Today, obviously, is Cinco de Mayo. Raul, who is of Mexican decent and very proud of that fact, works our evening shift. He also has amazing calligraphy-like handwriting and he gets drafted whenever we need a sign made. He and worked together on a project not too long ago. I'd come up with what needed to be said and he'd come up with this brilliant looking signs with my words on them. I made a joke comparing us to Marx and Engels. He didn't get it at first, and was less than thrilled when I explained whom Marx and Engels were. Did I forget to mention he's a devout Roman Catholic, a strict Republican and lifetime Navy man? You can imagine how excited he was to be compared to the Godfathers of Communism. Anyway, sometime last night he made these really neat looking signs explaining exactly what Cinco de Mayo is and why it is so important to Mexico. They're simple but very attractive: everything is red and green. Anyway, the first thing that Sally (African-American, sexually ambiguous, politically militant, slightly scary at first but basically nice) says when she sees them is, "How come I didn't see this for Black History Month?"
How come I didn't see this for Black History Month? Not, "Those look nice and very informative." or “Raul must have worked hard on those". No, we see the dreaded culture of entitlement. Its not because she's black or (possibly) a lesbian or a woman or anything; We ALL do it. Why don't I get that? Well, the reason there is a Cinco de Mayo poster up is that Raul thought of it, and worked hard, and made it himself. Which, to her everlasting credit, is what our supervisor (also African-American) told Sally when she complained about it. If you want something done, do it yourself, don't wait for someone else. Simply because someone else gets something, doesn't mean you do too. The same goes with groups. Personally, I'm all for the posters, just because it explains a holiday I never understood. Being the unreconstructed whitey I am, I always thought Cinco de Mayo was simply for celebrating the Republic of Cerveza. I spoke to Raul, and we're going to talk to the Bosses about expanding this, making posters for many minor holidays. It makes our offices look better, and makes us better people to know what Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day and the 4th of July really mean.
And yes, Black History Month too.