Thread: Mexico's Fox Trying to Win Over Blacks

By TRACI CARL, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 21, 1:15 AM ET



MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox, the champion of Mexican migrants, is taking to the airwaves to convince Americans he isn't racist. An interview on U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson's radio program Sunday will be Fox's first public comments about a firestorm he ignited a week ago by saying Mexicans take the U.S. jobs that "not even" blacks want.

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The statement roiled already tense relations between U.S. blacks and Hispanics, and angered the U.S. government.

Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Friday the president is trying to "move on" by talking publicly with Jackson about ways to bring the communities closer to fight together for their civil rights.

But moving on may be hard to do. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People invited Fox to attend its July 10-14 convention in Milwaukee to explain himself, although it wasn't immediately clear if he would attend. And activist Al Sharpton demanded that Fox apologize when the two meet Monday in Mexico City.

"I don't think we've heard a formal apology from him," Sharpton told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I think we've heard some regrets. I think we need an unequivocal apology. This was an unequivocal insult."

Aguilar brushed aside that demand, saying Friday: "We don't have anything more to say on this point."

The closest the administration has come to apologizing was when Assistant Foreign Secretary Patricia Olamendi said Tuesday that "if anyone felt offended by the statement, I offer apologies on behalf of my government." But the next day Aguilar said Olamendi was speaking on her own behalf, not for the government.

Fox's comment unveiled to the world Mexico's obsession with skin color, which dictates people's status in society in a way few Mexicans are comfortable discussing.

Blacks aren't the only group that suffer from discrimination in Mexico. In a country where much of the population is of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry, people often refer to one another with nicknames based on skin tone, and Indians are overwhelmingly poor with little access to education.

Other minorities are fair game as well. During the World Cup soccer tournament in 2002 in Japan, television ads poked fun of Asian culture by having people pull on the corners of their eyes.

Sharpton said it was time to have "a real discussion about race" with Fox.

"Things have been boiling under the surface for awhile and they need to be discussed, and frankly he can do that," Sharpton said.

Since taking office in 2000, Fox has made improving the rights of Mexican migrants in the United States one of his top priorities, and he has pressured President Bush to approve an accord that would allow more Mexicans to cross the border and work legally.

But Fox, already seen as a lame-duck president before elections next year, has been lampooned recently in the Mexican media.

Reforma newspaper published a cartoon Tuesday of Fox in blackface, exclaiming: "What more can I do so that they don't call me a racist?" Milenio newspaper dubbed May 13th â€â€

Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Friday the president is trying to "move on" by talking publicly with Jackson about ways to bring the communities closer to fight together for their civil rights.

I think most of us want that moron Foxie to "move on."

Sharpton said it was time to have "a real discussion about race" with Fox.

I don't think Foxie has a clue about "real."

Many Mexicans were puzzled by the outcry, saying that Fox was justified in reacting to new U.S. immigration policies that include extending walls along the border and cracking down on illegal migrants, and that they didn't see anything offensive in his comments.

Mexicans continue to amaze me. What right do they have to be in the US?

On Friday, Tlaxcala state lawmaker Javier Garcia called on his legislature to approve a resolution urging Mexicans to burn their Schwarzenegger movies and declaring the California governor persona non grata.

Fine with me. I will declare Mr. Garcia persona non idiot. Run your own banana republic country instead of your big mouth. Not many people here care what you think.

Jessee messed things up. I hope Sharpton stands firm and holds Fox accountable for his racist remarks. I hope Sharpton makes Fox look really bad. I wish Sharpton would throw Fox a sucker-punch! This, I would love to see!