White Mexican Racism Rears Its Ugly head...
BIP
Ted Vincent explained that Mexico's racial amnesia over its Afrikan roots
can be traced to the master-slave relationship which, even after slavery was
abolished, left the belief that a successful life is one in which one
aspires to become white. Mexico's concept of mestizaje means that it is okay
to stop at brown on the way of becoming white."
One of my mantras to our Afrikan students from both the Motherland and in
the Diaspora is that we must get rid of the myth of Afrikans being a
"minority." And that since there are more people on this earth who look like
Whitney than Britney, we have the potential to stop the marginalization and
disrespect we are encountering all over the world if we are united in our
struggle. I also tell them that our struggle against white and other racists
is made more difficult by those Negroes and Negresses who would,
paradoxically, denigrate our folk for a quick buck or 15 minutes of fame.
That white Mexican racism is rearing its ugly head again because we Afrikans
have not been united in fighting for our folk in Mexico and other countries
in the world is hardly a farfetched proposition.
The most recent racist act by white Mexicans comes on the heels of the one
by their President Vicente Fox, the one by Russian President Vladimir Putin,
and the one by the Japanese. But the white Mexicans' racist acts are the
most disturbing, given the numerous and valuable contributions Afrikans have
made in that country.
As reported by David Wooding in The Underground of June 14, 2005, on June
13, President Putin, when challenged about his human rights record, stated
that Africans had a history of "cannibalism." As Putin put it, "We all know
that African countries used to have a tradition of eating their own
adversaries. And we don't have such a tradition or process or culture and I
believe the comparison between Africa and Russia is not quite just." Even a
casual Google search on the Internet would yield many cases of cannibalism
in Russia.
Meanwhile a little further East, as Bruce Wallace reported in the Los
Angeles Times of June 14, 2005, the Japanese reissued Chibikuro Sambo
("Little Black Sambo"), a turn-of-the-20th Century illustrated children's
book with a reputation for racism. The book was a big favorite of the
Japanese from 1953 until it was yanked from bookstores in 1988 after a
massive anti-racism campaign. The challenge against the book in Japan echoed
that in the West years earlier: Sambo was a long-standing racist term for
Afrikans in America, and illustrator Frank Dobias' portrayal of the main
character, with his bulging white eyes and exaggerated lips, was deeply
offensive. An estimated 95,000 copies of the book have been sold in just two
months, placing it among the top five adult fiction best sellers at major
Tokyo book chains. Indeed, Sambo itself has racist implications rather than
the story-line.
While Putin's and Japan's defenders have argued that they have little or no
experience in dealing with Afrikans, as people of the major societies in
this era of globalization, they ought to be better informed and act
accordingly. White Mexican racism toward Afrikans, on the other hand, cannot
be defended in light of the history of the many and major contributions
Afrikans have made in that country.
In The Washington Post of June 30, 2005, Darryl Fears reported that the
Mexican government issued a five-stamp series depicting Memin Pinguin, a
dark-skinned Jim Crow-era cartoon character with greatly exaggerated eyes
and lips. This action has infuriated Afrikan and Hispanic civil rights
leaders for the second time in weeks. In May, Mexican President Vincente Fox
had to apologize for saying that Mexican migrants in the United States work
jobs that "even blacks don't want." Still, Fox defended his comment as being
taken out of context.
About the Memin Pinguin stamps, a spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy is
reported by Fears to have argued that the depiction is a cultural image that
has no meaning and is not intended to offend. But offending Afrikans is
exactly what the action has done. If white Mexicans were honest about their
intentions to commemorate Afrikans, there are many positive Afrikan Mexican
icons from which they can choose.
As the great African scholar Ivan Van Sertima informed us in his famous
book, They Came Before Columbus, the first civilization of ancient America
was called Olmec, which was located along the Mexican Gulf Coast and began
more than 3,000 years ago. The Olmecs sculpted the most significant and
widely acknowledged sculptural representations of Afrikans in the Western
Hemisphere or "New World." The very size of the giant Olmec busts indicates
that the persons depicted were truly important.
In his book entitled African Mexicans and the Discourse on Modern Nation,
Emporia State University Spanish professor Marco Polo Hernández demonstrated
how white Mexican institutions have systematically erased "Africaness" from
national memory. He also demonstrated that between 55 and 85 percent of
Mexicans can trace their families back to enslaved Afrikans, but that white
cultural leaders have actively shunned this identity.
Hernández also pointed out that more than 300,000 enslaved Afrikans were
brought to Mexico during the colonial period (1500s-1829), producing
millions of offspring. Many of the major leaders of the Mexican liberation
movement were Afrikans. They included the last two top commanders of the
movement, José Maria Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, as well as a significant
number of other leaders and troops. In addition, even the Spanish
conquistadors brought Afrikan heritage with them, as descendants of the
Iberians and the Moors of northern Afrika who occupied Spain during the
medieval era. Thus, it is not surprising that the modern Spanish language
still contains over 4,000 Arabic words.
Furthermore, Hernández found traces of Afrikan culture in many of Mexico's
national traditions - cultural icons, foods, music, and national holidays.
Moreover, the Black Virgin, a representation of Virgin Mary with dark skin
common throughout Spain, France, Poland and Mexico, is an example of Afrikan
cultural influences. However, as Hernández pointed out, Mexican cultural
leaders have rejected this Afrikan heritage, choosing instead to "whiten"
Mexican literature, film and popular culture from 1920 to 1968, a period he
dubbed the "cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution."
