Por Tracy Wilkinson, publicado en Los Angeles Times
Actors in blackface makeup are used during coverage of the World Cup. The broadcasting company says it’s just a harmless spoof, but commentators say Mexico as a whole is in denial about racism.
Reporting from Mexico City —
Every morning during television coverage of the World Cup, on the Mexican equivalent of the “Today” show, co-hosts chat, trade barbs and yuck it up. Behind them, actors in blackface makeup, dressed in fake animal skins and wild “Afro” wigs, gyrate, wave spears and pretend to represent a cartoonish version of South Africa.
Yes, in the 21st century, blackface characters on a major television network.
But this is Mexico, and definitions of racism are complicated and influenced by the country’s own tortured relationship with invading powers and indigenous cultures.
Many Mexicans will say they are not racist and that very little racism exists in Mexico, a nation, after all, of mestizos, who are of European and indigenous blood.
As proof, they point to the fact that slavery was ended in Mexico decades before it was abolished in the United States, and that Mexico never institutionalized racism the way the U.S. did with its segregationist laws that lasted into the 1960s.
It is true that Mexico was even seen as a refuge for some American blacks. Poet Langston Hughes did some of his earliest writing while living briefly with his father in Mexico, where the older man had gone to escape discrimination.
But the full truth is that racism is alive and well in Mexico. It is primarily directed at indigenous communities who account for as many as 11.3 million people, or roughly 10% of the national population. The indigenous remain disproportionately mired in poverty and denied work, political access, education and other rights.
And there is a smaller community of black Mexicans, Afro Mexicanos, many descendants of slaves first brought to the region by Spanish conquerors in the 16th century.
Often referred to by academics as the “third race” and concentrated in the coastal states of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Guerrero, they have been fighting for years for recognition as a distinct ethnic group, to be included in history books and to be given opportunities to transcend poverty.
“Racism in Mexico is covered up,” said Ricardo Bucio, head of the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination, which has protested the blackface TV caricatures. “There is a lot of denial about it.”
Or, as columnist Katia D’Artigues once put it: “Although subtle, discrimination has become something invisible in our society. We no longer see it, or we consider it normal!”
Still, in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, people operate with a different comfort level when it comes to physical attributes. It remains common for Mexicans to use nicknames like “Chino” for someone with almond-shaped eyes, “Negrito” for someone with dark skin, “Gordo” (Fatso) for a plump person.
These terms are jarring when seen through the prism of U.S. sensibilities, but here they are usually used in a context of affection and friendship.
The issue of racism in Mexico exploded a few years back when then-President Vicente Fox, in what was meant to be a defense of Mexican immigration to the United States, told a U.S. audience that Mexican immigrants were necessary because they performed the jobs that “not even blacks” wanted to do.
He had to apologize and receive a visit from Jesse Jackson to atone. As the furor died down, another popped up when Mexico printed postage stamps that commemorated a well-known comic-book character from the 1950s, Memin Pinguin. The character is a black boy drawn with exaggerated features. It was seen as racist by many in the U.S. who demanded Mexico withdraw the stamps; many in Mexico, including several leftist intellectuals, defended Memin Pinguin as a beloved part of Mexican culture. (Withdrawing the stamps became a moot point when they sold out within hours of going on market.)
The people at Televisa, Mexico’s preeminent broadcasting company, say they mean absolutely no harm with the blackface characters on their morning chat show. It’s just a spoof, they say, a humorous segment when the news is over but the day’s World Cup match hasn’t yet started, and shouldn’t be taken seriously. After all, one of the co-hosts is a green-haired clown. More “Saturday Night Live” than “Good Morning America.”
The ratings, by the way, are through the roof, Televisa adds.
For Friday’s game between Holland and Brazil, viewers in Mexico, minutes after the morning dose of blackface, saw the two teams read a pledge against discrimination and parade with a huge banner that said: “No to racism.”
wilkinson@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
This is the most stupid article I have read in years. I think that you are not well informed; that makes you just another ignorant guy with a blog making no real social contribution.
You may know that Latin American nations were founded by “Criollos”, who as a matter of fact are white people descendants of Spaniards and other European nations, not by Native Americans or blacks. And since their Independence from Spain and Portugal, Latin American nations have been ruled by “Criollos” (with only a few exceptions), they also run major Latin American companies as well; they are the real soul, heart and engine of Latin America.
I have been in many Latin American countries, and as a matter of fact I’m an expert on Latin American affairs. I know even about Mexican comedy, and I know that is a very different style from American Comedy. Mexican Comedy is more of the British Style, with characters that present exaggerated behavior and physical features. People in the United States that may feel offended should know that in the first place, that shows are not intended to be seen by American audiences. Shows of the same kind are regular in many other countries, and in a lesser degree now in the British Isles. Most of these countries haven’t lived under serious racial tensions, so people don’t really consider that kind of shows to be offensive from one racial group to another.
In the USA we live under a “POLITICALLY CORRECTNESS” shield. We ask ourselves (or sometimes we ask someone else) if certain issue or comment is “politically correct”. If we have any little doubt about something, anything, we tend to eliminate the dialogue, or text, or whatever, but we don’t want to take any risk that may mean the end of our career as a writer, actor, director, news presenter, etc. And we don’t want people pointing us as ignorant racists. But the difference is that we have certain things in our past that have taken us to this situation. Black people (or African Americans if I’m “politically correct”) don’t need us to remember them that they arrived to this continent as slaves. They don’t like to remember that we were their white masters (although that happened at least 150 years ago). Sometimes even to remember that may be considered dangerous. All this racial tensions in our history, but especially with the segregation in the XX century and all the ingredients within (MLK, LA riots, KKK…) conducted our nation to live in fear about race talks. This is a 100% American affair.
The problem comes when we include other nations (and we tend to do that often) in our judgment. But there is no other nation in the world with the particular history of the United States. European nations have their own affairs, as well as Australia and South Africa and also Latin America. Our history belongs to us only. The fact that we want other nations to follow our “political correctness” is wrong. And we always want other countries to do things exactly the way we do. This is incorrect.
A person like you judging out other nations based on American standards is just ridiculous. This brings hate to other countries as ignorance is spread. And of course is a deviation of reality, as people reacts comfortably: “well, you say we are racist, you should see Mexican TV to found out what real racism is”.
You may want to educate yourself and learn about other nations before exposing yourself as a real ignorant.