First and foremost, regardless of the intention of the artists ( I think they did not realize they were racist) or the readers (many of them dont know any better either) the character Memin is a caricature.  HE LOOKS LIKE A DAMN MONKEY- NOT LIKE ANY PERSON OF AFRICAN DESCENT THAT I KNOW.  AND everywhere in the Americas - no matter the country those images of monkeyed (innocent or dangerous) blacks were proliferated in the media.

I am saddened by the lack of understanding we all have in this world of complex issues. People of African descent and Indigenous peoples should have a lot to complain about given thier shared (though different) histories greatly affected by the scourge of RACISM and European hierarchy imposed on them culturally, socially, economically and politically.

Does anyone study history at all? We assume that culture some how exists in a vacuum and that we all evolve or develop in separate places without any outside influences. I think not! Even China cannot get away with saying that now. This region - the Americas and the Caribbean were changed FOREVER by conquest, colonialism and European domination. The dominant class shared notes and had international conferences and wars to divide the land and share best practices for getting the most riches and wealth out of their investment - THE NEW WORLD.

Cultures and peoples were destroyed and decimated. Folks didnt happily go marry whoever they wanted in those times. Sometimes due to the circumstances in which someone lived they would have to marry or (have children) with a person of a different color to stay alive. These days, we have been brainwashed to believe that if a darker person (African descendant or Indigenous or a mixture of many) marries a very light (or white) person with light eyes blondness that in this act of whitening we will “mejorar la raza” better the race. Shame on all of us!

The sad part is you all think that we are all equal as long as the voices of our “distinct” sub-communities are not heard. We dont travel outside of our countries of origin, if our images are exported the images are negative. No one asks an Afro-Mexican or Afro-Brazilian or an Afro-Dominican how we feel. Most times we ourselves are ashamed of our own color and society helps to promote that shame by showing us the limitations of who or what we could be.

Have you seen a good novela lately? What are all the protagonistas white, rich women or men with blonde locks  when most of Latin America doesnt look that way? Why is it that the maids or nannys are usually darker, less educated and if there is a role for a Black woman - that is it!?

Have you seen our text books or national statistics which lack current or accurate data about our communities and how we arrived in these countries of the NEW WORLD? Most of us were brought here as enslaved Africans and or colonialized Indigenous Peoples. YEs, many of us are mixed but that doesnt solve any of our problems. We are still considered marginal and we are excluded in our societies. We are different from the US experience but it isnt better than there experience either and we have a lot in common. Does anyone know that at one time Vera Cruz, Mexico was the largest port of entry for enslaved AFricans in the New World? That is how we got here! We didnt come on a cruise ship! We were chattel to buy and sell. Then after the slave trade ended we continued to be oppressed and many of us lived in miserable conditions

It hurts to be us. If you really want to know from an black Mexican point of view. I am sad for us. And for you people to believe that the Gringos are the ones importing their imperialist thoughts on us, look in the mirror. Ask our fellow Latin Americans of African and Indigenous descent and you will see that they too are tired of the racism and lack of oportunities and rights afforded our brothers and sisters.

In Mexico we installed a new anti-discrimination legislation in 2003. That legislation discusses gender discrimination and some discrimination against the disabled and certain ethnic groups it does not really address racism itself. But it is a law! How does the promotion of a caricature of a Black boy on a stamp respect this law? They believe that if there is no KKK or people keeping you from going to the same schools that that is racism. People in power believe our problems are only of classism and not discrimination based on the color of your skin. But when a job is looking for a receptionist or executive they are also looking for “buena aparencia” which means good appearance. Unfortunately, my look is not good for most - I am a black woman.

Fortunately, I love myself and I will teach my children the value of our culture - which is distinct sometimes from my national culture. We have a valiant history too but most of the time it is lost in the promotion of a false European superiority. Our national images are tainted with the promotion of a united identity but not one of pluriethnicidad (multi-ethnic) but one of singularity in look, power, culture. Vicente Fox doesnt look like anyone I know personally at home but he is the President. I dont see people like me on television or in the Newspaper for positive things or in positions of power. Por que?

WE HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO…VIVA los hermanos y hermanas Afroamericanas de los Estados Unidos. Que unimos mas y peleamos menos.

