The Final Call | Perspectives

Racism in Mexico?

By Ahmad Muhammad

-Guest Columnist- | Last updated: Jun 23, 2005 - 8:58:00 PM

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(FinalCall.com) - Does racism exist in Mexico? Most Mexicans who live in Mexico would respond with a resounding “NO!” With a population estimated at a little over 100 million, is there a significant ethnic diversity to merit racism in that country?

When we think of racial injustice and discrimination in the United States of America, hardly anyone can deny that most Mexican immigrants suffer the same demise as Black people. The ethnic diversity in Mexico is estimated 60 percent mixed (mainly Indian and Spanish), 30 percent Indian, nine percent European and one percent others. With a majority of the population being of mixed racial background and 30 percent Indian, one can hardly imagine that racism could exist!

Recently issued stamps by the Mexican government have highlighted the persistence of racial stereotypes.

Unfortunately, most Mexicans deny they practice racism because most people still view racism as primarily a White/Black issue. It also stands true that most Mexicans who live in Mexico have been so accustomed to using nicknames likeblackey(black),(brown),(Indian) and(blond or white), that they do not view it as an offense.

It is common to hear people say, “Trabajo como negro para vivir como blanco.” (I work like a Black man to live like a White man); “Indio recien bajado del cero.” (Indian who just came down from the mountains); or to hear people call women who work as domestic help “muchacha” (girl), no matter what their age. After living in Mexico for more than 20 years, the worst comment I have ever heard has been if a darker skinned Mexican marries a lighter skinned or White Mexican, he is said to be “making the race better.” (Estoy mejorando la raza.) Unfortunately, most Mexicans do not realize that they have inherited and have passed on, from one generation to the next, the racist ideals of White Spanish conquerors.

It is difficult to find a reliable source for the exact Black population in Mexico, because all legal documents, such as birth certificates, do not include racial information; they only note nationality. The percentage of Mexican people who have African ancestry is higher than what people would believe, because more often than not, they also deny it.

After spending most of my elementary, high school and college years in Mexico, it was also sad to see that the role that Black people played in Mexican history was scarcely mentioned, if at all. After repeatedly stating that the huge Olmec head carved in stone found at the archeological zone of LaVenta in the state of Tabasco, without a doubt, resembles the physical facial features of a Black man, my history teacher refused to acknowledge that fact, stating that it is a coincidence. According to many archeologists, the Olmec are the ancient ancestors of the Mayan Indians and date back to more than 10,000 years. Perhaps, many of us are still so blinded by the practice of racism that it is more logical to believe that anyone but Black people could have discovered the western hemisphere.

Many suggest around two percent (2,000,000 people) of the Mexican population is Black, mainly concentrated in the states of Veracruz, the southern regions of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Many forget that the Spanish conquered parts of the southern portions of North America, which include the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, many of the Caribbean islands, all of Mexico, Central and South America. The Spanish are, for the most part, White Europeans who brought Black slaves to every part of the newly conquered world. At one point, according to church records during the early 1800s, there where more Black people than Indians in some Mexican cities. Black slaves where brought into those areas to fill the labor deficit as a result of Indian slaves dying in Mexico—which, according to some accounts, reached a staggering 60 percent due to diseases, murders and mistreatment introduced by the Spanish conquistadores during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.

When the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, made the statement, “Mexicans do the work that not EVEN Blacks would do,” we should not be at all surprised, because White Eurocentric ideas have spread throughout the world by the raping, murdering and subjecting the native people of those lands to the worst treatment, to which EVEN White people would not have subjected their dearly beloved dogs. Most Mexican newspapers and people I have directly spoken to since Pres. Fox’s remark believe that it was racist and that he should make a public apology.

Does Pres. Fox represent over 90 million dark-skinned Mexicans who struggle every day against Eurocentric imposed discrimination and centuries of racism? NO!

(Ahmad Muhammad serves as the Nation of Islam Minister of Information.)

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