Fox's comment reflects dangerously widespread belief (Guess Jesse didn't wisen Vicente up)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | May 23, 2005 | LAURA WASHINGTON

[Chi-townChief]

He's crazy like a Fox. At a recent meeting with business leaders in Puerto Vallarta, Mexican President Vicente Fox said, "There's no doubt that Mexican men and women -- full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work -- are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States.''

An uproar ensued. Civil rights activists throughout the United States slammed Fox for promoting the stereotype that "blacks are lazy and don't want to work," labeling the comment as insensitive at best and racist at worst. The foreign press tittered. Many wondered how such a savvy politician could make such a blunder.

Like I said: Crazy like a Fox. This was no slip of the lip. Fox knew exactly what he was doing.

Fox knew he speaks for compadres on both sides of the border when he put African Americans at the bottom of the pecking order. He knows many of us believe it, but won't say it out loud. And he knows he can curry favor with his own people by insulting my people. It's a timeworn political ploy.

And it's no accident that Fox referred to "blacks," rather than the politically correct "African Americans." Fox knows that race prejudice is rooted in color prejudice. The blacker you are, the closer to the bottom you land. Years of racist and economic oppression have gone into the making of the theory that if you're black, get back.

The civil rights community has demanded an apology. But Fox also knows that being a politician means never having to say "I'm sorry." For days, his aides danced around the issue. He didn't mean to say it, they said. Then he said, through a spokesman, that he ''regretted'' the incident. Then the foxy pol waited for the inevitable call from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and invited the minister to visit him in Mexico for a chat. Fox shared his "regrets" in private, and called a few other ''black leaders'' like the Rev. Al Sharpton to offer up the same. Fox knows that if he can do a rapprochement with the ''leaders,'' he can ignore the rest of us.

But just as Fox can't erase an insult through selective regrets, he can't carry all the blame. Race and color prejudice is not limited to Mexico. It is universal.

My friend Ricardo Millett knows this as well as anyone. Millett, president of the Woods Fund of Chicago, was born in Panama and is of African descent. This black man has a longtime passion for straight talk about race.

Millett, who calls himself an "Afro Latino," says the bias against blackness runs deep -- not only through Mexico, but in Latin America and the Caribbean, where color prejudice is common.

In Latin countries, Millett says, you can be or claim anything -- but being black. And make sure not to "atrasa la raza." In other words, he says, "Make sure that your offspring is whiter than you are. That way you improve your chances of having a better life. ... This is why Fox and most Mexicans 'know' they are better than blacks.''

Meanwhile, Jackson has a new compadre. He had Fox as a guest on his radio show Sunday (during which the Mexican leader again shrugged off questions about apologizing) and has pronounced there is a silver lining to the Fox faux pas. They are in dialogue. On Friday Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund announced a coalition "that will address critical issues impacting Latinos and African Americans."

They will organize a series of roundtable discussions on common concerns that will pull together "business, civil rights, political, labor and other prominent organizations. One goal is to "educate, promote and help energize broad support for key legislative efforts and enhance the ongoing work of the Hispanic and black caucuses."

That's nice. But it will take something more fundamental to change perceptions and unpack the stereotypes. Too many of us, including black people, buy into the color complex -- 142 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Too many of us are still ashamed of our blackness.

We whisper and nod: ''He only dates light-skinned sisters.'' ''You know she got ahead at the job because she was 'high-yellow' and has 'good hair.' " Talk to the singer Michael Jackson about it. If you're white, you're right.

It took someone who is crazy like a Fox to expose this bit of our dirty laundry. But it's up to all of us to clean it up.

[Chi-townChief]

I think that, possibly, Ms. Washington doesn't realize that the USA is one of the few places in the world where racism is considered a bad thing.

[Gunslingr3]

The Black employment rate was higher than white employment before the federal minimum wage laws.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>Fox knows that if he can do a rapprochement with the ''leaders,'' he can ignore the rest of us.

I'd say Washington was fairly accurate. Jesse runs just as much of an Old Boys' Club as Simon Legree'

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[FreePaul]

The civil rights community has demanded an apology.

What are they going to do? Maybe they can muster the black voting block in Mexico against him.

[Pylot]

Every continent I have been on has, within each country on that continent, a pecking order of disdain for the members of other countries.

If you ever travel to South America you will, depending on the country you are in, find a fairly common hatred for the citizens of surrounding countries. I spent some time in Venezuela. Every other country was beneath them, the only undecided thing was if the Panamanians were worse than the Mexicans or the Columbians.

In Asia, its the same way.

In Europe, its the same way.

That skin color is sometimes tossed in the mix is incidental.

Hatred is a universal characteristic!

[.cnI redruM]

Beauty is only skin deep. Ugliness cuts to the bone.

