Africa in Mexico: Like It Or Not

Paz! Tau!

Below is a video and a brief article about the African influence in Mexico.
And while some Mexica continue the same propaganda, that Mexicans are not black, and that only certain towns and neighborhoods have "black blood", the truth continues to remain. These are the same people who give praises and exalt their "European" roots over their African and Indigenous roots. Why? Throughout so-called Latin America, we, the people, are 'Indios y Africanos'. The mindset that states otherwise is a mindset of colonialism. It is the product of 515 years of self-hatred and identity crisis', psychological and emotional rape and servitude. This is not a conspiracy theory and far from a political ploy to simply 'unite' the two groups of Original people under false bonds. It is the reclaiming of a rich and wonderful history shared by both and the re-bonding of those peoples whom who were taken away from that history. We are 'one' because we are Original peoples. Black, brown (red) and yellow....some may have more African or some may have more Indian. Understand that our legacy extends farther back than chattel slavery.





Black Oaxacans Demand Recognition

Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca - Seated in the dusty front yard of her ramshackle home in the El Ciruelo community of Pinotepa Nacional, Elena Ruiz's bright white blouse accents the deep ebony color of her skin. "We (Mexican) blacks are not even in the history books," she laments. "It's as if we were invisible in the eyes of the government."

Further down the road from El Ciruelo is Llano Grande, another predominantly black community of the municipality of Pinotepa Nacional where, says local farmer Fulmencio González Mariche, "there's not even anybody left to see us." A few children play in the street while their grandparents relax nearby in hammocks, but people of working age are noticeably absent. "The young folks have all gone to North Carolina," says González Mariche.

In Collantes, which like El Ciruelo and Llano Grande, is one of the "pueblos negros," or "black towns," of this southwestern corner of Oaxaca, resident doña Fidela Bernal Noyola regretfully admits that "the majority of us never went to school, and as a result, we don't know how to read or write." Trapped in poverty, Bernal Noyola has managed to eke out a meager living by shucking corn, making coconut oil, or hauling gravel from the nearby river.

Corralero is another riverside community of Pinotepa Nacional where "the fish are all gone and the earth is dry," say local residents. Corralero local Anastasio Colón Rodríguez, admits that "nobody really knows where my ancestors came from, although around here they say that our roots are in Africa, which, owing to the color of my skin, I don't deny."

Along the Costa Chica, or "Little Coast" of Oaxaca, lie dozens of small communities inhabited primarily by Mexicans of African descent. Exactly how many African-Mexicans live here, or in the rest of the country, is uncertain, because blacks are not counted as a distinct minority by the federal government. Instead, say community members and leaders, African-Mexicans are largely ignored by government services, marginalized by racist attitudes and, like doña Fidela Bernal Noyola, relegated to lives of poverty and illiteracy on the fringes of society. As a result, many black communities like Llano Grande are experiencing an exodus of young African-Mexicans who are leaving in search of better opportunities elsewhere.

DISCRIMINATION

With indignation, Elena Ruiz asks: "If our ancestors fought for the cause of independence, why is it that Mexican history does not recognize us in textbooks? It's just one more form of discrimination against blacks and it makes us feel bad to know that we have no place in history."

Ruiz is the granddaughter of Artemio Ruiz, one of a group of castaways from an African ship that reportedly made its way to Puerto Minizo, Oaxaca, in the early 20th century. The other members of the African-Mexican community here are descendents of 17th- and 18th-century slaves brought here by the Spanish.

Elena remembers that as a child, others would tease her with the name "negra vendepescado" or "black fishmonger." Sometimes she even used her fists to defend herself, she said, "because the color of my skin is a source of pride, not ridicule."

Gladis Arellanes Herrera, a teacher at the secondary school in the community of Llano Grande Tapextla, related how discrimination and racism has affected her. "My partner, with whom I lived in a common-law marriage, was getting a lot of flak from his family," she says. "They would tell him: 'Are you really going to marry a black? Those blacks have some really ugly customs, you know,' and so he left me with a child that he doesn't even know."

LOSS OF IDENTITY

Obdulio Serrano Morales, a 75-year-old fisherman from Corralero, said he has little idea of his ancestry. "I don't know anything; no one has ever told us the story about how our ancestors got here," he says. "All I know is that this is where I was born."

