What type of bubble do we want Bowdoin to be? In light of the recent reaction to the “tequila party,” I write this article because as a Latino I believe it is my responsibility to be a voice of respectful dissent. Whether you agree or disagree with me, this campus needs more diversity of opinion.
My complete name is Francisco Nestor Navarro Tamargo. I was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents, but I spent the first fifteen years of my life living in Mexico—three years in Mexico City and twelve in Merida, Yucatan. Subsequently, I completed my high school years in Bayou Country, Thibodaux, Louisiana, which I now proudly call home. I am bi-lingual and multicultural, and I do not believe that the tequila party was an act of cultural misappropriation and deserving of punitive measures for the students involved.
Every single one of us is immensely privileged. We live in a great country and attend a magnificent college. We are very fortunate that the single most pressing issue we face, which has divided this campus, is one of race. None of our lives are in danger and none of our rights have been denied. But race-related issues are a problem, and this one must be addressed.
Let’s start with the facts. A group of mostly white students organized a Mexican-themed party in which they drank tequila and wore sombreros. The only irrefutable fault I see, worthy of punitive measures, is that they disobeyed the hard alcohol ban. The rest of the actions were not acts of bias or misappropriation. Simply because the students were not Mexican does not prohibit them from wearing sombreros and drinking tequila. Sombreros, ponchos, tequila, among other things, are parts of Mexican culture, but they do not define it. Culture is not constrained to objects. I understand the frustration of those who think that the party mocked Mexican culture by limiting it to those few objects. The party demonstrated ignorance because the Mexican culture is so much richer than that. But just because the culture was not fully represented does not mean it was an act of misappropriation, nor does it mean the students at the party should be punished. Last semester, the Catholic Student Union, of which I am a part, organized a mass and party celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is the patron mother of Mexico and more important to Mexican culture than any sombrero. It was a beautiful event during which students of all races and cultures united, sang songs in Spanish, and ate Mexican food. That day culture was celebrated, not misappropriated.
Moreover, to say that one’s culture is limited only to that which you were born into is wrong. Every day I live Cuban culture, which was passed down by my family. Every day I live Mexican culture, which I assimilated into and fell in love with over the course of my fifteen years in Mexico. Every day I live American culture, which I have had the privilege of being born into geographically and living in the last four years. The United States is a melting pot of cultures, and no person can limit another from participating in it. To say that the students at the tequila party don’t have the right to partake in another culture because they are white or have not been historically marginalized against is ludicrous. May I remind you of “No Irish Need Apply?” Every year, people who are not Irish or Scottish participate in parades and parties in which they wear fake red beards or kilts. For instance, a Mexican wearing a kilt does not infringe the safety of a Scottish person.
Lastly, I love Bowdoin and I want all it has to offer. But other students and I cannot live out the “offer” to its fullest and “carry the keys of the world’s library” if the library we have access to is not of the world, but of the bubble. We should be physically safe, but we should not create a homogeneous bubble of intellectually “safe” space. True diversity goes beyond skin color.
Francisco Navarro is a member of the class of 2019.