La Raza: My Interpretation of Race in Mexico

[ikissedtheskyonce]

I have many friends from Mexico that live in America. I have a friend that looks like Katy Perry with a thick Spanish accent, and she tells me that people say they thought she was white until she tells them that she is from Mexico.

Her being from Mexico should not make her any less white, just the same as if she was a mestizo from Mexico it would not make her any less Mexican.

Perhaps when a person thinks of a certain look from Mexico they think of someone with these features or what I call a Mestizo look.

Everyone has a certain look in their head of what they think of when they think of the way the people look in a certain country. There is nothing wrong with that, it actually helps categorize things and it's only human nature.

(Enirique Pena Nieto, the current president of Mexico seen above)

However, racially speaking 62% of people in Mexico are mestizo

(White and indigenous) 21% are predominately indigenous,

7% indigenous, and Other is 10%. Ok so let's break down these groups first.

(Guillermo del toro: Mexican film director)

(Emilio Jean: Mexican businessman)

Mexicans who are white are estimated to be 9-17%. However, some whites identify with the mestizo label. The indigenous race of Mexico makes up 14.9%.

Now this is where things get complicated, Mexico does not report race in their census, only what a person identifies with culturally.

(Jose Kuribrena: Mexican politician with white and Lebanese mixture)

There are an estimates 1,100,000 Arabs in Mexico. Some arabs could also possibly be culturally identifying as mestizo too.

Descendants of African slaves in mexico: Finally, we have 1.38 million blacks in Mexico or what some may call black mexicans. A part of that group are the descendants of the African slaves in Mexico, there were a lot of interracial marriages between the indigenous and the blacks during the colonial era in Mexico. 9.3% of blacks speak an indigenous language.

So culturally they have identified with the indigenous population, which makes them indigenous regardless of the percentage of indigenous and black admixture they have.

(Rene Juarez Cisneros: Mexican politician)

Recent Immigrants: These blacks are not descendants of the slaves in Mexico but are naturalized citizens from Africa and the Caribbean, thus making them culturally different from the other blacks who's ancestors have lived in Mexico for decades.

(Lupita Nyongo: Kenyan Mexican actress with dual citizenship. At the age of 16 she went back to Mexico for several months to learn Spanish)

In Conclusion, Mexico is united under what can be called by the Spanish term la raza, which to me means race through country not biological blood, but from the blood, sweat and tears of the people in the country. The various racial admixture of each person does not take away from the national identity of a Mexican but strengthens it.

This makes the way that race is viewed in Mexico different from America, because a person in America will always be seen as African-American, Asian American, or Italian American solely based on their racial admixture even though they share the same nationality.

[menina]

Nice take!

Don't get me wrong, but I never thought Mexico was so diverse. And I'm surprised to see that there's black people in Mexico.
It's good to know that race isn't important there. Which it was like that in all countries.

[menina]

I mean, "wish" not which

[ikissedtheskyonce]

The concept is complicated really. There are black Mexicans but it doesn't mean that all Mexicans have black blood. The statement is not intended to sound racist, it's just similar to saying that a Puerto Rican can be black but not all blacks are Puerto rican.

[ikissedtheskyonce]

Thanks

[menina]

I see.

You're welcome.

[ConsultantIsBack]

I love Mexican women
I love Mexican food
I love Mexican music
I love Mexican beaches
I love Mexican everything

That is all.

But fr mexicanas Mmm estan Fuego 🔥😍😍

[Aztecwarrior480]

I've read somewhere that the Indigenous population of Mexico is much higher than what you stated here. Like somewhere around 25-30%, since Mexico's has a rather more complex classification, such as labelling fully Indigenous people (by race) who abandoned their Indigenous language and culture for Spanish language, as "Mestizos".

I've also read that the White population of Mexico today isn't really 15-20% as many people in Mexico claim it to be, since Castizos (someone who's 1/4 American Indian, 3/4 White European) are lumped together into the same group as Pure White Mexicans. Mexico's real white population is most likely about 9%(If you were to exclude Castizos).

[TadCurious]

You do a great job pointing out how "Mexican" is not a race. A lot of people in the U. S. are very confused about that, and many people also mistaken in thinking that "Hispanic" and "Latino" are racial categories.

[ikissedtheskyonce]

Thank you

[front2back]

I always find it hilarious when some whites try to outcast mexicans as being too different when reality Mexicans and many other Latin Americans are pretty freakin' white themselves.
It's like calling the man in the mirror "ugly" when in reality it's you.

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

Yeah I'm American and I see humans. I don't see Americans or Mexicans, black white or Asian. We are all human beings with different hair colors, skin colors, cultures, religions, that's it.

[reixun]

I like this a lot 😛 I knew about the different races there but not about how they identify culturally.

[somebodysaycheese]

We should be more like Mexico.

[abundantlyrich]

Interesting 😀

[ikissedtheskyonce]

Thanks