Nothing but Paspalum Fasciculatum here
Really good, I liked it; I think this issue should be expossed way more by the opposition outside. I'll fordward it to some of my friends.
Thanks Michel, I got tired of seeing it being brought up in the blog comment sections, I guess it takes someone living in the US to see the difference.
I disagree with your statement "
Black people in Venezuela, as in the rest of the Americas, descend from a population that has its origin from slave trade..." The prehistoric Olmec Heads with their clearly Black faces as well as the Pyramids are absolute proof of a Black presence in the Americas long before the Slave Trade which began in the late 1400s.
Second, your mentality concerning how lighter skinned people always end up somewhere lower than whites but way way way higher than darker skinned ones is absolutely ludicrous. If a team wins the Championship every single time, and another loses every single time, won't you at some point have to conclude there is a reason for that? You are less threathening and less foreign to Whites than Black and Brown people and thus are GIVEN certain advantages. However intelligent and hardworking a person is if he doesnt have "connections" he will not be successful in life. Because division and discord is fostered by poverty, most Blacks do not have any community effort behind their endeavors and are aften kept out of the competition by better organized groups of men. They are relegated by this conspiracy to always be laborers, servants and manpower while the Whites are the brains behind the operation and the "Mixed" the packaging thru which it's sold.
To me the mere act of recognizing your self as indio e negro in 2005 is revolutionary. Nobody who can be anything else wants to be Black and no matter what Blacks accomplish there will always be the stereotype of us as the somewhat less intelligent brute. I could consider myself "Mixed" but I'm realistic about how I came to be that way.
Also, how did such a small percentage of venezuelans came to own so much of the land? And what, if any, were Washington's ties to the Anti Chavez Movement and did they really hire the same PR firm that GWB hired at the beginning of his Presidency in 2001?
Well, maybe I exaggerated with "the rest of the Americas," but it is true for Venezuela. The black population of Venezuela started getting there probably 40 years after the white population did, precisely from slave trade. And it is hard for me to think in terms of skin color, because for us, it is not something that enters into consideration.
I clearly do not agree with your concept of "being given advantages" because my skin color is lighter. Though, since I came to the U.S. I am given advantages because I have Black and Indio blood in me, though I entered my current position _only_ due to my level of education, as I did not know anyone in the U.S. (or cared about race) before I came. But remember we are talking about Venezuela here.
I completely agree that "connections" is more important, and the way those are forged in Venezuela, as in most of the world, is mostly through the educational system. But you are confusing racism and discrimination with inequality. My high school black friends had no less opportunity, than any of my high school white friends (and it was a public high-school at that), and the whole gamut of skin colors was represented. Actually the first one to become 'a doctor' and started to have some international influence through an U.N. position is black.
In Venezuela the problem is inequality, poor people (black ,white, indio, or anywhere in between), and the poor indio population, due to current displacement toward cities, has the worst part of it.
Assuming that the "white people" or at least "lighter skinned" people are the ones with most of the land in Venezuela (a reasonable assumption, but I have never seen such measure). And ignoring the fact that the Venezuelan State is the owner of the most land there. It would be a reflection of the fact that blacks entered the Venezuelan population as slaves, and slaves worked for the owners of the land.
In Venezuela, several of Chavez opposition candidates, are much more darker skinned that he is. "El Negro Fermín" (you can read a bit about him in here), is as black as you can get down there, he is a Sociologist with a graduate degree in political science, and a very smart individual. But guess what, he represents one of the traditional "escualido" parties, A.D.
Your assessment of the situations is the problem in the U.S. but assigning the label "poor" to have the meaning "black" is a form of racism on its own, and it distorts the picture.
We have to concentrate in what makes us equal, and what can make us even more equal. Brandishing labels like "racism" (discrimination towards skin color) is yet another way to divide populations into "us" and "them" and it is just an application of the "divide and conquer" principle, something that is the engine of the Chavez program (and of Bush's for that matter).
And I am not aware of any Washington t
Ooops (too long winded I guess)...
And I am not aware of any Washington ties to an "anti-Chavez movement" (and I am being general defining that label). I know that Chavez has claimed them, but so far I have not seen any reasonable proof. And I do not know about the PR firm, but all those are different topics (I like to keep these conversations on topic).
