Studies of slavery both here, in the Caribbean and Brazil highlight the development of a separate group of mulattos. Degler focuses on the history of differing developments of slavery and race relations between the U.S. and Brazil, counterpoising the rigid racial segregation practiced here, in opposition to the "mulatto escape-hatch" provided in Brazil. (Deglar, 1971) However he fails to appreciate that we had our own mulatto escape hatch here as well. Brazil's allowed for an escape into the greater (whiter) society, whereas ours propelled the mulatto to the top of the black heap, trapped in a world where one drop of black blood defines you as black ad infinitum.
Marvin Harris coined the term hypodescent to describe the "one drop rule", the racial classification of a person with perhaps one black great-grand parent as black in the United States. That same person in Brazil, or the Hispanic Caribbean, would be legally, and perhaps socially white, regardless of color or class. (Harris, 1964) In countries like Brazil, Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico, where many of the poor are also black, the three-tiered color/class structure has repressed any struggle based on race, and in fact many members of the ruling and middle classes deny vociferously that there are any racial problems, attributing stratification to class alone.
Historically, the only part of the United States that operated under the three-tiered system was Louisiana, since it was colonized and settled first by the French and Spanish. Louisiana developed the first, and most wealthy colored aristocracy in the United States. Because Louisiana was colonized by the French, a "tripartite legal distinction emerged"; whites, African slaves, and free people of color or gens de couleur libre. These free coloreds were the products of sexual liaisons between white planters and slave women initially, but generations of crossing sexual lines created not only mulattos (half-white), but also quadroons (one fourth white), octoroons (one eighth white), and mustees(one sixteenth white). Called "colored creoles" to make a distinction between these mixed-race persons and those white Frenchmen and women born in the colonies, the free persons of color in Louisiana enjoyed an economic freedom and an opportunity for education denied to other mixed-race slaves or free Negroes in the rest of the South. (Dominguez, 1986)
Eugene Genovese traces the source of the free Negro population primarily to the practice of miscegenation on southern plantations. "Throughout the history of the slave regime there were planters who openly or surreptitiously accepted responsibility for the paternity of mulattos, educated them, freed them and when manumission became difficult, made special provisions for their care." (Genovese, 1976:416) He goes on to argue that though there was some division of blacks by color during slavery (house Negro versus field Negro) "Hostility was only directed at those mulattos who claimed and received privileges based on their color and relationship to the white family and who put on airs in the quarters." (Genovese, 1976:430) He points out that mulattos were unable to build for themselves a totally separate caste, such as the one that existed in Saint-Domingue (Haiti), or Jamaica, given the existence of only two legal categories in the U.S. - black or white. Therefore during reconstruction when mulattos sought political power, their fates were tied to those of their darker brethren, for they needed "black" voting power. However he points out that "the leadership that emerged after the war had a disproportionate share of mulattos because the better educated Northern and free Negroes and privileged town slaves were in a better position to step out front." (Genovese, 1976:430)
E. Franklin Frazier lists the demographic ratio of mulatto to black as 600,000 out of a total black population of 4.5 million in 1860. "They were the product of forcible rape, coercion due to power relationships, or voluntary surrender on the part of black women." Though he admits that mutual attraction was possible, he states that "the prestige of the white race was often sufficient to secure compliance on their part." (Frazier 1962:116)
Verena Martinez Alier makes a similar observation with respect to the behavior of free colored women in Cuba during the slave period. She cites a folk aphorism which points to their desire for whitening, "no hay tamarindo dulce ni mulata senorita" (there is no sweet tamarind fruit as there is no virgin mulatto woman.). She feels however that the available literature is inadequate to judge the extent of resistance to white men's sexual advances.( Martinez-Alier,1989:xiv)
Martinez-Alier examines the role of the Catholic Church, and the Spanish Inquisition in defining concepts of "purity of blood', which originally applied to any admixtures with foreigners, Jews, and non-Catholics but in the "Cuban context impurity of blood' came to mean bad race, African origin and slave status. Slavery was regarded as a stain that contaminated a slave's descendants, regardless of their actual physical appearance." ( Martinez-Alier, 1989:16) Parish priests kept records of white versus pardo (mulatto) genetic heritage, and though there were laws and codes to prevent intermarriage, race mixing did occur. "When it came to the racial classification of an individual, the principle of hypodescent prevailed. It was always the racially inferior parent, regardless of sex, that determined the group membership of the offspring of a mixed union" ( Martinez-Alier1989: 17)
Since the contracting of a mixed marriage would result in social downgrading, parents of marriageable offspring would often go to court to prevent any such mis-alliances. "By and large these white parents pursued racial endogamy. A marriage across the race barrier was felt to degrade the white candidate's family for all time." ( Martinez-Alier,1989:19) However, since whitening would advance one socially, many pardos pushed to form such alliances, and many parents of women of color refused to allow them to marry darker. "The constant endeavors on the part of the coloured population to advance socially by whitening themselves through marriage, or rather through informal affairs with lighter if not white people, conflicted with the downgrading principle as well."
One of the major reasons for the attempt at keeping accurate records of births to maintain social purity, was the inability to use phenotype to determine a persons race, after several generations of race mixing had taken place. Particularly because many "pure Spaniards" were dark in color. "Only too often was it difficult if not impossible to detect any actual physical difference between a person of Spanish and one of partial African origin " A Spanish dictionary in 1836 defined Trigueno as "The person of slightly darker color or similar to wheat (trigo), in the same way a person of lighter color, milky with a pink hue is called white...In a racial context the word white is used even if the person is trigueno, in order to differentiate him from Negro or mulatto, although there are some of the latter who are whiter than many of the white race".
Similar to the color stratification system used in Louisiana, Cubans in the 19th century developed a classification system between degrees of color: Pardo, white on one side, freeborn pardo, white on one side, ex-slave pardo on both sides, freeborn pardo on both sides, ex-slave chino, freeborn chino, ex-slave moreno criollo(born in Cuba), freeborn moreno criollo, ex-slave moreno de nacion (born in Africa), and three categories of slave: pardo slave, moreno criollo slave and moreno de nacion slave.
Another country that has espoused a creed of "whitening" and prides itself on having a "cafe-con leche" admixture is Brazil. Gilberto Freyre, staunch defender of Brazilian racial equality states, "The Brazilians ethnic democracy, has the almost perfect equality of opportunity for all men regardless of color" (Freyre,1945:7) He goes on to describe the results of the "whitening" process: "Negroes are now rapidly disappearing in Brazil, merging into the white stock; in some areas the tendency seems to be towards the stabilization of mixed-bloods in a new ethnic type similar to the Polynesian" (Freyre, 1945:119) Though he paints a portrait of a racially equitable Brazil, he does acknowledge social stratification. "There has been and still is, social distance between different groups of the population. But social distance is -more truly today than in the colonial age or during the Empire (when slavery was central to the social structure) - the result of class consciousness rather than of race and color prejudice. As the Brazilian attitude is one of tolerance toward people who have African blood, but who can pass for white, nothing is more expressive than the popular saying 'anyone who escapes being an evident Negro is white'.
