Thread: Mexican President Snubs NAACP

Mexican President Snubs NAACP

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet. Posted July 11, 2005.

http://alternet.org/columnists/story/23461/



Vicente Fox's appearance at the group's annual convention would have sent a strong message that America's neighbor to the south will do its part to improve black and Latino relations.
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A plainly chagrined NAACP chairman Julian Bond lashed out at Mexican President Vicente Fox for flatly turning down the NAACP's invite to address its annual convention that opened this week. Fox begged off with the standard politician's duck and dodge excuse of a scheduling conflict. That may well have been the case. But schedules can always be juggled, and rearranged if a politician feels that the event or the cause is important enough.

Fox didn't bother. His no-show at the convention could be chalked up in part to ethnic callousness, and perhaps in bigger part to a belief that now that Hispanics have become a growing economic and political force in the United States, there is no need to engage in dialogue with black organizations. If that's the case, Fox is wrong, dead wrong. His blunder in dragging blacks into the debate on illegal immigration, his passionate defense of a Mexican racist commemorative stamp, his arrogant knock at black activists for protesting the stamp, and the tense and in some cases violent clashes between blacks and Latinos in some American cities, are urgent reasons to engage in that dialogue.

Yet, it is true that the political and economic landscape has radically changed in recent years between blacks and Latinos. In the past decade, the Latino population has skyrocketed sixty percent nationally, and by nearly forty percent in some of America's major cities. In Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Antonio and dozens of other cities in the South and West there are legions of Spanish-language ads on billboards, buses, and in newspapers.

There are street signs, TV and radio broadcasts, and school texts in Spanish. Many employers are learning Spanish to better communicate with their Latino workers. There are now entire neighborhoods in some major cities where Spanish is the only language that many newly arrived immigrants can or feel they need to speak. Even President Bush has spoken a few halting Spanish words in his radio broadcasts, and the Democrats have done the same in broadcasts.

Banks and corporations now allocate big chunks of their ad dollars to wooing Latino customers. Credit card, shipping, and communications companies, trade and tourist associations, hotels, airlines, and sports franchises now feverishly market products to snatch a bigger share of their dollars.

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush upped the ante in the stampede for Latino votes. GOP campaign officials with much public fanfare dumped millions into ads on Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo. The money Bush and the Democrats spent in 2004 on the TV ads far exceeded the money they spent in past elections. The titanic and swift shift in the nation's Latino numbers and clout rudely shattered the myth that while Latinos now convincingly outrank African-Americans as the nation's biggest minority group, they are still light years behind blacks politically.

Latinos make up about eight percent of the vote nationally. In 2004, their vote total surpassed eight million and that will continue to get bigger. Three of America's biggest cities, San Antonio, Miami and Los Angeles have Latino mayors. Two Latinos were elected to the Senate in 2004, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus hit a historic high with more than two-dozen members after last year's elections. Nationally, there are nearly 5,000 Latino elected officials.

It isn't the numbers alone that excite Bush and the Democrats but it's where those voters are concentrated and their political significance. The biggest number of Latino voters is in California, Florida, Texas, and New York. These are the key electoral states that virtually determine who will sit in the White House. The National Survey of Latinos: The Latino Electorate, conducted in 2002 by the Pew Hispanic Center, found that one-fifth of Latinos are Republicans.

Republicans bank that even more Latino voters will stampede to the GOP in 2008 mostly because of Bush. He did more than any other Republican politician in recent years to court and win Latino voters in Texas and other states.

In the either/or world of politics, there are always winners and losers, sometimes big winners and losers, and this is just as true in the world of ethnic politics. The rush by Republicans and Democrats to corral Latino voters has touched off nervous jitters among some black politicians and leaders. If Latinos are now the favored minority of record, and also the favored political minority political group of record, the fear is that blacks will be shoved even further to the fringe of American politics.