Yeah, I have a little problem with it. I live in Venezuela for a while and never met a single individual I would call racist but I hoped I had come to a place color didn't mean a thing as I'd always expected in South America. I was being a bit hopeful maybe. I like being black (its what I am after all) and didn't understand why everyone seems to want to be as light as possible in that part of the world? explain someone
Everyone seems to want to be as light as possible?. I am not sure exactly what do you mean, in what context?.
I remember some of my high-school classmates that had the monicker 'el/la negro/a' (darker skinned that I am), and were extremely proud of being 'purer' than I was. I believe all of them became lawyers now that I think about it, maybe that had something to do with it...
One curious thing about Venezuela is that in the slave trade days the great majority of black people that reached our country had somewhat Caucasian features (I am not sure from what region of Africa exactly), I think the same is true about Trinidad and the other neighboring islands. So some of the more common African-American features are not that common in Venezuela.
Edgar, great post. I got to your website through a comment you made on Miguel Octavio's blog (The Devil's Excrement).
BTW, that panoramic of the march you have on the front page was taken by me. I'm really glad to see it displayed here!
Saludos,
CGP.
Thanks, I wish I could post more frequently than what I do nowadays...
And specially thanks for the picture, some of the other ones I got actually have your name in it, but I just realized that one doesn't. I guess we might have some friends in common.
Dear Edgar:
I decided to read your interesting article on racism in Venezuela and while astute, I found it to be extremely simplistic.
You seem to lobby real hard and pretend that racism is somehow diminished in our venezuelan reality because, for some reason, according to you, "we don't care that much about race" in Venezuela.
Another issue that I found quite comic was to read you state that just because Negro Primero, la Negra Hipolita and la Negra Matea exist in our history, this somehow has refrained us from developing and generating a racist society in our nation. Just because la Negra Hipolita nursed Bolivar during childhood does not mean that Venezuela is a land free from racism, since Bolivar certainly did not choose to marry or have a mestizo offspring, but chose for his family and generation to remain white.
Although important, I find your comparison risible since even Thomas Jefferson had children and an affair with a black slave, read: http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine...ublic/
fehn.html
and that does not mean that the US is a country free from racism, since as we all know, the USA continues to be one of the most racist and segregated countries in the industrialized world, only highlighted by the Katrina incident, where even today, the blacks in that region are living like dogs and where race relations have been poisoned: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ameri...cas/
5283522.stm
Furthermore, in all of your analysis, there is a pervasive feeling that your arguments signal a denial about the overrepresentation of white people on tv for a country that is more than 67% mestizo, http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encycl.../
Venezuela.html.
Take a look at the newscast and soap operas in any of the private channels and tell me if the anchors, reporters, actors and actresses really represent the racial makeup of our country. Aditionally, your arguments conveniently leave out the fact that in many discoteques in Caracas, Valencia, Maracaibo and Margarita Island, if you are black, they will not let you in, signaling the most odious and heinous racism only experienced by jews in Hitler's Germany or blacks in apartheid's South Africa.
How could a country not be racist when blacks cannot easily enter certain spaces but whites can without hesitation? Is there a possibility that you maybe in denial because we have been sold the idea that Venezuela is a country of "mestizaje"? Japanese anthropologist, Jun Ishibashi, did a very interesting study about racism in Venezuela which I respectfully but strongly encourage and urge you to read, since besides being an eye opener, it will dissipate many of the misconceptions which I personally feel you and many other Venezuelans, even blacks, continue to delude themselves under, since according the Mr. Ishibashi: "En Venezuela, los estudios sobre el racismo en los medios y otros ámbitos sociales han sido poco usuales. En Venezuela, el término popular “raza” no categori
Continuation of the post:
according the Mr. Ishibashi: "En Venezuela, los estudios sobre el racismo en los medios y otros ámbitos sociales han sido poco usuales. En Venezuela, el término popular “raza” no categoriza a un grupo humano determinado ni implica una identidad auto-adscriptiva de grupo social. La sensibilidad para distinguir los fenotipos con términos tan minuciosos no es una expresión igualitaria y horizontal entre individuos que se clasifiquen en cada una de las categorías. El “blanco” suele ser el símbolo de lo bello, lo rico, lo puro y lo sofisticado, mientras que el “negro” suele ser símbolo de lo feo, lo pobre, lo impuro, lo no-sofisticado. Por ejemplo, para referirse a la forma de pelo se utilizan términos “liso” contra “malo” (sinónimo de “ensortijado”), y en referencia a la nariz, se habla de “perfilada” contra “achatada”. Los “negros” en el mundo publicitario analizado, difícilmente son protagonistas en las campañas publicitarias.