Un abrazo!

This message is a response to the comments of the user "intruder" . I am a black American male who is very outraged over the stamps issued by the Mexican government. The stamps are racist because they portray black males as silly man-apes who are not to be taken seriously. If the character is just a harmless cartoon character, then why are the Mexican characters drawn to their natural proportions and not the black character, who is drawn like an ape? The U.S. and Europe also had similar depictions of blacks in the past, but not anymore. Today these images are rightly frowned upon.  The next time the Mexican government complains about racist treatment of it's citizens in the U.S., we should respond by saying that it's just a cultural misunderstanding.

and as a mexican, you didn't bother to use your name to validify your comment. if you read the actual post, i comment on america's history of racism (or weren't the images of sambo large enough?). i see NOTHING educational in the depiction of a chimp-like black child being shoved around by aryan children and a white businessmann on the covers of these comics. they are blatantly racist. and if you don't see that, i honestly feel pity for you and those you educate in life.

oh, and who are those blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids in those pictures?

First of all, READ THE DAMN THING BEFORE SAYING NONSENSE.

The boys in all the covers happen to be his friends (best friends). They don't mock on him like the CNN report said. It happens that mexicans have the custom of calling names to anyone without meaning offense. Here, between friends, we can call names like "güero, gordo (fat), negro, flaco (skinny), chaparro (shorty), etc" in a good manner.

I could say more, just check this text I wrote for other sites on the same topic:

"I have read both points of view (against, and in favor of), and must say I don't agree with you, but understand why you are offended. I guess those "exaggerated" facial features you mention are things American white population (the racist part of them) use to make fun of black people in a racist manner. I guess you think Mexicans have the same customs and way of thinking (social structure, status, etc) than the US, but it isn't.

First of all, Memin is a cartoon, whose looks where intended to be funny, and as the main character of the strip, he was meant to contrast with the other characters in the exageration of his facial features in a funny (but not offensive way). You may think "yeah, right, how do you know he wasn't meant to be offensive?". I can tell that recalling the way he was conceived by Guillermo de la Parra and his wife. He was inspired in a cuban boy (yes, not every black skinned person looks like Beyonce or Will Smith) that happened to have thick lips. If he has wide opened eyes, I tell he has the average cartoon eyes.

Second, it wouldn't make sense that Guillermo de la Parra's wife called a character meant to be an offense, like her husband (Memín is a diminutive for Guillermo). Pinguin is how her husband was called when he was a young boy!

Third, it is obvious that you don't have an idea of the character's story in the strip. Do you even know who is "El Periquillo Sarniento" the page you linked refered to? Basically, he (Memin) is a poor boy living in a neighborhood in Mexico. There he relates with boys of different situations (with every color of skin you can imagine). Some of his friends are poor, others are medium class or rich. Most of the time he basically does three things: 1. Innocent mischief 2. Help his beloved mother (Who ,by the way, only compares to Aunt Jemina with the handkerchief she uses on the head) 3. Help his friends (all of them) solve their problems with his good hearted nature and intelligence (which he didn't lacked of).

I won't say racism doesn't exist here in Mexico. But I should say that racists are the minority here (most of us are mestizos, this is, with mixed heritage). Heck, I guess most mexicans have arabian, chinese, african, spanish, french, native american blood in different proportions. Here true racism leans on wealth status, and is a big problem, but race isn't a matter of hate or discrimination. And for CBKiteflyer, I guess you are right about discrimination against native mexican descendants, but I guess it's more based on poverty. Here we have a lot of people with accentuated native mexican facial features and no one bothers them (but the racist minority I talked about earlier). Here we don't have race "ghettos", white communities, chinese communities, black communities, etc (exception are native mexican descendants, but it is because of historical and self decition reasons). Theses things we know only through your movies and TV series. We can't help but laugh at many of your sitcoms "adressed" to the black community (Sister-Sister, Kenan and Kel, and a bunch more). We always ask "why is only black people in the surroundings?". Here in Mexico, you can find skin diversity in a single four member family (like mine). So you can't compare our ways of thinking with the ones in your country.