Fox's appearance as a featured guest at the annual convention of the nation's oldest civil rights organization would have sent the strong message that the top official of America's colossal neighbor to the south believes strongly in racial fairness, and will do his part to improve the always touchy black and Latino relations. By ducking the NAACP, Fox blew it badly.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of 'The Crisis in Black and Black' (Middle Passage Press).

http://alternet.org/columnists/story/23461/#comments
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Maybe the NAACP should try to understand Mexico and Mexicans
Posted by: jules_siegel on Jul 12, 2005 6:00 AM [Report this comment]

I began living in Mexico in 1971 and have lived here continuously since 1981. I am fluent in Spanish. One of my three children was born here in 1984. My eldest daughter is a certified Spanish interpreter in the California court system. I've worked as a consultant to Mexican political institutions and labor unions.

From the standpoint of my experience in Mexico and my understanding of Mexican culture, I think this article is larrgely factually correct, but draws conclusions that do not apply here. Fox is not running for political office in the United States. He's president of Mexico until his term ends in 2006 and then his role in Mexican political life is pretty much over. He has nothing to gain by appearing before the NAACP.

The general feeling in Mexico right now is that American blacks should tend to their own problems in the United States and not intrude in Mexican issues about which they seem to be ignorant and hopelessly prejudiced. They are baffled by the controversy over the MemÃÂ*n PinguÃÂ*n stamp. Racism is not an important issue here and labels and stereotypes are not usually considered offensive even by their targets.

Even with his powers somewhat reduced in recent years the president of Mexico is the most powerful democratically elected official in the world. The authority of his office easily exceeds even that of Putin and makes Bush look hopelessly entangled in legal restrictions. The immense dignity of the Mexican presidency would forbid Fox to submit to a hostile private body in a foreign country. Doing so would cause him grave political damage at home and gain him nothing abroad.

The kind of antagonism displayed by American blacks toward a revered Mexican icon such as MemÃÂ*n PinguÃÂ*n is considered unspeakably boorish in Mexico, where accomodation, understanding and tolerance are the principal cultural values. Mexicans go out of their way to be polite and even indirect when offering criticism. Although there are many exceptions to this deeply ingrained cultural choice, especially in politics, Mexicans see open criticism as a form of aggression.

I think that blacks in general and organizations such as the NAACP should seek common ground with Mexicans and Mexican-Americans rather than offend them with self-righteous lectures about matters of image and language that people here perceive quite differently.

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» RE: Maybe the NAACP should try to understand Mexico and Mexicans Posted by: Yahmeh

» RE: Maybe the NAACP should try to understand Mexico and Mexicans Posted by: daniel1982

» RE: Maybe the NAACP should try to understand Mexico and Mexicans Posted by: philame

Stressed about Mexico, Apathic at home
Posted by: SonnyDr on Jul 12, 2005 6:55 AM [Report this comment]

Honestly this is the biggest waste of time - the Naacp is spending time and I assume money on Mexico's president. Why not spend some on the creep in this country??? How come there isn't no press conference on how our president is trying to destroy affirmative action and removing many of the safeties that African-Americans and poor Americans have depended on in tough times. Talk about our children being sent to die in a war that does nothing for them. Talk about the attack on Social security or bankruptcy bill.

The sad part is that it's obvious the Naacp knows nothing about Mexico - I'm black and I'm treated way more fairly in Mexico that I do in my own country. They can have a character like Memin because they don't stress that racial make up or even think about it. In the US memin would be a big deal because we are obsessed with Race in this country and his "racial" features would be highlighted.

The NAACP should focus on the issues for people HERE - that is why I and many others contribute. But if they are going to be focused on Mexican presidents that I want my money back.

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» RE: Stressed about Mexico, Apathic at home Posted by: jules_siegel

Mexican Stamp
Posted by: ZylogZ80 on Jul 12, 2005 7:02 AM [Report this comment]

I did some reading up on the cartoon they were putting on that stamp that caused such an uproar (I can't recall the charecter's name at the moment). Though the little cartoon guy looked racist to Americans (myself included) when we see it out of context. Actually, after reading up on the charecter, he's a pretty positive little guy. He has a group of friends, who are of different reces, and they story runs in a sort of serial continuing story format. The group encounter problems and they overcome them through thier different talents. The charecter on the stamp often over comes his problems, according to what I read, using ingenuity and hope. I know the likeness causes us discomfort, but the image is out of cultural context. When a Mexican sees that charecter he is entwined with thier knowledge of his attributes and traits, that endear him to the people. One of the biggest fears we have on the left is the specter of racism, from the outside world, from within our ranks, and even in ourselves. I think we have to look at the whole picture before we judge, as that's what we ask of others.