Marvin Harris, disputes Freyre's findings. During his field research in Brazil, he used photos of Brazilians with different phenotypes; showing them to a variety of Brazilians of different classes and colors, asking them to racially categorize the persons depicted. Forty different racial types were elicited including: "branco, preto, sarara, moreno claro, moreno escuro, mulato, moreno, mulato claro, mulato oscuro, negro, caboclo, escuro, cabo verde, claro, aracuaba, roxo, amarelo, sarara vermelho, caboclo escuro, pardo, branca sarara, mambebe, branco caboclado, moreno oscuro, mulato sarara, gazula, cor de cinza clara, crelo, louro, moreno clarocaboclado, and mulato pele".
Harris explains that the system of hypodescent does not apply to Brazilian racial politics. "Brazilians say 'money whitens', meaning that the richer a dark man gets the lighter will be the racial category assigned to him by his friends, relatives and business associates." (Harris, 1964:59) The whitening process can take place from one generation to the next, or within the same family. "A Brazilian child is never automatically identified with the racial type of one or both of his parents, nor can his racial type be selected from one of only two possibilities. Over a dozen racial categories may be recognized in conformity with the combinations of hair color, hair texture, eye color and skin color which actually occur. These types grade into each other like the colors of the spectrum and no one category stands significantly isolated from the rest".
In one of the first major anthropological studies of black and white relations in the South of the United States, the anthropological team equated the system of color prejudice and discrimination with "caste". Though primarily focused on the caste and class positions of blacks vis a vis whites, they also documented color stratification within the Southern black community. "The distinguishing traits of the white caste are skin color and hair type, so that it is to be expected that whiteness of skin and straightness of hair will have high value as class sanctions in the colored group. Those who possess these physical traits may even become members of the upper caste by migrating and "passing for white".
Though they found color stratification, they take care to point out that color and other phenotypical features are not the only determinants of class position. "High social status depends today not simply upon light skin color and "good hair", therefore it depends upon a configuration of behavioral traits which include family status, length of formal education, manners, type of conversation, associational membership, dress and economic traits as well. " ( Davis et.al., 1941:235) This doesn't mean that all light-skinned persons are in the upper strata.. The illegitimate child of a black woman and a white male, or a light-skinned field worker, will still be lower class. "Other qualifications being nearly equal, colored persons having light skin and "white" types of hair will be accorded the highest station within the lower caste. This fact does not prevent the expressions of strong antagonisms to light-skinned persons by the rest of the group. Such antagonism is an expression of the envy and humiliation of the darker individuals."(Davis, et. al.,1941:235)
The term "caste' to explain the racial situation in the United States has been used by many social anthropologists, among them Lloyd Warner, John Dollard and more recently Gerard Berriman(, Warner,1939; Dollard, 1937, Berriman, 1968) Though I can see that there may be some parallels with the caste system of India, my understanding of caste is that it has a theological component which we do not have here, though perhaps you could postulate that the national religion of the United states is racism.
Martinez Alier disputes the use of caste; "By contrasting this essentially conflictive situation with the Hindu caste system I shall question the approach of those sociologists who have studied American race relations in terms of caste. They treat race as a distinct criterion of social stratification and endow it with false permanence, and they disregard the significant difference in the ideological frame work of the two contexts. In Cuba, hierarchy and the norm of isogamic marriage often clashed with the value of equality and the norm of freedom of choice in marriage." ( Martinez - Alier 7)
Many lighter skinned blacks, whether upper class or upper "caste", had distinct attitudes of superiority towards their darker brethren, sometimes bordering on repugnance. "The upper class, thinks of the lower class as black and woolly haired, thus mentally associating the lowest social rank with the "lowest" physical traits. Whether the idea of their being also dirty is associated with blackness of skin or with lowness of economic and social rank is a problem for a clinical psychologist( Davis et. al, 1941:235) Harris documents these same attitudes in Brazil. "Most Brazilians abstractly regard Negroes as innately inferior in intelligence, honesty and dependability. Negroid physical features are universally (even by Negroes themselves) believed to be less desirable and less beautiful than Caucasoid features. In most of their evaluations of the Negro as abstract types the whites are inclined to deride and slander. Prejudiced and stereotyped opinions about people of intermediate physical appearance are also common. On the whole there is an ideal racial ranking gradient, in which whites occupy the favorable extreme, Negroes the unfavorable extreme and mulattoes the various intermediate positions. ( Harris )
Much of the terminology used here in the U.S. by blacks to denigrate, or categorize other blacks, contains and reveals those same stereotypes, and a lot of self-hatred. Straight hair is "good hair", tightly curled hair is "kinky", "nappy" or "bad". When describing a young woman to me, one day, a friend said, "she's black, but pretty." I've heard many variants on the same theme; "She's brown but she has keen features", or "she's dark but she's got pretty hair", or "he's brown-skinned but he's got light eyes." The "but" is the apologetic modifier of blackness.
Helan Safa finds a similar situation in her study of a urban shantytown in Puerto Rico. "Caucasoid features are generally considered prettier than black racial features such as kinky hair, black skin, and wide lips and noses. The poor often use the term prieto y feo (black and ugly) in conjunction, much as they also tend to associate black and poor" (Safa, 1974:69) This same phenomenon exists in Martinique. "The more Caucasoid a person's physical appearance "good" hair, thin lips, light skin, narrow nose- the greater his or her prestige(among the mulatre)(Slater, 1977:60)
In her study of the kinship and family structure of Martinique, Miriam Slater applies M.G. Smith's theoretical analysis of color stratification. Smith delineates five referents for the term "color". They are; "1. phenotypic, 2. genealogical, 3. associational 4. cultural or behavioral, 5. structural" (Smith, 1965)
The phenotypic color of a man is his physical appearance. The island of Martinique is very small, and consequently everyone knows everyone else's ancestry. If a man is phenotypically white and yet has one or more black ancestors , "he would always be called a mulatre, not a blanc." A phenotypically black person who is known to be part white "may, if his achieved status is high, be called mulatre brun, but more often he is simply referred to as noir." Associational color is determined by the status of the people with whom a person interacts. If it is observed that the person is noir, but their social and business interactions are only with mulatres, then that person is associationally a mulatre. Behavioral or cultural color refers to life styles, status symbols, and modes of expression…
Since women are the vehicles for the reproduction of the species, and hence reproduction of class and social position, women of color, and white women in the Caribbean and the United States carry a heavy burden of responsibility to the family for having a child of the "right color". The anti-miscegenation laws in many American states were developed to prevent white women in particular, from marrying black men, since the child of such an alliance would not be white, and the white women would have to take the lower class position of her mate. When my grandmother(who was white) sought to marry my grandfather(who was black) around the turn of the century, she had to leave her native Kansas, and move to Chicago in order to marry him. She had 16 brothers and sisters, but after she married "that nigger", she was cut out of the family bible, and only one of her sisters kept in contact with her. To them she was as good as dead.
