Mexico Issues Stamps of Black Character

[shadow]

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 12 minutes ago



MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government has issued postage stamps depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, drawing protest from U.S. activists Wednesday just weeks after remarks by President Vicente Fox angered American blacks.

The series of five stamps released Wednesday depicts a hapless boy drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book, which started in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico.

The Mexican government defended the stamps, saying that like Speedy Gonzalez — a cartoon mouse with a Mexican accent that debuted in the United States in 1953 — the Memin Pinguin character shouldn't be interpreted as a racial slur.

"Just as Speedy Gonzalez has never been interpreted in a racial manner by the people in Mexico, because he is a cartoon character, I am certain that this commemorative postage stamp is not intended to be interpreted on a racial basis in Mexico or anywhere else," said Rafael Laveaga, the spokesman for the Mexican embassy in Washington.

Activists criticized the stamps as offensive, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP demanded they be withdrawn.

Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called on Mexico to immediately cease printing and distributing the stamp.

"It is inexplicable that the Mexican government would not comprehend the insensitivity of the negative depiction of blacks on this stamp," Hayes said.

In May, Fox riled many by saying Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want. Fox later expressed regret for any offense the remarks may have caused, but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.

"One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds," said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast.

"But we've learned to expect anything from this government, just anything," Penalosa said.

Carlos Caballero, assistant marketing director for the Mexican Postal Service, said the new stamps are not offensive, nor were they intended to be.

"This is a traditional character that reflects part of Mexico's culture," Caballero said. "His mischievous nature is part of that character."

However, Penalosa said many Mexicans still assume all blacks are foreigners, despite the fact that at one point early in the Spanish colonial era, Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico.

"At this point in time, it was probably pretty insensitive" to issue the stamps, said Elisa Velazquez, an anthropologist who studies Mexico's black communities for the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

"This character is a classic, but it's from another era," Velazquez said. "It's a stereotype and you don't want to encourage ignorance or prejudices."

The 6.50-peso (60 cent) stamps — depicting the character in five poses — was issued with the domestic market in mind, but Caballero noted they could be used in international postage as well. A total of 750,000 of the stamps will be issued.

Ben Vinson, a black professor of Latin American history at Penn State University, said he has been called "Memin Pinguin" by some people in Mexico. He said the character's mother is drawn to look like an old version of the U.S. advertising character Aunt Jemima.

The stamps are part of a series that pays tribute to Mexican comic books. Memin Pinguin, the second in the series, was apparently chosen for this year's release because it is the 50th anniversary of the company that publishes the comic.

Publisher Manelick De la Parra told the government news agency Notimex the character would be a sort of goodwill ambassador on Mexican letters and postcards. "It seems nice if Memin can travel all over the world, spreading good news," de la Parra said, calling him "so charming, so affectionate, so wonderful, generous and friendly."

[Dr. Gonzo]

It's just a stamp who cares? You don't see me getting angry just because the cleveland indians mascot looks like me.

[tysuave]

thats good now maybe this will get all blacc people mad it's seems like thats what mexicans want.

[Dr. Gonzo]

That would be hilarious if a race war started over a stupid stamp.

[blakman]

I keep telling black people around me about these mexicans man,but some of them just don't want to beleive me. But mexicans are now showing their true colors and it's going to make it a lot harder for these black folks to turn away and just ignore it,because these mexicans are getting more blatant with their racism.

[tysuave]

you know most blac people non gang related just ingonre most things but the older ones have a sore spot for the past all the younger ones need is approvel from the older one meaning moms dads etcs then it's on I hate to see it happen but we all know what happens when all blac people unite city's get burned down national guard get's called in man it can get real ugly when it's aganist one race bet the whites will love that.

[se11]

i want to know how "memin the penguin" is suppose to represent black people.

[SkoobyDoo]

Here's a picture of it:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines


Fuck Mexico and their racists views. Black folks, we need to stop spending money down there going on vacation and partying in border towns. Racism is everywhere but these muthafuckas are making it so clear. Don't spend money in mexico or mexican run businesses. Fuck them if that's how they feel.

