Last week, small-r mayor David Holt put his moderately-priced smartphone camera down for a few minutes to sign a proclamation that designates September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month, mainly to give thanks and designate praise to the many Spaniard-centric citizens for their hard work and selfless sacrifice, primarily in the brutal conquest of most Latin American countries.
While the next thirty days should technically be called Latino (or Latinx, if you’re nasty) Heritage Month, this celebration of our spicy sangre was first recognized in America by President Johnson in 1968 and, like a stealthy puma, has silently moved under your noses until recent years, when mi gente moved out of the shadows to party, karambo, fiesta, forever, with Holt’s pen officially signing in the holiday. Better late than never, huh?
From KFOR:
According to the proclamation, “Oklahoma City is home to people whose ancestry represents hundreds of nations, including Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean.”
The proclamation says “it is appropriate to increase Hispanic cultural awareness and diversity by recognizing the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and to celebrate their heritage and culture.”
I sure do hope Holt remembers that proclamation the next time an ICE enforcement van is patrolling the Southside. But, you know, I’m willing to give our classically goofy-looking mayor some credit: publicly, at least, he seems to be going against many of the state’s conservative leaders—which, really, is most of them—and their absolute dislike of Latino peoples.
Holt seems to generally like Mexicans and other Latinos—just as much as he seems to like every other race, religion and creed that he photogenically panders to—so much so you have wonder why is he still calling himself a Republican? This summer, he even tweeted that Oklahoma City is welcoming to all immigrants, contrary to the national mating-call of “Send ‘em back!”
Having worked not only in the Oklahoma legislature but also as the Majority Whip for the Senate Republican Caucus, as well as serving Inhofe, Fallin and as Chief of Staff for Mayor Mick—all in all a pretty heady resume—I almost want to believe that Holt is really a left-leaning insurgent, undercover deep inside the Republican party to jodar las cosas up a bit…and, for the most part, it seems to be working.
And while this proclamation is basically another notch in his fine leather belt of positive change for the city, I can already picture him safely celebrating with a selfie at one of Oklahoma City’s newest non-taco taco joints, dining on the crispy buffalo cauliflower tacos at the decidedly non-Mexican restaurant Mexican Radio. Give me a call Mayor; I’m buying!
So thank you, Mayor Holt, for making this sueño a realidad. That being said, what I really want to know is if there’s any chance you’d pay $1.5 million dollars to bring Los Tigres del Norte to OKC to open up a park that is primarily located on the Southside?