Many women of color are placed in the position of being unable to marry at all, or having limited choices, due to family pressure to "advance the race'. Historically, many made alliances with white men, but could never marry legally. "No matter how respectable colored women were they could never transcend the fact that they were, according to the official norms of white society, concubines, never wives. Ultimately they were as much in the power of white men as were white women"
In Jamaica, many educated black women are often spinsters because they will not marry down in terms of education, and light men will not marry them.(Henriques, 1953) In Martinique, on the other hand, it is the upper class mulatre families who are most likely to have vieilles filles (old maids). "These women will not marry down, nor will they even marry up, although such opportunities are rare...They do not always remain old maids. They sometimes become involved with educated blacks but will only live en menage with them; there is no possibility of marriage".
Angela Jorge describes the stifling emotions felt by black Puerto Rican women who grow up in the United States, faced with the pressure to adelantar la raza (marry light to advance the race). She may be rejected by Puerto Rican men because of her dark color, yet if she seeks to form an alliance with an African American she hears "Con esa no juegues (literally "Don't play with that one!" but it conveys a meaning of not getting involved with a particular individual because of a potential threat)" To marry outside of the culture is to lose the family, and "give up her identity as a Puerto Rican" (Jorge, 139) Martinez Alier defines this as the interaction "between racism, women's subordination, and class inequality." (Martinez-Alier xvii-xviii)
Puerto Ricans in the United States face a particularly difficult situation. Where many have been defined as white on the Island, or have been part of the middle tier socially, neither black nor white, when they come to the United States they are faced with a society in which to be black is not okay, and many cannot phenotypically evade the "one drop rule." For this reason, many cling to Spanish as a means of identifying themselves as not African Americans. This separation, rather than identification is aided and abetted by the practice of allowing people to choose a category called Hispanic, when the other choices are racial. Therefore, if faced with a choice of black, white or Hispanic, on an official form, most Puerto Ricans, even those who are phenotypically black, choose Hispanic.
Many sociologists have done studies, which minimize racism, both in Puerto Rico, and among Puerto Ricans here in the U.S. Melvin Tumin, whose major work on social class and social change in Puerto Rico is includes a chapter on color, concludes that color is of minor importance. His research methodology was the use of survey questionnaires, and any anthropologist worth her salt might suspect that the self-reporting on any area such as this might be faulty. He states, "It seems, on one hand, that skin color is among the facts least taken into account where ordinary life chances are concerned. But being a Negro or White does matter, apparently when dealing with the status-conscious members of the upper and middle classes, and when personal and intimate relations are at stake. One can then say that on the main avenues of Puerto Rican life, little attention is paid to skin color (Tumin,1971:233)
He then addresses job discrimination, minimizing the results of his own survey, since only 12% reported discrimination by color. "The evidence urges upon us the conclusion that skin color is considerably less important in Puerto Rico than in the United States: that it is virtually of no significance whatsoever in many important areas of life; that the majority feel that people of darker color are not blocked from major opportunities by their color; that only on job opportunity is there any serious question. (239) Since only a small minority-just over 12%-talk of job discrimination, and the vast majority do not-it is fair to say that color discrimination in general is a subtle and minor theme in Puerto Rican life.(Tumin, 1971:239)
It is hard for me to believe that he studied Puerto Ricans, or any Caribbean population, but his study results fall in line with the elite Puerto Rican "party line".
"Assuming that skin color remains as irrelevant (my emphasis) as it was at the time of the study, it can be predicted that Puerto Rico can move toward the desired social goals without concern for the kind of trouble and conflict which with Mainland society has experienced in its attempts to assure equal opportunity for education and jobs.(Tumin,1971:246) Perhaps this study was constructed to assure corporate headquarters that they can safely move to Puerto Rico, a land where they will not have to deal with any discrimination suits, or EEO problems.
Along the same lines but addressing the Puerto Rican in the United States, Moynihan and Glazer blithely state, "They carry a new attitude toward color-an attitude that may be corrupted by continental color prejudice but it is more likely, since this is in harmony with the trends that are making all nations part of a single world community, that the Puerto Rican attitude toward color, or something like it, will become the New York attitude." ( Glazer and Moynihan,1963) They go on to say that "In the lower classes, where everyone is poor, there is no strong sense of difference based on color. Intermarriage is common and people are aware of color and hair and facial features as they are aware of any other personal and defining characteristics of an individual. They say he is darker or lighter the way we say he is blonde or brunet, and personal taste in marriage and sexual partners may lead one, it appears, to someone of differing color almost as often as it will to someone of the same color. (Glazer and Moyhnihan,1963) This assertion is contradicted by Jorge, and Safa in her shantytown study. She asserts that " Most Puerto Ricans would also object to their children marrying a colored person" (Safa, 1974:69)
She goes on to look at discrimination in employment. In Puerto Rico "darker-skinned persons certainly are at a disadvantage in getting jobs, education and other opportunities for upward mobility. Tito relates how a "colored' man (muchacho de color) was denied a job at his factory, simply on the basis of race, although he was a good worker and had a family. Instead the boss, whom Tito labeled a racist, hired a single, blond fellow who would make a better appearance to the public. (Safa,1974:69)
The intersection of class and race are of primary importance in Puerto Rico since the upper classes are lighter than those beneath them. "In short, racism increases the higher one ascends the social ladder". (Safa,1974:69) Though Glazer and Moynihan downplay racism, they contradict themselves by quoting Father Joseph Fitzpatrick "The traditional upper class always prided itself on being white and has always been very sensitive to the matter of color or racial characteristics. They became important factors in anyone's attempt to claim identity with a pure Spanish lineage. (In the 1940's, for example, the fraternities at the University of Puerto Rico and exclusive clubs in San Juan did not admit anyone who is clearly colored)...The same attitude is found also among some of the poor people who apparently seek distinction by identifying themselves as pure white..." They then go on to posit that perhaps American attitudes toward color have influenced middle class Puerto Ricans, meanwhile noting that all white social clubs "preceded the American occupation, because for them whiteness was a sign of pure (and legitimate descent, and the all white fraternities of the University reflected the same attitudes".(Glazer and Moynihan, 1963:134)
Quoting Father Fitzpatrick again "But personal problems are not only a reflection of reality but also of what one thinks reality is, and Puerto Ricans may feel their degree of color is more of a problem than it really is. It is perhaps suggestive of this problem that Dr. Berle reports a social worker's comment that every Puerto Rican drug addict he has dealt with was the darkest in his family." This of course is an exaggeration, however , when I was working with intravenous drug users in East Harlem, doing life histories for a research project, many of the addict's stories included feelings of extremely low self-esteem in relation to their color, and family attitudes about it.
Pedro Pietri, a New York black Puerto-Rican poet, in a poem entitled "Puerto Rican Obituary", concludes it with a call for the day when to be called "negrito y negrita means to be called Love." (Young Lords Party & Abrahmson, 1971) When Felipe Luciano, member of the Last Poets, first began performing his poem "Jibaro", because the opening lines were..."Jibaro, mi negro lindo"(my pretty nigger), many members of the audience were offended, for the jibaro (Puerto Rican peasant) is traditionally depicted as white.
