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Racism in Mexico: Ojos Que No Ven, Corazón Que No Siente

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Racism in Mexico: Ojos Que No Ven, Corazón Que No Siente CHAPTER 4 Racism in Mexico: Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente Racism is the set of institutional, cultural, and interpersonal patters and practices that create advantages for people legally defined and socially constructed as “white,” and the corollary disadvantages for people defined as belonging to racial groups that were not considered Whites by the dominant power structure in the United States. Castañeda and Zúñiga (2013, p. 58) ∵ Castañeda’s and Zúñiga’s explanation of racism is applicable to Mexico. Accord- ing to Schmelkes (2006), Mexicans will never acknowledge their/our own rac- ism, as there is a general lack of understanding of what racism means and a reluctance to identify it in all its forms. In Mexico, it is commonly thought that racism belongs exclusively to European and American cultures. Nevertheless, the marginalization and inequalities existing between Indigenous groups and People of Color indicate that racism is a problem that must be faced in order to achieve equity (Moreno Figueroa, 2016; Rico, 2016). In Mexico, the color of our skin is strongly tied to privilege and advantages (Navarrete, 2016). White and white-passing individuals are the ones who are positively represented on the Mexican media on the daily basis, our skin tone is not subject to mockery and subjugation throughout oppressive portrayals. For a long time it was a very convenient argument for me to say that the big- gest problem in Mexico was classism and not racism, as if both issues were sep- arated from each other. Furthermore, as with many similarly privileged White and White-passing Mexicans, I failed to reflect upon racism being enacted in Mexico, because as many other White people I did not want to be called a rac- ist. However, separating classism from racism, xenophobia, and ethnocentrism has allowed a color-blind culture in Mexico, in which we attribute all the prob- lems and inequities to class disparities. Many Mexicans that I know—Mexicans, in Mexico, who are White—often fail to understand that Mexican refers to a nationality, not a race. We struggle © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi: 10.1163/9789004419537_004 Racism in Mexico 63 with the concept of whiteness. We often attribute the word white to ethnicity and nationality, assuming that only Caucasian individuals from Europe can be labeled as White, especially and conveniently during conversations that address issues of racism. Being Mexican and White are not mutually exclusive. Being Mexican and being a racist are definitely not mutually exclusive either. Such a statement might not need to be explained, but in Mexico, we desper- ately need to hear, read and understand these differentiations. I am a White-passing Mexican, I have the option of choosing the tone of my skin depending on how long I stay under the sun. Because of this, I will always experience the existing privileges and comforts that come with my identi- ties. The color of my skin tone does not challenge the white supremacist and racist standards that prevail in both Mexico and in the United States, where I currently live. Although there is discrimination that is language-based and biased towards people in Mexico, our whiteness can be a wild card under our sleeves; that is to say, we can easily pass as Caucasian. In both countries, we have smoother transitions and fewer challenges than People of Color through- out different systems and spaces (Castañeda & Zúñiga, 2013). I have been living in the United States for over five years, and I have never experienced racism. This is not because my university does not have that problem, but because I—as many other White Mexicans—am not a target of that particular form of oppression. Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente is a popular Mexican saying which means: if your eyes do not see it, your heart will not feel it, or out of sight, out of mind. I chose to highlight this saying, because it accurately represents how we, those with white or white-passing skin in Mexico feel and act regarding racism. For centuries, we have chosen not to see racism as a problem that we have, and therefore we do not see a need to improve or examine our behaviors. As stated by Schmelkes (2006), Mexicans will never acknowledge their own racism, as we commonly believe and claim that racism belongs exclusively to the United States and European countries. Acknowledging that racism is a common form of oppression in Mexico has been a task oftentimes neglected by white and white-passing individuals in Mexico. We continue to perpetuate discrimination based on skin color. Black Mexicans were included in the Census for the first time in 2016 (Fundación Sur, 2016). According to the Mexican Census Bureau, about 1.5% of the popula- tion in Mexico identifies as Black and/or Afro-descendent (INEGI, 2017b). Yet, Mexico has historically operated around white-centered values, erasing the presence of Black Mexicans. According to Zárate (2017), Blackness in Mexico continues to be addressed as a foreigner identity to our nationalist depiction of what a Mexican looks like, further demonstrating how representations of .
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