"Black Mexicans see pride in lost history"

"... a crash course in negritud... "


Guadalupe Jaime Noyola: When I left here and went to Mexico City for the first time in 1982, I realized that people looked at me differently, as if they were suspicious of me for some reason.

María de Jesús Marín: teacher's assistant. My color may be white but my roots are back.

Adapted from this original source: Laurence Iliff, Mexico Bureau, The Dallas Morning News, Wednesday, April 3, 2002.

"Communities starting to discover roots, fight discrimination"

"SAN NICOLAS, Mexico -- Dark - skinned Mexicans along the southern Pacific Coast have long sensed their roots are distinct from the mixed - race majority dominated by European and Indian blood.

"But until relatively recently, many had only a sketchy idea why.

"Jorge Añorve Zapata, 38, a schoolteacher from the Costa Chica, or small coast, south of Alcapulco said: A popular story says we came from a stranded African ship.

It's a nice story.

But as it turns out, the truth isn't so nice because we came in chains as slaves and were the first ones to drown.

"Now, African - Mexicans along the coast are discovering their roots, countering negative stereotypes, and trying to find their place in Mexican history.

"Government - issued textbooks describe coastal residents as festive dancers who happily raise cattle and corn.

"Crude drawings depict the physical charateristics of African Mexicans without offering much history.

"Mr. Añorve, who worked in California in the early 1990s, said the books are clearly offensive, so he offers his preteen students a crash course in negritud, or blackness to counter official stereotypes..."

A fascinating read!