I recently attended a wake for the mother of a friend, who I will call Gloria, is an attractive light-skinned Puerto Rican woman, whose hair is dyed blonde, and who wears green tinted contact lenses. She did not know many of her mother's relatives, since she was raised by an aunt in Puerto Rico. She spent much of the time during the wake pointing out to me her "black relatives", all on her mother's side of the family. She was being quite liberal about the whole thing, until I got into a conversation with her aunt, on the fathers side; her father's sister. I asked the aunt, Ana, the difference between jaba, grifa, and mulata, explaining to her that I was doing a paper for school. [Since Puerto Ricans express racial differences according to gradations of color, each classification representing a gradation of color among black Puerto Rican women will be accompanied by different attitudes and perceptions about color. The terms mulata, jaba, triguena, grifa, negra, and prieta are all defined according to color gradation and traits.(Jorge, 30)]
Ana was pleased to be asked, and in making her explanation, she pointed to Gloria and said. "She is mulata." Gloria turned red, and angrily replied to her aunt, "I'm white, everyone always takes me for Italian...and papi (father) looked Dutch or German." Ana looked at Gloria and shook her head, saying emphatically, "pero tu es mulata, porque tu abuela era una prieta.(But you are mulatto, because your grandmother{her mother's mother} was black.) My friend turned to me, aghast, still begging for confirmation that other people always assumed her to be white. I offered her no comfort.
The history of Puerto Rico provides an answer to the confusion surrounding the racial status of many Puerto Ricans. In Puerto Rico during the 19th century, the regimen de la libreta (the workbook system, named after the book in which the laborer's work contracts were noted down) mobilized thousands of Puerto Rican jibaros as de facto unfree laborers who had to work side by side with de jure slaves, creating an interracial work force for the first time in the Caribbean since the middle of the seventeenth century (Hoetink, 1985:67) These black slaves, ex-slaves and campesinos intermarried, inter-mixed, and because Puerto Rico had never imported as many slaves as Jamaica, Cuba, or Haiti, the predominance of pure blacks in the lowest levels never took place. There were mas many poor whites as blacks. Also " the predominance of a large intermediate group of free colored persons" made social mobility possible "for most people who suffered from no practical inequalities and were not visually and culturally distinct from the elite." (Knight 1970:191)
Many of the mountainous regions, which were useless for sugar cane production were populated by poor whites. The coastal regions traditionally had the larger population of blacks and mulattos. Today," it is in the traditional sugar areas of the low coastal plains, and increasingly in the poorer sections of the overcrowded cities as well, that parts of the lower strata give physical evidence of slavery's impact on the population. They do not escape from the prejudices that such a status seems to provoke everywhere." The existence of a racial hierarchy, darks on the bottom, the lightest, the elite at the top "conspires to encourage the colored elite to emulate white groups, both culturally and in physical appearance." (Hoetink, 1985:70) Hence, my friend Gloria's green contact lenses.
The same situation with migration to the U.S. , that has been the bane of Puerto Ricans since the Marine tiger migrations of the 1940's, is now being faced by Dominicans. Currently the largest foreign-born population in New York City, many Dominicans are racially darker than Puerto Ricans, but they have no terminology that indicates blackness. If a Dominican is dark, he is "Indio". Due to a hostile historical relationship with Haiti, and an influx of Haiti migrant farm laborers, Dominicans use black as an epithet for Haitians. "Cocolo , which when used by a Puerto Rican is a derogatory way of identifying an African American, is no longer a term of derision in the Dominican Republic. Due to an influx of well-educated black West Indians(non-Haitian), the term cocolo now indicates a certain middle-class status, and brings with it respect. Dominicans in Washington Heights now have bumper stickers on their cars which read "Cocolito" (little cocolo)."In Dominican society, where the presence of dark-skinned bureaucrats and military officers next to light-skinned peasants attests to the lack of a rigid hierarchy based on color, but where incidents of discrimination on the basis of physical appearance are common as well, it is hardly surprising that racial tensions tend to be projected upon the Haitians. Haitians are viewed by Dominicans not only as a blacker people( a stereotype that would be hard to refute) but also as culturally inferior." ( Hoetink 1985:65)
Saint Dominique (Haiti) was characterized by potentially explosive lines of division, not only between the oppressed slaves and their masters, but also between whites and coloreds. "At one time in its early days, the country was split into a black kingdom in the north, and a colored republic in the south."(Hoetink,1985 63,) Because the free colored population had grown, but due to their marginalization, they were not allowed to buy land in the rich sugar cane areas, and were being excluded from many activities in the towns "An unexpected consequence of that freedom was the peculiar economic strength that the gens de couleur acquired in Saint-Domingue, a strength ironically related to their marginality. One constant appears in the individual histories of many successful gens de colour: the early ownership of small mountain plots, sometimes indigo places, but most often a place a vivres or provision grounds. Because of the racism that prevailed in the towns and on the plantations, gens de colour seemed to have used their freedom to acquire small mountain or mid-altitude lands untouched or unwanted by sugar planters and many petits-blancs(small whites-, who did not belong to the plantocracy).(Trouillot,1982)
These mountain plots grew in size, and the free coloreds began to plant coffee. Before the revolution, the free coloreds, controlled almost all of the coffee production of Haiti, no small enterprise. However, black slaves and mulattos hated each other passionately. Many mulattos sided with the French initially, against the black slave revolts, but when they were rejected by those same whites they admired, they through in their lot with the blacks. (James, 1989) The contemporary Haitian light-skinned aristocracy traces its ancestry to those gens de colour who controlled the coffee plantations.
Last but not least in our tour of color is Cuba. Cuba is also a three tiered state, with whites in the elite, a middle class of mixed-bloods, and a large black sharecropping mass, particularly in Oriente province. -" Havana and the Cuban sugar area had acquired a reputation for racism by the end of the nineteenth century. In 1912 some 3,000 Afro-Cubans, demanding more economic and political power and the right to organize a black political party, were ruthlessly killed by government troops." (Hoetink, 1985:66)
Revolutionary Cubans have made much of earlier heroes, pointing to Antonio Maceo, who was black. Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver of the Black Panther Party, named their son, who was born in Cuba, after Maceo. It was hoped that the massive alphabetization (anti-illiteracy) program in Cuba, undertaken after the revolution would do much to eliminate the barriers between black and white Cubans, and the revolution," whose successful efforts at distributive justice(rather than at increased productivity) has generally proved beneficial to the lower and darker skinned strata of society, even though an early post revolutionary effort to establish a black Communist party was quickly suppressed. during the early years of the new regime."(Hoetink, 1985:^7)
When the doors were opened to the United States, a majority of the white upper class Cubans fled, and with them many of the middle class. This resulted in the opening up of many professions and positions to blacks. However, "without minimizing the positive effects of the revolution, it should be observed that blacks have not become conspicuous by their increased presence in the upper echelons of the Cuban government, no matter how much this government (in remarkable parallel with Brazil) tries to stress the countries African roots in its dealings with countries in Africa and in the non-Hispanic Caribbean" (Hoetink, 1985:67)
Many U.S. Cubans from the earlier migrations, look down on the recent wave of immigrants, for those from the Mariel boatloads are not only lower in class, but most are darker in color. And in Miami, the color conflicts exist, not only among Cubans, but between Cubans and Haitians, as well as against American blacks.
