New Stamp Issued By Mexican Government Incites Cries of Racism

By Linda Orlando

The Mexican government recently issued a series of postage stamps carrying five images of an exaggerated black cartoon character called Memin Pinguin. The character is a child that was featured in a comic book in Mexico that started in the 1940s and is still published today. The series of five postage stamps show the boy as being a hapless but lovable clown, and he is drawn with exaggerated features, wide-open eyes, and thick lips. White characters in the comic book regularly tease Memin because of his appearance, speech, and mannerisms. In the comic books about Memin Pinguin, his mother is drawn to look like the old version of Aunt Jemima from the U.S. ads for pancake syrup by that name. The series of 6.5-peso (60 cent) stamps depicts the character in five different poses, and a total of 750,000 stamps will be issued.

The stamps were released for general use, and although activists have claimed that the stamps are offensive, officials deny it. In May, Mexican President Vicente Fox angered American blacks when he said that Mexican migrant workers take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want to take. Fox quickly apologized for his comments, although he insisted that his remarks had been misinterpreted. And now, with the release of this series of stamps, critics are again riled by what they consider insensitivity to American blacks. "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."

Elisa Velazquez is an anthropologist working for the National Institute of Anthropology and History who studies the black communities in Mexico. According to Velazquez, "At this point in time, it was probably pretty insensitive" to issue the stamp. "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." Carlos Caballero, assistant marketing director for the Mexican Postal Service, responded to criticism by saying that the stamps were not intended to be offensive or racist. "This is a traditional character that reflects part of Mexico's culture," Caballero said. "His mischievous nature is part of that character." Penalosa, on the other hand, says that many Mexicans still assume that all black people are foreigners, even though Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico during the Spanish colonial era. Although the stamps were issued with the domestic Mexican market in mind, they can also be used in international postage.

Memin Pinguin is the second in a series of stamps being issued to honor Mexican comic books. Memin was most likely chosen for release right now because this year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the company that publishes Memin Pinguin comic books. 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 the character "so charming, so affectionate, so wonderful, generous and friendly."