Last month, students at Bowdoin College hosted a tequila-themed party where people wore sombreros, and the event was deemed a “fiesta.” Mass outrage by the Hispanic community ensued calling for two members of the Bowdoin Student Government to step down over this grave insensitivity. I have read about many other similar situations occurring around the country about white people dressing in sombreros and ponchos for a costume event and apologies to offended people having to be issued soon thereafter. My first gut reaction is “what is so insensitive about a sombrero,” and then my second liberal arts college student gut reaction is “there must be some history behind the sombrero that symbolizes marginalization and oppression from the white community and thus makes it highly offensive.”
Something would have to invoke truly offended and disgusted feelings to create the desire to pressure the offenders to apologize or step-down from positions of power. It is easy to pinpoint why blackface or Bowdoin’s notorious gangster party would be offensive to the black community because those poor costume choices represent a history of white oppression against the black community that has had real tangible negative consequences. I searched to find the symbolic history behind the “highly” offensive misappropriation of the sombrero.
Turns out, the hat was a practical fashion response in Mexico and Southwest America for the laborers and horseback riders to block out the hot daytime sun. The sombrero is commonly worn today by Mariachi and the traditional horsemen and is one prominent cultural symbol of Mexico. Why was tequila paired with sombreros for Bowdoin’s theme party? Mexico is famous for their tequila since it is made from the country’s native agave plant. In reality, when someone throws a party with tequila and sombreros, the theme is essentially Mexican culture.
White people throwing a Mexican themed party can only result in the utmost superficial and basic representation of a country with a very rich culture and history. I can understand being annoyed at people oversimplifying someone’s culture, but don’t people trivially replicate other cultures all the time? What makes someone dressing up as a Canadian way less offensive than a Mexican other than a general difference in skin color? Can’t a borrowing or sharing of culture happen without insensitive intentions? I am very aware that Mexicans do not go around constantly wearing sombreros and wearing tequila, just like how I know all Canadians do not play hockey.
Why Americans like to eat Mexican food, drink tequila, or wear a sombrero once and a while is because we admire Mexican culture. You have to admit that a sombrero is a pretty cool hat, and eating Mexican food can be a great change of pace from American food.
If there is anything that the Trump “build a wall” movement has shown us, there is still definitely existent racism against Mexicans and Hispanics in America. There are still harmful stereotypes that Mexicans are the ones taking American jobs and hurting the economy which leads to other extreme false stereotypes of them being “rapists” and “murders.” On the contrary, there needs to be an understanding that cultural superficiality and misappropriation have key underlying differences. Sombreros and tequila are rooted in nationality, not directly to race.
If white people want to embrace certain aspects of Mexican culture, then the Mexican and Hispanic community should take this as an opportunity to further educate people and share each of their rich cultures to create more of an understanding and awareness. Hispanics are falsely stereotyped by certain white people from all being culturally similar to Mexico, so sharing culture beyond the sombrero can help create the truly diverse environment colleges like Bowdoin are striving for.
By instantly becoming adversely offended by white cultural simplifications, walls, not bridges, are created. White people will only distance themselves more from different non-white cultures to avoid the risk of breaking a veil of political correctness. Cultures should be made to share, not to be made exclusive. More hypersensitive reactions like at Bowdoin only cause the wall to become “ten feet higher.”
If I have missed some sort of historical or cultural perspective that has blinded me from seeing the offensiveness of white people wearing a sombrero, I encourage anyone to share constructive criticism about what makes dressing as a cultural simplification offensive. Understanding, not conflict, needs to arise out of situations like what happened at Bowdoin.