Here in the United States, the history of slavery helped create a light-skinned educated elite, and that elite exists to this day, though there is evidence that it is "browning slightly", due to an influx of the new black middle-class. I have asked my mother to be one of my principle informants on this issue, since she and my father are now retired, and have moved to Philadelphia, where she was born, which is one of the headquarters of the old light-skinned aristocracy. Since they have retired, they spend much of their time attending "black society functions", dances, balls, tea-parties and fashion shows. She called me recently to inform me that she had attended the "Old Philadelphian's" annual spring dance.
The Old Philadelphian’s is a social organization that has been in existence since the turn of the century. She reported that there were approximately 1,000 people in attendance, by invitation only, and the dance was held at Philadelphia’s most exclusive hotel. I asked her" how many people were light skinned?" She replied, "About one third of the people there could have passed for white. Another third was 'her color'( meaning beige). Of the final third, many were light brown, but with aquiline features, or straight hair. One percent of the final third were black. Three generations were represented, one third in their eighties, one third in their fifties or early sixties and the final third in their forties. The new President is a young man I grew up with, and he is light-skinned as well. Perhaps there is hope for the younger people in their twenties", she said.
A rapid perusal of mass media publications for blacks, including magazines like Essence, and Ebony., make it clear that hair-straightening, skin lightening and eye color changing products are alive and well, and making lots of money. Many black Models still resemble spray painted white women, and though rap videos feature "boyzs from the hood', the girls with them are blonde, extensioned, be-wigged, and light-skinned.
Wilson, Russell and Halls new book on" the color complex", with a title of the same name, though not an academic publication, is selling well in the black community. The authors explore the slave history and manifestations of contemporary intra-racial color prejudice by analyzing popular culture; films, magazine ads, rap music and television programs. They also interview black psychologists, and due to the current trend for surgical "correction" of broad noses and lip form, (symbolized by Michael Jackson and family) there is an interesting survey of plastic surgeons. One of the most significant chapters in the book addresses the new issue of color discrimination in the workplace, citing cases presently being adjudicated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Interestingly, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act specifically "identifies 'color' as separate from race, religion, sex and national origin." (Russell, Wilson, Hall, 1992: 125-26).
Unfortunately, since the book is written for popular appeal, it is neither well-cited, nor theoretical, though it provides a useful overview of the social problem. It does not utilize a class analysis, nor does it tie the continued existence of color stratification to the greater society, except historically. It was primarily written as a effort towards consciousness raising. In conclusion, the authors state, "We offer this book in the hope that it will help to heal some of the wounds the color issue has inflicted on the African-American community. The first step is awareness."(Russell, Wilson, Hall, 1992).
There is now a growing body of feminist literature, on black women, written by black women, and Patricia Hill Collins, has devoted a section of a chapter to the discussion of skin-analysis and self-hatred among black women, citing the works of many black female authors, analyzing "controlling images" from popular culture. Most of her quotes are drawn from literary sources: Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, etc. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had mentioned my film. Though I realize that there is not a large body of social science literature on skin color, written by black women, I was surprised that there were no citations from the work of Angela Gilliam, Faye Harrison , or Lynn Bolles, all of whom have addressed the color question in their work on race, class and gender.
As the cry goes out for cultural diversity in academia, as more African-American, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Caribbean scholars begin to do research on their own cultures, it is important for all of us, not to overlook the role played by color in our history, and in current power relationships. This is not "airing dirty linen in public", it is opening the door for change, and change is necessary, if we are to forge stronger alliances, to combat racism from without, and within.
Joined: 02 May 2006 {Posts: 444 } Location: Île-de-France
Posted: Fri 05 May 2006 20:28 Post subject:
Very interesting article, have a few things to add.
Quote:
Cocolo , which when used by a Puerto Rican is a derogatory way of identifying an African American
Maybe it means that in NYC, but in Puerto Rico you are a cocolo if you love Salsa music.
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Many of the mountainous regions, which were useless for sugar cane production were populated by poor whites
It is interesting that modern genetic evidence has brough out that these poor whites, the traditional Jibaros, are mostly descended from spanish men and taina women.
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I recently attended a wake for the mother of a friend, who I will call Gloria, is an attractive light-skinned Puerto Rican woman, whose hair is dyed blonde, and who wears green tinted contact lenses. She did not know many of her mother's relatives, since she was raised by an aunt in Puerto Rico. She spent much of the time during the wake pointing out to me her "black relatives", all on her mother's side of the family. She was being quite liberal about the whole thing, until I got into a conversation with her aunt, on the fathers side; her father's sister. I asked the aunt, Ana, the difference between jaba, grifa, and mulata, explaining to her that I was doing a paper for school. [Since Puerto Ricans express racial differences according to gradations of color, each classification representing a gradation of color among black Puerto Rican women will be accompanied by different attitudes and perceptions about color. The terms mulata, jaba, triguena, grifa, negra, and prieta are all defined according to color gradation and traits.(Jorge, 30)]
Ana was pleased to be asked, and in making her explanation, she pointed to Gloria and said. "She is mulata." Gloria turned red, and angrily replied to her aunt, "I'm white, everyone always takes me for Italian...and papi (father) looked Dutch or German." Ana looked at Gloria and shook her head, saying emphatically, "pero tu es mulata, porque tu abuela era una prieta.(But you are mulatto, because your grandmother{her mother's mother} was black.) My friend turned to me, aghast, still begging for confirmation that other people always assumed her to be white. I offered her no comfort
From my experience, that seems to be very atipical. First, nobody in Puerto Rico really uses the word "Mulato/a" to describe anyone anymore. You are pretty much either blanco, trigueno or negro/prieto. Trigueno somtimes gets broken down into trigueno claro y trigueno oscuro, not very often. Prieto seem to be intermediate between trigueno oscuro and negro, but overlapping both significantly. Finally, these are all really just descriptive terms for skin color, not racial categories. In describing sombody you might say "ella es blanca de pelo malo pero se lo estira" --"she is white with kinky (literaly bad) hair but she straigtens it" or "el es trigueno de pelo lacio" --"he is brown (literaly wheat colored) with straight hair."
Which is funny, because Cocolo originates in the DR to refer tothe recent West Indian immigrants.
n the Dominican Republic "cocolo" is used EXCLUSIVELY & SOLELY to refer to the descendants of the West Indians who came to the cities of San Pedro de Macoris, Puerto Plata, and other areas to work on the docks and on the sugar cane plantations at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.
