But They're Mexican! They Can't Oppress Anyone!

Mexican Stamps Racist, Civil Rights Leaders Say, A1:

The Mexican government issued a series of stamps yesterday depicting a dark-skinned Jim Crow-era cartoon character with greatly exaggerated eyes and lips, infuriating black and Hispanic civil rights leaders for the second time in weeks.

Mexican postal officials said the five-stamp series features Memin Pinguin, a character from a comic book created in the 1940s, because he is beloved in Mexico. A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy described the depiction as a cultural image that has no meaning and is not intended to offend.

And yet it does. I'm not even going to put the image on my site.

UPDATE: Mark in Mexico has more depressing images and strong opinions:

Lots of chatter today about the release of a set of postage stamps in Mexico. The character portrayed on the stamps, one Memin Penguín, is a caricature of a Mexican of African descent and his mother. Memin was a popular comic book character for about 20 years in Mexico, up to about 1977. By our standards, it is blatatantly rascist. By Mexican standards it is not. Mexican society is a rascist society kind of like that of Japan. Intermarriage, even fraternization, between the mestizos and the indigenous peoples is frowned upon and is rare. Even more rare is intermariage or fraternization with blacks. By mestizos I mean the lighter complected Mexicans of mixed Spanish/Indian or European/Indian descent. In Mexico, the whiter your skin the better.

Mexican mestizos see nothing wrong with this and do not consider it rascist at all. They also see nothing wrong with the timing of the release of the stamps, coming on the heels of the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton/Vicente Fox bruhaha over the "jobs even blacks won't do" statement. Mexicans don't consider the timing of the release of the stamps to be stupid at all, either. I report, you decide.

Comments

[Delfina]

" But They're Mexican! They Can't Oppress Anyone!"
In my humble opinion, that's a racist sentence. So the person who wrote that line... is a racist.
Amerians are pretty racists to Mexicans too. I'm sure there are a lot of drawings about Mexicans, and Mexicans don't get offended, because they are just drawings, they mean nothing.
Mexicans don't feel offended with Speedy Gonzalez. Do they?

Once, I was watching the news, and saw how an American shot an ilegal Mexican, because he thought he was an animal.
(Ah, comparing Mexicans to animals, huh!?)
I know, no one wants ilegal people in their country. But that's not a reason to shot someone and then compare him/her with animals.
So please, don't talk about racism.
You may say Mexicans are racists, because you have never been to Mexico.

"In Mexico, the whiter your skin the better." Who told you that? Are you a Mexican? Have you ever lived in Mexico?
If you haven't, then please don't say something like that.

I'm a 12 year old girl who lives in a small town in Mexico, called Jalapa, wich is in Veracruz. Veracruz is the place where black people arrived to Mexico, a lot of people in Veracruz have 'black' backrounds. And I swear I've never seen a 'mestizo' being racist to a 'black' person.
It was just a cartoon, if you feel offended, I'm sorry. But that's a Mexican cartoon made for Mexicans, and Mexicans don't feel offended by it. If you don't like it... Don't see it.

Please, grow up. I know I'm not a grown up, and I'm not mature eough, or old enough to say that, but I hope that when I get older, I won't be ... dumb enough to say someone else is racist when I'm racist myself.

You may be thinking: "Oh, she is just a stupid Mexican."

[Luz Maria Cerda]

I have the comic book of Memin Pinguin, and this small boy is trying to help other people. I'm Mexicanamerica born in Laredo, Texas.

[Christopher Fotos]

Delfina, I am very happy to get a comment from a citizen of Mexico. But I wonder if you have misunderstood part of what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is: Of course there are racists in Mexico... because racism is a quality exhibited by some members of every race and nation. Certainly including some Americans. What my headline is referring to is the notion held by many liberal Americans that only white people can be racists--and that countries like Mexico are immune from the disease of racism, partly because it is supposed to be oppressed by America. I don't believe that.

The extent to which a given society is more or less racist will vary across time. You are right, I have never been to Mexico--though I have traveled and can personally attest to how racism, or at least xenophobia, operates in countries outside the U.S.

But please note that the comment about racist Mexicans that you refer to is a quote from another blogger, Mark in Mexico, who does live in your country.

It's very educational to see how different people react to this incident. As a white American I am sincerely amazed at President Fox being amazed at the American reaction. For most Americans, looking at those stamps and being told they're not racist is incredible. It's like being hit in the head with a pipe and being told "No, really, that doesn't hurt."

Thanks again for sharing your reaction.

And Luz Maria Cerada--from where I sit (and this would be true for most Americans), it really doesn't matter if Memin Penguin is trying to help other people. Dogs try to help other people too. There are many depictions of blacks in American history (so yes we have sinned quite nicely in this area ourselves) that show black people as amusing and essentially nice, but not equally human. That is the problem.

[waiv]

"By Mexican standards it is not. Mexican society is a rascist society kind of like that of Japan. Intermarriage, even fraternization, between the mestizos and the indigenous peoples is frowned upon and is rare. Even more rare is intermariage or fraternization with blacks. By mestizos I mean the lighter complected Mexicans of mixed Spanish/Indian or European/Indian descent. In Mexico, the whiter your skin the better."

- Mark in Mexico does not seems to be a credible source, because if we mestizos frown upon intermarriage, then how come we mixed with blacks to the point they were almost completely assimilated? the reason people don't marry or fraternize with blacks as much as they used to do is because is hard to find blacks in Mexico, besides some southern states (Guerrero and Veracruz).

[ClubPenguinCheats]

The extent to which a given society is more or less racist will vary across time. You are right, I have never been to Mexico--though I have traveled and can personally attest to how racism, or at least xenophobia, operates in countries outside the U.S.