[Callahan]

Hey, if you really want to insult a Mexican, call him a Puerto Rican--or vice versa. That was a sure way to start a fight at my high school.

[curtish]

Doesn't his comment really insult Mexicans even more than blacks? He obviously doesn't think much of "blacks" but doesn't saying that Mexicans would take jobs that "even blacks" wouldn't take place Mexicans even lower than "blacks"?

[Clemenza]

Fox's comments were insulting to both blacks and Mexicans. What do you expect from a Paddy? ;-)

[Tired of Taxes]

One goal is to "educate, promote and help energize broad support for key legislative efforts and enhance the ongoing work of the Hispanic and black caucuses."

Yep, what probably had Jesse and Al so upset about Fox's comment was the possibility of it dividing black and latino Americans politically. Latinos were welcomed under the "minority umbrella" so they could increase their numbers and have more power.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

'swhy the EU will fail.

[Tired of Taxes]

If you ever travel to South America you will, depending on the country you are in, find a fairly common hatred for the citizens of surrounding countries. I spent some time in Venezuela.

You're not kidding! I knew people from South America. No offense to anyone here of the following origins, as I don't share these opinions, but there was a pecking order: The Costa Ricans thought they were the best, the Venezuelans second... Puerto Rica was the third to last, Cuba was second to last, and Mexico was considered the bottom.

I'll never forget being at a nightclub with a friend whose friends were Costa Rican and Venezuelan. I met a very nice man there who was Puerto Rican and he came back to the table with me. They wouldn't even LOOK at him. They were insulted that I brought him over. Later, I knew a Puerto Rican woman who was disowned by her family for marrying a Cuban.

That's why I find it so laughable that the U.S. gov't labels everyone from those countries "Hispanic" when they come here. But, they all have one thing in common. They hate "gringos", though they love our money. We're the common enemy they share.

[untrained skeptic]

This article is all fluff and no substance.

She makes the accusation that Fox's comments were an intentional insult, yet doesn't manage to support that with sound reasons as to what he might gain from that.

At some points she seems offended by the comment, at other times she seems to be happy that he pointed out racism.

Even quote on why what Fox said was insulting is weak.

"Civil rights activists throughout the United States slammed Fox for promoting the stereotype that "blacks are lazy and don't want to work," labeling the comment as insensitive at best and racist at worst"

The comment that they were willing to do jobs that even blacks didn't want to do seems to infer that blacks are willing to do jobs that others aren't willing to do.

It's hardly an accusation of being lazy. It's an accusation of being privileged so that they don't have to accept such work, while being less privileged than whites.

It's definitely a comment that's going to upset people. It qualifies as racially insensitive, which is unacceptable these days.

I have to wonder if the Civil rights organizations were more upset about him inferring that whites were more privileged or that all Americans, including minorities are privileged to a great extent.

After all, how can they maintain their power and influence if minorities start thinking of themselves as privileged people rather than the oppressed?

[bpjam]

Always out there fishing for an insult. That is our 'minority' leadership in America. Despite the fact that there is not a better country in the world to be black in that the US. And that includes Africa.

Try going to South America and you can see that the blacker your skin, the less society wants anything to do with you. There are no dark skin people on billboards, none on TV, none in magazine ads... There are no Oprahs, Cosbys, Tyras, Jordans, etc. Pele is the only famous black person south of our border who isn't American.

[Oatka]

"I spent some time in Venezuela. Every other country was beneath them, the only undecided thing was if the Panamanians were worse than the Mexicans or the Columbians."

Interesting points that mirrors my own short experience in 1980s Venezuela. From an American of Mexican background I learned that one of the pecking-order determinators was language.

Mexicans were at the bottom of the linguistic ladder because theirs was the "dirtiest". It seems that the closer the spoken Spanish was to European Spanish Castillian, the "purer" you were. Because Mexico used so many indian words, they strayed the farthest. Ecuador came out on top.

Sid Cesear and Imogene Coco used to do hilarious takeoffs speaking a fractured German liberally sprinkled with just enough English that you still got the drift. I noticed that with some Latin co-workers and asked why. They said that throughout Latin America, Spanish words didn't mean the same, so when they came to something like "turkey", they used English as the common denominator. I found that out when I tried "cigarro" for cigar. Got nowhere until until guy said I wanted "tabac".

That skin color is sometimes tossed in the mix is incidental.
Indeed. It seems that humans will invent ANY reason to dislike another group, even if they have to make up some disparity.

[Sam the Sham]

But isn't the joke that when an Argentine wants to commit suicide he jumps off his ego ?

[DumpsterDiver]

ping

[hershey]

What's at stake is who gets the bigger slice of the minority pie and all that entails. Blacks will soon if not already, be outnumbered by Hispanics and Jackson is cozying up to Fox and the Hispanic lobby. He plans to control the action/votes, jobs, money, power, payola. Rainbow Coalition reborn.