[Cold Bear]

that was made in 1947, and you can tell they basically got the whole idea from America's 'Sambo' cartoons that were hella racist. It's hard to tell if its' racist on its own or just a imitation of the American cartoons that were all over the place

[Q]

thats suppose to be a penguin?

[pierrot]

man what's wrong with these mexicans nowadays? first they are killing innocent non-affiliated africans-americans in the street of los angeles. second their president fox made some derogatories comments about blacks and now they are back at it with this stamp controversy. why dont they leave black people alone? that's wrong all these anti-black feelings from those mexicans.

[Cold Bear]

Shit is nothing new, Look at these....

http://www.iwchildren.org/knoxvilleracist.htm

http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcro ... ons/13.htm

http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcro ... family.htm

http://www.resist.com/CARTOON%20GALLERY ... mage02.jpg

http://www.resist.com/CARTOON%20GALLERY ... mage08.jpg

http://www.resist.com/CARTOON%20GALLERY ... mage15.jpg

[Tyrant]

It's just a stamp who cares? You don't see me getting angry just because the cleveland indians mascot looks like me.

Here's a picture of it:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines

Don't spend money in mexico or mexican run businesses. fu-- them if that's how they feel.

that thing don't even look blakc its like a monkey
i don't see why people even take vacations in mexico i mean people pay money to cross it's border illegeally so why would a person pay money to go there

[se11]

i don't see why people even take vacations in mexico i mean people pay money to cross it's border illegeally so why would a person pay money to go there

what?

[100]

Mexican Black Caricature Stamps
Source: AP
by Mark Stevenson
06/29/2005




The Mexican government has issued postage stamps depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, just weeks after remarks by President Vicente Fox angered U.S. blacks.

DAMN THATS FISHY! HMMM I BET THEY DID NOT DO IT BEFORE!

The series of five stamps released Wednesday depicts a hapless boy drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book, which started in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico.

>>>THAST stuff IS RACIST(BEEN SINCE THE 40'S CONFEDERATES BE WATCHING CARTOONS LIKE THAT) AND A BAD ASS STEREOTYPE OF BLACK AMERICANS I SEEN A CARTOON WITH CHARACTERS LIKE THAT LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF ELMER FUDD CHSING THE BUNNY BUT HE SOUNDS ALOT STUPIDER.


Activists criticized the stamps as offensive, though officials denied it.
One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds," said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast.
But we've learned to expect anything from this government, just anything," Penalosa said

THE MEZTIZO DON'T GIVE A stuff HE PROBABLY DON'T KNOW AFRICANS WERE IN MEXICO AND HE ISIST ON PASSING ALL MEXICANS AS MEZTIZO EVEN THE INDIAN ONES!


"This is a traditional character that reflects part of Mexico's culture," Caballero said. "His mischievous nature is part of that character."

YEAH RIGHT! LOL I CANNOT TELL THE AVERAGE MEXICAN WILL TELL YOU THERE ARE NO NEGROS IN MEXICO EVEN IF THEY NO IT'S TRUE.

However, Penalosa said many Mexicans still assume all blacks are foreigners, despite the fact that at one point early in the Spanish colonial era, Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico.

IGNORANCE AT IT'S FINEST^^^^ THEY GETS NO RESPECT MEXICANS CALIM THEY NO ALL ABOUT THEIR CULTURE NOW TO ME THEY ARE CULTURELESS!

At this point in time, it was probably pretty insensitive" to issue the stamps, said Elisa Velazquez, an anthropologist who studies Mexico's black communities for the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

HMMM WHY WOULD THEY ISSUE THE STAMPS NOW AND NOT BEFORE?

This character is a classic, but it's from another era," Velazquez said. "It's a stereotype and you don't want to encourage ignorance or prejudices."

The 6.50-peso (60 cent) stamps — depicting the character in five poses — was issued with the domestic market in mind, but Caballero noted they could be used in international postage as well. A total of 750,000 of the stamps will be issued.