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Hm.
Posted by: mviscid on Jul 12, 2005 8:26 AM [Report this comment]

Like others said above, I think it's more important for U.S. Latinos and blacks to work together than focusing on the Mexican president. In my experience growing up here in Texas, Latinos and African Americans have always had a commonality, a common ground not share-able with Anglos. If the NAACP wants to build stronger bridges with Latinos, keep it here in the U.S., where it actually could impact the quality of minority life. There are many organizations they could team up with, LULAC being the first that comes to mind.

The first post in this thread really said it best!

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» RE: Hm. Posted by: susangb

» RE: Hm. Posted by: philame

Let's Not Forget that It Takes Two
Posted by: gs15 on Jul 12, 2005 10:48 AM [Report this comment]

Of course the NAACP and African Americans should make efforts to better understand Mexico and its cultural stands, but by the same token, Mexicans need to try to better understand the context of African American anger towards depictions such as those of Memin Pinguin. Methinks quite frankly, that too many responses tend to go for the usual (and quite American) tactic of "BLAMING THE BLACK" while giving a free pass to the other side.

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"racism is not an issue"
Posted by: anana on Jul 12, 2005 10:53 AM [Report this comment]

I just want to call into question the statement in the first responce that "racism is not an issue" in Mexico because this is such a bold statement.
In general the upper class has lighter-skin.
In general the lower class has darker skin.
In my experience, Mexicans tend to talk in terms of class and not race but does that mean that race is not an issue in Mexican society?
I notice the preferential treatment I get from Mexicans for being a light skinned Latina.
I recently saw a documentary about the descrimination and even austricization of Black Mexicans. A prime example of why race is an issue that needs to be talked about in Mexico as in every other society.
It is a complex issue that needs to be talked about in context. Any analysis of race in Mexico has to take into consideration the style of colonization by the Spanish which has resulted in just about all Mexicans today being Mestizos. So it is lighter-skinned people of color that are descriminating against darker-skinned people of color.
More dialogue between Latina/os and Black Americans needs to happen around race in the US. We need to work together against dismantling the the systematic racism that is oppressing us in this country.

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» RE: "racism is not an issue" Posted by: philame

Virgilio
Posted by: Virgilioperez on Jul 12, 2005 3:27 PM [Report this comment]

I agree with the substance of the article and disagree with the gentleman who has lived in Mexico since 1971.

The President of Mexico is squandering whatever opportunities he has to improve his own political standing in Mexico by building bridges in the US. After all, one of his promises early in his term was to help fix "the immigration problem" which he felt he could fix easily....Bush is conservative and so is he, both are ranchers, and both were looking to bring more "ethical values" into the political discourse. Everybody knows that 9/11 distracted President Bush, and since then President Fox has not been able to get the immigration issue even on the table....which led him to the "racist" gaffe about where Mexicans are employed in the US vs. blacks.

There is legislation on the table now in the US, supported by Mc Cain and Kennedy that President Fox could have lent his weight to help pass....and if, in the process, he could have talked to the folks at the NAACP, it would have been a coup. Certainly a better alternative than trying to prevent the Mayor of Mexico from becoming a candidate in the next elections in Mexico.

In my opinion there is pernicious racism in Mexico...not only are the darker skinned at a disadvantage but if you identify yourself as an Indian, you suffer even more

The argument that Mexico is a sovereign nation and can put who she wants (in this case somebody in the executive branch of the government) in a stamp, and it doesn't matter what others think is an illusion. The mexican government and the mexican people are better off getting along with their neighbor in the north. And while I agree that Americans need to understand Mexicans better, it behooves Mexicans to understand the Americans more because it can improve matters at home.
I am a Mexican citizen living in the US...and I love my country dearly, but I am discouraged when our leaders don´t rise to the occasion....When Fox worked at Coke he was known as the Marshall Dillon...The Marshall is failing us. Clearly.

