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What have you seen that makes you think that? As an American, I wouldn't even assert that blacks in Mississippi are proud of their heritage more than blacks of Harlem, or vice versa. How can you measure that? I'm not disputing your view, just wondering how you arrived at it?
As a Puerto Rican that has lived and worked with and among Mexican Americans and in Mexico and Dominicans and in the Dominican Republic and Cuban Americans as well as among Columbians and Ecuadorians, I think that I can offer you (as an “American”) a response and some perspective on how my friend may have the above referenced perception …
Mexicans Americans and in especially in Mexico have African roots which they now deny, obscure and or are not aware of and there are reason for this. Most of those reasons have to do with the reality of “white” racism against persons of “Black blood”; the fear that “white” America (and European) will further reject Mexicans and not let them assimilate if they are found to have black blood.
At the end of the Mexican American War, were the United States unprovoked went to war with Mexico, the US promised all Mexicans who fought with them that they would be granted American citizens. Since the only ones that could become citizens at that time where “white”, Mexicans became “legally white”. They had to fight for that “white” status all along, first to keep “whites” from further discriminating them and secondly to keep a distance between themselves and “blacks” so as not to suffer the harsher treatment that “white” bestowed upon "blacks".
But the other reason for this distance from “blackness” is that “blacks” had gone off with some misguided notion that they could somehow apply a racist criteria to Mexicans, you know the "one drop of black blood makes you black” nonsense, but not only on Mexicans but on all of Latin America and the Caribbean. “Black” scholars funded by “white” academic institutions have run amok documenting Latin American racism from their own perspective and attempting to impose North American social and cultural principles on Latinos as a solution, you can imagine how we Latinos are reacting to all of this... and its not good.
Right after the War of Independence and the creation of the National Idenity in Mexico it was declared that Mexicans were a mixture of Indian and Spaniard, the Mestizo (which means mixture). All of the schools eliminated any reference to the African roots creating generations of Mexican ignorant of their history. Most of the African roots which were not all that small to begin with, as many would suggest, disappeared into the populations leaving only some vestiges of physical evidence. There are some isolated Mexicans in Vera Cruz that are clearly of African descent mixed with the Indian population. But the official Mexican strategy is that they would like to treat them as “black” and not Mexican. (Part I)
What have you seen that makes you think that? As an American, I wouldn't even assert that blacks in Mississippi are proud of their heritage more than blacks of Harlem, or vice versa. How can you measure that? I'm not disputing your view, just wondering how you arrived at it?
As a Puerto Rican that has lived and worked with and among Mexican Americans and in Mexico and Dominicans and in the Dominican Republic and Cuban Americans as well as among Columbians and Ecuadorians, I think that I can offer you as (an “American”) a response and some perspective on how my friend may have the above referenced perception …
Mexicans Americans and in especially in Mexico have African roots which they now deny, obscure and or are not aware of and there are reason for this. Most of those reasons have to do with the reality of “white” racism against persons of “Black blood”; the fear that “white” America (and European) will further reject Mexicans and not let them assimilate if they are found to have black blood.
At the end of the Mexican American War, were the United States unprovoked went to war with Mexico, the US promised all Mexicans who fought with them that they would be granted American citizens. Since the only ones that could become citizens at that time where “white”, Mexicans became “legally white”. They had to fight for that “white” status all along, first to keep “whites” from further discriminating them and secondly to keep a distance between themselves and “blacks” so as not to suffer the harsher treatment that “white” bestowed upon "blacks".
But the other reason for this distance from “blackness” is that “blacks” had gone off with some misguided notion that they could somehow apply a racist criteria to Mexicans, you know the "one drop of black blood makes you black” nonsense, but not only on Mexicans but on all of Latin America and the Caribbean. “Black” scholars funded by “white” academic institutions have run amok documenting Latin American racism from their own perspective and attempting to impose North American social and cultural principles on Latinos as a solution, you can imagine how we Latinos are reacting to all of this... and its not good.
