← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gabrielle
Thread ID: 18905 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2005-06-30
2005-06-30 01:47 | User Profile
[img]http://www.halturnershow.com/MexicoStamps-Niggers.jpg[/img]
"MEXICO CITY ââ¬â The Mexican government has issued postage stamps depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, just weeks after remarks by President Vicente Fox angered U.S. blacks.
The series of five stamps released Wednesday depicts a hapless boy drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book, which started in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico.
Activists criticized the stamps as offensive, though officials denied it.
"One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds," said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast.
"But we've learned to expect anything from this government, just anything," Penalosa said.
In May, Fox riled many by saying Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want. Fox later expressed regret for any offense the remarks may have caused, but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.
Carlos Caballero, assistant marketing director for the Mexican Postal Service, said the new stamps are not offensive, nor were they intended to be. "
[url]http://www.halturnershow.com/MexicoPostageStampNegro.html[/url]
2005-06-30 02:03 | User Profile
HAHAHA. All Hell would break loose if the US Post office had issued those stamps.
2005-06-30 02:04 | User Profile
Arriva, arriva, arriva , andale andale andale......siiiiiii amigo and we have Speedy Gonzales who dresses like a Mexican and talks like a Mexican and dosen't even look human but is a Mexican mouse.
I wonder if Micky Mouse is a Jew? can't wait to see him with a beeny cap on his head, but of course in his case it would even have a spin wheel.
I used to have one of those beenie caps with the spin wheel when a kid and then they were goneeeeee, it wasen't till year later that I found out that the Jews were raising hell about it because it looked to much like their own beenie cap but without the spin wheel :angry:
2005-06-30 02:25 | User Profile
is it just me or does the character look like a chimp?
2005-06-30 05:19 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]Arriva, arriva, arriva , andale andale andale......siiiiiii amigo and we have Speedy Gonzales who dresses like a Mexican and talks like a Mexican and dosen't even look human but is a Mexican mouse.[/QUOTE]
They got away with that in part because there were so many fewer Mexicans in this country 30 years ago, when Speedy made his debut, and in part because Pepe Le Pu (sic?) had established the use of ethnic caricatures in Warner Brothers cartoon characters through his unflattering depiction of stereotypical French traits i.e., they could get away with more in the ethnic stereotyping department because the first time they went after a particular group, it was a White group, thus establishing their PC credibility, so to speak. The fact Pepe Le Pu is a skunk who's odor repulses the various black-and-white striped female cats with whom he is constantly trying to make love, is a rather mean-spirited (yet still humorous) jibe intended to poke fun at the supposed variance between American and French standards of personal hygiene.
2005-06-30 05:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE=BlueBonnet]is it just me or does the character look like a chimp?[/QUOTE]
I think its intended to suggest Negroes look like chimps (as they sometimes do).
2005-06-30 12:21 | User Profile
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- The Mexican government has issued a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, just weeks after remarks by President Vicente Fox angered U.S. blacks.
The series of five stamps released for general use Wednesday depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico.
The boy, hapless but lovable, is drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book.
Activists said the stamp was offensive, though officials denied it.
"One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds," said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast.
"But we've learned to expect anything from this government, just anything," Penalosa said. In May, Fox riled many by saying that Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want.
Fox expressed regret for any offense the remarks may have caused, but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.
Carlos Caballero, assistant marketing director for the Mexican Postal Service, said the stamps are not offensive, nor were they intended to be.
"This is a traditional character that reflects part of Mexico's culture," Caballero said. "His mischievous nature is part of that character."
However, Penalosa said many Mexicans still assume all blacks are foreigners, despite the fact that at one point early in the Spanish colonial era, Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico.
"At this point in time, it was probably pretty insensitive" to issue the stamp, said Elisa Velazquez, an anthropologist who studies Mexico's black communities for the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
"This character is a classic, but it's from another era," Velazquez said. "It's a stereotype and you don't want to encourage ignorance or prejudices."
The 6.50-peso (60 cent) stamps -- depicting the character in five poses -- was issued with the domestic market in mind, but Caballero noted it could be used in international postage as well.
A total of 750,000 of the stamps will be issued.
Ben Vinson, a black professor of Latin American history at Penn State University, said he has been called "Memin Pinguin" by some people in Mexico. He also noted that the character's mother is drawn to look like an old version of the U.S. advertising character Aunt Jemima.
The stamps are part of a series that pays tribute to Mexican comic books. Memin Pinguin, the second in the series, was apparently chosen for this year's release because it is the 50th anniversary of the company that publishes the comic.
Publisher Manelick De la Parra told the government news agency Notimex that the character would be sort of a goodwill ambassador on Mexican letters and postcards. "It seems nice if Memin can travel all over the world, spreading good news," de la Parra said, calling him "so charming, so affectionate, so wonderful, generous and friendly."
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/06/29/mexico.stamp.ap/index.html[/url]
2005-06-30 14:33 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kevin_O'Keeffe]I think its intended to suggest Negroes look like chimps (as they sometimes do).[/QUOTE] I was wondering. Is it a chimp which looks like a negro or a negro which looks like a chimp. :clown:
2005-07-01 02:28 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ron]I was wondering. Is it a chimp which looks like a negro or a negro which looks like a chimp. :clown:[/QUOTE]:cheers: