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 Editorials | Opinions | May 2005 
Mexico's Fox Did The Right Thing With His Apology
 Leonel Martinez - The Californian
| | The whole thing may have seemed like just another exercise in excessive political correctness, but the Mexican president did the right thing by apologizing. |
The last thing anyone wants to do when wading into the debate over immigration is make a comment that can be interpreted as racist.
And yet that's exactly what happened last week from an unlikely source. While announcing a formal protest against U.S. immigration reforms, Mexican President Vicente Fox made a comment that was quickly perceived as racist toward blacks.
"There's no doubt that the Mexican men and women - full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work - are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States," Fox said Friday in Puerto Vallarta.
Activists such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton demanded an apology. Some Mexican newspapers denounced Fox as a racist. Fox at first resisted demands to issue an apology. But in a telephone conversation with both Jackson and Sharpton on Monday, he bowed to tremendous political pressure and said that he regretted any hurt feelings the comment may have caused.
To a lot of people, the whole thing may have seemed like just another exercise in excessive political correctness, but the Mexican president did the right thing by apologizing.
There are many reasons, but among them is this: Unknown to many non-Hispanic Americans, who are used to thinking about racism as a black and white issue, racial animosity between blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. is common. It would be a tragedy for Fox to further skew the already distorted perceptions that some blacks have about Latinos and vice-versa.
To me at least, it's obvious both groups have many more cultural, social and economic similarities than differences. But the animosity remains.
Arvin Mayor Tim Tarver, an African-American who was a classmate of mine at Arvin High School, dealt with that animosity during a race against incumbent Juan Olivarez in heavily Hispanic Arvin. The campaign was savage, and at one point, Tarver told reporters that he was called a "mayate."
Some media outlets seemed befuddled about what to make of the word, but the meaning was clear. Mayates are a type of beetle common in certain parts of Mexico.
They are black.
The slur is roughly equivalent to the "n" word in English. And yet I've heard it uttered by everyone from new immigrants to second- and third-generation Latinos with a college education. In fact, many people seem unaware that it is offensive. I'm sure many blacks harbor some ill will toward Hispanics, too.
However widespread the animosity, the reasons for its existence are many. Both groups tend to be at lower socio-economic levels than white Americans, and that means they often compete for the same working-class jobs. Some African-Americans believe the growing Latino community has had economic and political success at their expense.
Yet a more basic and sensitive issue also may play a role. Latinos of Mexican origin are generally of mixed race and therefore can have skin of virtually any hue. But in what may be a holdover from the time the Spaniards conquered an Indian Mexico, many Hispanics consider lighter-skinned folks more attractive than those with darker skin.
I can hear the angry voice mail messages about this already, but it's true. Certainly, that's the message I got over and over when I was growing up. If you don't believe me, turn to any Mexican soap opera and see what the stars look like.
If anyone still believes Fox's comment was perfectly acceptable, I offer one bit of advice. Substitute the word "Mexican" for "black," and place the comment on the lips of President Bush.
If Bush said during a press conference that some U.S. citizens do work "not even Mexicans would do," he would be skewered by Latino groups across the nation.
In fact, Mexican President Fox himself probably would take Bush to task.
Which is another reason Fox was right to say he's sorry. |
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