AFRICAN MEXICANS
- Thread starter EDJ
- Start date
WHITE DEVIL,
YOU STRESSED, "I'd say it's less about lack of pride in oneself than an internal colonialism complex that still has not left Mexico to this day. "
THAT INTERNAL COLONIALISM COMPLEX INCLUDES A LAK OF SELF PRIDE AND WANNA BE WHITE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "What color are the actors on Mexican TV?"
I'M ALREADY KNOWIN'.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "How in touch with indigenous Mexica is Mexican music?"
WHAT gENRE?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Shit, it wasn't until Chalino that music that even hinted at poverty, struggles, or the reality of life for most Mexicans even got played on the radio."
FUK THE RADIO.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "WHen talking about Mexico's third Black root, you're talking about something that *may* or *may not* be in what, a third of mexicans?"
NAW. RESEARCH DONE SHOWED 2/3 OF MEXICANS. SOME SAY 75%. THE NUMBER IS INSULTIN' TO MOST MEXICANS, WHERE THEY WANT ANOTHA TEST DONE. HOW SAD.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "What about their own Mexica blood that they have not yet recognized?"
I BELIEVE THEY HAVE. ASK N-E MEXICAN WHAT RUNS THRU THEY BLOOD. AND FOR ARgUMENTS SAKE, LET'S SAY THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED, I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD EMBRACE WHAT'S THERE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Mexican TV is full of gavachos and novellas that have nothing to do with reality. Much Mexican media is nothing more than escapism. You're asking people to come to terms with something that *may* be a part of them when they haven't even come to terms with the most basic elements of their own nature."
WHAT IS THE BASIC ELEMENT OF THEIR OWN NATURE? IT AIN'T A "MAY". IT'S A PROBABILITY THAT HAS BEEN SHUNNED. THE RACIST NATURE OF MEXICAN SOCIETY HAS CAUSED THIS.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "This is somewhat leading. How many Mexicans definitely *have* a black root?"
RESEARCH SHOWS 2/3, SOME SAY UP TO 75%. REgARDLESS, IF YOU KNOW YOU MIgHT HAVE SOME SORT OF BLOOD IN YOU, WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO KNOW FA SHO INSTEAD OF SHUNNIN' N-E TYPE OF MENTION OF THE SUBJECT LIKE IT WAS TABOO?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "There were what, somewhere between 1 to 10 milllion indigenous Mexicans at times when the black population slowly decreased from 1500 to 1750...and there were between 15 to 50 thousand Blacks in Mexico at that time, their numbers slowly decreasing over the years."
FROM WHAT I READ THERE WERE MORE BLAK FOLK THAN SPANIARDS AND INDIgINEOUS PEOPLE AT ONE POINT. AND THEY DIDN'T STAY IN ONE PLACE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "I'm sure you could possibly find 15 thousand whites for every million blacks in many nations of Africa. (1.5% of the population)
Does this mean that Africans will have a second white root in a hundred years? I don't think anyone would make that argument. Why is this situation different?"
CAUSE FOR ONE,
YOU COMPARIN' APPLES WITH ORANgES.
TWO,
MEXICO'S TIME SPAN INCLUDES OVER 5OO YEARS SINCE THE SLAVES WERE BROUgHT THERE AND THE BLOODS MIXXED. YOU TRYIN' TO EQUATE TO A HUNDRED YEARS WITH FOREIgNERS AND APARTHEID AND OTHA SOCIAL ISSUES THAT WOULD PREVENT A MIXXED SOCIETY OF MULTI-ETHNICITIES.
THIRD,
THE SPANISH CASTE SYSTEM ASSURED THE MIXTURES OF THE BLOODS, AND THE CONTINUE DOMINANCE OF THE SPANIARDS.
AND THEN THERE'S THE OLMECS AND THE PROOF THAT THEY HAD BLAK IN THEM. AND THIS PRE-DATED THE COLUMBUS ERA.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Also, I believe that article is a bit of a stretch."
WHICH ONE?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Because corridos are sung in Costa Chica, Black folks must have invented them?"
NAW, IT'S WELL DOCUMENTED THAT BLAK SLAVES IN EARLY TIMES INFLUENCED MEXICAN CULTURE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "So black folks have a monopoly on symbolism?"
IT WOULD SEEM THAT WAY. BUT NOW YOU JUST TRYIN' TO BE SARCASTIC.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "If something is symbolic, and oral, it came from Africa?"
IT MOST LIKELY HAS IT'S ORIgINATIONS THERE. WHO ELSE DOES THIS?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Mexico's literacy rate was probably less than 15 percent until the 1800s. (Most countries were functionally illiterate until the Industrial Revolution)
The fact that they pass on oral stories is proof of an African connection?"
NOT JUST THAT. THE THEMES AND THE MUSIC INFLUENCE. BLAK FOLK WERE IN MEXICO BEFORE THE 1800'S. IF YOU WANT MORE PROOF. LOOK AT MORE OF THE LINKS AND NAMES PRESENTED.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "This seems a pretty far reach for me."
WHY?
WICCED,
YOU STRESSED, "THEY WANNA TAKE THEORIES AND CALL THEM FACTS"
PROVE THIS. WHAT THEORIES?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "YES THIER ARE MEXICANS WITH BLACK BLOOD IN THEM BUT THIER NUMBERS ARE SMALL,TO SAY EVERY MEXICAN HAS BLACK BLOOD IN THEM IS RIDICULOUS..."