They were/are called "cocolos" because the largest group came from the West Indian Island of "Tortola." According to Dominican Folklore, somehow, native Dominicans thought they were hearing "Cocolo," when these workers answered where they were from, and to this day the name has stuck. Laughing Now, Dominicans whose families come from Tortola, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Nevis and ALL the English-speaking islands are labeled "cocolos."
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 12:25 Post subject: Puerto rico
MisterLawyer wrote:
..It is interesting that modern genetic evidence has brough out that these poor whites, the traditional Jibaros, are mostly descended from spanish men and taina women.
Hi,
That's a constant in Latin America, including Brazil. Most "whites" have native ancestry comming mainly from Native women. Whites and Mestizos (Euro-Indians) form the largest majorities in Latin America and is very difficult (I believe impossible without a genetic test) to know if a given person is only European or if it is light Mestizo.
Quote:
From my experience, that seems to be very atipical. First, nobody in Puerto Rico really uses the word "Mulato/a" to describe anyone anymore. You are pretty much either blanco, trigueno or negro/prieto.
In Spanish nobody says words like Mestizo, Mulato, or Indian aloud. At least the person applies it to itself. Everyone knows about it but nobody assumes mixtures. People try to forget ancient Indian or Black ancestors because there is the belief they were "savages". Those believe are alive still today.
Quote:
Trigueno somtimes gets broken down into trigueno claro y trigueno oscuro, not very often. Prieto seem to be intermediate between trigueno oscuro and negro, but overlapping both significantly. Finally, these are all really just descriptive terms for skin color, not racial categories. In describing sombody you might say "ella es blanca de pelo malo pero se lo estira" --"she is white with kinky (literaly bad) hair but she straigtens it" or "el es trigueno de pelo lacio" --"he is brown (literaly wheat colored) with straight hair."
Yes, words like "blanco", "moreno", "trigueno", etc are not associated with race but with the color of skin, and are applied to any race.
And about hair, it is curious that in caribbean countries, with a large African heritage, the bad hair is the kinky hair. On the other hand, in the countries of South America and Mexico, several times the bad hair is the straigh, back and thick hair of Natives, which is considered too rough.
Well, no culture is perfect, I guess. Latin Americans always make jokes about physical apparience, but whites are not excluded at all. Some white features produces quite a lot of funny jokes as well. Specially when they sun burn.
Joined: 28 Apr 2006 {Posts: 282 } Location: 51st State
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 14:03 Post subject:
Salsassin wrote:
Which is funny, because Cocolo originates in the DR to refer tothe recent West Indian immigrants.
n the Dominican Republic "cocolo" is used EXCLUSIVELY & SOLELY to refer to the descendants of the West Indians who came to the cities of San Pedro de Macoris, Puerto Plata, and other areas to work on the docks and on the sugar cane plantations at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.
Had institutionalised slavery ended by the time these "Tortolas." arrived?
Quote:
They were/are called "cocolos" because the largest group came from the West Indian Island of "Tortola." According to Dominican Folklore, somehow, native Dominicans thought they were hearing "Cocolo," when these workers answered where they were from, and to this day the name has stuck. Laughing Now, Dominicans whose families come from Tortola, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Nevis and ALL the English-speaking islands are labeled "cocolos."
When you say "native Dominicans" do you mean pre-Columbian indigenous 'indians'?
Joined: 28 Apr 2006 {Posts: 282 } Location: 51st State
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 14:22 Post subject: Re: Puerto rico
oevega wrote:
MisterLawyer wrote:
Trigueno somtimes gets broken down into trigueno claro y trigueno oscuro, not very often. Prieto seem to be intermediate between trigueno oscuro and negro, but overlapping both significantly. Finally, these are all really just descriptive terms for skin color, not racial categories. In describing sombody you might say "ella es blanca de pelo malo pero se lo estira" --"she is white with kinky (literaly bad) hair but she straigtens it" or "el es trigueno de pelo lacio" --"he is brown (literaly wheat colored) with straight hair."
Yes, words like "blanco", "moreno", "trigueno", etc are not associated with race but with the color of skin, and are applied to any race.
Chances are they have something to do with color, caste, and class. How many blancos/trigueno do you see runnning the goverment and police, morenos/prieto in business class and as media personalities, and negro/prieto as entertainers and the desperately poor?
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And about hair, it is curious that in caribbean countries, with a large African heritage, the bad hair is the kinky hair.
But that wouldn't be cultural would it?
Quote:
On the other hand, in the countries of South America and Mexico, several times the bad hair is the straigh, back and thick hair of Natives, which is considered too rough.
So what is the Spanish for 'bad hair' and straight hair in those terriorities?
Joined: 02 May 2006 {Posts: 444 } Location: Île-de-France
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 14:41 Post subject:
Quote:
Chances are they have something to do with color, caste, and class.
They have everything to do with color, because they are descriptions of color. They have nothing to do with class. There are essentially two classes in Puerto Rico. One is very small, and extremely exclusive. Know as the "high hoyety" they are spanish descended whites, who pride themselves on tracing their lineages to Europe and being pure Europeans. They make up probably 1/10 of 1 percent of the population, and yes, they are over represented in government and have lots of money. The other class, or caste, is every body else. This includes the extremely poor, where every skin color is well represented, and the middle and upper middle class, where again, all skin colors are well represented.
Joined: 28 Apr 2006 {Posts: 282 } Location: 51st State
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 15:14 Post subject:
MisterLawyer wrote:
Quote:
Chances are they have something to do with color, caste, and class.
They have everything to do with color, because they are descriptions of color.
They have nothing to do with class. There are essentially two classes in Puerto Rico. One is very small, and extremely exclusive. Know as the "high hoyety" they are spanish descended whites, who pride themselves on tracing their lineages to Europe and being pure Europeans. They make up probably 1/10 of 1 percent of the population, and yes, they are over represented in government and have lots of money.
Everything leaves behind nothing. Do the "high hoyety" say they are white...does that translate to blanco? Is it only about class when no person of color can become part of the "high hoyety"?
Quote:
The other class, or caste, is every body else. This includes the extremely poor, where every skin color is well represented, and the middle and upper middle class, where again, all skin colors are well represented.
What seperates the middle and upper middle class?
I cannot believe a middle class person can also be extremely poor. Is the standard of living at a similar level to the U.S?
Joined: 02 May 2006 {Posts: 444 } Location: Île-de-France
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 17:55 Post subject:
The high hoyety definitely say they are white. Every one who is a member of the high hoyety is white, but not every one who is white is high hoyety-the vast majority of whites are not. In PR to be white you don't have to be pure European decent. What it means is you have a light skin tone. You are right that for the most part, no person of color can become a member of the high hoyety, but the truth is no one who is not a member can become a member. It's basically an exclusive social club based on blood lines. Finally, this doesn't mean that dark skinned people can't become rich and powerful in business or politics. There are government officials, businessmen, and celebrities that to the avarage american would look African-American.
