Want to know what casual racism in Mexico looks like? It’s pretty simple. When my Mexican friends met my ex-husband, they all said the same thing: “I could not believe that was your husband.”
It’s 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 you’re very dark-skinned, you need some other redeeming qualities. A supermodel’s 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 wasn’t alone in my opinion. When we traveled to the States, my U.S. friends would pull me aside: “Wow, he’s cute!” 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 who’d “returned” to Mexico with their husbands. Many were repeatedly faced with confused questions about why on earth they were willing to come. An incredulous “¿A poco te gustan los morenos?” (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 it’s 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 what’s now the US and the ones that survived were siloed off. In Mexico, however — to put it politely — the Europeans “married” 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 “blood-based” caste system here that eventually gave way to “mestizaje” (mixing, I guess?). And as a mestizo country, differences in skin color became more economic indicators than “racial” 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 won’t ever learn in Texas History.
So, even today, the Indigenous continue to find themselves at the bottom of the barrel. This isn’t because they are brown; it’s because they still belong to ethnic groups that are not part of the “mainstream.” 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 one’s Indigenous roots means not “modernizing.” And not modernizing in Mexico means you’re left behind, basically, to toil for those in charge. While some make a big deal about embracing Mexico’s indigenous roots, it’s notable that those who do so are noticeably far-removed from them in background and social class.
So racism, in Mexico, is more about one’s perceived social class and lack of education. And because different “races” didn’t 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 didn’t develop, either. There’s no Spanish version of the “Black vernacular,” for example.
Mexico’s no racial utopia; it’s 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 they’re 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.
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 “light eyes” and anything but black hair. It makes people joke that to marry someone whiter than you is to “mejorar la raza” (improve the race).
It gives us the fame of Luis Miguel. Yes, he’s a great singer and performer, but come on. Would he be Mexico’s heartthrob if he weren’t blonde? It gives us the “common wisdom” that men from Guadalajara are the most handsome. Spoiler alert, I’ve been there: they’re not more handsome, they’re 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 “good-looking people” list fall in love with those they themselves might write off as too average, they’re confused. Perhaps to them, it looks like Brad Pitt falling madly in love with Rosie O’Donnell. “You could have your pick, and that’s your choice? Really?”
No doubt more than a few assume we’re 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 “othered,” our motivations a mystery. I won’t pretend to know what minorities in the US feel, but being a closely-inspected “representative” of one’s 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, https://sarahedevries.substack.com/.
Interesting article. I think a large portion of racism is taught at home. Children have big ears. From my on life experience my father was born (1909) and raised in Alabama. He was raised very poor, served in the Navy 24 years, WW ll survivor. In my time with my dad, I never hear one racist word come out of his mouth or act it out. One thing he taught me was some else always has it harder than you do.
I was born and raised in Japan my first 7 years of my life. Japanese was my first language. Moving to the states and going to school I was ridiculed for speaking Japanese. It was a struggle at times with fights with other white children. Especially with the hate of the Japanese back then taught by the world which I can understand. Even my grandmother forbid me from speaking Japanese.
I am 70 and I look back in my life and all the past has taught me a lot to be a better person, especially for those who have it harder than I do.
One reason I so love living in Mexico full time as I often see people who do have a very hard life and I respect those even more and help in ways that I can without being over bearing. The color of there skin has zero play in my eyes.
Dwight, dad was also born in 1909, in Ohio. (I’m 66) he relocated to California as a young adult. I was a result of his 2nd wife. I grew up as an only child in Long Beach, Calif., never heard a racist comment in my home with both parents embracing other communities, black and Mexican. We didn’t have special terms back then. I am doing the Ancestry family tree, mine goes back to the ship my great grandparents were on, from Europe. It’s amazing. Even though Europeans (Ireland mostly) (and I don’t have even have red hair either) were very light skinned, I was raised like you “color of skin plays no part in our world”. Japanese? bummer speaking that especially during those times, yikes. Bless you for your comment on Sarah’s article, it was very good.
