Is there racial tension, acceptance or diversity in Mexico?
John Venator - Casa de los Venados
There is no racial tension here in the Yucatan. I'll give you an example. Historically, black slaves were brought to Mexico, but not to this part of Mexico. You would hardly see any black people unless they are tourists. Basically, you would be seeing white tourists and people of Spanish descent that are Mexicans. In fact some people that you see, for example, a blonde blue-eyed man, you may think that he is a German tourist, but he may not be. His ancestors might have been German...There is no racial tension here in the Yucatan. I'll give you an example. Historically, black slaves were brought to Mexico, but not to this part of Mexico. You would hardly see any black people unless they are tourists. Basically, you would be seeing white tourists and people of Spanish descent that are Mexicans. In fact some people that you see, for example, a blonde blue-eyed man, you may think that he is a German tourist, but he may not be. His ancestors might have been German but he may be a second or third generation Mexican. The indigenous people here in Mexico historically of course were very much taken advantage of. They were enslaved, basically, but ever since the Mexican revolution, which is 100 years old where the pendulum pretty dramatically the other direction at least on paper, the civil rights of the indigenous population were given, and the things they are entitled to. They divided up agricultural lands from the large old hacienda. The indigenous people here in Mexico have very definite rights now that they did not have when they used to be very much taken advantage of.
(Dr. Francisco Luna Kan, the first governor of the Yucatan, Mexico of pure Mayan descent, pictured.)
Posted September 9, 2015
Ivan Castillo - Secure Title Riviera Maya
There isn’t any racial tension in Mexico. Whites, blacks, Mexicans, etc., are all treated exactly the same. In this in area in the Yucatan Peninsula where I live my son goes to school that is very international, so we have friends that are from multiple nationalities, religions, and cultures. We have meetings, parties, and so on and everyone is there. Obviously I have my own group of friends where we have things in common. For example, I do a...
There isn’t any racial tension in Mexico. Whites, blacks, Mexicans, etc., are all treated exactly the same. In this in area in the Yucatan Peninsula where I live my son goes to school that is very international, so we have friends that are from multiple nationalities, religions, and cultures. We have meetings, parties, and so on and everyone is there. Obviously I have my own group of friends where we have things in common. For example, I do a lot of exercising, because I do triathlons and I do Ironman competition so I usually hang out with my friends, as we’re all focused on the same thing. It would have nothing to do with racism or religion.
(Triathlon at Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted January 28, 2016
Mikki James
The level of racial tension and diversity in Mexico depends on where you go in Mexico. If it’s a mafia inhabited area then you’re going to find racism. If you have white skin, you speak English and they think you’re American or Canadian, they will kidnap you, but if you come to places like where I live, in Progresso, in the state of Yucatan, you’re going to be welcomed with open arms. My husband is Hispanic, although he lived...
The level of racial tension and diversity in Mexico depends on where you go in Mexico. If it’s a mafia inhabited area then you’re going to find racism. If you have white skin, you speak English and they think you’re American or Canadian, they will kidnap you, but if you come to places like where I live, in Progresso, in the state of Yucatan, you’re going to be welcomed with open arms. My husband is Hispanic, although he lived in Texas for over 30 years. I’m an American white woman. There are places where we go in Texas where we are snubbed and shunned and where we felt like they would just spit on us, but the same true for Monterrey in Mexico. As an inter-racial couple, we get a lot of issues. Down here in Progreso, where I live, there’s not one single problem. (Progresso is a fishing village in the state of Yucatan, about 45 minutes by car from the large city of Merida.)
In certain areas in in certain respects, the situation in Mexico is like the situation in the US. Every country has their own way of doing things but when you boil it down, we’re all the same. We’re hardwired the same, pretty much. In Monterrey, it’s not the expats who run the place. it’s the Hispanic people; the natives. And the people in charge put themselves above the white people, above the Gringos, because the Hispanics in Monterrey make a lot of money. Down here, the locals don’t make a lot of money, and they just accept people as family.
If you come in on a cruise ship they’re going to fleece you for all the dollars they can get. But there again, you just have to bear in mind that everybody’s got to make a living somehow and that’s how they make a living. I know when I walk through the mercado on cruise ship day, they’re not going to flock around me and ask me for American dollars because they know me. They’re just going to greet me, “Hey Mikki, how you doing? How’s it going today?”