Onto the stamps: let me think what the hell can be offensive with these particular drawings: Memin doing a honorable job as newspaper boy? Memin holding his school notebook under his arm? Memin dressing elegant (oh, my mistake, for sure he was depicted as a PIMP)?

The last nail in the coffin for your opinion should be this: In the caribbean, where most people have black skin, Memin was a read must for children, and governments from these countries praised the comic book. No one besides the US has thought Memin was racist. Remember that black people aren't exclusive to the US!"

You really think that pictures can't be racist? You clearly haven't heard about this, but during the 1930s and 40s in Germany there were a group of very naughty men and women called Nazis. They persercuted the Jews, and murdered 6 million of them eventually, but they also published cartoons early on in the 1930s, showing the Jewish people with exagerated features, while everyone around them who wasn't Jewsih was different. That was all done as a bit of fun too and if you didn't speak German then it was easy to say that really no harm was being done.

The pictures in that cartoon are disgusting. Whether the children are actually getting on fine or not, it portrays very crude and retarded racial stereotyping.

I didn't say they can't be racist. I said they AREN'T. You can't compare these two situations, first of all, because, we mexicans, haven't murdered thousands of black people. Second, read the damn comic before you open your mouth. Third, exaggerated features is not synonim of racial hate. If that's so, let's condemn the cartoonist that draws celebrity cartoons for Planet Hollywood, or whatever it is. Damned should be any cartoonist. FOR GOD'S SAKE, BUG'S BUNNY IS ALL ABOUT HATE TOWARDS RABBITS!!!

JESUS... how can something be created to be hatefull and offensive, and the same time have the name of one of the coauthors. Believe me, apart of those jerks that apparently protested for Speedy Gonzales and such on your side of the river, mexicans don't give a fuck about it. Not even those cartoons about sleeping mexicans, etc. And I believe your government said no shit about that cartoon in MTV where cartoons are gathered in a contest ala Big Brother, where one of the tests was to pass mexican inmigrants to the US. The Betty Boop parody opted to swallow them and shit them in a toilet. That my friend, isn't RACISM for your standarts? the Mucha Lucha cartoon, where every character talks like a stereotypical mexican? shove it.

>>first of all, because, we mexicans, haven't murdered thousands of black people.

Oh, kinda like how the Germans hadn't killed six million Jews in 1933?

?

whatever man...whatever.

I don't know what the heck you are talking about, but let's leave it there. I am satisfied and don't want any more of your stuff.

-So who is to say that in 10 or 20 or 50 years the racists of mexico will not have murdered more than half of the African-Mexican population.

I see what happens here. You're just plain dumb. It is not personal, since I don't know you, but your arguments reflect your mental capacities. Don't need further discussion.

Well, yes it is impossible to make the incorrect racial stereotype once you have read something, isn't it? Oh, apparently it is: I'm not American

It's not because I don't understand it I think they are racist. It is because when i look at the pictures I see racist imagery. If you had read my comment i had explained that. Read my DAMN comment (as an ignorant racist might put it.) And children who can't read yet will approach the comic differently from someone who reads everything and can make their own judgement.

And where on the postage stamps are all these beautiful words about how loving towards the crudely drawn  character all these realistically drawn white people? This was where the discussion began - with the stamps. No story is being told except that the Mexican government is happy to send out stamps into the world that a lot of people find extremely disgusting.

Well, we are not exporting the comic, and if that was so, it would be translated. And yes, I read your DAMN post, but you haven't answered my responses to your ridiculous statements. Exaggeration of facial features in a cartoon isn't equal to racism, even if your nazi cartoonists did it. Cartoonists are all about exaggeration of features.

And forgive me for calling you american, I must correct: american wannabe.

But whatever man. If you want to destroy cultural expresions that you don't understand because your inane culture doesn't give you elements further than the ones you have within your territorial borders, go for it. I believe your problem reduces to the thick lips and ears of the character, what a simpleton.

>>I must correct: american wannabe

Thanks for making it personal. That's really nice. I am not an "American wannabe". I "wannabe" like any Mexican or American who isn't racist.

