbus, who melded their European culture with the indigenous cultures and, with difficulty, blood and years of battle, misunderstandings and treachery, have created the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic Mexican society that we now celebrate with the Día de la Raza- Day of the People.