The organization Mexico Negro, or "Black Mexico," is now working to help African-Mexicans like Serrano Morales to learn about their heritage. Pedro Baños, director of the local cultural center and a researcher for Mexico Negro, says that the first Africans arrived at Costa Chica on the southwest corner of Oaxaca state 470 years ago as slaves who were brought to pick cotton. Many died from disease upon arrival, he says.

The Africans who came to this area were primarily from the Congo, Mozambique and Angola, says Baños. His organization is also working to help the black community recognize its rights and to embrace its cultural identity.

"The problem of the loss of cultural identity, along with that of racial discrimination, is that even some black people will deny their own racial heritage," said Elena Ruiz.

Gladis Arellanes Herrera, the Llano Grande teacher, recalled that when she finished her master's degree, her mother told her: "Now you are old enough to marry, but please don't marry another black. Just imagine what that would mean for your children."

POVERTY

According to Pedro Baños, the black population of the Costa Chica is slowly beginning to die out due to a poverty-driven exodus. "Since about four years ago, there has been a large migration of people trying to escape the bleak economic situation," he says. Today Baños estimates that there are little more than 5,000 people of direct African lineage left on the Costa Chica, and another 15,000 of mixed AfricanMexican descent.

"People are leaving because there's no work here," says Higinio Guillermo Verónica Cruz, a municipal representative from Tapextla who only recently returned from a five-year stint as a migrant laborer in North Carolina. "The cornfield is no longer producing, and so there's no money to be made here."

In the "pueblos negros," the lack of proper sanitation is alarming. "There's no sewage system nor waste treatment centers. The health clinics don't have doctors nor medicine. You have to drink from the wells because there's no other source of potable water, and the dusty roads and dusty floors of most homes make the children sick with bronchitis," says Verónica Cruz.

Surrounded by this scenario, Fulmencio González Mariche sits at his Llano Grande home beside his bed-ridden wife, waiting for the traveling doctor to make his visit to the town. He's at least 30 days late. "There's not even anybody left to see us," repeats the elderly farmer.

from: http://www.banderasnews.com/0506/edat-oaxacans.htm

Palante! Despite the Propaganda

The following article was originally posted by 'Vivirlatino' and then cross-posted by 'The Latin Americanist', I wanted to post it and share it as well. It is an interesting and important topic to be discussed.

It is an issue that reveals the propaganda that is used and can be used against us within this society. As the article states, a larger issue is the perpetuating of the stereotype as so-called Latina women as hyper-sexual, lustful baby-makers. A perspective that Anglos have long carried with them in their relationships with our people. We must only harken back to the days in Puerto Rico of forced sterilizations and experimenting of the birth control on Original women. Also, the large numbers of Native American women who were forcefully sterilized throughout the United States. We need to continue to educate our people and provide for them so that we can raise our babies in the best conditions possible. We should continue to reach out and aid our sisters in need. Not just to avoid being labeled or prevent an issue from being used as propaganda against us. But so that we can do what's right and what's best for our ninos. Of course we want to resist, and fight against the labels and stereotypes projected upon us. But it is better to have understanding then it is to be understood. First and foremost, our ways, words and actions should be concentrated on the progress of our families and our communities. So that we can show our children ways to be successful within this society, without sacrificing la cultura, and so that they do not simply repeat whatever efforts we have made in the struggle. We have to create avenues for this to be possible.

Those who seek to do so, will continue on teaching falsehoods about us and slandering our people on the world stage. They will continue to fabricate and formulate propaganda against us to mislead the masses. They will continue to be 'them'. We need to continue to be 'us'. And still, be wise. La matematica de hoy es 'sabiduria'.

Making Babies is The Cause of Latino Population Growth, Not Immigration (and no one else is concerned with this framing?)

We'll say it once and I'll say it again, all those new brown faces in your hood are not coming from across the border. They are being born here. A study done out of the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute shows that the growth in the Latino population has to do with births increasing, not immigration.

This natural increase — more births than deaths — is accelerating among Hispanics in the USA because they are younger than the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with 37.9 overall, 40.8 for whites, 35.4 for Asians and 31.1 for blacks.