Beautiful!!!
I agree with you so much
“One reason I so love living in Mexico full time as I often see people who do have a very hard life and I respect those even more and help in ways that I can without being over bearing. The color of there skin has zero play in my eyes.”
Thank you. I agree and try to live up to your ideals, too. My heart is here in Mexico
Wow! I usually search out Sarah’s articles because I find them entertaining and with a large dose of truthfulness and humor about daily life in México. But with this article she hits it out of the ballpark and demonstrates yet another facet of her writing abilities! I didn’t laugh like I usually do while slowly digesting this very deep piece. 👌
Excellent.
Great article thanks Sarah. I’m glad you touched on education- I wasn’t aware of how it might be “racially limited”. Hope to learn more how that is.
Thanks again
I wanted to add a note to your article. When my husband and I arrived in Ajijic,14 yrs ago, we did a lot of renovations to our house. The contractor spoke English and helped us out with several things. One was to open a bank account.
He went to the bank with us to translate. We waited and waited while the lady at the desk ignored us. Finally the contractor went up to her, to see what was going on
When he came back, we were told to go to the desk
What was explained to us was that she thought he was beneath her do socially until she found out that they both lived in the same area
I always seem to learn something from Sarah’s articles. The part about the Texas history, Sarah is correct, I didn’t know those facts. This is another great article. The comments even provided valuable insights. Being an American of Scandinavian/Norwegian decent, I haven’t experienced racism directed at me. I have seen plenty of it around me, and directed at friends of mine. At parties when I was a teen, my black friends would have me hold the weed because if/when the police came, they always let the white kids leave while they would run IDs and harass our black friends. Even on the few occasions they checked our ID, our addresses were in the “right” neighborhoods, and they simply told us to get home. There were many times in which I never got searched but was carrying large quantities of illicit goods. So I am naive to how racism may be directed towards me or may be happening around me now that I am the minority. This is a topic I never considered. I appreciate Sarah & MND for posting it.
The author gets some of the history wrong. She states, “Europeans kidnapped Africans”. No they didn’t; they bought them from other Africans who had kidnapped them and enslaved them, as Africans had done for thousands of years. This is History 101; surprised that the author makes such a elementary error. As for her critique of Mexican society and her charge of rampant racism within the culture, all I can say is that this has not been my experience. My Mexican wife and I have two daughters, one is dark-skinned and one is light skinned. I have never noticed that they are treated differently in Mexico. Furthermore, my wife’s extended family represent a spectrum of skin pigmentations; some are urban professionals and some are “rancheros”; some are highly educated and a few are barely literate. But the thing that has always impressed me, coming from an American background, is that everyone is loved and respected equally. So maybe within the author’s world, Mexican racism is pervasive, but thankfully that is not the world I live in.
The Africans captured their fellow Africans in order to sell them to European slave traders. Both parties were therefore guilty of kidnapping. No one likes a pedant.
Yes, all forms of slavery can be categorized as kidnapping. But, what the writer stated is historically inaccurate. And it is not pedantic to point that out. Sounds like the author was angry that her ex-husband had been slighted by some of her Mexican “friends” and she used that emotional energy to write about the classicism prevalent in Mexico. Maybe she should just find better friends.
A related contradiction is the adulation of indigenous people and culture, at least since the time of the muralists, versus discrimination against people who have a hint of indigenous identity. “Indigenismo, si; indigenas, no,” as the saying goes.
Good article. I’m a resident of Mexico but a US citizen. I spend a lot of time in Mexico. Your article made perfect sense to me and that is exactly what I observe there and your article tied it all together
Thanks Sarah
I always enjoy your insightful articles.
The strict racist categorization of the colonies (maintained by the church) can be easily found by trying to Google why the heck frizzy or afro hair is called pelo chino.
The history museum in the park (the “castle”/palace on the hill) has the exact racist paintings or plates which you’ll find on the Internet.