Times of crisis often reveal opportunities for either growth or collapse. In particular, the crises that have stemmed from the coronavirus pandemic have re-opened and even worsened old societal wounds. Systemic racism worldwide is one of these oft-minimized problems, leading to sudden outbursts of protests and violence depending on the country, state, and city.
While Black Lives Matter is often in the spotlight, Latin America is not without its share of racism. Mexico is among the countries with a smaller degree of social mobility, with any opportunities for a better life closely interlinked to ones skin color and ethnic origin. The worst part is that if you were to ask anyone on the streets of Mexico City, they would tell you that they are not racist, because they are okay with Black people. This is very far from reality.
“El Colegio de México” has a special division dedicated to studying the link between racial & ethnic discrimination and its effects on society. Through their research, they have confirmed what they feared to be true: in Mexico, the darker your skin, or the less white-passing your name, the lower the chances you have of getting a job, and the greater your chances are of being taken down by police for whatever reason. This reason might even be not wearing a face mask, ending in death, as was the case of Giovanni López, a 30-year-old man in the state of Guadalajara on May 4th 2020.
While a fact of everyday life, most Mexicans would rather deny this aspect of our culture. Even so, cultural manifestations of it are everywhere. From magazine covers, to public opinion of movies that show anything that is not considered mainstream culture, Mexico’s systemic racism finds many ways to show its true face.
Magazine covers in Mexico rarely portray non-white models in their pages, and editorial teams consist mostly of white or white-passing Mexicans who live in gentrified neighborhoods. When exceptions to the rule are made, as was the case with Yalitza Aparicio’s Vogue Mexico cover in January 2019, racist and classist comments initially outnumbered the congratulations made to the magazine. The derogatory comments often made references to her role as a family’s maid in her Oscar-winning movie Roma, as well as to her Mixtec origins. Vogue Mexico, however, has made progress, culminating in its publication of covers shot by Dorian Ulises López Macías in July 2020, showcasing the variety of Latin-American beauty through his lenses to great applause on social media.
The same cannot be said of the filmmaking industry and the public that consumes it. While a comedy inspired by the city of San Pedro Garza García (the richest city in the country) is received with great applause as an accurate representation of Mexican society, movies like Ya no estoy Aquí (available on Netflix), receive more acclaim elsewhere. Both the comedy – Cindy La Regia – and the serious drama film – Ya no Estoy Aquí – simply showcase different sides of the same mountain, with both realities coexisting within the same 50 kilometers. While in Cindy La Regia we follow the story of a white, rich, young woman who escapes the pressures of marriage to Mexico City, where respectable girls go “wild”, Ya no Estoy Aquí follows Ulises, a young man from La Colonia Independencia, where gangs and “cholombiana culture” are the norm and he is forced to flee to the United States after drug dealers threaten his life. While social commentary is a staple of both, what they show to the world of Mexican society might as well feel like two completely different worlds. And yet, despite anyone’s claims to the contrary, they coexist within the same space.
Narratives like these are not exclusive to the “big cities” of Mexico. They can be found all along Latin America, and the denial of these inequalities runs rampant. Systemic racism has many faces, and as long as pop culture continues to look the other way, it will continue to dominate the mainstream narrative. As long as this narrative continues, Mexicans will continue to share and support Black Lives Matter protests, while denying the racism and classism that is so natural to them they cannot even see it.
Not all is bad news, however. Soon after the death of Giovanni López, protests against police brutality erupted in his home state of Guadalajara and in Mexico City, showcasing a step in the right direction for Mexican society in terms of questioning race and its systemic effects. The successes of films like Roma and Ya no Estoy Aquí, with their honest narratives, shine a light on what we as a society know to be true but have yet to accept, and give life to discussions of race in real life and on social media, giving an opportunity to evolve and change society from within.
Image credit: Pawiis09