As a transplant from New York to San Antonio, my early understanding of Texas and Mexican culture was, to put it mildly, lacking. I am the quintessential clueless gringo.<\/p>\n
When I was first introduced to Cinco de Mayo, I genuinely believed it was a religious holiday. (Spoiler alert: It is not.) Then as I tried to get my bearings in the Alamo City, I confidently assumed it was just another extension of our massive Fiesta celebrations. Wrong again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It took a healthy dose of local education to set me straight. Mexico\u2019s actual Independence Day is celebrated on Sept. 16.<\/p>\n
Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico\u2019s unlikely victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla.<\/p>\n
The French marched onto the battlefield with 6,000 highly trained soldiers \u2014 about 2,000 more than Mexico\u2019s scrappy militia. Amazingly, the smaller, poorly equipped Mexican force defeated the larger, better-armed and better-trained French army.<\/p>\n
If we really want to celebrate and honor Mexico\u2019s heritage, we should learn more about its true meaning and cultural significance.<\/p>\n
Take it from a recovering New Yorker:\u00a0Cinco de Mayo is a great underdog story, and it is far more than just an excuse to drink margaritas and eat tacos.<\/p>\n
Texas treats consensual adult prostitution as a felony\u00a0\u2014 a Prohibition-style policy that does more harm than good.<\/p>\n
Austin\u2019s recent sting with 21 arrests underscores this failed approach.\u00a0Criminalizing\u00a0voluntary sex work is linked to higher rates of violence and sexually transmitted infections, according to a review of more than 130 studies by Johns Hopkins researchers.<\/p>\n
Public opinion has shifted: Most voters \u2014 and two-thirds of those younger than 45 \u2014 now support decriminalization, alongside organizations such as the ACLU and World Health Organization.<\/p>\n
The current system results in longer court backlogs, more prison overcrowding and fewer law enforcement resources to fight serious crime.<\/p>\n
Like Prohibition, these policies reflect outdated, intolerant moral codes rather than evidence. They undermine public health and erode personal freedom at the expense of Texas taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Texas policymakers should reconsider criminal penalties for consensual adult sex work and pursue evidence-based reform.<\/p>\n
Steven Prohaska, Richmond<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a transplant from New York to San Antonio, my early understanding of Texas and Mexican culture was,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45910,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-269557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-edletters","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}