MEXICANS(MEZTIZO/SPAINARDS) ARE FULL OF SHIT 1ST THEY SAY AFRICANS DO NOT EXIST IN THEIR COUNTRY WHEN THEY ARE. AND BEEN THERE SINCE THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND THE SW STATES THEN THEY SAY MEXICANS SEE BLACKS AS FORIENGERS(SPELLING) AND THEY ARE APART OF THEIR CULTURE TOO AND THE MASSES DON'T RECOGNIZE THEM AS MEXICANS THEN WHAT?. IF THERE GOVERMENT DOES stuff LIKE THIS JUST IMAGINE WHAT THERE PEOPLE DO AND WE SEE IT ALREADY! I BET IF SOMEONE POST THIS ARTICLE ON BROWNPRIDE THEY WILL NOT THINK IT'S AUTHENTIC THE FACT THAT PEOPLE ARE SEEING CLEARLY THAT AFRICANS EXIST IN MEXICO


[url]http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/february18-05/afro.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.afromexico.com/[/url]


[img]http://www.ancestrybydna.com/UPISeriesonadmixture31.html[/img]

[Anonymous20]

This is what the character looks like
[img]http://www.lambiek.net/artists/burgos_sv/burgos_memin2.jpg[/img]

http://www.lambiek.net/burgos_sv.htm

[Lonewolf]

The stamp was cancelled on 06/24/05, to the sadness of many who grew up with this MEXICAN character. 1st published in 1945, now with 372 chapters/stories. The series continues to be recognized through out the world as one of the greatest writing works representative of Mexico. It foments in its readers “RESPECT” towards family and social institutions. Memin Pinguin is a character who through his good humor and his simple humble view of the world imaginatively conquers ALL. He makes the big and the small cry and laugh, for all that he experiences in Mexican life, is fully representative of what ALL in Mexico live and experience.
Memin Puingin is a beloved character in Mexico, for through him, we see ourselves, and with him we identify. Sad that most of you, don’t understand the underlying essence and reasoning for such a character, and WRONGLY assume a racist or bad representation of Blacks in Mexico. Mexico’s people are some of the world renowned warm-welcomers to ALL, and Mexico enchanting spirit is in great debt to its Black Heritage, because of the full participation of Black People in its culture and development.
How many of you knew that 2 of Mexico’s founding fathers and leaders of the Mexican Independence War were MULATOS (BLACK)?
JOSE MARIA MORELOS Y PAVON 1765-1815, born to a free-Black woman and a Mestizo (mixed-blood). He was a mule driver who turned priest; subsequently he joined the father of Mexican Independence the priest Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla. He went on to become 2nd in command of the rebel-Mexican forces. The vast numbers of Afro-Mexicans joined his Army, which compromised the largest of the rebel forces in 1812. He fought the CASTE system & SLAVERY institutions of the Spaniards right-alongside the Mestizos and other downtrodden of Mexico. When he was captured and executed by the Spanish Royalist forces, VICENTE GUERRERO took over command of rebel forces in southern Mexico, and continued the struggle.
VICENTE GUERRERO 1782-1831, was born a MULATO of mixed White-Negro & Indian blood. Guerrero continued the war for independence, until the final victory in freeing not only the country, but also abolishing slavery as well. The leadership of the Independence movement was usurped from him by the ex-leader of the Royalists, AGUSTIN de ITURBIDE, who switched sides and formed after forming an alliance with the rebels, he went on to take over the leadership. Nevertheless Guerrero went on to become President of Mexico in 1829.
These 2 MULATOS (Black Men) are forever a NATIONAL PRIDE of MEXICANS, and they are RESPECTFULY saluted in textbooks and statues through out the land.

Memin Pinguin celebrates Mexican life, full of sorrows and happiness. His character portrays the TYPICAL MEXICAN in his daily struggle with the ills of society.
He, along with others like KALIMAN, SANTOS & BLUE-DEMON, are some of the ultimate heroes in Mexican folklore, which allows the ordinary citizen to escape his poor defenseless position in a world full of evil forces, and propels him into a MAN of justice.
We owe much to Memin, down to our black-and-white All-Star Converse sneakers, which first came of age in the gangs during the late 60s, when this character was sporting.

IT WAS A GREAT HONOR TO CELEBRATE MEMIN IN A POSTAGE STAMP, it was not detrimental or demeaning to us in any way. THE FACT IS -“HE IS MEXICO.”

[Dr. Gonzo]

All you guys calling mexico racists are retards!