THANK gOODNESS THEIR NUMBERS ARE SMALL, HUH? BUT QUOTE WHERE I SAID "ALL" OR "EVERY" MEXICAN HAS BLAK BLOOD IN THEM?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "JUST BECAUSE YOU SAW THAT ON SOME BULLSHIT BOOK OR SOME LINK ON IN THE INTERNET SPEWING THAT PIONT OF VIEW,DONT MAKE IT TRUE OR FACTUAL,AND TO SAY MEXICANS AINT INDIGENOUS TO THIS LAND IS ANOTHER LAUGHER,I GUESS WE JUST FELL FROM THE SKY AND MAGICLY APPEARED.."
YOU gOT ME CONFUSED WITH SOMEBODY ELSE. QUOTE ME WHERE I SAID MEXICANS AIN'T INDIgENIOUS TO THIS LAND. AND WHY IS SHIT BULLSHIT CAUSE YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT'S THERE? FACTS ARE FACTS, THEY CAN'T BE DENIED. BLAK IS THE THIRD ROOT BLOOD. BLAKS EXISTED AND CONTINUE TO EXIST. WHY ARE THEY INVISIBLE IN MEXICAN SOCIETY AND HISTORY? WHY DID I HAVE TO COME ON THE INTERNET TO MAgICALLY RUN INTO THIS INFO TO gET SOME OF YOU MEXICANS TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHIT?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "AND TO CALL OUR ANCESTORS "AZTECS" A TRIBE IS ALSO RIDICULOUS WE WERE A NATION THAT INFLUENCED PEOPLE FROM NORTH AMERICA ALL THE WAY DOWN TO CENTRAL AMERICA INCLUDING SMALL WANDERING TRIBES..WE WERE NOT TRIBAL WE WERE URBAN,WITH ONE OF THE BIGGEST METROPLIS IN THE AMERICAS.WE LIVED IN CITIES NOT HUTS OR CAVES.."
I AIN'T DISPUTIN' THIS. I HAVE TO gET MORE INFO TO VALIDATE OR INVALIDATE THIS. IT'S REALLY NETHA HERE NOR THERE. IF YOU gOT IT, SHOW ME WHERE YOU gOT THIS INFO FROM. I'LL BE MORE THAN gLAD TO READ IT.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "YES MOST OF OUR ANCESTORS WERE MURDERED AND OUR GENE POOL POLLUTED BUT THIER CULTURE & PRIDE STILL LIVES ON WITH THE US (MEXICANS) TODAY WHICH WE CHOSE TO IDENTIFY WITH & EMBRACE.."
SO BLAK FOLK JUST SOME POLLUTIN' ASS MUTHA-FUKAS? FUK THEM RIgHT? FUK THEY LEgACY AND FUK THEY BLOOD?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "AND THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE,NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY TO MINIMIZE OUR HISTORY WITH HIS-STORY..WE ARE NOT THE ILLEGAL BORDER JUMPERS THAT CROSSED THE ATLANTIC OCEAN,NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY TO CHANGE HISTORY TO BENIFIT THIER PIONT OF VIEW..."
WHAT YOU EVEN TALKIN' ABOUT? WHY EVEN ADDRESS THIS TO ME? WHAT THIS gOT TO DO WITH THE TOPIC?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "BOTTOM LINE BELIEVE WHAT YOU WANNA BELIEVE,ITS YOUR RIGHT.."
YOU DAMN RIgHT. ONLY THANg WITH ME IS....I'M LOOKIN' AT FACTS PRESENTED AND NOT BASIN' SHIT ON WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "THE BLACK BLOOD AINT AT ISSUE WITH ME,ITS THE PIONT OF VIEW THAT COMES ALONG WITH MOST PEOPLE WHO PROMOTE THAT THEORY"
FIFTY FIRST OF ALL,
AIN'T NO THEORY. YOU HAVE FAILED TO PROVE THIS. YOU HAVE FAILED TO DEBUNK N-E INFO PRESENTED AND JUST ATTEMPT TO SLANDER THOSE WITH THE INFO.
XNDLY,
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE BLAK BLOOD PART, THEN WHY ACT ALL RESENTFUL? AND WHAT IS THE POINT OF VIEW FOR THOSE YO SAY "HOLD THE THEORY"?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "BASICLLY DENYING OUR INDIGENOUS ROOTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS..AS YOU CAN SEE IN HERE.."
WHO DENIED YOUR INDIgINEOUS ROOTS? WHO DENIED THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS? gET YOUR FACTS STRAIgHT. IF N-E-THANg, THAT'S WHAT DONE HAPPENED TO THE BLAK PRESENCE IN MEXICO. IT'S BEEN SHUNNED AND DENIED.
YOU STRESSED, "I'd say it's less about lack of pride in oneself than an internal colonialism complex that still has not left Mexico to this day. "
THAT INTERNAL COLONIALISM COMPLEX INCLUDES A LAK OF SELF PRIDE AND WANNA BE WHITE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "What color are the actors on Mexican TV?"
I'M ALREADY KNOWIN'.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "How in touch with indigenous Mexica is Mexican music?"
WHAT gENRE?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Shit, it wasn't until Chalino that music that even hinted at poverty, struggles, or the reality of life for most Mexicans even got played on the radio."
FUK THE RADIO.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "WHen talking about Mexico's third Black root, you're talking about something that *may* or *may not* be in what, a third of mexicans?"
NAW. RESEARCH DONE SHOWED 2/3 OF MEXICANS. SOME SAY 75%. THE NUMBER IS INSULTIN' TO MOST MEXICANS, WHERE THEY WANT ANOTHA TEST DONE. HOW SAD.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "What about their own Mexica blood that they have not yet recognized?"