And while the blogosphere and the media is using this study as an opportunity to say, "I told you so" to anti-immigration activists, My concern is another direction that this information could be used in.

There is a growing resurgence of the stereotype of Latina women as prolific breeders, reducing the role and image of mujeres to animals concerned with feeding their hot blooded lust and then feeding the babies that follow. There is a growing concern in the anti-immigrant movement with "anchor-babies", a disgusting way of describing children born in the U.S to undocumented women with the idea that these children will allow the women to stay in the U.S. or to take the fucked up analogy, anchor them to the U.S.


For declining counties, many in the Great Plains, the growth in young Hispanics may be the only way out of a population spiral.

"Demographically, they can't recover unless something like this happens," Johnson says. "There's no way older white populations can replace themselves."

Because more than half of births to Hispanic immigrants are to low-income women who have no high school degree, a natural population increase challenges communities, says Steve Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which promotes limits on immigration.

"It's a huge growth in low-income population and low tax payments," he says. "If the town is not viable economically, immigration is not going to fix that problem."


Along with the image of the perpetually hot, knocked up mami, comes the image of what people expect to happen after children are born. These Latina women and their children are assumed to go onto the welfare rolls, to overwhelm the public school system, the change the language and way people communicate.
Just read some of the comments under the original USA Today article (if you can keep from going off).

Immigration activists and all (hey feminists want a cause to get behind), need to be on point for a resurgence of eugenicist calls that only certain people, meeting certain requirements should have babies (these requirements of course based on the intersections of race and class). Be prepared for calls for mass sterilizations and forced birth control.

There is no analysis of what families consume more. Be prepared for so called environmentalist pointing their green fingers at brown mamis and their babies.

Surviving 'La Migra'

As the devil's civilization continues to fall from it's plight, the government, despite it's facade of racial and cultural tolerance (remember the "American melting pot" idea?), marches on in it's crusade against anyone who was not born within U.S. borders. They persist with making our day to day lives more and more difficult with their policies of discrimination and exclusion. The policy of racial profiling has been and remains very contraversial, as it affects so many people, especially those whom are technical not in any violation of the law. However, as time goes on, we bear witness that just being who you are, in and of it self, is a violation of U.S. law. It was the census bureau and social scientist, along with urban anthropologist's that gave the prediction of people of color outnumbering "white" people in the U.S. by 2050. Which is quite frightening for those with racist tendencies. Especially considering that a large portion of that population may not even be U.S. born, or at the very least, 1st generation. This matters in the mindset of the racially privileged and economic/political elite because the majority would have more of a popular influence behind policy in the U.S. and therefore those policies which complimented the old majority would be more than likely re-written or altered in order to compliment the new majority. And as we see, today's mathematics is 'wisdom power'. The words, ways and actions of the Original people having the greatest influence or power over daily life in 'Amekikia'. That which is only the inevitable (we outnumber them, of European descent, on the planet Earth) is seen by the right-winged politicos as some sort of conspiracy to destroy the "American way of life", a code phrase for "white way of life". In the mean time, we can't go to the 'mercado', the bus stop, the park with our 'ninos' without extreme paranoia, a sense of being picked up and swept off to some Guatanamo prison for 'spics and darkies'. They ultimately want to prevent a "colorful uprising", something that was feared by the Spanish Empire for years throughout their colonies. In the early 1800's the colonial government of El Salvador, after abolishing slavery, halted all immigration of those of African descent in their country. Many countries, while not abolishing slavery or completely halting immigration, simply set out on campaign's to incourage European immgration and settlement in their countries in efforts to combat the strong African-Indigenous prescence. Whilst, in places like Puerto Rico, whom had a considerably large "free-colored" population, the European immigration only widened the gap in numbers between the white populus and the sector of color. At various points in Puerto Rican history the number of 'free-blacks' rivaled those of whites and despite being 'free', they were still non-white and were stigmatized by a view of having non-white 'ways' which threatened those culture of those in 'power'.

