“A ti te gusta los morenos?” Casual racism in Mexico
Want to know what casual racism in Mexico looks like? Itβs pretty simple. When my Mexican friends met my ex-husband, they all said the same thing: βI could not believe that was your husband.β
Itβs a confession that never comes until after at least a year of friendship. And it only comes from Mexicans.
The reason? My ex-husband is very dark-skinned. And for most Mexicans to consider you good-looking if youβre very dark-skinned, you need some other redeeming qualities. A supermodelβs body, perhaps, or piercing green eyes. The visual trappings of wealth are also an immense help, as they are anywhere.
To me, of course, he was very good-looking. And I wasnβt alone in my opinion. When we traveled to the States, my U.S. friends would pull me aside: βWow, heβs cute!β Finally, some people who understood. They saw what I saw!
When I was talking to some women a few weeks ago for my article on reluctant immigrants, this was a theme that came up among those whoβd βreturnedβ to Mexico with their husbands. Many were repeatedly faced with confused questions about why on earth they were willing to come. An incredulous βΒΏA poco te gustan los morenos?β (So you really like brown guys?) was a common question.
Um. Yes? And also, what is wrong with you?
Racism a la mexicana
Modern racism in Mexico is a little hard to compare to the racism we find north of the border. It is just as real here as it is there and in the rest of the world, of course. But itβs a different flavor, mixed up to a greater degree here in social class.
The North American roots are the same: Europeans kidnapped Africans and brought them to the Americas to force them into slave labor. They ran the show, so society, including beauty standards, was set up in their image. To this day, the more European-looking you are, the better-looking many consider you to be.
One major difference, however, stems from the fact that Indigenous peoples were very nearly wiped out in whatβs now the US and the ones that survived were siloed off. In Mexico, however β to put it politely β the Europeans βmarriedβ them instead. The ones that survived their initial onslaught, anyway. Were the European boats filled with couples and families or with single men? The answer to that question can give you a lot of clues into how the subsequent societies developed.
There was initially an elaborate βblood-basedβ caste system here that eventually gave way to βmestizajeβ (mixing, I guess?). And as a mestizo country, differences in skin color became more economic indicators than βracialβ ones. Those of Spanish descent could afford to give their kids a higher leg up because they of course placed themselves at the top of the social ladder when they took over. And while a few pockets of people of African-descent remain, most joined the mestizo population. Slavery, by the way, was outlawed in Mexico decades before it was in the States. In fact, that was one of the main roots of the fight over Texas, something you wonβt ever learn in Texas History.
So, even today, the Indigenous continue to find themselves at the bottom of the barrel. This isnβt because they are brown; itβs because they still belong to ethnic groups that are not part of the βmainstream.β They are the poorest and most isolated groups in Mexico and the ones with the least access to quality education and modern services.
Here, preserving oneβs Indigenous roots means not βmodernizing.β And not modernizing in Mexico means youβre left behind, basically, to toil for those in charge. While some make a big deal about embracing Mexicoβs indigenous roots, itβs notable that those who do so are noticeably far-removed from them in background and social class.
So racism, in Mexico, is more about oneβs perceived social class and lack of education. And because different βracesβ didnβt stay siloed off from each other like Jim Crow laws and institutionalized discrimination caused people to be in the US, markers of distinct culture and language didnβt develop, either. Thereβs no Spanish version of the βBlack vernacular,β for example.
Mexicoβs no racial utopia; itβs simply divided up based more on social class and education.
Still, the legacy of colonialism means that, generally, the higher up you go in wealth, the whiter people get. The opposite is also true: the darker and more Indigenous-looking someone is, the greater the likelihood that theyβre poor and have had very little access to quality education.
Living with the legacy
So, here we are. Like in the rest of the Americas, white people are grossly overrepresented in positions of power. Any group that forcefully takes over gets to run things and impose its own beauty standards, I suppose.t
And that in turn gives us things like mostly white Mexican models, though most Mexicans are much darker-skinned. It gives us things like Mexican TV shows where most principal characters are white, while the only darker-skinned actors play servants. It gives us fetishes for βlight eyesβ and anything but black hair. It makes people joke that to marry someone whiter than you is to βmejorar la razaβ (improve the race).
It gives us the fame of Luis Miguel. Yes, heβs a great singer and performer, but come on. Would he be Mexicoβs heartthrob if he werenβt blonde? It gives us the βcommon wisdomβ that men from Guadalajara are the most handsome. Spoiler alert, Iβve been there: theyβre not more handsome, theyβre just whiter and taller.
So when some Mexicans see white foreigners who, because of this legacy of colonialism, are considered to be at the top of the βgood-looking peopleβ list fall in love with those they themselves might write off as too average, theyβre confused. Perhaps to them, it looks like Brad Pitt falling madly in love with Rosie OβDonnell. βYou could have your pick, and thatβs your choice? Really?β
No doubt more than a few assume weβre being taken advantage of too, used for our imagined millions. Casual racism works both ways, after all, even in Mexico.
This is not cool, but it is the reality. Foreigners anywhere are often βothered,β our motivations a mystery. I wonβt pretend to know what minorities in the US feel, but being a closely-inspected βrepresentativeβ of oneβs culture is not always fun.
At least my partner gets me.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com and her Patreon page.
Source: Mexico News Daily