I BELIEVE THEY HAVE. ASK N-E MEXICAN WHAT RUNS THRU THEY BLOOD. AND FOR ARgUMENTS SAKE, LET'S SAY THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED, I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD EMBRACE WHAT'S THERE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Mexican TV is full of gavachos and novellas that have nothing to do with reality. Much Mexican media is nothing more than escapism. You're asking people to come to terms with something that *may* be a part of them when they haven't even come to terms with the most basic elements of their own nature."
WHAT IS THE BASIC ELEMENT OF THEIR OWN NATURE? IT AIN'T A "MAY". IT'S A PROBABILITY THAT HAS BEEN SHUNNED. THE RACIST NATURE OF MEXICAN SOCIETY HAS CAUSED THIS.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "This is somewhat leading. How many Mexicans definitely *have* a black root?"
RESEARCH SHOWS 2/3, SOME SAY UP TO 75%. REgARDLESS, IF YOU KNOW YOU MIgHT HAVE SOME SORT OF BLOOD IN YOU, WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO KNOW FA SHO INSTEAD OF SHUNNIN' N-E TYPE OF MENTION OF THE SUBJECT LIKE IT WAS TABOO?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "There were what, somewhere between 1 to 10 milllion indigenous Mexicans at times when the black population slowly decreased from 1500 to 1750...and there were between 15 to 50 thousand Blacks in Mexico at that time, their numbers slowly decreasing over the years."
FROM WHAT I READ THERE WERE MORE BLAK FOLK THAN SPANIARDS AND INDIgINEOUS PEOPLE AT ONE POINT. AND THEY DIDN'T STAY IN ONE PLACE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "I'm sure you could possibly find 15 thousand whites for every million blacks in many nations of Africa. (1.5% of the population)
Does this mean that Africans will have a second white root in a hundred years? I don't think anyone would make that argument. Why is this situation different?"
CAUSE FOR ONE,
YOU COMPARIN' APPLES WITH ORANgES.
TWO,
MEXICO'S TIME SPAN INCLUDES OVER 5OO YEARS SINCE THE SLAVES WERE BROUgHT THERE AND THE BLOODS MIXXED. YOU TRYIN' TO EQUATE TO A HUNDRED YEARS WITH FOREIgNERS AND APARTHEID AND OTHA SOCIAL ISSUES THAT WOULD PREVENT A MIXXED SOCIETY OF MULTI-ETHNICITIES.
THIRD,
THE SPANISH CASTE SYSTEM ASSURED THE MIXTURES OF THE BLOODS, AND THE CONTINUE DOMINANCE OF THE SPANIARDS.
AND THEN THERE'S THE OLMECS AND THE PROOF THAT THEY HAD BLAK IN THEM. AND THIS PRE-DATED THE COLUMBUS ERA.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Also, I believe that article is a bit of a stretch."
WHICH ONE?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Because corridos are sung in Costa Chica, Black folks must have invented them?"
NAW, IT'S WELL DOCUMENTED THAT BLAK SLAVES IN EARLY TIMES INFLUENCED MEXICAN CULTURE.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "So black folks have a monopoly on symbolism?"
IT WOULD SEEM THAT WAY. BUT NOW YOU JUST TRYIN' TO BE SARCASTIC.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "If something is symbolic, and oral, it came from Africa?"
IT MOST LIKELY HAS IT'S ORIgINATIONS THERE. WHO ELSE DOES THIS?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "Mexico's literacy rate was probably less than 15 percent until the 1800s. (Most countries were functionally illiterate until the Industrial Revolution)
The fact that they pass on oral stories is proof of an African connection?"
NOT JUST THAT. THE THEMES AND THE MUSIC INFLUENCE. BLAK FOLK WERE IN MEXICO BEFORE THE 1800'S. IF YOU WANT MORE PROOF. LOOK AT MORE OF THE LINKS AND NAMES PRESENTED.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "This seems a pretty far reach for me."
WHY?
WICCED,
YOU STRESSED, "THEY WANNA TAKE THEORIES AND CALL THEM FACTS"
PROVE THIS. WHAT THEORIES?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "YES THIER ARE MEXICANS WITH BLACK BLOOD IN THEM BUT THIER NUMBERS ARE SMALL,TO SAY EVERY MEXICAN HAS BLACK BLOOD IN THEM IS RIDICULOUS..."
THANK gOODNESS THEIR NUMBERS ARE SMALL, HUH? BUT QUOTE WHERE I SAID "ALL" OR "EVERY" MEXICAN HAS BLAK BLOOD IN THEM?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "JUST BECAUSE YOU SAW THAT ON SOME BULLSHIT BOOK OR SOME LINK ON IN THE INTERNET SPEWING THAT PIONT OF VIEW,DONT MAKE IT TRUE OR FACTUAL,AND TO SAY MEXICANS AINT INDIGENOUS TO THIS LAND IS ANOTHER LAUGHER,I GUESS WE JUST FELL FROM THE SKY AND MAGICLY APPEARED.."
