UUFSMA: “Racism in Mexico” 

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service 

“Racism in Mexico” 

Speaker: Silvia Elguea 

Sunday, October 4, 2020 

10:30 am 

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040   

Password: 294513 

By Joseph Plummer  

UUF Secretary 

In this Sunday´s UUFSMA online service, philosopher Silvia Elguea notes that many of her fellow Mexican citizens continue to deny the malign influence of racism. However, she also observes growing numbers who recognize its potency and oppose racism’s corrosion of Mexican politics and society.  

An encapsulated history of racism in Mexico often attributes its origin to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, 1519-1521, and its ending to the Mexican War of Independence, 1810-12, and eventual expulsion of Spanish royalists throughout the 1820s. Unfortunately, racism remained rooted after Independence despite the efforts of Republican governments to establish racial equality and obviate social inequity. Indeed, its roots deepened during the dictatorial Porfirio Diaz era of the later 1800s. Even after the 1910-20 Revolution, while many Mexicans enjoyed lives relatively free of racism and social classification, many other Mexicans, even today, continue to suffer from its impact on everyday life.  

Despite Mexico’s population of mixed ethnicities, racism here exhibits a preference for whiter people and rates them as more handsome than people with darker complexions. Many dark-skinned Mexicans deny their indigenous ancestry, present themselves as racially mixed, reject notions of pride as descendants of native Meso-Americans, and resent as an insult being called “Indians,” even while Mexico’s population celebrates the people of pre-Hispanic Mexico. 

Ms. Elguea also studies social networks and public media where talk about racism is often tinged with racism. Nonetheless, she believes that outright racism is trending in a socially beneficial direction. “I hope that current trends are putting this part of Mexican history behind us and pointing toward the eventual elimination of racism from Mexican society,” she concludes. 

Ms. Elguea, also known to many as Silvia Elguea Véjar and Mrs. Silvia Stea, was a full Professor at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco in Mexico City. She holds an advanced degree in Philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and also received an advanced degree in Spanish from Texas State University-San Marcos.  

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit the Fellowship’s website at www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button displayed on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in between 10:15-10:25 am.  

Through grants and awards, UUFSMA donates at least fifty percent of its budget to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential.  

Due to the coronavirus, UUFSMA has suspended in-person Sunday services and other gatherings. A growing collection of previous online services can be found on the UUFSMA’s YouTube channel. Go to https://www.youtube.com/ and enter UUFSMA in the search box. The UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.