First of all mexico is more racist towards indians so don't you blacks start thinking you are anything special just because of a stupid cartoon.

Mexico has always discriminated more towards it's own people the indians.

[Lonewolf]

THE THIRD ROOT

Black people in Mexico? In recent years, Yanga has received considerable attention as one of the Americas’ earliest "Maroon communities": settlements founded by fugitive slaves. Originally known as San Lorenzo de los Negros. In 1932 the town was renamed for its founder, a rebellious Muslim man from what is now Nigeria.
In 1609, after resisting recapture for 38 years, Yanga negotiated with the
Spaniards to establish a free black community.

Today a recently erected statue of Yanga stands on the outskirts of the town, more a testimony to the persistence of a few Mexican anthropologists who "re-discovered" the place than to the historical memory of its founders' descendants. Yanga's people have quite simply been living their lives as they always have, making the adjustments necessary in a changing world and giving little thought to an aspect of their history for which they are now being celebrated.
The story of Yanga and his followers is remarkable for being so typical: The town's relative isolation is the reason for its founding and for its continued existence as a predominately black enclave. Fugitive slave communities were commonly established in difficult-to-reach areas in order to secure their inhabitants from recapture.
But their physical isolation has also led to their being ignored, particularly since the Revolution (1910-29). The Yangas of Mexico—most found dispersed throughout the states of Veracruz on the gulf coast and Oaxaca and Guerrero south of Acapulco--have been out of sight and out of mind, generally non-considered for any special attention.
Mexico's African presence has been relegated to an obscured past, pushed aside in the interest of a national identity based on a mixture of Indigenous and European cultural “mestizaje,” but the African "third root" is more dismissive.
For all intents and purposes the biological, cultural, and material contributions of more than 200,000 Africans and their descendants to the formation of Mexican society do not figure in the equation at all, because they live as their neighbors live, carry out the same work, eat the same foods, and make the same music, it is assumed that blacks have assimilated into "Mexican" society. The truth of the matter is, they are Mexican society. The historical record offers compelling evidence that Africans and their descendants contributed enormously to the very formation of Mexican culture.
When Yanga and his followers founded their settlement, the population of
Mexico City consisted of approximately 36,000 Africans, 116,000 persons of African ancestry, and only 14,000 Europeans. Escaped slaves added to the overwhelming numbers in the cities, establishing communities in Oaxaca as early as 1523. Beyond their physical presence, Africans and their descendants interacted with indigenous and European peoples in forging nearly every aspect of society. Indeed, the states of Guerrero and Morelos bear the names of two men of African ancestry, heroes of the war of independence that made possible the founding of the republic of Mexico in
1821, (Vicente Guerrero & Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon).
So, yes, there are black people in Mexico. We may marvel at these relatively isolated communities that can still be found along the Pacific and gulf coasts. But of greater significance is recognizing the myriad forms that mark the African presence in Mexican culture, past and present, many of which remain to be discovered by people such as ourselves (Chicanos), and the Mexican people.

It is true that the state of Veracruz (and especially the port city of the same name) is generally recognized as having "black" people. In fact, there is a widespread tendency to identify all Mexicans who have distinctively "black" features as coming from Veracruz. In addition to its relatively well-known history as a major slave port, Veracruz received significant numbers of descendants of Africa from Haiti and Cuba during the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
It is impossible to arrive at precise figures on the volume of enslaved
Africans brought to Mexico or the rest of the Americas by Europeans, traders and buyers hungry for slaves who often resorted to smuggling to avoid payment of duties. Therefore, the 200,000 figure is generally recognized as a conservative estimate.
The source of these figures is the census of 1646 of Mexico City, as reported in "La Poblacion Negra de Mexico". These approximate figures include as persons of African ancestry only those designated as "Afromestizos," (Spanish-African mix) in accordance with the caste-system definitions at the time. The census indicates that there were also more than a million indigenous peoples, and it is highly probable that the categories "Euromestizos" (Spanish-Indian mix), and "Indomestizos" (Indian-Black mix) also included persons of African descent.