YOU gOT ME CONFUSED WITH SOMEBODY ELSE. QUOTE ME WHERE I SAID MEXICANS AIN'T INDIgENIOUS TO THIS LAND. AND WHY IS SHIT BULLSHIT CAUSE YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT'S THERE? FACTS ARE FACTS, THEY CAN'T BE DENIED. BLAK IS THE THIRD ROOT BLOOD. BLAKS EXISTED AND CONTINUE TO EXIST. WHY ARE THEY INVISIBLE IN MEXICAN SOCIETY AND HISTORY? WHY DID I HAVE TO COME ON THE INTERNET TO MAgICALLY RUN INTO THIS INFO TO gET SOME OF YOU MEXICANS TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHIT?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "AND TO CALL OUR ANCESTORS "AZTECS" A TRIBE IS ALSO RIDICULOUS WE WERE A NATION THAT INFLUENCED PEOPLE FROM NORTH AMERICA ALL THE WAY DOWN TO CENTRAL AMERICA INCLUDING SMALL WANDERING TRIBES..WE WERE NOT TRIBAL WE WERE URBAN,WITH ONE OF THE BIGGEST METROPLIS IN THE AMERICAS.WE LIVED IN CITIES NOT HUTS OR CAVES.."
I AIN'T DISPUTIN' THIS. I HAVE TO gET MORE INFO TO VALIDATE OR INVALIDATE THIS. IT'S REALLY NETHA HERE NOR THERE. IF YOU gOT IT, SHOW ME WHERE YOU gOT THIS INFO FROM. I'LL BE MORE THAN gLAD TO READ IT.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "YES MOST OF OUR ANCESTORS WERE MURDERED AND OUR GENE POOL POLLUTED BUT THIER CULTURE & PRIDE STILL LIVES ON WITH THE US (MEXICANS) TODAY WHICH WE CHOSE TO IDENTIFY WITH & EMBRACE.."
SO BLAK FOLK JUST SOME POLLUTIN' ASS MUTHA-FUKAS? FUK THEM RIgHT? FUK THEY LEgACY AND FUK THEY BLOOD?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "AND THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE,NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY TO MINIMIZE OUR HISTORY WITH HIS-STORY..WE ARE NOT THE ILLEGAL BORDER JUMPERS THAT CROSSED THE ATLANTIC OCEAN,NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY TO CHANGE HISTORY TO BENIFIT THIER PIONT OF VIEW..."
WHAT YOU EVEN TALKIN' ABOUT? WHY EVEN ADDRESS THIS TO ME? WHAT THIS gOT TO DO WITH THE TOPIC?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "BOTTOM LINE BELIEVE WHAT YOU WANNA BELIEVE,ITS YOUR RIGHT.."
YOU DAMN RIgHT. ONLY THANg WITH ME IS....I'M LOOKIN' AT FACTS PRESENTED AND NOT BASIN' SHIT ON WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD.
THEN YOU STRESSED, "THE BLACK BLOOD AINT AT ISSUE WITH ME,ITS THE PIONT OF VIEW THAT COMES ALONG WITH MOST PEOPLE WHO PROMOTE THAT THEORY"
FIFTY FIRST OF ALL,
AIN'T NO THEORY. YOU HAVE FAILED TO PROVE THIS. YOU HAVE FAILED TO DEBUNK N-E INFO PRESENTED AND JUST ATTEMPT TO SLANDER THOSE WITH THE INFO.
XNDLY,
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE BLAK BLOOD PART, THEN WHY ACT ALL RESENTFUL? AND WHAT IS THE POINT OF VIEW FOR THOSE YO SAY "HOLD THE THEORY"?
THEN YOU STRESSED, "BASICLLY DENYING OUR INDIGENOUS ROOTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS..AS YOU CAN SEE IN HERE.."
WHO DENIED YOUR INDIgINEOUS ROOTS? WHO DENIED THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS? gET YOUR FACTS STRAIgHT. IF N-E-THANg, THAT'S WHAT DONE HAPPENED TO THE BLAK PRESENCE IN MEXICO. IT'S BEEN SHUNNED AND DENIED.
I dunno, EDJ....but this is a great topic and I am going to check into a DNA test to find out if indeed this is true. Thing is, my mothers' family can trace their roots to spanish and natives of mexico.....And as far as my spanish catholic background(I mean historically, I am not a catholic...though I was baptised Roman Catholic as a baby), they were very ethnically aware and very conservative of their culture. They even wrote back in the days when muslims ruled spain that they should not mix with the Moores....Moores are black to my knowledge. But my grandfather was REALLY dark, so it is possible if this stuff is true. I read an article the other day about this guy who thought he was irish all of his life but he had always looked diffrent than the other irish guys in his dominatley Irish catholic town. Come to find out, the dude was almost half turkish.
Afro-Mexicans: the forgotten people
The story of Mexico’s failure to credit and acknowledge its Afro-Mestizo history is painful, given what else has happened politically and socially since the early 1990s. For example, in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico bordering Guatemala, a rebel indigenous movement took up arms and threatened to overthrow oligarchic land owners to relieve the burden of generations of near-feudal rule. The rebels have successfully petitioned for increased federal government attention to land reform, education and health needs. And, the current president, Vicente Fox, was freely elected from an opposition party, which had not happened in Mexico for over 70 years.
Blacks have been officially “invisible” in Mexico because until recently the federal government did not recognize them in census counts. This was tolerated over the centuries by the policy of mestizaje or “cosmic mixture” of exclusively Spanish (Europeans) and indigenous (Indian) peoples. This policy was perpetuated by a mythology that neatly fit with the ideology of the early 16 th century conquests by Hernan Cortes, a representative of the Spanish crown, who subdued the Aztec emperor Montezuma II, pre-colonial ruler of most of Mexico and Central America. Afro-Mexicans therefore, until recently, had no official recognition and it was consequently easy to dismiss them. However, due to the emergence of the recent “third root” movement, that is increasingly difficult to do. In that regard, some institutions like the University of Veracruz presently sponsor academic courses that emphasize the African impact and history. But, this divergence is still rare.