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Isn't There A Bigger Issue Here?
Posted by: JustMyOpinion on Jul 13, 2005 11:35 AM [Report this comment]

The so-called "controvery" with Mexico aside, as an African American it seems to me that this highlights a much bigger problem - that is, the idealogy and political stragegy still being employed by our so-called leaders is outdated.

I say so-called because I don't remember electing anyone - not Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. - to speak for me, and I'm not a member of the NAACP. However, as it is always portrayed that these people are the representatives for ALL African Americans, I guess in this case perception trumps reality.

But I think it is also a reality that a strategy of using race and the legacy of victimization has run its course. It was appropriate and effective in it's day, but shouldn't there have been a plan B? Did anyone really think this was going to be affective forever? Why?

Mexico's president felt no need to placate the NAACP because he has nothing to gain or lose from them. He isn't American, he doesn't own a corporation so you can't extort money from him by threatening a boycott. He didn't own slaves, and his ancestors didn't institute Jim Crow, so there is no guilt, liberal or otherwise, to tap into. So what can you do to him?

Similarly, as the hispanic population continues to grow, they are more politically open-minded. So both the Democrats and the Republicans feel they have to work to get their vote and answer their concerns. Do any African Americans really feel that they are looked at in the same way? As evidenced by what? Whether you like Bush or not, he IS the president, and he didn't bother to come to the NAACP either.

The civil rights movement was a brilliant political effort, and those who brought us this far should be forever commended for that sacrifice. But that doesn't mean that these same principles serve us now, or will serve us in the future. The membership of the NAACP, Urban League, etc., is aging out for a reason. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

But not having a plan B, not looking at the conditions that African Americans face today and making the necessary changes, both politically and in terms of a diversity of idealogical thinking, is a mistake. The circle of life will not be denied.

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Fox Opened the Door...
Posted by: Laconic1 on Jul 13, 2005 1:13 PM [Report this comment]

Cultural sensitivity is part and parcel of dealing in a global economy. Mexico does not exist in a vacuum and neither does the US for which Mexicans account for the greatest portion of Latino immigrants, legal and illegal that makes there way into America, thus they are bound to bring with them their common prejudices and cultural beliefs and that includes their Racism.

Vicente Fox opened the RACE DOOR once he started comparing American Blacks supposed lack of industriousness to Mexicans supposed ability to work hard no matter what the job or what the costs, then it becomes a Black American problem, therefore, I think it is quite right for conscious thinking Black Americans as well as the NAACP for taking Vicente Fox and his ilk to task for harboring such simmering racially charged stereotypes and that includes the disgustingly offensive stamps and depictions of Black people, who look like little more than apes and monkeys.

If Blacks are too racially hyper-sensitive, love to play the race card, and are too ignorant of Mexico’s quaint cultural idiosyncrasies that are quite harmless, then how can you explain the fact that the ruling class in Mexico (and many Latin American countries for that matter) is largely White-European and or Mestizo? Where are the Black Mexicans in Vera Cruz and Oaxaca?Whay are Blacks viciously lampooned on Univision (where the majority of Mexican telenovelas are made and distributed in America and the rest of the Spanish speaking world including the Philippines) seen fit to have a Black Minstrel Show in 2005 not 1905, on Vida TV el Show

What about the stock Indian character in many Telenovelas and TV shows that depict Indians as Lazy, uncouth and stupid (just like Blacks here in America) and beyond?

Imagine the uproar would have followed if he had made an Anti-Semitic comment, the ADL, American Jews, and everyone else ould have been up and arms and he would have been summarily shut down and chastened. . I am quite sure that he would have attended an ADL meeting without protest and proceeded to sing Kum-Ba-Ya with President Sharon and every Akasehic (sp) Jew in the Diaspora and everyone would have been singing his praises for seeing the light and changing his ways.

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