“We Exist”: Afro-Mexicans Officially Counted After Struggling To Get Recognition
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Afro-Mexicans finally got the recognition they were striving for years on the Mexican census in 2020. This marks the first time the country is counting its Afro-Mexican population, which provides official recognition for the people who were often overlooked in the Mexican cultural picture.

The Afro-Mexican population has long fought for recognition in a mestizo country, where lighter skin color is often shown in social advancement and higher incomes, according to The Guardian report.

This year's census is being collected throughout March. Meanwhile, a 2015 survey from Mexico's statistics institute estimated the Afro-Mexican population at 1.3 million.

Observers are seeing the census to put together a total of around two million, mostly in Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Veracruz states.

Bulmaro Garcia, an engineer in the community of Cuajinicuilapa, said that it is extremely important that they count them as Afro-Mexicans.

"We're of African descent but we're Mexicans because we were born here and built this country," Garcia was quoted on a report.

Related Problems to AfroMexicans

The concept of race and ethnicity is a bit more complicated for Mexicans. Many Mexicans were identified as mestizaje, which is a combination of indigenous, European, and to some extent, African roots.

However, organizers of the #AfroCensoMx campaign, the movement was more than just identity politics, according to a We are Mitu report.

Bobby Vaughn, an African-American anthropologist who specializes in Black Mexicans, said that Mexicans of African descent have no voice and the government makes no attempt to assess their needs, nor the effort to event count them.

Stories of experiences related to being Afro-Mexicans are being heard, such as being discriminated because of the way they look.

Garcia said that he is being interrogated by border guards and asked to sing the Mexican national anthem whenever he crosses into Guerrero. He added that the guards' behavior is classic discrimination due to skin color.

History of the Afro-Mexicans has been one of marginalization and neglect, particularly in underdeveloped regions such as the Costa Chica.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited the region and a local politician complained of inadequate roads, lack of hospital and school facilities, and recurring blackouts.

"Our history was erased for centuries, so people think we don't exist," Abad Campos Rodriguez told the president.

Afro-Mexicans Race

Africans arrived in the country with Spanish, both voluntarily as conquistadores and slaves.

With this, local say the struggle for recognition started to gain momentum ahead of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

Meanwhile, indigenous groups saw nothing to celebrate. Garcia said many Afro-Mexican communities felt the same as they too were mistreated bu the Spanish because they were brought into the country by force.

Spanish authorities were responsible for the forced migration of around 200,000 or more enslaved Africans to Mexico during their three centuries of conquest and rule, according to Minority Rights report.

"We knew we were different from the indigenous people, and we were different from mestizos-so we started to struggle for recognition," Garcia was quoted on a report.

Jayson M. Porter, a PhD candidate in environmental history of Northwestern University, said that many Afro-Mexican communities have leaned into their identity for social and cultural reasons.

Porter has studied Costa Chica region.