(Mikki James celebrating her birthday in Progresso, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted February 11, 2016
Alicia Gomez - Collins Real Estate
The people I know here in Mexico treat people not because of their color but because they are human beings. If you are nice to me then I don’t have the right to be anything but nice to you. If you are rude to me, or are screaming at me then I’d just tell you to calm down because I can hear you fine but I don’t have to be rude to you in return. But if after I tell you to calm down and you’re still rude, then I’ll just turn around and leave. That is...The people I know here in Mexico treat people not because of their color but because they are human beings. If you are nice to me then I don’t have the right to be anything but nice to you. If you are rude to me, or are screaming at me then I’d just tell you to calm down because I can hear you fine but I don’t have to be rude to you in return. But if after I tell you to calm down and you’re still rude, then I’ll just turn around and leave. That is regardless of the color of your skin. Black people do not have to worry about coming here to Mexico because they will be as welcome as the rest. I have friends of that color and they are good looking men and women. I have a friend who has blue eyes and dark skin and she is beautiful. Her husband has green eyes. And their kids are beautiful. But in general, you don’t have to have blue eyes or green eyes to be welcome in Mexico. Anybody of any color or any culture is welcome to make Mexico their home.
(Beauty contestants in Mexico who are descendants of slaves brought to Mexico, pictured.)
Posted October 11, 2016
Marvin Golden
I have not encountered any racial tension here in Mexico. We have a lot of gay people here. We are all friends and we get along together. There were some really nasty people that come from Canada and the United States for which we wanted to chip in and send home. They don’t want to pay even really cheap rates and they complain about the Spanish and they complain about using pesos. The locals say, “Here in Mexico, we speak Spanish and we use...
I have not encountered any racial tension here in Mexico. We have a lot of gay people here. We are all friends and we get along together. There were some really nasty people that come from Canada and the United States for which we wanted to chip in and send home. They don’t want to pay even really cheap rates and they complain about the Spanish and they complain about using pesos. The locals say, “Here in Mexico, we speak Spanish and we use pesos and if you don’t like it then you shouldn’t be here.”
As far as racial tension similar to what they have in the US, I don’t see that here in Mexico. Mexico has lots of different minorities and little tribes. The Tarahumara, for example, are a very interesting group who live in caves down at the bottom of Copper Canyon in northern Mexico. They don’t want to change their lifestyle or their language to fit in. We gather up clothing and blankets and so on to take to them so they don’t freeze in the winter, but we won’t put them in a development and build homes for them or put them in the public school system because they won’t go.
Overall, there is no discrimination here. We have black people living here and they are not discriminated against; that I know. I am sure there are some bigoted people but we just do not have the same kind of thing here in Mexico as they do in the US.
As you go to different towns in Mexico, you would see that some of the people wear their customary dress. They are shorter and maybe heavier and darker. They eat different foods. Most of them speak some English so you could communicate with them. I just do not see any racial tension with them, or other groups here in Mexico.
(Steve Cross's message found at Lake Chapala Real Estate office, Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted November 6, 2016
Juan Eufracio Marquez Flores - LM&A Immigration and Legal Services
There is no racism here in Mexico towards, for example, Chinese or African-Americans. When they come to Mexico they get service just like anyone else. It’s not like in the US where I have seen some restaurants in Georgia and Iowa, where, when there is a black couple that comes they don’t attend the table right away. I know because I was foreign exchange student in the US. Here in Mexico, it’s not like that. African-Americans for us...
There is no racism here in Mexico towards, for example, Chinese or African-Americans. When they come to Mexico they get service just like anyone else. It’s not like in the US where I have seen some restaurants in Georgia and Iowa, where, when there is a black couple that comes they don’t attend the table right away. I know because I was foreign exchange student in the US. Here in Mexico, it’s not like that. African-Americans for us are kind of like an exotic because in this area of Lake Chapala we’re not used to seeing that color or of people.
I have seen in Mexico, in a typical Mexican family, a daughter that decides she wants to marry a black man, and it was not an issue. Mexicans have friends that are Chinese, I have seen local Mexican women, 20 years old and they’re with 30, 50, or 60-year-old American, who could be black or white or Chinese.
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In the past, the lighter skinned people were more accepted into the upper class of the Mexican society, but that is changing. There are now a lot of darker skinned people in the higher classes.
(Chinese restaurant, Mexico City, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted December 18, 2016