Hundreds of people gathered Saturday at Bethany Park in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Central Avenue Betterment Assocation’s annual Cinco De Mayo celebration.
For the past several years, the event has been a chance for Mexican residents of the Kansas City metro to celebrate their culture and share it with others outside their communities.
This year, however, the Trump administration's extreme shifts in immigration policy and enforcement have sown growing fears of detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials among the area’s Latino population, making many afraid of attending public events.
Edgar Galicia, executive director of the local organization, said those fears led to a significant drop in vendor applications for this year’s event. But even with fewer vendors, Galicia said, the group decided to expand this year’s celebration in a different way.
“We are suffering because our families are being separated, because our loved ones are being arrested,” Galicia said. “But we want to show everybody, most importantly we want to show ourselves, why is it that we are here. We exist and we're here to stay.”
In addition to its live music and dance performances, food trucks and large dancing horse show, the celebration also included a two-hour rally, dubbed the “Good Of All People’s Rally.”
The demonstration featured 11 speakers, including immigration attorneys and advocates, community leaders and local celebrities, all of whom had strong ties to the KCK Latino community.
“We wanted to invest time in bringing a message to the community of hope, of strength, of future and possibility,” Galicia said. “Understanding our strengths will give us the opportunity to continue working on ourselves and invest in ourselves.”
The speakers largely focused on the resilience of the area’s large Mexican-American community in the face of a more hostile political climate, but many also brought their own individual messages to those gathered.
Laura Palacios, a Latino community advocate and small-business owner, focused her message on a popular saying in American Latino communities: “No soy de aquí ni soy de allá.” It means, “I’m not from here and I’m not from there.”
She said the phrase has resonated with many of the people she’s met during her time working for groups like the Guadalupe Centers. It's also a saying she believes needs reframing to help those who identify with it remember the power and joy that can be found in their heritage.
“Our roots are full of joy, full of energy to work hard, to be with family, to build community,” Palacios said. “I think we've slightly forgotten that because of the fear that this new presidential cycle has brought upon us.”
Palacios also had a message for those who do not have this shared cultural heritage. To her, they are the people best able to help those gripped by fear.
“It’s important that people outside of our communities who enjoy our food, who enjoy our music, who enjoy the essence that we bring,” Palacios said, “remember that they also have a part to play in ensuring that we can live and grow in the same space and benefit one another.”
The rally’s keynote speaker was Earl Watson Jr., a KCK native, former NBA player and first Hispanic head coach in the history of the NBA.
Watson took the stage with his mother, Estella, the person he credits with instilling in him the pride he has in his heritage.
“I've been on stages in these types of environments my entire life,” Watson said. “My mom used to make me go on stage when I was in grade school to dance, and now I get to go up there to speak. To have an opportunity to come back and actually reflect on my culture, my upbringing, the representation of my family… I think it’s a beautiful moment.”
Watson focused much of his personal message on the need for Latinos in all spaces to recapture the national narrative about themselves in this moment, noting, as many speakers did, that the demonization of Latinos and immigrants is not new.
“We can't let others capture our narrative and put it on a platform with no response,” Watson said. “I especially want to encourage all elected leaders who have Latinos in their staff or in their workplace to uplift these Latino soldiers. We have to represent all and not just the elite.”
As the region’s Latino population continues to grow, organizers with CABA hope these events continue to grow with it. For residents like Palacios, that hope is still heavily mixed with fears for what the future under the current presidential administration holds for her community.
For now, at least, she finds comfort in events like Saturday’s rally – if only because they remind her she and her family are not alone.
“There are more American-born, Mexican-heritage individuals in this country than there ever have been,” Palacios said. “If you believe in the power of numbers, and I do, then it behooves us to remind ourselves of how many we are. This event is a cry of recognition.”