Mexico itself had never imported slaves from Africa, the nation's peoples of African descent were relatively recent arrivals and many of the country's blacks were the descendants of escaped slaves from the United States and Cuba. These fugitives had sought and found sanctuary in free Mexico.
The historical record, of course, tells another story concerning the Spaniards who in the “sixteenth century,” New Spain (as Mexico was then called) probably had more enslaved Africans than any other colony in the Western Hemisphere. Blacks were present as slaves of the Spaniards as early as the 1520s. Over the approximately three hundred years it lasted, the slave trade brought about 200,000 Africans to the colony. Many blacks were born in Mexico and followed their parents into slavery.

Not until 1829 was the institution abolished by the leaders of the newly independent nation of Mexico.

African labor was vital to the Spanish colonists. As indigenous peoples were killed or died from European diseases, blacks assumed a share of the burden of work, particularly in the early colonial period. African slaves labored in the silver mines of Zacatecas, Taxco, Guanajuato, and Pachuca in the northern and central regions; on the sugar plantations of the Valle de Orizaba and Morelos in the south; in the textile factories of Puebla and Oaxaca on the west coast and in Mexico City; and in households everywhere. Others worked in skilled trade or on cattle ranches. Although black slaves were never more than two percent of the total population, their contributions to colonial Mexico were enormous.

Known as "mulattos," "pardos," or "zambos," many of them were either born free or in time acquired their liberty.

Wherever their numbers permitted, slaves created networks that allowed them to cope with their situation, give expression to their humanity, and maintain a sense of self. These networks flourished in Mexico City, the port city of Veracruz, the major mining centers, and the sugar plantations, allowing Africans to preserve some of their cultural heritage even as they forged new and dynamic relationships. Although males outnumbered females, many slaves found spouses from their own or other ethnic groups. Other slaves married or had amorous liaisons with the indigenous peoples and to a lesser extent the Spaniards. In time, a population of mixed bloods emerged, gaining demographic ascendancy by the mid-eighteenth century.


As in the rest of the Americas, slavery in New Spain exacted a severe physical and psychological price from its victims. Abuse was a constant part of a slave's existence; resisting oppression often meant torture, mutilation, whipping, or being put in confinement. Death rates were high, especially for slaves in the silver mines and on the sugar plantations.
Yet, for the most part, their spirits were never broken and many fled to establish settlements ("palenques") in remote areas of the country.
These fugitives were a constant thorn in the side of slave owners. The most renowned group of "maroons," as they were called, escaped to the mountains near Veracruz. Unable to defeat these intrepid Africans, the Spaniards finally recognized their freedom and allowed them to build and administer their own town. Today, their leader, Yanga, remains a symbol of black resistance to the white man in Mexico.
Other slaves rebelled or conspired to. The first conspiracy on record took place in 1537, and these assaults on the Spanish system grew more frequent as the black population increased. Regardless of the form it took--escape or rebellion—resistance demonstrated an angry defiance of the status quo and the slaves' desire to reclaim their own lives. As such, black resistance occupies a special place in Mexico's revolutionary tradition, a tradition that is a source of pride for many Mexicans.

Beyond that, Africans in Mexico left their cultural and genetic imprint everywhere they lived. In states such as Veracruz, Guerrero, and Oaxaca, the descendants of Africa's children still bear the evidence of their ancestry. No longer do they see themselves as Mandinga, Wolof, Ibo, Bakongo, or members of other African ethnic groups; their self-identity is “Mexican,” and they share much with other members of their nation-state.
Yet their cultural heritage has not entirely disappeared. Some African traditions survive in song, music, dance, and other ways, but much has changed since slavery ended, and it is difficult for a small minority to maintain its traditions in a constantly changing society.
As their ancestors did, the few remaining persons who are visibly of
African descent, continue to be productive members of society, but history has not been kind to the achievements of African peoples in Mexico. It is only within recent times that their lives have been studied and their contributions to Mexican society illuminated. Suffice it to say that contemporary black Mexicans can claim this proud legacy and draw strength from it, even as they become a shrinking part of their country's peoples.

Wherever people gather in the poor fishing villages of Costa Chica on
Mexico's southwest coast--in their homes, on the streets, in the town squares during festivals--someone is likely to step forward and start singing. These impromptu performers regale their audience with songs of romance, tragedy, comedy, and social protest, all inspired by local events and characters. At the heart of the songs, called "corridos," is a sense of human dignity and a desire for freedom rooted in the lives and history of the people of Costa Chica, many of whom are descendants of escaped slaves.

