Colorism

What is colorism? Here in America, we know the idea of racism, which is discriminating against people based on their race. In Mexico, they don't consider themselves different races; they consider themselves all Mexican.

However, people experience discrimination based on the color of their skin: basically, how dark you are, you're more likely to be lower on the social ladder. Similar to the United States, Mexicans of European ancestry have more privileges in society, while people with Native or African ancestry are more likely to face structural discrimination.

Colorism will be noticeable. It is something that my mom and I noticed quite a lot. When we went to restaurants, everyone who was eating looked like us. They looked like caucasians. The middle and upper class were more likely of European descent, and then the people who were working, who were serving, who were cooking were non-white. They were more likely to have indigenous heritage. You'll notice when you turn on the local news, the newscasters mostly look like white European people.

This will give you a new perspective on what race and skin color mean in society, and it will show you for better or for worse that some of the problems that we have in United States are not limited to us, and that discrimination and privilege can be baked into many societies.