I agree that racial stereotyping in any cartoon be it from Hollywood or Mexico is wrong. It gets worse as soon as you stereotype a racial group that has been victimised by ruling classes for centuries, kept as slaves, and which still remains as an economic underclass in both America and Mexico. I will criticise cultural expression when it is racist. I have no idea what you are saying about my inane culture and territorial borders, as i am pretty sure we don't know each other so you know very little about where i have lived, what my culture is and how my view of the world has been shaped since childhood. I know that my view of these cartoons is shaped by the fact that it uses racial imagery and as an experienced high school teacher of mostly children who didn't speak English as their first or home language I know that the written word is only way that young people assimialte information. Often the verbal communication is the least powerful.

I have to agree with the Mexicans on this one. I am sick of people being asked to throw out components of their culture, however painful, unjust, or just plain wrong, simply because someone is offended. White, blonde-haired, blue-eyed males are frequently portrayed in American pop culture as homosexuals (the movie "As Good As It Gets is an example"), but you don't see members of this group protesting against an affront to their manhood; real, straight men know they are men.

first of all, thanks for commenting and making me think more in depth on the issue. the exaggerated images, for me, are reminiscent of slavery-era caricatures that denigrated and ridiculed blacks, in order to maintain their subjugation to whites. i understand that this was promoted in caribbean/latin american/other such colonized countries as well. offhand, i can only think of trinidad as an exception, where indians (ancestors of indentured servants who replaced the slaves after abolition) are the denigrated race (even in south africa, where the blacks have regained rule, the whites still control most of the financial power). in an earlier post of mine, a discussion rose about my use of the term 'mexican' as a descriptive tool; as in america, the term carries with it loaded racial/ethnic stereotypes.  as do cartoonized images of african americans that resemble large-lipped monkeys, images in which whites are dominating.

but that's a good question. are 1930s-40s american comics guilty of the same caricatures?

We are expected to laugh at Speedy Gonzalez and all of his stereo-types.  Yet  Memin Pinguin is somehow more offensive than Speedy who is still popular today.  I laughed at Speedy as a child, because he was a cartoon character.  The same goes for Memin.  If Mexico must apologize for Memin, The U.S. must apologize for Speedy.  Ultimately, the accusations of racism, directly or inferred, are hypocritical. 

I never suggested that racism does not exist in Mexico. My point was simple and you obviously missed my concession to the existence of racism in Mexico. Again, my point is simple; "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones." I can even concede the juxtaposition of an exaggerated stereo-type of a black character (Memín) versus the white characters. The difference is obvious when compared to the bubbly Speedy, but now you are talking about the degree of offensiveness. No one can define for another what is offensive to them. "X" may find Speedy offensive for the same reasons that "Y" finds Memín offensive. Again, you stated that it was the juxtaposition that "you" found offensive. Good for you. But if I find something offensive, I don’t need to qualify those reasons to you or your guidepost, but rather my own. I don’t have to use the same measure you do.

In addition, your statement that you find even more offensive"all the comments from my fellow Mexicans who are trying to pretend that racism in Mexico doesn't exist" is absurd. "I" certainly never suggested that racism does not exist in Mexico. Nor did anyone else. Rather, it is you who digresses. The question is not whether racism exists in Mexico. The question at hand is the U.S. outcry over the offensiveness of Memín and whether or not it is justified. Perhaps it is, but perhaps the U.S. should look in the mirror first. As I mentioned before, the accusations of racism, directly or inferred, are hypocritical. (CB Kiteflyer...That means racism exists on both fronts...thus my concession of the existence of racism) "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."

   Well I am Mexican and I see no sense in all this issue about Memin it might be because I did not grew up reading those comics (I am currently 17 years old) I know that the styles used to depict the characters are quite different (well, totally different) but still remember it was created in 1930-40s to combat racism (at first I didn’t knew how they did that with all these images depicting Afro-Americans with those exaggerated features). I think that what the author tried to do was for us to see why racism is so bad and should not be tolerated by showing how bad could it get (just my opinion, I might be wrong). One last thing, not all Mexicans are racists as not all Americans are racists but we both must admit that some are, maybe it’s the majority maybe a minority, at least on the place I live I was taught not to be racist, so don’t say ALL Mexicans are racists just because one comic book that was published decades ago depicted Afro Americans inappropriately

    Well sorry for my grammar as you must know English isn’t my native language