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September 13, 2010

By Nancy Stone

Celebration puts Mexico's best foot forward

Surely the Mexican government views the news coverage as better when it revolves around a cellist from Monterrey rather than a drug lord from Tijuana.

It is not just better. It is fair, argued Manuel Rodriguez Arriaga, Mexico's consul general in Chicago. ''Often, the bad news dominates the information and the good realities, the good news are not the main story.''

Mexico is trying to burnish a somewhat tarnished national brand with a bicentennial celebration stretching over several months that will peak in a massive bash Wednesday at Pritzker Pavilion featuring ballerinas, mariachis and classical music, Community leaders in Chicago are embracing the festivities amid serious challenges facing a population that become a demographic force through a wave of immigration and, now, a swelling population of Mexican-Americans younger than 18.

Community leaders say a nationwide backlash against Mexican immigration echoed by some local residents makes Pritzker Pavilion a good choice for the traditional ''grito,'' a shout of ''Viva Mexico'' that re-creates the one that launched the fight for independence 200 years ago.

The Millennium Park venue shows that Mexicans, like other immigrant groups before them, have arrived, those leaders say.

All immigrants, '' sooner, rather than later, become part of the mainstream,''Rodriguez said.

Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Chicago-based Latino Policy Forum, said generational progress is not necessarily guaranteed for Mexican-Americans born in the U.S. Puente said she worries about high drop-out rates among Mexican-Americans, many of whom are the children of immigrants. Although most public debate revolves around illegal immigrants, more than 63 percent of the Chicago area's Mexican community are U.S. citizens.

About two-thirds of native-born Mexican-Americans in the Chicago area are younger than 18. So as the community celebrates this week's milestone, Puente said, the defining chapter of their narrative will be written by these youths.

I am very proud of my Country, because this month we will celebrate 200 years for Independence.