Racism in Peru: TAKE ACTION to stop offensive “Negro Mama” character in Peruvian TV
Many people in the United States, were sadly impressed (to use a kind expression) while watching the last episode of the PBS series “Black in Latin America”, which referred to the African heritage of the people of Mexico and Peru.
There in national television, a black-faced character depicting a black man, a proof that racism in Latin America is worst that imagined. Negro Mama “is the most racist character I have ever seeing in my life” said professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. when he saw it in Lima.
Afro Peruvian activist Monica Carrillo, of the non-profit LUNDU, described Peru as “perhaps the most racist country in Latin America”.
Here is a video commentary, directed to Peruvians but mostl to those Black Americans who are still very upset about this type of racist media produced in Peru. I want you to know that the “Negro Mama” character does not represent the values of most Peruvians.
Most importantly, I want you to help Peruvians understand why racism has to do with oppression. The same racism that justified slavery and class division in the U.S., is used to keep most Peruvians in poverty. Please watch:
Take Action
Please contact these organizations and demand the end of racism in Peruvian TV and media:
FRECUENCIA LATINA TV – LIMA
Baruch Ivcher office
(011-511) 219-1000 extension 1006
http://www.frecuencialatina.com/contactenos.phpVICE-MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS OF PERU
Office of minister Jorge Luis Cuba Hidalgo
(011-511) 615-7800 extension 1232CONSULTING COUNCIL OF RADIO & TV OF PERU
(011-511) 615-7829
concortv@concortv.gob.peNATIONAL SOCIETY OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
Committee of Complains
Jorge Baca-Alvarez Marroquin – jbacal@cpb-abogados.com.pe
Gustavo Gomez Morante – ggomez@frecuenciatv.com.peEMBASSY OF PERU IN THE UNITED STATES
Head of the Press Officehttp://peruanista.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7067&action=edit&message=10#category-pop
Mr. Luis Chang Boldrini
202-833-9860 extension 216
lchang@embassyofperu.us
Please spread the word.
Watch the full episode “Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet” here.
Hayk’aqkaman hukpa yuyallanwan ukpa kawsayllanwan uywasqa kasunchik, ñuqanchispas ñan rkhu kunkamanta rimarikunaña kanqa… llapallanchik sumaqta siminchista kawsaynichikta riqsichisunchik tiqsimuyunintinman
Carlos A Quiroz, Hi Im a black-american and whats going on in that country is just crazy. Im glad that I started taking Latin American history, because I had no idea that things like this were happening in these countries. It makes me sad too know that the native people of your country and other countries are being treated like this and the government trying too strip people of their cultural, who they are. And the crazy thing about it is that you guys were there first, thats your land. Same as with Mexico, The U.S stole basically half of there land and then call them “illegal”, How can a person be illegal. But I salute you honorably!!! You are a man of worth and I hope one day racism will be spoken like a thing of the distance past. And I applaud you for the positive feed back you gave too that negative comment. Things just have too change! Thank you for this, and please keep me informed.
EL RACISMO ESTA BRUTALMENTE INSTITUCIONALIZADO EN EL PERU. A TAL PUNTO QUE EL SYNDROME THE MICHAEL JACKSON (ODIARSE ASIMISMO POR EL COLOR DE SU PROPIA PIEL NEGRA) ES COSA COMUN Y NATURAL PARA TANTA GENTE INDIGENA QUE SE ODIAN ASIMISMO. ESTA CONDUCTA DA CABIDA JUSTIFICATORIA AL SYSTEMA POLITICO PERUANO QUE ES Y HA SIDO EXTREMEDAMENTE RACISTA DESDE EL ARRIBO DE LAS PRIMERAS PANDILLAS DE ASESINOS Y DELINCUENTES ESPANOLES CONOCIDOS COMO CONQUISTADORES. INCLUSO LAS ESTATUAS DEL CRISTO SON DE PIEL BALNCA CON BARBAS RUBIAS CUANDO EN REALIDAD EL JUDIO DEL MEDIO ORIENTE TIENE LA PIEL MORENA Y CABELLERA NEGRA. DESPETEMSO PERUNOS, HERMANOS..EL RACISMO ES ECONOMIC, SOCIAL Y POLITICO. LUCHEMOS POR NUESTRA LIBERACION CULTURAL.
Carlos,
You are an inspiration to so many of us. Even though there are many systems that tell us it is better to go with the flow, even when the flow is morally and spiritually wrong, you choose to stand up for what is right and not sit in the painful status quo.
May God continue to bless you in your work!
Peace- Silvia
Si en el Peru hay gente que no se siente indigena debe ser honesta y coger sus maletas y marcharse a un pais donde todos sean blancos, es decir, el pais de sus suenos. Peruano es el que quiere al pais y evita rebajar al resto de nuestros hermanos en Cristo ya sean negros, mulatos, chinos, alemanes, indigenas, suizos, etc. No arruinen la paz del pais y disminuyan al proximo.
