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Racism exists everywhere, and I know that some pretty dark things happen in the Oaxacan towns, but in my travels all around the world, I've noticed that racism is more marked in the USA or Spain than in Mexico. Just my perception
So now you have changed what you have said from "never saw something like that in Oaxaca" to it's just not as marked in Mexico. Now we are getting somewhere. Let me say this: I love Mexico. I am in love with Oaxaca. I have been all over Oaxaca and have seen some downright strange stuff. Stuff I would not even discuss on this website. To say that "some dark things happen in Oaxaca" is an understatement. But that's why I love Oaxaca: strange, beautiful, romantic, scary, and surreal all at the same time.
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
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Hehehe, well I never stated that Mexico is a 100% racism free country, I doubt there is a place on earth like that, even in Multicultural and tolerant Brazil there are some ignorant people, there is ignorant people everywhere, specially in poor and isolated towns.
I like Oaxaca for the very same reasons too, my favorite and most magical state of Mexico for sure
This is exactly what came to my mind when I saw the video. Where did this person get the idea that Mexicans of African ancestry are marginalized or denied? The only conclusion I could think of is that this is a child of a Mexican who was born in the US where racial tensions and divisions are strong and since in Mexico we do not make distinctions in color, this person made his own theory of the way things are. I dont know, just a guess.
On the other hand, he did make a good point that in Mexico, the schools dont really teach that to the children like they do with the Spanish conquest and the Indigenous populations. My family definatly does not see a difference in color, nor do they seek recognition for their African ancestry. Equally, they dont seek recognition for their Italian blood or Spanish. They just see themselves as Mexicans...period.
It is good to recognize the African presence in Mexico because many people dont really know it even exists. I'm sure afonega1 didnt know it even existed. I know people who's grandparents are from the Philipines and to describe themselves they say "My grandmother was from the Philipines". My mother and I are Mexican.
Well travelling fella, I don't feel you should speak for all of Mexico.... You wrote that Mexicans do not see color and think of the whole Afro Mejicano concept as silly.... How can you say that (All) Mejicanos think this is silly? I for one do not think it is silly when I see someone like vincent fox govern Mexico.... Why is it that a country of 92% copper to very dark brown people still live under people who look very much like those who came and conquered this country? Personally I don't like hearing the (germans who ran and hid in Mexico or their offspring, from their war crimes in germany) conveniently try to call themselves Mejicanos..... I am bothered when I see pictures of carlos salinas price (part of gov.) as a representative of Mexico.... When Mexico has a president that looks like the MAJORITY of Mexico's population, then and only then will I say that Mexico thinks the whole color thing is "SILLY" ... How is seeing the majority of the countries population ( DARK PEOPLE LIKE ME) living in poverty while the minority (the left over spaniards AKA the conquerors or better yet the whites of Mexico) are on television, part of the gov. NO SIR... I don't think this is silly.... As far as your Philipine background goes, yes, you and others from other countries are Mexican defined by birthplace but to call you true Mexicans would be like calling the english settlers of America Native American.... They AREN"T just as you are not true MAYA/Azteca TRUE BLUE MEJICANO no more than I would be a true blue PINOY had I been born in Subic bay..............
There is racism/classism in Mexico, however is less noticable than in the US or maybe less condemned. The most obvious one is racism against indigenous people... the fact that you can insult someone by calling him "pinche indio" or some other derogatory comment regarding his ethnicity means that the discrimination is there. This one is rampant, brown and white mexicans will discriminate against people with indigenous physical traits. It's on the TV, in normal life, everywhere.
Now, for Afro-mexicans, this point is much harder to determine, due to the fact that there are very few of them. The video points out there is african blood in most Mexicans and while it can be true, there are very few that can be identified as "black" in the same way as in the US. A black person in Mexico is rare and depending on his sourroundings and the economic conditions of his family he might or might not face heavy discrimination.
On the other hand the whiter you are the easier things are for you, it might not be blatantly obvious but let me put an example:
A couple friends of mine (mexican) were walking on the streets of new york recently and a beggar came and asked for money, the beggar was a white lady... when they went on their way one friend commented to another "why is she asking for money if she is white?"
It might sound silly and racist, but the matter of fact is that back in Mexico by experience you never never see a white person asking for money... or at least in my 24 years of living there I cannot remember a single one.
So, in my opinion more than racism there is HEAVY classism in Mexico, I can feel it in my group of friends, however once a person proves that he is educated and has good family values (and money) he can integrate into most social groups regardless if he is black, brown, asian or white.
There is racism/classism in Mexico, however is less noticable than in the US or maybe less condemned. The most obvious one is racism against indigenous people... the fact that you can insult someone by calling him "pinche indio" or some other derogatory comment regarding his ethnicity means that the discrimination is there. This one is rampant, brown and white mexicans will discriminate against people with indigenous physical traits. It's on the TV, in normal life, everywhere.
Now, for Afro-mexicans, this point is much harder to determine, due to the fact that there are very few of them. The video points out there is african blood in most Mexicans and while it can be true, there are very few that can be identified as "black" in the same way as in the US. A black person in Mexico is rare and depending on his sourroundings and the economic conditions of his family he might or might not face heavy discrimination.