Is Riding the Bus a Ticket to Jail?
By Caroline Kim and Jenna Loyd

In December 2007, Artemio and two of his friends were traveling by bus through Syracuse, New York on their way to their homes in Mexico. Rather than celebrating Christmas with their families, however, the three men were arrested by immigration agents at a bus station. They were then detained at a county jail before being transferred to the ICE facility in Batavia, New York, and eventually deported to Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, also known as the Border Patrol, confirms that its agents in Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo check the citizenship status of travelers passing through by bus and train every day. These three cities are within 100 miles of the US-Canadian border. But more important than the border zone is the location of these cities on a major transportation corridor linking the Northeast (New York City and Boston) with the Midwest (Cleveland and Chicago). Border Patrol agents use Syracuse’s location as the functional equivalent of the border to police people traveling within the interior of the country.

Agents check for citizenship in the bus and train station—often waiting at the Greyhound ticket counter, or watching people as they disembark for food—and onboard buses and trains already filled with passengers. People who have witnessed or been subject to Border Patrol agents questioning describe two practices: agents explicitly target a group of people or ask everyone on board about their citizenship status.

According to reports from the Detainment Task Force, a Northern New York group, people routinely singled out for questioning include those who appear to be Mexican, Central American, South Asian, Asian, Afro-Caribbean, or Middle Eastern. Border Patrol officials deny that the agency racially profiles, insisting that they look for suspicious behaviors and, “question people with blond hair and blue eyes as much as anyone else.” But common understandings of race in the U.S. fuse nationality and ethnicity so that some groups are permanently deemed to be “foreign.”

The story of Tomas, who is from Guatemala, illustrates the ways in which law enforcement’s use of racial profiling—and the collaboration of local law enforcement with Border Patrol agents—impedes people’s ability to travel.

In July 2007, Tomas and his friend Salvador were driving to a doctor’s appointment. As they pulled out of the toll plaza from the I-90 throughway in Syracuse, a state trooper stopped them. Tomas has a valid U.S. driver’s license and a properly registered vehicle. The state trooper gave no indication of why he had stopped the vehicle, but he did ask Tomas and Salvador about their immigration status and then called Border Patrol agents. “The police officer stopped us because we have Hispanic faces,” Tomas said.

Tomas has had the same experience traveling by bus. Last October he was traveling to Syracuse on Greyhound when Border Patrol agents boarded the bus at the Rochester bus station. “The Border Patrol agents questioned all the Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Asian passengers,” he recalled. “They did not question any of the white passengers except some women who were wearing veils. Border Patrol had dogs with them and checked the whole bus. They even looked in the bathroom.”

A separate incident occurred in December when Tomas was at the Syracuse bus station with another friend. They were speaking to each other in Spanish as they approached the ticket counter where a Border Patrol agent was stationed. “As soon as the Border Patrol agent heard us speaking Spanish, he asked me for my papers,” he said.

Even when Latino travelers produce documents proving their legal status, they are not safe from harassment.

When Tomas finally boarded the bus and arrived in Rochester, Border Patrol was there as well. “I saw them [Border Patrol] on the platform questioning two Hispanic men. The men gave them permanent resident cards. The Border Patrol agent didn’t believe them. He took the cards and called somewhere else. The men had to wait for twenty minutes.” The two men were eventually released.

Tomas’s testimony is not unique. A professor at Syracuse University who is a naturalized citizen originally from the Dominican Republic has been questioned multiple times in his travels and a Syracuse University student who is a U.S. citizen of South Asian descent was separated from his wife, a legal permanent resident, and both interrogated about their status.

Original source: http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=304

Descanse en Paz

Peace! Paz!

I wanted to send my eternal positive thought and meditation to my sister- 'Queen True Reality Earth', of Now Justice (New Jersey), rest in peace- descanse en paz. As well as my condolences to her physical family, of Ecuador. She has recently transitioned and succumbed to the evils of domestic abuse, and unfortunately by someone who 'claimed' to be "righteous". Unfortunately, the truth is that the effects of colonialization are still ingrained in many of us, in varying degrees. Despite this, violence, especially against our women and children, is inexcusable and unacceptable.

Murdered woman's life, pain recalled
BY ED BEESON AND HEATHER APPEL

RANDOLPH — Josephine Hoppe feared for her daughter's future whenever she saw the bruises left by the man Maria Hoppe called the love of her life.

