By creating and displaying sophomoric "memes", for two days in a row UMass Lowell's Facebook page has defiled the losses of life at Kent State University and the Battle of Puebla.
UMass' online words are above and my responses are below the images.
"It's Star Wars Day! We hope the force is with you as you prepare for your exams."
Supporting Hollywood space fantasies is a cute diversion from reality, but instead of creating mindless memes, UMass Lowellwould do better to remind students that on this day 44 years ago four of their brothers and sisters at Kent State died protesting Richard Nixon's invation of Cambodia. If the college does not teach about the wars and how domestic demonstrations helped end the war, one can self-educate via the Zinn Education Project, a great resource for teaching history ignored by the public school system.https://www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject/photos/a.10150511273339677.377666.121352639676/10152097531669677/?type=1&theater
"Can celebration and studying go hand in hand? Today, they'll have to! Shake your maracas all the way to straight A's on your finals this week! #cincodemayo"
Two days in a row the UMass Lowell Facebook page administrators have presented questionable Hollywood-based memes. Today's makes light of Cinco de Mayo, which is NOT about sombreros, cactus trees, donkeys, tacos, maracas, chili peppers or Hollywood (which was a part of Mexico until the US' imperialistic War of 1846) commedians, it is the celebration of the victory of the Mexican forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, against the better trained and better equipped invading French army. Put another way, it is a celebration of the triumph independence and democracy over imperialism and monarchy.
UMass Lowell, as a teaching institution, would do well to portray the day with dignety and respect deserved. If unable or unwilling to do so, it could Direct those who "like" its page to the Zinn Education Project for more information.
"I recently came across a flier in an old backpack of my daughter’s: Wanted: Committee Chairs for this Spring’s Cinco de Mayo All School Celebration. The flier was replete with cultural props including a sombrero, cactus tree, donkey, taco, maracas, and chili peppers. Seeing this again brought back the moment when, years earlier, my daughter had handed the flier to me, and I’d thought, “Oh, no.” The local K-6 elementary school’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) was sponsoring a stereotypical Mexican American event." Continue reading "Rethinking Cinco de Mayo" here: http://bit.ly/Q5A9W1Painting from mural on Mexican history by Diego Rivera at the National Palace."Source:https://www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject/photos/a.10150110390139677.282958.121352639676/10152099408579677/?type=1&theater
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