The corridos reflect oral traditions inherited from Africa. The words are improvised, and a corrido that brings applause is apt to be committed to memory, to be sung again and again as an oral chronicle of local life. The lyrics are also rich in symbols, a tradition that may have started when singers among the first slaves invented "code words" to protest the cruelties of their masters.

The African imprint in Costa Chica is not confined to music. For the "Dance of the Devil," performed during Holy Week in the streets of Collantes, Oaxaca, dancers wear masks that show the clear influence of Africa. And down on the docks, fishermen employ methods of work that may have been brought centuries ago from the coast of West Africa.
The Spanish colonists took full advantage of the technology in fishing, agriculture, ranching, and textile making that Africans had developed for work in the tropics and adapted and improved in the New World.

Although strongest in black enclaves like Costa Chica, the African presence pervades Mexican culture. In story and legend, music and dance, proverb and song, the legacy of Africa touches the life of every Mexican.
Still, it is difficult to single out any one influence as "purely" African. Certainly, the African presence in Mexico has never been monolithic. Although most slaves were brought from West Africa, they represented many ethnic groups (the Cafi, the Arara, the Carabali, the Wolof, and the Mandinga, to name a few), each with a different culture and worldview. Today, after five hundred years of blending with the traditions of Indians and Mestizos, it has become nearly impossible to trace the specific contributions of any of these groups.

Compounding the difficulty is the fact that the African elements in Mexico's cultures are not acknowledged as they are in other countries of the Americas. In fact, "el mestizaje," the official ideology that defines Mexico's culture as a blend of Spanish and Indian influences, continues to ignore in large part the contributions of the nation's "third root."
Africans and their descendants, nearly invisible in the Spanish chronicles of the colonial period, continue to receive little attention in the official history of Mexico. So it is no surprise that blacks, who live primarily in rural areas lack a clear consciousness of their African heritage.

To an extent, geography has shaped the heritage of Mexico's black communities. The isolation of the west coast and the mountains, which offered sanctuary to escaped slaves, also preserved many elements of African tradition. On the other hand, the Gulf Coast region, especially the port of Veracruz, was a crossroads where Mexico's indigenous culture blended with myriad influences from Africa, Europe, South America, and especially the Caribbean. In this variegated mixture, it is sometimes difficult to isolate the African presence.
As in the past, blacks on the Gulf Coast are more likely to trace the origins of their lineage to the Caribbean. The people on the west coast and in the mountains, however, have lately begun to acknowledge their links to Africa and to their slave past. In part, this is in response to recent ethnographic, folkloric, and historical being performed through frequent visits by Mexico’s scholars to these regions.
It may be as well that the stress of increasing contact with other peoples--and with immigrants who now come to exploit their land and labor--has fostered a need among these groups for a self-identity defining them as "the blacks from the coast." It is a fact that economic stresses compel ethnic groups in sudden contact with outsiders to either reinforce their traditions or capitulate to the attractions that cultural homogenization has to offer. This is how cultural groups are depersonalized and their traditional values lost.

Hopefully, the blacks of Costa Chica and elsewhere in Mexico will come to find new meaning in the traditions that have sustained them for centuries.
Mexico will be that much the richer for it.

[TmaaN]

LOL….blacks are the most copied race on the planet…..everybody wanna be a nigg@.....but don’t nobody want to be a nigg@.....LOL - Paul Mooney

[Tyrant]

i don't see why people even take vacations in mexico i mean people pay money to cross it's border illegeally so why would a person pay money to go there

what?

most simple way i know how to phrase that if you don't get it then uhm

LOL….blacks are the most copied race on the planet…..everybody wanna be a nigg@.....but don’t nobody want to be a nigg@.....LOL - Paul Mooney

so we all want to be blakc but at the same time we dont?