"She always came back with finger marks around her neck, and I told her, 'One of these days, you're not going to get up,' " said Josephine Hoppe, the mother of the 26-year-old Randolph woman whose body was found this week inside a Paterson apartment.

A mother's warning didn't convince Maria Hoppe to leave.

Maria Hoppe returned to the Paterson home of Randy Martin, her boyfriend and father of her two small children. It was here where police investigators said she met her end. Some three weeks after authorities said they believed she was killed, Hoppe's body was discovered Tuesday stuffed in a plastic garbage bag inside Martin's 12th Avenue apartment. Martin, a 37-year-old ex-convict, was arrested by Paterson police officers Tuesday and charged with murder. He is being held in Passaic County Jail in Paterson on $1 million bail.

Shortly after Josephine and Fernando Hoppe returned to their Morris County home on Thursday from the Norman Dean Home for Services in Denville that is handling Maria Hoppe's funeral on Saturday, her parents spoke to reporters for the first time about their daughter's death.

Her parents, natives of Ecuador, spoke in Spanish longingly for their 4-foot-11 daughter and spitefully of the man who authorities said took her life. When a friend brought them a framed photo of Maria Hoppe, her father touched it, turned and let out a mournful wail, which echoed across the hilly apartment complex where they live.

The Hoppes said they felt their daughter was headed for disaster in a relationship they felt powerless to stop.

They recalled their daughter as a bright child who played piano and danced to the Latin American rhythms of cumbia.

She grew into a romantic young woman and wrote poetry to express her feelings, Josephine Hoppe said. Her parents, who had longed for a daughter, nicknamed Maria "pequeña flor," Spanish for "little flower."

As a student at Randolph High School, Maria Hoppe decided to become a psychologist.

Her goals changed after she graduated, but she always had a career in mind.

She chased a series of degrees and training certificates from area community colleges: In business and then computing. At the time of her death, Maria Hoppe was a month shy of completing a degree in massage therapy at Dover Business College, her family said.

Maria Hoppe's relationship with Martin began five years ago when she met him while working at an office in Fairfield, her mother said. It was not clear whether Martin worked with her.

Josephine Hoppe said her concerns about the relationship mounted right away. She began to notice bruises appearing on her daughter's body, but Maria Hoppe always told her mother that the marks were an accident. Maria Hoppe was otherwise reluctant to talk about her relationship with Martin, her family said.

Nevertheless, family members said they saw what was happening.

"He was cruel. He always hit her," her father, Fernando Hoppe, said. "He turned her green, brown, blue."

There were moments when she seemed at peace. "But that was when he was in jail," Josephine Hoppe said.

Maria Hoppe stayed in the relationship with Martin. They had two children: a daughter, Jewel, now 2 years old, and a son, Zahir, who was born in January. Family photos show Maria Hoppe beaming as she held Jewel. Her son's birth invigorated her as well, her family said.

"I never saw her look so beautiful," a cousin, Jessica Hoppe, said, recalling the days after Zahir's birth. "She was glowing."

The state Division of Youth and Family Services twice intervened and took custody of the children, according to the family. Jewel and Zahir are now in the care of Josephine and Fernando Hoppe.

Maria Hoppe's final days remain mostly a mystery. She left her parent's home for the last time on May 13. Two weeks later, Josephine Hoppe said she had her last telephone conversation with her daughter.

On May 28, a state Superior Court judge in Morris County signed an order against Martin, forcing him to pay $150 a week in child support, plus $966 in arrears, court records show. The Morris County Office of Temporary Assistance had filed the child support lawsuit on behalf of Maria Hoppe, according to the court. The family reported Maria Hoppe missing to authorities on June 10.

Her relationship with Martin evidently took a toll on her mind, too, according to the family.

"Love is pain and suffering, she used to say," Josephine Hoppe said. "She said, 'You'll care for people, but you will never know love, because love is pain.' "

Her daughter's words stunned her mother. "I said, 'If that's love, then I don't want to know love,' " Josephine Hoppe said.

E-mail: beeson@northjersey.com and Heather Appel at appelh@northjersey.com

Original article: http://www.northjersey.com/news/northernnj/No_Title_-_MARIA0620TR.html?c=y&page=1