En las escasas oportunidades en que aparecen en ellas, lo hacen interpretando el papel de bailadores de ritmos tropicales en la playa o de “deportistas”, sean estos reales o imaginarios. En ambientes tales como compartir en pareja, criar un/a bebé, sentirse bien en el hogar o ejercer un oficio, las representaciones “negras” no son utilizadas. En los productos relacionados con la belleza, la higiene y la salud, la representación “negra” es muy escasamente utilizada. La marginalización de modelos “negro/as” no sólo puede apreciarse en términos cuantitativos, sino también cualitativos, en múltiples facetas de su vida profesional. Por ejemplo, los/las modelos “negro/as” participan menos en campañas publicitarias que los de otros “tipos”. En llamadas telefónicas para las convocatorias de casting en publicidad, se suelen escuchar expresiones como “no mande muchos/as negros/as”. Para un casting de personajes en grupo, casi siempre hay un único cupo para un/a “negro/a” por lo tanto lo/las modelos “negros/as” no compiten con otros modelos sino entre ellos/as mismos/as. En los medios estudiados, existe una aguda sensibilidad para distinguir la “tipología”, que es el sinónimo del término popular de “raza”. Dentro de esa jerarquía fenotípica, el “negro” es tratado como un “tipo” marginado y excluido dentro de la democracia simbólica de los medios en Venezuela. Los profesionales en los medios justifican este tratamiento según su teoría del marketing “racial”. Es decir, el poder adquisitivo del segmento del mercado representado por el tipo “negro” es pequeño, y además, los de este segmento aspiran aparentar menos “oscuros” al practicar sus hábitos de consumo diarios. Esta forma de justificación de reproducción del estereotipo racial, oculta la existencia del canon de belleza eurocéntrico y prejuiciado. En los medios de comunicación en Venezuela, lo “negro” representa ser lo “feo”, lo “no-sofisticado”, y lo “pobre”.
you can read this fascinating and insightful research study here: http://www.globalcult.o
Conclusion of the post:
you can read this fascinating and insightful research study here: http://www.globalcult.org.ve/doc...%20ishibashi%
22
Furthermore, if you should not find yourself satisfied with the japanese research, I stronly urge you to read then, the following research done by Venezuela's own, Jesus Maria Herrera Salas, which among many other facts states what the spaniards thought of the slaves during colonial times (pag. 3-4), the obsession by a great number of venezuelan presidents to "whiten" the country (pag. 4-5) and racism's comeback after 1983 (pag. 8-15), read: http://www.lpp-uerj.net/olped/do...%20ishibashi%
22
albeit pro-government, this research shines light in some respectable and insightful situations that continue to occur in our beloved but deeply racist Venezuela, that even in forums from the BBC, most of the responses made by Venezuelans signal and confirm that racism is indeed "vivito y coleando" in our "tierra de gracia", http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish...000/
4339966.stm
Finally, there is serious evidence that we have developed a racist mentality, as a result of our primary and secondary education, which has been largely eurocentric, in an umprecedented and largely ignored by the media, study done by Maria del Pilar Quintero from the Universidad de los Andes (ULA): http://www.saber.ula.ve/db/ssabe.../
articulo_1.pdf
Therefore, I strongly disagree with your ideas regarding racism in Venezuela or the lack of. I trust that you will read all of the links throughly and provide a comprehensive response, in due time. I hope you appreciate my dilligence and I sincerely hope that I have respected your code of ethics. Have a great week, sincerely,
Carlos
What's up Edgar? Still no answer? For all of your "talk", you certainly did not have much to show for it, when confronted with an adversarial point of view. Anyways, I take it as a character flaw in your argument, have a nice life Edgarcito!
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