On the other hand the whiter you are the easier things are for you, it might not be blatantly obvious but let me put an example:
A couple friends of mine (mexican) were walking on the streets of new york recently and a beggar came and asked for money, the beggar was a white lady... when they went on their way one friend commented to another "why is she asking for money if she is white?"
It might sound silly and racist, but the matter of fact is that back in Mexico by experience you never never see a white person asking for money... or at least in my 24 years of living there I cannot remember a single one.
So, in my opinion more than racism there is HEAVY classism in Mexico, I can feel it in my group of friends, however once a person proves that he is educated and has good family values (and money) he can integrate into most social groups regardless if he is black, brown, asian or white.
Racism exists everywhere, and I know that some pretty dark things happen in the Oaxacan towns, but in my travels all around the world, I've noticed that racism is more marked in the USA or Spain than in Mexico. Just my perception
Being a white guy I saw no racism in Toledo or Barcelona, at least none aimed at me. At the time I spoke Spanish better than I do now and without un acento gringo. Many times I have been asked if I was Spanish, mostly by Mexicans or others from Central America, I tell them "no" and thank them for the compliment.
In mexico, mexicans are just mexicans, there is no concept of euro mexican, or native mexican, or afro mexican LOL, in mexico those things are considered silly, we are all one.
Here we go again.... this is very much not true and you know it fella. You mean to tell me that an indigenous person in Mexico city interested in being a high powered corporate attorney has the same chance as an equally qualified white one? Please.
Mexico has nevertheless had many great heroes that were Afro-Mexican, including one of it's liberators, Vicente Guerrero. Read up on him.
Racism exists everywhere, and I know that some pretty dark things happen in the Oaxacan towns, but in my travels all around the world, I've noticed that racism is more marked in the USA or Spain than in Mexico. Just my perception
Wait a minute Travelling fella. A few posts back you replied to someone who wrote how people in one town would say to others: "You think you're so special just because you have white blood" Your reply was: "I've travelled all around Mexico and never heard of such a thing" In this post you seem to contradict yourself with dark tales from Oaxaca and surrounding areas...... Are you sure that you've actually visited Mexico or are you an armchair traveller?
Nyanga110
Yes! I agree..... I'm Mexican and I know that even amongst Mexican families dark skin is frowned upon. I remember hearing one of my grandmothers (a lighter skinned mexican) always praise the lighter skinned grandchildren ( ay que linda mi blanquita con pelo rubio!) and later laugh at me and my darker brothers, sisters or cousins ( que barbaro! parecen como inditos! ay que feo!)... I'm not understanding this travelling fella. Either he is NOT a Mexican and sees only what he wants to see or he is a priviledged Mexican with family that originated in Germany or some other European country.... Mexicans, throughout the colonial days had been conditioned by the spanish to believe that dark skin represented ugliness.... 1925, Mexico's 1st Sec. of Public Education jose vasconsuelos ( the white Mexican racist) wanted Mexico to be the the home of the cosmic race or La Raza Cosmica. He believed miscegenation was the key to creating a strong nation of people or "Cosmic Race" it would be the greatest country in the world with people of mixed blood... He wanted the 3 major bloods or 3 roots of Mexico( Indigenous, African and spanish) to continue to mix which would hopefully pull the strengths from each group and create one great people however, he did make it clear that the inferior bloodlines would eventually be washed out of physical existance leaving a white European looking Mexican behind with the physical strength of the darker less intellectual bloodlines hidden in the past. Being Sec. of Mexico's Public Education, he would ensure that the African history of Mexico would be penciled out. He failed....... Though Mexico's African roots aren't as visible as they may be in Cuba, make no mistake, it's there as stated in the last sentence of the below writings of Youngstown University Ohio.... The operative word being SIGNIFICANT....
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[SIZE=6][SIZE=6][LEFT]Writing Africans Out of the Racial Hierarchy:
Anti-African Sentiment
in Post-Revolutionary Mexico[/LEFT]
[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=5][SIZE=5][LEFT]Galadriel Mehera Gerardo[/LEFT] [/SIZE][/SIZE]Youngstown State University
[LEFT]
The history of Africans in Mexico spans as far back as the history of Europeans
there. Africans took part in the conquest of Mexico and were present throughout the
colonial period. Often they held significant intermediary roles as overseers, skilled
craftsmen, and merchants. Both free and enslaved Africans could be found in colonial
Mexico. As the colonial period progressed, Spaniards imported more African slaves to
work as unskilled laborers in the semi-tropical sugar-producing regions around
Veracruz, Acapulco, and parts of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Because more male than female
slaves were imported, interracial unions regularly occurred in the colonial period,
particularly between indigenous women and African men. As a result of the decline of[/LEFT]
slavery combined with racial mixing, by the time of independence only a small portion
[LEFT]of Mexico’s population was considered “black,” although a significant portion of the[/LEFT]
mixed-race population likely had some African heritage (Meyer 164-6).
Nyanga110
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