Race in Latin America

Over the last decades the political power and representation of marginalized ethnic groups in Latin America has drastically increased, but to understand why these groups had previously marginalized, we must look back into Latin American history. Historically, independence movements (such as that of Simon Bolivar), attempted to promote a message of unity amongst all peoples and nationalism, and so with this message the countries began to attempt to blend all ethnicities into one national identity.  Eventually, this propagation of nationalism and belief of white genetic superiority in Latin America whitewashed the Latin American people. This blending of ethnicities began to fade in Latin American politics, and they began to collectively call themselves a “white” culture, and many countries had believed that had escaped racism due to this racial interconnection, while in reality that had not. Studies showed that Latin America’s indigenous and black populations lagged farther behind than their white counterparts when it came to things such as salary. However, these groups did not mobilize along their racial identities, but rather attempted to refer to themselves as a race of higher social status. As time went on Latin American countries shifted their focus to class reform, mainly due to the influence of Cold war titans in the USA and the Soviet Union, and so while those of similar socioeconomic status mobilized as a group, racial and ethnic groups were not mentioned. The catalyst for reform along racial and ethnic lines came from the downfall of corporatist regimes, as they were replaced by neoliberal ones. The new era of regimes in Latin America to cut subsidies towards agriculture and also began to privatize communal land. This privatization had marginalized a poor community even further, and so they bundled together along racial lines for the first time, with similar demands: guarantee equal rights for all citizens and recognize Latin America’s ethnic diversity, and that governments pass laws advancing indigenous rights; such as allowing indigenous communities to adopt and monitor their own social practices. This large wave of demonstrations has taken us into the current era, where indigenous rights in Latin America has become a large part of politics, and countries such as Bolivia have a leader of indigenous origin, and is hopefully leading to an era where all people are considered equal and possess equal rights.