Mexican stamp offends blacks? I wonder why?
What do you think?
Mexico has a little growing up to do, I guess. We went through the Little Black Sambo phase in the 50's and 60's, and have expunged many of the most offensive images of blacks from the past. Poor ole Sambo is pretty hard to find north of the border anymore.
While objecting to offensive black images from the past, it seems elements in the black community aren't loathe to generate new ones, such as kids with baseball caps worn in various akilter ways and oversize pants down around their ass. This sort of image hardly tells the world "We can be brain surgeons, rocket scientists, and even The President someday."
We probably have shifted our stereotyping in the US from blacks to hispanics, since it seems most of the crooks, hoods, killers, and gang members on TV and in the movies are cast as Mexican-Americans.
But don't think stereotyping is limited to the downtrodden: In the staple evening sitcoms, white males are almost always depicted as halfwitted boy-men who are clueless when it comes to understanding their wives and children, and who are always making stupid decisions that others have to pick up after. Sadly, this phenomenon dates back to at least The Honeymooners show of the 1950's.
posted by NudePhotoGuy @ 3:45 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
What people here in the US don't realize is that there's still a very strong heirarchy regarding skin color. Like a caste system but not quite. I think it comes from the fact that those with the lighter skin are the ones with the most European blood and the ones with less are most likely to be "indios" or native Mexicans. People of darker skin color aren't exactly hated but they are thought of more simple and of a lower class. There's a popular character in Mexico called La India Maria. She's a indian girl who dresses like a peasant Mexican and always gets herself into humorous situations because she's so down to earth and simple. But she's also very loved and really, people are not laughing at her because she's hated or stupid. Most people here think ALL Mexicans are stupid and simple, maybe because the only Mexicans they come in contact with are people who park their cars and clean their houses. These are the poor of Mexico and often uneducated. We don't see the educated rich of Mexico because well, why would they want to come here and work for nothing when they're doing fine in Monterey or Mexico City? Honestly, I don't think there's any way I can explain this, it's difficult enough for me to understand, probably because I'm so anglicized. But y'know what? I didn't see Mexico making a big stink over some of the heinous stereotypes we've put forth of Mexicans over the years. I do think we should just keep our nose out of their business when it comes to things like this.
First, let me say that the US government should have a program making it easy, cheap, and mandatory for all Americans to visit Mexico, our good neighbor to the South.
While I now live in Oregon, where Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are an everyday part of life, I grew up in Ohio, and was never even exposed to a Hispanic of any kind in my first 30 or so years of life! The closest I ever got was when a local family took on a Brazilian girl for a few months in some sort of exchange program, but of course in Brazil they speak Portuguese, not Spanish. So, she qualified as a Latina, perhaps, but not as a Hispanic.
When my then wife and daughter and I finally visited Mexico, we spent time in Mexico City and the Yucatan peninsula and came back admiring and loving the Mexicans we met there, be they the urbanites of Mexico City or the country folk of Yucatan.
No, we didn't have much exposure to the poorest of the poor in Mexico City, but I would assume they are much like the poorest of the poor anywhere, including those in Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. Cleveland is a city that is frequently nominated as having the most desperate urban poverty in the US.
Society in every country is socially stratified by some means. It's an unfortunate aspect of human nature to want to feel better than someone else, even if only by means of some distinction that can't be helped, such as skin color or ethnic heritage. In fact, to the person who is naturally prejudiced, differences that can't be helped are best, because they can't be denied.
Skin color in the US is an obvious stratifier, though it's complicated and qualified by other distinctions. A dark-skinned Indian (meaning from India, where, by the way skin color is also a stratifier) who has a job as an engineer for IBM will be held in much higher regard than a dark-skinned African-American who is working in the garbage collection field, even though the garbage collector could be one of the most righteous people on Earth!
At the same time, a very pale-skinned person riding a Harley and wearing a mullet bound by a bandana will not be very high in the regard of the average American. Ditto for a very light-skinned drunk or obese person of European extraction.
One of my best friends is a Mexican photographer of solely Spanish extraction (if you saw him, you'd think he stepped right out of an El Greco painting), but he's quite political in terms of wanting to improve the lot of Mexican citizens of more Native American ethnicity.
You are correct that Mexico doesn't proclaim it's revulsion at the depiction of Mexican Americans as drug dealers, petty crooks, gang thugs, and so on, but at the same time we haven't yet put a Hispanic drug dealer character on a postage stamp! I personally think Mexicans should fire back with a complaint about how Mexicans are depicted in US movies and TV. It might get Americans thinking about these things.
I for one would welcome it, but of course, talking about uncomfortable subjects is what this blog is all about, isn't it?
nice post, it's really interesting for me today, thx
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