[TmaaN]

Yes

[se11]

Memin Puingin is a beloved character in Mexico, for through him, we see ourselves, and with him we identify. Sad that most of you, don’t understand the underlying essence and reasoning for such a character, and WRONGLY assume a racist or bad representation of Blacks in Mexico. Mexico’s people are some of the world renowned warm-welcomers to ALL, and Mexico enchanting spirit is in great debt to its Black Heritage, because of the full participation of Black People in its culture and development.

well said lone

[SkoobyDoo]

Memin Puingin is a beloved character in Mexico, for through him, we see ourselves, and with him we identify. Sad that most of you, don’t understand the underlying essence and reasoning for such a character, and WRONGLY assume a racist or bad representation of Blacks in Mexico. Mexico’s people are some of the world renowned warm-welcomers to ALL, and Mexico enchanting spirit is in great debt to its Black Heritage, because of the full participation of Black People in its culture and development.

Get the fuck outta here with that BS. It's a racist character, PERIOD. The same character was racist in newspaper cartoons in the 40's and 50's. I don't give a fuck what he represents now in mexico, here it's still racist. Some dark kid with oversized lips and eyes. Don't try to rationalize this shit.

Racist BS.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Here's a picture of it:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines


fu-- Mexico and their racists views. Black folks, we need to stop spending money down there going on vacation and partying in border towns. Racism is everywhere but these muthafuckas are making it so clear. Don't spend money in mexico or mexican run businesses. fu-- them if that's how they feel.

Haha like mexico needs black tourists. Mexico makes their tourism money from mostly white people.

[blakman]

Dr.gonzo, I hope you realize how much off an ass you really are!!! I wish I could get my hand around your scruny little neck!! LoL!!!!!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Dr.gonzo, I hope you realize how much off an ass you really are!!! I wish I could get my hand around your scruny little neck!! LoL!!!!!

I wish, I could get my Ka-bar around your face so, I could remove your face.

[Cold Bear]

Get the fu-- outta here with that BS. It's a racist character, PERIOD. The same character was racist in newspaper cartoons in the 40's and 50's. I don't give a fu-- what he represents now in mexico, here it's still racist. Some dark kid with oversized lips and eyes. Don't try to rationalize this shit.

Racist BS.

If you look at the 2nd and 3rd cartoons I posted, from the Jim Crow days, you can see the Mexican cartoon and the American 'Sambo' cartoons are almost identical.

[100]

Get the fu-- outta here with that BS. It's a racist character, PERIOD. The same character was racist in newspaper cartoons in the 40's and 50's. I don't give a fu-- what he represents now in mexico, here it's still racist. Some dark kid with oversized lips and eyes. Don't try to rationalize this shit.

Racist BS.

If you look at the 2nd and 3rd cartoons I posted, from the Jim Crow days, you can see the Mexican cartoon and the American 'Sambo' cartoons are almost identical.

exactly and since when did mexico glorify it's blacks as the article says many mexicans see them as immigrants and mexican american don't know they exist in mexico-majority for the matter

[never die inside]

ay, so wuts this all about?

the white man tryna shot call for mexicans and uniting themselves with the natives to be racist against blacks together? why? cus the mexican president is in some deep shiet cus he's tried to jail the old mexico city mayor and wasn't gonna get re-elected? so this is some diversion n shiet?

so i got two questions:

1) what did blacks in mexico do to whites and pueblos to deserve that hate?

2) is this how the ancient ancestors of mexicans would have handled this? i think the mexicans goin along with this lost their spirit and connection to their ancient history and ways of thinking

[George]

Everybodies mad at Black people, nobodies mad at those who colonized/enslaved/stole from/and raped over half of the world.

[blackmanofhonor]

Im offended by the cartoon.And for the mexicans that say ''we arent offended by speedy gonzalez so this shouldnt offend you'',#1 blacks did not create Speedy Gonzalez #2 if you arent offended by something,in no way whatsoever does that mean that someone else shouldnt be offended.Its like someone punching you in your face,and then punching someone else,and you tell the other person that they shouldnt fight back because you didnt.Just because youre a pussy doesnt mean I have to be one.

besides speedy gonzales does not compare to this comic,it doesnt have the ugly history behind it.Speedy is just a cartoon mouse that speaks with a spanish accent,nothing disrespectful about it.If a cartoon mouse spoke like a black man and wore hip hop type of clothing that would not offend me.This is an entirely diffrent situation.