A Question Regarding Hispanics and Indigenous Peoples

I think that is a very good question (4.00 / 3)

and it doesn't have an easy answer.

It is very clear that an effort has been made by the powers that be to diminish the power - numerically of indigenous people in the United States.  

The first wave of this countries history was to attempt to commit genocide.  The second wave was to commit ethnocide - by sending many native peoples to Euro schools and wipe out their language and culture.  

This parallels a similar movement in Spanish colonies to create a class of people who would hold no claim to land.

You can see how this plays out in places like Puerto Rico, where an entire people have been sold a history that says all the Tainos were wiped out - yet we now have DNA evidence that a majority of Puerto Ricans have indigenous ancestry, no matter their phenotype.
http://www.centrelink.org/Kear...

Mexico still has a very large indigenous population for whom Spanish is not their first language.  Yet they are "Mexicans" with Spanish surnames, and when they cross the border into the US - that is how they are designated.

Attempts to create a middle class in Mexico meant that the "stain" of indio blood had to be dealt with, and a system of denial and rejection of ancestry was put into play by the ruling class. (and you can include the whitewashing of African ancestry as well - except in Costa Chica and Vera Cruz)

Current demographics for Mexico show

Mestizos

Those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. They form the largest group, comprising up to 60-80% of the total population. Mestizos are not an ethnicity per se since they are more European or Amerindian looking depending on their racial background.

Amerindians

Descendants of the native American peoples who inhabited Mesoamerica. They comprise around 10%-30% of the population (depending on the method used). The CDI identifies 62 indigenous groups in Mexico, each with a unique language.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

Yet the emphasis in terms of social class hierarchy and upward mobility has been an embracing of the European-Spaniard ancestry.  

Since Amerindians in Mexico were not pushed onto reservations, nor was genocide/ethnocide possible their status in Mexico differs from that of their brothers and sisters on this side of the border.

In recent years there has been a effort by a variety of groups to re-establish the ties between and among all the indigenous peoples in this hemisphere.  That also requires a massive effort in education.  

In the late 60's when I was a member of the Young Lords Party - we stressed the Afro-Taino heritage of Boricuas (Puertoricans).

I also went to South Dakota, to Pine Ridge - to the survival school to teach that same history on the Lakota rez.  

There are groups today who are re-defining the boxes they have been placed in.

For example there is a center of young people in Utah - The Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective which is taking on this identity of mestizaje
http://mestizoactivism.blogspo...

In her book - Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldúa addressed this entire issue.

I don't think your question creates discord at all - it prompts reflection, and pushes us towards more unity.

---

by: Deoliver47 @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 22:52:42 PM UTC

Thanks De for responding to this diary (4.00 / 1)

I appreciate it so much.

---

by: navajo @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 23:08:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank You (4.00 / 1)

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. It puts so much in context and points me to sources for learning more. The question has worried me. Now I am preparing an approach, to a museum of Mexican art, about creating an exhibit of photos from indigenous Mexico, and it seems helpful to understand the cultural foundations of indigenous exclusion from, or at least sidelining in, this type of venue.

---

by: Wild Onion @ Mon Aug 09, 2010 at 04:54:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]