Luz Maria Martinez Montel, in the article entitled "Africa's Legacy in
Mexico: Mexico's Third Root," mentioned that the fishing villages of Costa
Chica on Mexico's southwest coast has impromptu performers who regale their
audience with songs of romance, tragedy, comedy and social protest, all
inspired by local events and characters. At the heart of the songs, named
corridos, is a sense of human dignity and a desire for freedom rooted in the
lives and history of these Afrikan Mexicans of Costa Chica. The corridos
reflect the oral traditions inherited in Afrika. A corrido that brings
applause is committed to memory to be sung again and again as an oral
chronicle of local life. The lyrics are equally rich in symbols, a tradition
that started when singers among the first enslaved Afrikans invented code
words to protest the cruelties of the masters.
Montel also noted that the Afrikan imprint in Costa Chica is not confined to
music. For dances performed during Holy Week in the streets of Collantes,
Oaxaca, performers wear masks that show the clear Afrikan influence. And
down on the docks, fishermen still employ methods of work that can be traced
to West Africa. The Spanish colonists took full advantage of the technology
that Afrikans had developed for work and adapted them to the "New World."
Yet today, many Afrikan contributions to advancing the technologies of
agriculture, fishing, ranching and textile-making remain unappreciated in
Mexico. Montel concluded that although strongest in Afrikan enclaves like
Costa Chica, the Afrikan presence pervades Mexican culture. In story and
legend, music and dance, proverb and song, the legacy of Afrika touches the
life of every Mexican.
In the article entitled "Africa's Legacy in Mexico: What is a Mexican?,"
Miriam Jimenez Roman discussed how in recent years Yanga in the state of
Veracruz on Mexico's Gulf Coast has received considerable attention as one
of the America's earliest Maroon communities: i.e. settlements founded by
enslaved Afrikans who escaped. Originally named San Lorenzo de los Negros,
in 1932, the town was renamed for its founder, Yanga, a rebellious Muslim
man from what is today known as Nigeria.
Roman also noted that particularly since the Revolution (1910-29),
communities like Yanga have not been considered by the white Mexican regimes
as worthy of any special attention. The Afrikan Mexican presence has been
relegated to an obscured slave past, cast aside in the interest of a
national identity based on a mixture of indigenous and European cultural
mestizaje - i.e. the idea of the goodness of being classed as racially
mixed. However, in practice, Roman argued, this ideology of "racial
democracy" favors the European presence; too often, the nation's glorious
indigenous past is reduced to folklore and ceremonial showcasing. But the
handling of the Afrikan "third root," which is represented by more than
200,000 Afrikan Mexicans, is even more dismissive. Since they live as their
neighbors do, carry out the same work, eat the same foods, and make the same
music, it is assumed that Afrikan Mexicans have assimilated into "Mexican"
society. But for Roman, Afrikan Mexicans are Mexican society, as the
historical record offers compelling evidence that Afrikans and their
descendants contributed enormously to the very formation of Mexican culture.
As Roman further pointed out, when Yanga and his followers founded their
settlement, the population of Mexico City consisted of approximately 36,000
Afrikans, 11,600 persons of Afrikan ancestry, and only 14,000 Europeans.
Afrikans who escaped added to the overwhelming numbers in the towns,
establishing communities in Oaxaca as early as 1523. Beyond their physical
presence, Afrikans and their descendants interacted with indigenous and
European peoples in forging nearly every aspect of the Mexican society. The
states of Guerrero and Morelos bear the names of the last two top commanders
of the Mexican liberation movement mentioned earlier. These two Afrikans and
many others made possible the founding of the Republic of Mexico.
In his article entitled "Racial Amnesia - African Puerto Rico and Mexico,"
Ted Vincent explained that Mexico's racial amnesia over its Afrikan roots
can be traced to the master-slave relationship which, even after slavery was
abolished, left the belief that a successful life is one in which one
aspires to become white. Mexico's concept of mestizaje means that it is okay
to stop at brown on the way of becoming white.
As an addendum to Vincent's explanation, racism, combined with economic and
political discrimination, is very much alive in Mexico, and it affects even
the "brown" people, i.e. the peasantry (not only in Chiapas), a large
fraction of which has - maybe deliberately - not integrated into the
"mainstream" of the so-called mestizo culture and often refuses to learn or
to speak Spanish. The dominant socio-economic force is still made up of
people like Fox and previous, even whiter, presidents. The word "Indio" is
still an insult, more so than "Negro."
So, yes, Afrikans have made numerous and valuable contributions to Mexico.
Therefore, there are many positive Afrikan Mexican cultural icons from which
to draw to be depicted in non-racist memorabilia. As we progressive Afrikans
have over the years challenged and continue to challenge racist anti-Mexican
monikers and actions, we expect progressive white Mexicans to demand the
immediate withdrawal of the Memin Pinguin five-stamp series and to include
Afrikan Mexican history in the country's curricula.
The Black Commentator recommends that everyone interested in this subject
visit the Website, Afro-Mexican.
Abdul Karim Bangura is a researcher-in-residence at the Center for Global
Peace and a professor of International Relations in the School of
International Service at American University in Washington, DC. He holds a
Ph.D. in Political Science, a Ph.D. in Development Economics, a Ph.D. in
Linguistics, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He is the author of 47 books
and more than 350 scholarly articles. E-mail him at: ban...@american.edu
or th...@earthlink.net, or go to his website.
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