In modern Mexico, the so-called “Third Root” movement is headed by Afro-Mexicans and is dedicated to recognizing and improving the civic, social and economic conditions of this much-neglected group. Mexican blacks have had a significant history not well recognized by the government and media. But some groups of Afro-Mexicans have started to speak out. Mexican scholars such as Sagrario Cruz-Carretaro, at the University of Veracruz, bring attention to Afro-Mexicans and have made studies of Yanga and the black towns near border crossings between Texas and Mexico’s Coahuila state. She is the co-curator of a significant museum exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, that boldly spells out the Afro-Mexican contribution to modern history. “It’s the most important thing we’ve ever done,” said Mexican Fine Arts Museum in Chicago president Carlos Tortolero. “‘The African Presence in Mexico’ tells a virtually unknown and still-unfolding story.”
Mexican filmmakers such as Rafael Rebollar are receiving recognition for their documentary work illustrating “La Raiz Olvidar” (The Forgotten Ones) and “Los Moscogos.” The latter film concerns so-called “Black Seminoles,” a mixed-race people of Native American and African slave heritage, who were forced into submission by American general, later President Andrew Jackson, and ultimately were forced to abandon their traditional lands in the states of Georgia and Florida for a life of neglect in Oklahoma and Texas in the 1840’s. Descendants of these same people later gained distinction from the U.S. Army as scouts, who won four Medals of Honor for military campaigns against the Apache and Comanche nations in the south-western United States. Intellectuals like Cruz-Carretaro and Rebollar have, in their respective fields, started to organize and demand a strong public acknowledgement of the role of Afro-Mexicans in shaping Mexico’s national character.
Although the percentages were low, the population of enslaved Africans in Mexico had a huge presence in colonial Mexico (1521-1810) working as domestic servants, day laborers, cattle ranchers, artisans and miners on haciendas (large plantation estates).
You see, there was, and to a wide extent currently is, outright denial about a tangible African bloodline running through Mexico's population. I recall quite clearly more than a decade ago, listening to a television interview with an official of the Mexican government. The official was describing the ethnic make-up of the Mexican population, and nowhere did she mention any African population element in the entire country. This “racial amnesia,” as it has been termed, officially exists despite the fact that some 200,000 Africans were brought to Mexico during the early years of the slave trade. In fact, historians estimate that the African population of Mexico constituted around a half-million persons by 1810.
And would it surprise you to know that Vincente Guerrero, a leading general of the Mexican War of Independence and the new nation’s second president, appears to have been of African descent. And, finally, photographs of the great revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata show clearly that he was of African descent. Even modern-day rebels from Mexico’s southern Chiapas state proudly called themselves “zapatistas” during the 1990s.
Dating to the years immediately following the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, official national ideology defined the Mexican population as a unified one, created out of the mixture of Spanish and indigenous population—mestizo. The African element was completely and unambiguously excluded. In fact, since 1928, Mexico has celebrated October 12 as "The Day of the Race" and this singular Spanish-Indian mix denies the African-descended population. In that early era, even Mexican public commentators, media officials and university scholars were in total denial of the African contribution to Mexican history. Top
The Third Root
The "Third Root" movement—deriving its name from this third and African population element--is now bringing a sea-change to that mind-set of race denial in Mexico. In 1992, the Mexican government finally acknowledged Africa to be Mexico's "Third Root" but, securing a wholesale list of democratic reforms, employment opportunities, adequate housing, minimal education and health care for Afro-Mexicans will take a long time and much public pressure. And, the political will to accomplish something dramatic is needed as well.
Afro-Mexican population centers in the Costa Chica area (in Guerrero and Oaxaca), Veracruz and Coahuila maintain very strong cultural examples of racial heritage through song, dance and other art forms. These people often endure in isolated, but unmistakably “African” communities. In the state of Veracruz, for example, you can find towns named Mandinga, Matamba and Mozambique, which clearly denote the historical African presence in Mexico.
When the Memin Pinguin controversy started to gather steam in the U.S. media in 2005, Bush White House insiders conveniently seized the moment to join with African American leaders in denouncing Mexico's President Fox. Many conservative U.S. policy-makers were thoroughly annoyed at Fox’s pro-Mexican immigration announcements and opposing construction of hundreds of miles of “barbed-wire fence” between Mexico and the U.S. Of course, these announcements further encouraged conservative groups in the U.S., who were already reeling from the daily headlines concerning Mexican “illegal” immigration.
http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Ezekiel.htm
The story of Mexico’s failure to credit and acknowledge its Afro-Mestizo history is painful, given what else has happened politically and socially since the early 1990s. For example, in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico bordering Guatemala, a rebel indigenous movement took up arms and threatened to overthrow oligarchic land owners to relieve the burden of generations of near-feudal rule. The rebels have successfully petitioned for increased federal government attention to land reform, education and health needs. And, the current president, Vicente Fox, was freely elected from an opposition party, which had not happened in Mexico for over 70 years.
Blacks have been officially “invisible” in Mexico because until recently the federal government did not recognize them in census counts. This was tolerated over the centuries by the policy of mestizaje or “cosmic mixture” of exclusively Spanish (Europeans) and indigenous (Indian) peoples. This policy was perpetuated by a mythology that neatly fit with the ideology of the early 16 th century conquests by Hernan Cortes, a representative of the Spanish crown, who subdued the Aztec emperor Montezuma II, pre-colonial ruler of most of Mexico and Central America. Afro-Mexicans therefore, until recently, had no official recognition and it was consequently easy to dismiss them. However, due to the emergence of the recent “third root” movement, that is increasingly difficult to do. In that regard, some institutions like the University of Veracruz presently sponsor academic courses that emphasize the African impact and history. But, this divergence is still rare.