Right after the War of Independence and the creation of the National Idenity in Mexico it was declared that Mexicans were a mixture of Indian and Spaniard, the Mestizo (which means mixture). All of the schools eliminated any reference to the African roots creating generations of Mexican ignorant of their history. Most of the African roots which were not all that small to begin with, as many would suggest, disappeared into the populations leaving only some vestiges of physical evidence. There are some isolated Mexicans in Vera Cruz that are clearly of African descent mixed with the Indian population. But the official Mexican strategy is that they would like to treat them as “black” and not Mexican. (Part I)
Nearby, Paulina Marcial, scooping up her curly-haired daughter from an impromptu card game, added: "I just think of myself as Mexican. I don't know anyone anywhere else." Patting her Afro, the petite cook then walked off with a wave.
It seems puerto ricans accept their black blood the most out of the countries with latinos. Do you think Im correct in my assesment of the latin countries. Why is that then when it comes to hispanics? In the early year's of the world their were alot of blacks in puerto rico. But also panama, colombia, mexico, brazil, cuba, venezeula dominican, and other parts of south america. What makes puerto ricans so diffrent?
I'm not sure that you are correct about this. My understanding of history is that the majority of indigenous people died/were killed when White settlers landed. Throughout the Caribbean, indigenous people were wiped out from disease, war etc.... As a result, the islands were populated were slaves from Africa. They proved more "hearty", were not as prone to die from disease etc... The majority of African slaves actually landed and stayed in South America and the Caribbean, not North America.
This is not to say that I think PR's are more accepting of their African roots. That hasn't been my experience, but mine is anecdotal.
Funny that you mention Brazil being Eurocentric. Brazil recieved more African slaves than ANY other country during that period.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hindsight2020
Um, your premise is wrong all the way down to demographics. Most Puerto Ricans are mestizo (essentially the genetic cross mixing of white european and the native indigenous population of the island around 1490), so that blows out of the water your contention that at any point in PRs 500 year history (mostly written under Spain's history books) there were a majority African slave population.
More importantly, this majority mestizo population, when asked point blank about their racial identity, overwhelmingly assert that they are "white", literally. So that's strike two for your hypothesis. Wiki Puerto Rico and read up on the demographics data points about race in the island and you'll get a better understanding of what Puerto Ricans consider themselves racially.
I believe you've unfortunately come across too many Newyoricans. That is to say, second to 4th generation individuals from Puerto Rican heritage who did not grow up in the island, who are native to the urban to suburban areas of NYC and New Jersey (and Chicago and Boston and Philly and Western MA.....), whose parents emigrated to the states during the 50s and 60s and found nothing on the way of gainful employment and quickly assimilated to the cultural identity of urban blacks in said cities. 3 generations later their cultural identity intermingled with the american black experience to such an extent to make it APPEAR to the uneducated (on the topic) mainland american that "puerto ricans embrace their 'blackhood' more than other hispanics???¿¿¿" ....Yeah that pretty much explains your confusion.
Make no mistake about it, puerto ricans are as euro-centric in their racial identity as Venezuelans, Cubans, Brazilians, and even mainland americans. As such, they value white on a generally higher strata than being black and in general identify themselves as white even among those who are mestizo. I'm first generation Puerto Rican (i.e. born raised and graduated high school in the island with parents still residing there) and I burn like an irish man when I go to the beach (I even sport the freckles on the shoulders....). I'm not considered white in the conventional definition up in the states because I have a hispanic last name and I'm bilingual. But nobody would seriously consider me "black" up here by any stretch, and certainly not considered anything but white down in the island. So talk to Puerto Ricans from the island and see what you get, you'd be surprised how quickly your question becomes moot.
It seems puerto ricans accept their black blood the most out of the countries with latinos. Do you think Im correct in my assesment of the latin countries. Why is that then when it comes to hispanics? In the early year's of the world their were alot of blacks in puerto rico. But also panama, colombia, mexico, brazil, cuba, venezeula dominican, and other parts of south america. What makes puerto ricans so diffrent?
Who are your people?
Don't compare my people like you think your people are better.
I can't speak for other countries, but in Mexico there's relatively low afro-admixture because there never were that many slaves in Mexico and the ones that were there were mostly along the Pacific coast. There's more afro-admixture in American Whites than Mexican Mestizos because of this. How many American Whites identify with their Black heritage?
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