Mexican Stamps Viewed As Racist

Further stoking the fires lit by President Fox’s comments concerning African-American’s a few weeks ago, the Mexican government released a set of stamps featuring a Jim Crow era caricature named Memin Pinguin. The character started in a comic book series first published in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico today. The character is drawn with exaggerated features and his mannerisms and conduct are mocked by the other characters featured in the comic.

Representatives from the Mexican Postal Service consider the stamp innocent and reflects a part of Mexico’s culture. However, a visiting black professor from Penn State, Ben Vinson, says that he has been called Memin Pinguin during his stay. How can this not be considered offensive by those who have any interaction with people of African descent or those subjected to American slavery? Rafael Lafeaga of the Mexican embassy in D.C. remarked that Speedy Gonzales has never been interpreted in a racial manner by the people of Mexico. Well since he puts it that way it must be ok, right?

The State of . . . racial caricatures abroad is alive and well. The pickaninny caricature is popular in Japan (as posted a few weeks back) and in other parts of Latin America. The NAACP, the Urban League, and the National Council of La Raza have all called for the administration to denounce the stamps. This seems to be a no-brainer for the administration to denounce. But we will see if they take the time to do so.