In modern Mexico, the so-called “Third Root” movement is headed by Afro-Mexicans and is dedicated to recognizing and improving the civic, social and economic conditions of this much-neglected group. Mexican blacks have had a significant history not well recognized by the government and media. But some groups of Afro-Mexicans have started to speak out. Mexican scholars such as Sagrario Cruz-Carretaro, at the University of Veracruz, bring attention to Afro-Mexicans and have made studies of Yanga and the black towns near border crossings between Texas and Mexico’s Coahuila state. She is the co-curator of a significant museum exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, that boldly spells out the Afro-Mexican contribution to modern history. “It’s the most important thing we’ve ever done,” said Mexican Fine Arts Museum in Chicago president Carlos Tortolero. “‘The African Presence in Mexico’ tells a virtually unknown and still-unfolding story.”
Mexican filmmakers such as Rafael Rebollar are receiving recognition for their documentary work illustrating “La Raiz Olvidar” (The Forgotten Ones) and “Los Moscogos.” The latter film concerns so-called “Black Seminoles,” a mixed-race people of Native American and African slave heritage, who were forced into submission by American general, later President Andrew Jackson, and ultimately were forced to abandon their traditional lands in the states of Georgia and Florida for a life of neglect in Oklahoma and Texas in the 1840’s. Descendants of these same people later gained distinction from the U.S. Army as scouts, who won four Medals of Honor for military campaigns against the Apache and Comanche nations in the south-western United States. Intellectuals like Cruz-Carretaro and Rebollar have, in their respective fields, started to organize and demand a strong public acknowledgement of the role of Afro-Mexicans in shaping Mexico’s national character.
Although the percentages were low, the population of enslaved Africans in Mexico had a huge presence in colonial Mexico (1521-1810) working as domestic servants, day laborers, cattle ranchers, artisans and miners on haciendas (large plantation estates).
You see, there was, and to a wide extent currently is, outright denial about a tangible African bloodline running through Mexico's population. I recall quite clearly more than a decade ago, listening to a television interview with an official of the Mexican government. The official was describing the ethnic make-up of the Mexican population, and nowhere did she mention any African population element in the entire country. This “racial amnesia,” as it has been termed, officially exists despite the fact that some 200,000 Africans were brought to Mexico during the early years of the slave trade. In fact, historians estimate that the African population of Mexico constituted around a half-million persons by 1810.
And would it surprise you to know that Vincente Guerrero, a leading general of the Mexican War of Independence and the new nation’s second president, appears to have been of African descent. And, finally, photographs of the great revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata show clearly that he was of African descent. Even modern-day rebels from Mexico’s southern Chiapas state proudly called themselves “zapatistas” during the 1990s.
Dating to the years immediately following the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, official national ideology defined the Mexican population as a unified one, created out of the mixture of Spanish and indigenous population—mestizo. The African element was completely and unambiguously excluded. In fact, since 1928, Mexico has celebrated October 12 as "The Day of the Race" and this singular Spanish-Indian mix denies the African-descended population. In that early era, even Mexican public commentators, media officials and university scholars were in total denial of the African contribution to Mexican history. Top
The Third Root
The "Third Root" movement—deriving its name from this third and African population element--is now bringing a sea-change to that mind-set of race denial in Mexico. In 1992, the Mexican government finally acknowledged Africa to be Mexico's "Third Root" but, securing a wholesale list of democratic reforms, employment opportunities, adequate housing, minimal education and health care for Afro-Mexicans will take a long time and much public pressure. And, the political will to accomplish something dramatic is needed as well.
Afro-Mexican population centers in the Costa Chica area (in Guerrero and Oaxaca), Veracruz and Coahuila maintain very strong cultural examples of racial heritage through song, dance and other art forms. These people often endure in isolated, but unmistakably “African” communities. In the state of Veracruz, for example, you can find towns named Mandinga, Matamba and Mozambique, which clearly denote the historical African presence in Mexico.
When the Memin Pinguin controversy started to gather steam in the U.S. media in 2005, Bush White House insiders conveniently seized the moment to join with African American leaders in denouncing Mexico's President Fox. Many conservative U.S. policy-makers were thoroughly annoyed at Fox’s pro-Mexican immigration announcements and opposing construction of hundreds of miles of “barbed-wire fence” between Mexico and the U.S. Of course, these announcements further encouraged conservative groups in the U.S., who were already reeling from the daily headlines concerning Mexican “illegal” immigration.
http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Ezekiel.htm
ESU prof publishes controversial Mexican history
For 150 years, Mexican schoolchildren have learned that their heritage lies in the marriage of Spanish colonial culture and the conquered races of Native America.
But if ESU assistant professor of Spanish Marco Polo Hernández Cuevas has his way, they’ll also begin to think of themselves as African.
Hernández’s new book “African Mexicans and the Discourse on Modern Nation” published this month by University Press of America exposes how Mexican institutions have systematically erased “Africaness” from national memory. Between 55 and 85 percent of Mexicans can trace their family back to African slaves, but cultural leaders have actively shunned this identity.
“The knowledge of our ancestors has been erased through education,” he said. “Schools have omitted the fact that we had a large African population throughout the Colonial Period which lasted 300 years.”
