[Leica] IMG: Quetzales

[scleroplex at gmail.com (scleroplex)]

the situation is similar with indians, interestingly.

my people have totally internalised the mores of the occupying anglicans
and put it into practice daily without ever being struck by the incongruity
of it all.
the colour scale with white at top and black at bottom is ingrained in all
indians now.
they are not even self-conscious when they comment that someone's colour is
not up to par
or is down a bit.

this same value system is also followed by most indians who live in african
countries like nigeria or uganda or zambia.
they think of black africans as inferior based on the darkness of their
skin colour.

when i was in school in kuwait i wore half-sleeved shirts invariably.
very many of my classmates wore full-sleeved shirts through the summer in
order
to prevent darkening of their skin and preserve their precious pale colour.
they played football outside with full sleeves in 45C weather.
i am talking about boys.

and so this news is not a surprise at all -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18268914
:-I
bharani




On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:12 AM, scleroplex <scleroplex at gmail.com> wrote:

> dear chris,
> thank you very much for this synopsis.
> bharani
>
>
> Message: 11
> Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:47:51 -0400
> From: Chris Crawford <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: Quetzales
> To: "Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>" <lug at leica-users.org>
> Message-ID: <CC0917BC.179B1%chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="US-ASCII"
>
> He probably served in the military.  Doubt Guatemala has enough white
> people to fill the army, and there are probably a lot of Hispanicized
> Mestizos and Indians whose loyalties lie with the Hispanic ruling class.
>
> Your photos show something about Hispanoamerica that most anglos don't
> understand. The Spanish conquered centuries ago, but in many parts of
> Latin America, most of the people never adopted Spanish language or
> culture. Even Mexico, whose people were more Hispanic than most Latin
> Americans, has millions of Indians who still speak languages like Nahuatl
> (the language spoken by the Aztecs and most other Indians in central
> Mexico). Some of them don't know Spanish, which condemns them to poverty
> and political weakness because they cannot participate in Mexico's
> economic or political life. Mexico's government has not done much to help
> them.
>
> The dirty little secret of Spanish America is that the Spanish still rule
> there. The countries became independent in the 1820s, but the independence
> movement was led, for the most part, by Criollos (Pure-blooded white
> Europeans who were born in the colonies, but whose ancestors came from
> Spain). The Spanish government in Madrid always feared that the Criollos
> would take over the colonies, if allowed too much power, so the top jobs
> were reserved for Peninsulars (Spaniards born in Europe). The 1776
> revolution in Britain's colonies confirmed these fears (The British
> colonists had far more power and political rights than the Spanish
> colonists did), and the Spanish government actually forbade possession of,
> publication of, or even the reading of the American Declaration of
> Independence! British newspapers were allowed to publish it as soon as it
> arrived in King George's hands!
>
> The disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars (France invaded Spain) allowed the
> Criollos to take over the administration of their colonies, and when the
> wars in Europe ended, they declared their independence. Nearly 200 years
> later, the tiny white minorities in countries like Mexico and Guatemala
> still rule. Some of these countries are not even that poor. Mexico is
> classed by the UN as an Upper Middle Income country! Problem is, 99% of
> the wealth is held by 1% of the population there.
>
> These countries and their history fascinates me because part of my family
> came to the USA from Spain. New Mexico is the only part of the USA with a
> large white Hispanic population. A lot of the colonial racial prejudices
> are alive and well there, with the Hispanos (the whites) treating
> brown-skinned Mexicans like dirt, and openly declaring that work was
> something whites made non-whites do. I lived there a couple years, and
> loved getting to know my family's cultural heritage, but the racism there
> was a real turn off.
>
> --
> Chris Crawford
> Fine Art Photography
> Fort Wayne, Indiana
> 260-437-8990
>
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio
>
> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My latest work!
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