I didn't mean to suggest that the same people can be upper middle class and extremely poor. I just mean that there is no real division between these groups based on bloodline or colorlines. For example, in the same family, one sibling may be a succesful person living in a gated community and sending their kids to private school, while the other lives in government housing and rarely works. And on holidays they get together and celebrate regardless of the differences in their situation. The standard of living is pretty similar to the US, although there are more people lower down on the economic ladder. The difference from alot of other caribbean and latin american countries is while there is poverty, there is not really "misery"--there are public housing projects for the poor in every town where they can live rent free if they pay the utilites.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 18:23 Post subject: Re: Puerto rico
Altertude wrote:
Quote:
On the other hand, in the countries of South America and Mexico, several times the bad hair is the straigh, back and thick hair of Natives, which is considered too rough.
So what is the Spanish for 'bad hair' and straight hair in those terriorities?
Hi,
The slur is "mecha de clavo" (hair like nails). It is applyied to anyone that has "hard hair", like Natives and East Asians, but also to some Nordics.
Mediterraneans (Iberians, Italians, French, Greeks, etc) believe they have a more "advanced" hair than anyone else: soft and slighly wavy
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Sat 06 May 2006 19:12 Post subject: Classes
Altertude wrote:
..What seperates the middle and upper middle class?
I cannot believe a middle class person can also be extremely poor. Is the standard of living at a similar level to the U.S?
Hi,
I can tell you my experience in my country Chile.
The differences in class are based in the following: money, culture, behavoir and social relations.
The upper class has everything: lots of money, high culture, good maners and a superb support network. They are the one you usually see studying in Harvard or controlling the big companies. Actually, the upper class has so much money that wherever they go they are treated like the royalty, including in the United States and Europe.
The middle class makes the majority of people. It goes from the low payd employees to the small business men, doctors and successful professionals. They are educated fellows, but not always got the money or the relations. Intellectuals are appreciated in Latin America.
The poors can be classified in three group: the common poor that work like a worker, a junior, a shop cleck or in other small jobs, the criminal class which are people that live outside the law like a style of living and that makes about the 1% of the population, and the extreme poors, that is a small monority but the one that captures most of the attention.
Now, the differences are not just a matter of skin color. The important thing is to which class one belongs. Yes, two fellows could look superficially similar but the differences are marked when they start to speak. A "nordic" apparience is not guarantee of success at all, and a non-European aspect is not an obstacle for many to success either.
Genealogy is just the hobbie of the rich men. Once they got the money, they have the time and acquisitive power to buy the perfect family tree. They usually marry their kids with women of "good family". A good family is one that has "old money". At the same time, new rich usually look for nordic looking couples so their kids have "presence".
Now, common people usually is not very worried about of race but beauty. A person can have some features that are not "right", but nobody forgives lack of beauty; not even whites escape that rule.
Beautiful women usually go up the social escales pretty easy. I have also seen quite often handsome men marrying ugly or old women just for the money. In that sense, those same kind of fellows you see in the U.S. are also present in here.
From my experience, that seems to be very atipical. First, nobody in Puerto Rico really uses the word "Mulato/a" to describe anyone anymore. You are pretty much either blanco, trigueno or negro/prieto. Trigueno somtimes gets broken down into trigueno claro y trigueno oscuro, not very often. Prieto seem to be intermediate between trigueno oscuro and negro, but overlapping both significantly. Finally, these are all really just descriptive terms for skin color, not racial categories. In describing sombody you might say "ella es blanca de pelo malo pero se lo estira" --"she is white with kinky (literaly bad) hair but she straigtens it" or "el es trigueno de pelo lacio" --"he is brown (literaly wheat colored) with straight hair."
I wrote the paper posted above in graduate school - in the early 90's. In more recent ethnographic and quantitative research, both on the island and in PR communities here in the States, with over 3,000 persons interviewed in the study, these terms were still in use, and though they are descriptive of skin color they are also code words (or not so coded) for socially constructed race.
Clearly , Puerto Rican constructions of race differ from those of "whites" and ''blacks'' from the mainland, many who would fall into the white category there are not white by US standards, and many who would be classed as "black" under the one-drop rule here would be white there.
I was surprised during the construction phase of the survey to be confronted in PR by academics who did not want data collected on perceptions of race or skin color. One well-known person in academic circles went so far as to state "No hay negros in Puerto Rico" (there are no blacks in Puerto Rico) and followed that statement with "y no hay racismo" (and there is no racism).
We did include "racial" and skin color variables in the study - allowing respondents to frame their responses in their own terms, and also collected perceptions and descriptions from the interviewers - all Puerto Rican.
I will remain haunted by the stories recounted by many interviewees who opened their life histories with the simple statement " I was the darkest-skinned person in my family" and by their own perceptions on how their color or hair texture affected their lives. A majority of those sampled were overwhelmingly poor, at risk for AIDS, or HIV positive. "Race" becomes a health issue, and racism destroys lives.
My formal research focus on color/class/race will be shifting to Brazil, in the years ahead, but since I live with, work with, and have Puerto Rican family, friends and students I will continue to observe and collect data on any shifts - in language and/or meaning.
I thank the moderator for posting my early efforts, and look forward to reading the many posts here and hopefully contributing to the discussion.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Tue 15 Aug 2006 14:20 Post subject: Insects
DOliver wrote:
...I was surprised during the construction phase of the survey to be confronted in PR by academics who did not want data collected on perceptions of race or skin color. One well-known person in academic circles went so far as to state "No hay negros in Puerto Rico" (there are no blacks in Puerto Rico) and followed that statement with "y no hay racismo" (and there is no racism).
..
Yes, Latinos react very angry when they find that U.S. people, or "gringos", study them like they if they were insects.
And yes, the "American" speech is well known. It is something like this:
"let's see what is the behavoir between these green and red beetles. It's curious, a red beetle would be considered green in here. Certainly Hispanics are Daltonics. They are wrong of course, because we know better"
Even, more, when "Americans" try to project their apparheid mentality upon Hispanics things can become quite nasty, indeed. Sometimes even violent. Latinos tolerancy is forced to its limits when they see the intrusion of allien people (U.S. people) in their mentality.
Actually, the reaction is very similar to what happened when U.S. people preaches about "Democracy" and "Freedom". What a cultural shock, indeed.
Welcome Denise. I have been to Puerto Rico as well. I agree that in Latin America, while we don't have this strict division lines marking races, we do have a curve where the more you look indigenous or African the more discrimination/prejudice you are likely to encounter.
Joined: 02 May 2006 {Posts: 444 } Location: Île-de-France
Posted: Tue 15 Aug 2006 20:08 Post subject:
There may be a discrepency between discriptive terms, and acknowleging someone is a mulatto. I.E. you wouldn't describe someone as a mulatto, but if questioned somone would say acknowlege its meaning and not deny that some people who look like obvious mixes of black and white are mulattos. But I repeat, it is not a commonly used descriptive term in my experience.