“It’s estimated that over 300,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Mexico during the colonial period, producing millions of offspring. Many of the major leaguers of the Mexican liberation movement were black themselves. "The last two top commanders of the movement, José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, as well as a significant number of other leaders and troops have now been identified as mulattoes pardos."
Even the Spanish conquistadors brought African heritage with them, as descendants of the Iberians and the Moors of northern Africa who occupied Spain during the medieval era, said Hernández. The modern Spanish language still contains over 4,000 Arabic words.
“We are African on our Spanish side, and African on our African side,” he said. “We are ‘Neo-Africans’ just as much as we are Amerindian or European.”
Hernández finds traces of African culture in many of Mexico’s national traditions – in its food, its music, its cultural icons and its national holidays.
The Black Virgin -- a representation of Virgin Mary with dark skin common throughout Spain, France and Mexico – is one example of African cultural influences. Hernández also points out that the battle commemorated by the national holiday of Cinco de Mayo was fought by African Mexican “maroons.”
His book describes how Mexican cultural leaders have rejected this African heritage, choosing instead to “whiten” Mexican literature, film and popular culture from 1920 to 1968, a period Hernández describes as the “cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution.”
Hernández has gotten the attention of leading scholars in the field of African Latino studies. Richard L. Jackson, professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada writes in the book’s foreward that “his work will contribute greatly to the ongoing discussion of race in the Americans and particularly in Mexico where his research largely stands alone.”
“The interdisciplinary approach he takes exemplifies the pervasive nature of the cult of whiteness and racism and their unfortunate byproducts in a nation that is far from white.”
However, Hernández would like to see his academic research influence identity and behavior throughout general society.
“Mexicans, Hispanics, Latinos and African Americans will recognize one another in our common African heritage and bridge the gap that divides us," he said.
http://www.emporia.edu/news/archives/2004/may2004/hernandez_book.htm
For 150 years, Mexican schoolchildren have learned that their heritage lies in the marriage of Spanish colonial culture and the conquered races of Native America.
But if ESU assistant professor of Spanish Marco Polo Hernández Cuevas has his way, they’ll also begin to think of themselves as African.
Hernández’s new book “African Mexicans and the Discourse on Modern Nation” published this month by University Press of America exposes how Mexican institutions have systematically erased “Africaness” from national memory. Between 55 and 85 percent of Mexicans can trace their family back to African slaves, but cultural leaders have actively shunned this identity.
“The knowledge of our ancestors has been erased through education,” he said. “Schools have omitted the fact that we had a large African population throughout the Colonial Period which lasted 300 years.”
“It’s estimated that over 300,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Mexico during the colonial period, producing millions of offspring. Many of the major leaguers of the Mexican liberation movement were black themselves. "The last two top commanders of the movement, José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, as well as a significant number of other leaders and troops have now been identified as mulattoes pardos."
Even the Spanish conquistadors brought African heritage with them, as descendants of the Iberians and the Moors of northern Africa who occupied Spain during the medieval era, said Hernández. The modern Spanish language still contains over 4,000 Arabic words.
“We are African on our Spanish side, and African on our African side,” he said. “We are ‘Neo-Africans’ just as much as we are Amerindian or European.”
Hernández finds traces of African culture in many of Mexico’s national traditions – in its food, its music, its cultural icons and its national holidays.
The Black Virgin -- a representation of Virgin Mary with dark skin common throughout Spain, France and Mexico – is one example of African cultural influences. Hernández also points out that the battle commemorated by the national holiday of Cinco de Mayo was fought by African Mexican “maroons.”
His book describes how Mexican cultural leaders have rejected this African heritage, choosing instead to “whiten” Mexican literature, film and popular culture from 1920 to 1968, a period Hernández describes as the “cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution.”
Hernández has gotten the attention of leading scholars in the field of African Latino studies. Richard L. Jackson, professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada writes in the book’s foreward that “his work will contribute greatly to the ongoing discussion of race in the Americans and particularly in Mexico where his research largely stands alone.”
“The interdisciplinary approach he takes exemplifies the pervasive nature of the cult of whiteness and racism and their unfortunate byproducts in a nation that is far from white.”
However, Hernández would like to see his academic research influence identity and behavior throughout general society.
“Mexicans, Hispanics, Latinos and African Americans will recognize one another in our common African heritage and bridge the gap that divides us," he said.
http://www.emporia.edu/news/archives/2004/may2004/hernandez_book.htm
WICCED,
CHEK THIS SHIT OUT HOMEBOY. YOU DENY SHIT CAUSE YOU HAVE AN IDEAL AND BIAS AND BEEN RAISED WITH WHAT YOU IDENTIFY YOURSELF WITH. IF YOU WERE A MAN OF INTEgRITY AND TRYIN' TO SEEK TRUTH, YOU WOULD LOOK AT SHIT FOR WHAT IT IS, ADDRESS MY QUESTIONS, AND THINK LOgICALLY ABOUT THE FACTS PRESENTED AND NOT ADDRESS AND DISMISS THEM AS THEORIES.