El racismo en Perú no es general. Es un racismo muy puntual, una minoría e la minoría de raza europea, tiene ese problema. Muchos no. En los barrios marginales existe una forma de racismo del criollo hacia el blanco y hacia el afroamericano. Muchos de los grandes empresarios peruanos son mestizos y poco a poco están consiguiendo una identidad peruana en todos los niveles. no se puede crear conciencia de pais en poco tiempo, teniendo en cuenta los rápidos cambios que han sucedido desde mediados del siglo XX. La comida peruana está ayudando en ese trance y seguramente en algun tiempo podremos reconocer en nosotros una identidad de peruanos, sin importar las razas.
Carlos,
I am from the United States.
I want to tell you that you are a very brave and highly intelligent individual. It is vital that you never give up speaking out as you are doing. Many blessings to you.
There are many white and Hispanic mestizo people who are demanding other Peruvians to accept this racism. They hate you Carlos because you can be ‘modern’ without taking / accepting their racist idea says that Eurocentric white culture is better, and that we must glorify the so-called Hispanic roots of Peru, and forget who we really are as indigenous, Indians and indigenous mestizo. They hate you for having some mestizo-blood but you refuse to glorify these tiny drops of blood that due to a conquest have entered your family but you have remained indigenous. The mestizaje (the mixture of blood) didn’t expropriate you from your indigenous part of you, and you still value who your ancestors were. This scares them because they know well that they are ‘new Peruvians’ and not ‘millenarian Peruvians’ like we are.
They want the autochthonous Peruvians (the indigenous Indians and indigenous mestizo) to believe that they are the elite rightfully because they are the ‘true Peruvians’, and ‘to make’ themselves the true Peruvians they only make themselves appear in the media. Media, especially television, is very important for them! A lot of Peruvian money is spent in the many Hispanics television stations. With television they ‘educate’ in a manipulative way the other, poorer Peruvians, so that if they want to be successful, to be intelligent and civilized citizens, they must let loose and forget the identity of our indigenous family-tree and be part of a Eurocentric and Hispanic Peru.
Besides the absolute racism generated by the elite and their media in television and advertising, there are the Peruvians nationalists who say that Peru has to be a mestizo country, that we must forget our Native American languages like Quechua, Aymara and many Amazonian languages and we must become modern Latin Americans in a Peru where there are no differences, where everyone is mestizo and Peruvian, where the indigenous culture is nothing more than folklore and only used in a nationalist way to make us different from e.g. Chileans and Colombians. This is what happened in Mexico.
Neither is working out well for the autochthonous Peruvians and Black Peruvians. For me the ideal Peru would be a Peru in which there is acceptance for diversity, where we are not forced to hide ourselves nor abandon our indigenous or African selves, where we do not have to feel ashamed of our ancestors!
I wrote a comment on your article of “Marca Peru” and I wrote a comment in English. Several Peruvians felt assaulted and wrote:
These reactions seem weird to me from a people who are always showing off their European roots and tell you: “my grandmother is actually from Switzerland”…and so forth. No, they see an Indian from Peru and by their statements that ‘all can see I am Peruvian’ they tell me in reality that I am indigenous Peruvian: that I am ethnically from a family that always has lived in South America. If I were to be white no-one would make a problem of me writing in English! But no, I am indigenous Indian, and therefore I MUST speak Spanish to be declared by them as a civilized Peruvian.
The former Hispanic colony has now become a super stratum Hispanics, euro centralist and Latino-nationalistic culture that are promoted by television and advertisement. This is nothing more than a Caste system, an Apartheid policy in which the White elite does everything and spends a lot of money to remain on the top of the cultural and socio-economic hierarchy pyramid.
“Apartheid” is no longer a policy in South Africa. The Black Nations of South Africa have education, written language and television in their own language of e.g. the Zulu language. Black Africans are no longer excluded from society and they benefit from the linguistic and media freedom in the new South Africa. We cannot accept that Peru remains executing an Apartheid policy and excludes its autochthonous citizens by forcing them with racist manners to be Hispanic and give up the millenarian identity of their indigenous family.
To stop this racism I suggest ‘affirmative action’ in Peru. If one looks at the rates of Blacks and autochthonous Peruvians who speak an indigenous language, one can conclude that these groups have almost no access to higher education and better jobs. Affirmative action seems imperative to me to make Peruvian society more equal, to make the higher parts of the hierarchy more a true representation of the Peruvian population.
As I mentioned, the black African nations have education and television in their own Zulu language, and having education and media in your own Mother language, in the homeland of this language is a Human Right! Independent Television Channels in the Quechua and Aymara language can be the media by which the autochthonous Peruvians can recognize themselves. Such TV channels represent the cultural reality better than the many Spanish language channels do. Television Channels in Quechua and Aymara prevent socio-cultural manipulation and give self esteem and educate and entertain the indigenous Peruvian children in their own mother language.