In addition, I think that at somepoint, there must have been a difference between the terms mulato and trigueño, given "la bomba ay que rica es es es, me sube el ritmo por los pies que por los pies, MULATO saca tu TRIGUEÑA, pa' que bailes bomba, bomba puertorriqueña..." My own personal theroy is that at sometime in the past there was a distinction in colloquial teminology for somone who was dark complected because of perceived african (mulato) inheritance vs. someone who was dark complected because of percieved native (trigueño) inheritance.
When police find someone dead in Puerto Rico, they discribe their skin color as tez blanca or tez triguña. I never hear tez negra.
Finally, most people in Puerto Rico don't have the luxury or the desire to think about race right now. Things are pretty tough for everybody, the economy is in recession because of politics, violence and crime are out of control, and every day there are new cases of corruption.
Posted: Sun 20 Aug 2006 03:53 Post subject: Re: Insects
oevega wrote:
Quote:
Yes, Latinos react very angry when they find that U.S. people, or "gringos", study them like they if they were insects.
"Omar
Greetings - I think you are assuming that this was a US study - it was actually an AIDS intervention initiated by the
Universidad del Çaribe and Centro Medico in Bayamon.
Secondly - I think you are confusing United States goverment policies - with a blanket assumption that all citizens of the US and its colonies are in agreement with an ethno-centric and hegemonic agenda.
I for one have spent the last half century fighting for "freedom" from oppression and all the isms. Have gone to jail for it and lost many dear friends and comrades who died trying to make change.
Some of my ancestors didn't choose to come here - they were enslaved, and it is of little importance to me whether the slaveholders were from Portugal, Spain, France or England. The end product is the same - an enormous group of people in the New World who are hybrids - a mix of cultures, a mix of ancestries, and victims of social constructions of race or color that perpetuate racism, and lock them into the lowest rungs on the ladder of social class.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Sun 20 Aug 2006 05:37 Post subject: Re: Insects
DOliver wrote:
oevega wrote:
Quote:
Yes, Latinos react very angry when they find that U.S. people, or "gringos", study them like they if they were insects.
"Omar
Greetings - I think you are assuming that this was a US study - it was actually an AIDS intervention initiated by the
Universidad del Çaribe and Centro Medico in Bayamon.
Hi Denisse,
Nice to discuss with you
Quote:
Secondly - I think you are confusing United States goverment policies - with a blanket assumption that all citizens of the US and its colonies are in agreement with an ethno-centric and hegemonic agenda.
No. I don't believe that. However, I find that "Americans" have a lot of troubles understanding foreign cultures and civilizations. The mistakes they made in theirs studies are legion. Mistakes that 10 years old kids of our countries don't make.
Quote:
I for one have spent the last half century fighting for "freedom" from oppression and all the isms. Have gone to jail for it and lost many dear friends and comrades who died trying to make change.
Actually, that's what most Chileans (I am one) have done in the last half century as well. In fact, I lived abroad some years for the same reason.
Quote:
Some of my ancestors didn't choose to come here - they were enslaved, and it is of little importance to me whether the slaveholders were from Portugal, Spain, France or England.
Well, in the Americas some people was brought by force, others came here escaping wars and widespread hunger in Europe, but not forget that since 2.000 centuries ago there were people living in here, and that they did not ask any of the outsiders to come.
The idea that the European descendents are all descendents of the slave owners is really ridiculous. Most of them descent of the poor servs of the countryside, or of the poor manufacturing workers. The idea that there is a whole people guilty of what the rich did is not right either. Remember that many African kingdoms exported slaves capturing fellow Africans and saling them to the foreign slave traders.
The shame is shared between the powerful that profit from the slave trade, the robbing of the Native lands, and the explotation of the European worker. It is curious but the people that did that is still in power controlling the upper classes of Europe and the U.S., and companies that participated in those actions still exits as well, like the Loyd of London.
Quote:
The end product is the same - an enormous group of people in the New World who are hybrids - a mix of cultures, a mix of ancestries, and victims of social constructions of race or color that perpetuate racism, and lock them into the lowest rungs on the ladder of social class.
Who said that all the mixed people were in the lowest rungs of the social ladder? I have seen some very high in the social scale, indeed. And I have seen whites like Vikings living in shanty towns.
Please, don't generalize. Otherwise, you should:
(1) Define who is a Hybrid and who is not. Define all the kinds of hybrids that exists (there are more than 2 races, you know).
(2) Prove that there is a significant statistical difference between those theorical groups.
Now, I wonder, how come there are so much studies of Latin America by professors that don't have any idea of Latin America history and culture?
Some of them don't even speak or read Spanish.
People should look the chronicles of the conquest and all the very extensive historical documentation we have. They should really try to understand our society, and then start the analisys. Not like today where the professors have the "conclusion" ready even before they start the study.
Otherwise we get the impression they are lecturing us. Or that are projecting the U.S. racial problems into a different culture.
Quote:
Pa'lante, Siempre Pa'lante
Yes, I agree. It is like the Roman said: "ad astra per aspera"
I never knew that there were black people in PR.One day I saw two black guys who were talking in Spanish.Their accents were similar to Cubans,but they said they were from PR.BTW Ednita Nazario,Marc Anthony,Ricky Martin,Carlos Ponce,Jlo,Adalmaris Lopez,Chayanne,Daniel Santos,Willie Colon,Luis Fonci.They are from PR and they all look white to me.
In Europe it doesn't matter from which part of Latin America or the Caribbean you are from,if you're white or part white or whatever.You get the same treatment as any black person would get.I've seen the whitest persons who are not European asking me things instead of asking the white Europeans and I am black.They're too intimidaded by the whiteness of the Europeans.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Mon 21 Aug 2006 14:09 Post subject: Europeans
werta wrote:
...In Europe it doesn't matter from which part of Latin America or the Caribbean you are from,if you're white or part white or whatever.You get the same treatment as any black person would get.I've seen the whitest persons who are not European asking me things instead of asking the white Europeans and I am black.They're too intimidaded by the whiteness of the Europeans.
Hi,
I don't believe the "whiteness" of Europeans is what "intimidates" the Latinos in there. I believe is history.
After all, for five centuries Europe exploited Latin America in its benefit. We were humilliated and killed for too long. Well, that stopped when the U.S. decided to become the bullyboy of the neighborhood, tough. And decided Latin America was its territory. The US didn't ask us, though
Now, if you look Mulatto, Latin people would assume you are from the Caribbean or Brazilian, that you speak Spanish or Portuguese (almost the same) and that you are, therefore, a friend. Someone close, unlike cold and "martian-like" Europeans. A person different from a Northern European that are (in our imagination) the archetype of a biggot.
I remember my first day in a Canadian town where I got lost walking during a snowy day. I was not very confident on my English so I searched for a person that spoke Spanish to get direction to go back home. I saw a Lady that looked like an average Latino, and I start to speak Spanish with her. She laugh. I said "sorry" and went away.
Afterward I knew the "Latino" women was Cree, Native American of Canada.
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