THIS SHIT IS NEWS TO YOU SO YOU FEEL THAT SHIT HAS TO BE ALL OF A SUDDEN A CERTAIN WAY, THUS YOUR COMMENT ABOUT "MAgICALLY POPULATIN'". SHIT HAPPENED IN A gRADUAL PROCESS AND THE MIXTURES OF THE BLOOD AND THE IgNORANCE OF IDENTIFICATION SHUNNED THE BLAK IDENTITY OUT. SO NOW IT'S DESCENDANTS THAT CAN TRACE THEIR BLOODLINE TO AN AFRICAN SLAVE, BUT DON'T IDENTIFY WITH SUCH AND EVEN IN FACT DESPISE SUCH DUE TO IgNORANCE. IT'S NOT A MAY OR MAY NOT THEORY(AS IMPLIED), CAUSE IT'S MORE THAN 50%, AND RESEARCHER'S(LIKE THE ONES I MENTIONED AND LINKS PRESENTED) CONFIRM THAT. THE NUMBERS CONFIRM THAT. LOgIC CONFIRMS THAT. WHAT MY PEOPLES DONE TOLD ME CONFIRM THAT.
WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU gETTIN' ALL AROUSED ABOUT? YOU ACT LIKE SOME BROTHA FROM COMPTON WENT TO MEXICO TALKIN' BOUT, "YEAH CUZZ, I WENT TO MEXICO AND SHOWED THEM ESE'S HOW TO MAKE BURRITOS". IT'S NOT EVEN ABOUT CULTURE STEREO-TYPES. YOU FEEL THE INDIgINEUOS BLOOD IS PURE AND IDENTIFIES YOU, BUT MEXICAN BLOOD DOES HAVE A BLAK MIXTURE AND INFLUENCE. THAT MUCH YOU CAN'T DENY. WHETHA IT WAS SHUNNED, IS NOT THE QUESTION, CAUSE WE ALL KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE NOW. WHAT YOU ALL WORRIED ABOUT A BLAK IDENTITY AS PERHAPS BEIN' PART OF YOU? DON'T TALK ABOUT IT AND IT WILL gO AWAY? IF I DENOUNCE IT, IT AIN'T TRUE DESPITE THE CLAIMS AND FACTS THAT ARE THERE? I'M TOO HUNg UP ON WHAT THE WORLD IN gENNERAL gENERALIZES ABOUT MY IDENTITY TO EVEN FANTHOM THE THOUgHT OF EVEN HAVIN' A DROP OF BLAK BLOOD? WHAT HAVIN' BLAK BLOOD BE HUMILIATIN' TO YOU?
AND WHY IS SHIT A THEORY? ATLEAST ANSWER THAT.
CHEK THIS SHIT OUT HOMEBOY. YOU DENY SHIT CAUSE YOU HAVE AN IDEAL AND BIAS AND BEEN RAISED WITH WHAT YOU IDENTIFY YOURSELF WITH. IF YOU WERE A MAN OF INTEgRITY AND TRYIN' TO SEEK TRUTH, YOU WOULD LOOK AT SHIT FOR WHAT IT IS, ADDRESS MY QUESTIONS, AND THINK LOgICALLY ABOUT THE FACTS PRESENTED AND NOT ADDRESS AND DISMISS THEM AS THEORIES.
THIS SHIT IS NEWS TO YOU SO YOU FEEL THAT SHIT HAS TO BE ALL OF A SUDDEN A CERTAIN WAY, THUS YOUR COMMENT ABOUT "MAgICALLY POPULATIN'". SHIT HAPPENED IN A gRADUAL PROCESS AND THE MIXTURES OF THE BLOOD AND THE IgNORANCE OF IDENTIFICATION SHUNNED THE BLAK IDENTITY OUT. SO NOW IT'S DESCENDANTS THAT CAN TRACE THEIR BLOODLINE TO AN AFRICAN SLAVE, BUT DON'T IDENTIFY WITH SUCH AND EVEN IN FACT DESPISE SUCH DUE TO IgNORANCE. IT'S NOT A MAY OR MAY NOT THEORY(AS IMPLIED), CAUSE IT'S MORE THAN 50%, AND RESEARCHER'S(LIKE THE ONES I MENTIONED AND LINKS PRESENTED) CONFIRM THAT. THE NUMBERS CONFIRM THAT. LOgIC CONFIRMS THAT. WHAT MY PEOPLES DONE TOLD ME CONFIRM THAT.
WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU gETTIN' ALL AROUSED ABOUT? YOU ACT LIKE SOME BROTHA FROM COMPTON WENT TO MEXICO TALKIN' BOUT, "YEAH CUZZ, I WENT TO MEXICO AND SHOWED THEM ESE'S HOW TO MAKE BURRITOS". IT'S NOT EVEN ABOUT CULTURE STEREO-TYPES. YOU FEEL THE INDIgINEUOS BLOOD IS PURE AND IDENTIFIES YOU, BUT MEXICAN BLOOD DOES HAVE A BLAK MIXTURE AND INFLUENCE. THAT MUCH YOU CAN'T DENY. WHETHA IT WAS SHUNNED, IS NOT THE QUESTION, CAUSE WE ALL KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE NOW. WHAT YOU ALL WORRIED ABOUT A BLAK IDENTITY AS PERHAPS BEIN' PART OF YOU? DON'T TALK ABOUT IT AND IT WILL gO AWAY? IF I DENOUNCE IT, IT AIN'T TRUE DESPITE THE CLAIMS AND FACTS THAT ARE THERE? I'M TOO HUNg UP ON WHAT THE WORLD IN gENNERAL gENERALIZES ABOUT MY IDENTITY TO EVEN FANTHOM THE THOUgHT OF EVEN HAVIN' A DROP OF BLAK BLOOD? WHAT HAVIN' BLAK BLOOD BE HUMILIATIN' TO YOU?
AND WHY IS SHIT A THEORY? ATLEAST ANSWER THAT.