The Quechua language is spoken by some 10 million people as a mother language and by 4 million people as a second language. Aymara is spoken by 2.2 million people. This video shows a Quechua child wishing for television in her own language and culture:
This Quechua-program was produced with the support of a foreign NGO. It proves us that independent stations for Indigenous languages can be possible and that there is devotion and expertise to realize these media:
The governments of Peru refuses to respect the Human Rights of the autochthonous Peruvians, rejects their demand for language rights like other nations like Catalans, Zulus and Kurds have today. There is a member of the Peruvian Congress (who even worked for UNESCO!) that openly discriminates the indigenous peoples of Peru and declares that it is a silly idea to use or even preserve Peru’s original languages and she calls the Quechua Indigenous members Congress “those children”.
Citizens of the World who read this: Please, do not accept this Apartheid of Peru! The racists of Peru had indigenous citizens being killed on their own homelands! These videos show Indians being killed in the 21st century, while their land is being taken:
Citizens of the World: help us to free us from Apartheid in Peru, say NO to racism in the Americas!
About the discrimination against Quechua speakers:
I am part of a family whose first language is the Quechua language, whose culture is the Andean culture and whose religion is that of Pachamama: Mother Earth.
And I am very proud of it! Abya Yala Kawsachun! Long live indigenous America!
Mark Luk’aña Champi
Student of Linguistics
Thank you so much Marcos for your testimony and for sharing your thoughts and information about the racial discrimination that most Peruvians face in a daily basis. Sadly, is taking Peruvians overseas to point this out, because many people of Peru are convinced that nothing can be changed anymore, or those who want change are attacked (like Monica Carrillo) or lack of enough support from the political elites of Lima. However, I see Peru as a changing nation, there is renaissance of our cultures and communities, and I know we all can take part to eliminate what you rightfully call the “Apartheid” system that still exists in Peru.
Carlos,
I’m not sure how the media works in Peru, but in the US, the best way to make a change is to affect the network’s bottom line. At times people have boycotted sponsors of a particular program, who will then ‘pull out’, and the source of funding will dry up. That seems to be effective in the states. Do you think that’s a useful tactic in Peru or is better to go after the network?
Carlos,
I would like you to emphasizes that racism in Peru comes from the people who are white or see them selves as whites(even though most of them are not, are Moorish).
Please also mention that the Media is white own in Peru, and that is why is racist.
Do not give the impression to the international readers that Peru is racist, because is not, an over represented minority of 2% of whites and 15% of mestizos who think are white but are not, DO NOT REPRESENT PERU.
We Peruvians are not racist at all, but we are not in control of the media, there is nothing we can do to stop this abuse, unless congress takes action.
Carlos,
Quisiera pedirte que enfatizes que el racismo en el Peru viene de los decendientes de Europeos y de los Peruanos que se ven a si mismos como Europeos pero no lo son, son mestizos que mas parecen moros.
Menciona tambien que los medios de comunicacion en el Peru son propiedad de ese grupo pequeño de Peruanos que son o creen que son Europeos.
No des la impresion de que el Peruano es racista por que no lo es, hay un 2% de blancos y 15% de mestizos de los que algunos creen que lo son, y algunos de ellos se comportan racistas. Ellos NO REPRESENTAN AL PERU.
Nosotros los Peruanos no estamos en control de los medios de comunicacion, no podemos hacer nada, solo presionar al congreso para que tome accion y detenga esa barbarie que impulsa esta minoria en el pais.
Oye maricon deje de escribir huevadas. nO SE porque tanto joden con lo del negro mama, si al final es una caricatura, todos se rien inclusivo muchos afrodescendientes. Para terminar te quiero ver la cara de estupido cuando Keiko gane y el imbecil de Ollanta que cambia de plan cada dia PIERDA!!!!!
Translation by Peruanista: Hey faggot stop writing crap. I don’t know why you f*** with Negro Mama, if it’s a caricature, everyone laughs even many of African descent. I want to see your stupid face when Keiko [Fujimori] wins and the a*** Ollanta who changes plans everyday LOSES!
The previous comment reflects the effects of the moral crisis in Peru, which I refer to in this post. “Tu Negro” is another victim of the subculture of hatred, racism and abuse that prevails in Lima (his IP is from that city). Not only he stereotypes Black men as homosexuals, but he insinuates that because I’m gay I have no right to demand for equality or for the rights of Peruvians. He is so wrong.
No matter who wins the elections – I’m pretty sure it will be Ollanta Humala- the struggle against racism continues after election time, I will continue supporting those courageous Peruvians who struggle in Peru; this is my contribution to my first country that I love so much.
El comentario anterior, refleja los efectos de la crisis moral de Perú que hago mención en este reporte. “Tu Negro” es otra víctima de la subcultura del odio, del racismo y del abuso que se vive en Lima (su IP es de esa ciudad). No solo estereotipa al hombre afro descendiente como homosexual, sino que insinúa que yo por ser gay no tengo derecho a reclamar por igualdad ni por los derechos de los peruanos. Está an equivocado.
Más allá de quien gane en las elecciones –estoy muy seguro que será Ollanta Humala- la lucha contra el racismo continua después de las elecciones, seguiré apoyando a los peruanos valientes que luchan en Perú, es mi contribución a mi primer país que amo tanto.