But, Is It Racism?
Posted on | May 19, 2010 | 11 Comments
It seems like every day I live in Peru, I learn something new.
I haven’t, in my time here, had the opportunity to attend many funerals. I’ve been to one, but it was a small family affair at a church, held the same day as the death. Not to be gruesome, but I guess embalming is a cost most folks here can’t afford, so it seems that funerals take place pretty quickly, once there’s a death.
So – I was watching the news with the hubs last night, and there was a news story on TV about how the funeral homes are being blasted with charges of racism.
I though, holy cow – are they refusing to bury black people?
No. It turns out that there is a custom in Peru (amongst those that can afford it anyway) to have paid pallbearers. And, it’s also a custom for those pallbearers to be morenos… or Afro-Peruvian, if you want to get PC about it.
Pallbearers at a Peruvian funeral
Now, I’m a constant complainer about racism in this country. It’s not the kind of racism I’ve seen in the US, where you see an actual hatred for those of another race*. Here, it’s more of a caste type system where it’s typically assumed by people in Peru that you have – or are deserving of – a higher status in society if you have paler skin. In general, lighter skinned people (whether actual gringos or light-skinned Peruvians) are treated with more respect. And in the end, what’s the difference between that and any other type of racism?
But I’m not sure where I stand on this. It started when the Ministry of Women and Social Development called out the funeral homes, saying that their practice of hiring only blacks for pallbearer positions was racists. They’ve called out to the funeral homes, asking them to stop this practice and to start hiring from among the many races that live here in Peru.
The funeral homes have fired back, insisting that their hiring practices are not racist, and that they do hire various races, but that it’s their clients who prefer having black pallbearers. It seems that dark skinned people – in a funeral procession at least – are perceived as more serious, and more suited to a mourning processional.
The Afro-Peruvian pallbearer who was interviewed on TV stated that he didn’t feel it was a racist policy at all, and that he was quite happy just to have a job.
It’s hard to see the funeral homes as having racist hiring practices, since they can only hire the people they have jobs for. It can definitely be argued that thinking blacks are more appropriate for a job is, at best, a discriminatory practice (horse carriage drivers and hotel doormen are other jobs here that are all but exclusively held by black Peruvians). But should it be illegal for people to ask for all black pallbearers? If the supposed victim of the racism doesn’t see anything wrong with it, is it racist? Or is it a simple cultural quirk? And if it is racist, is it bad when it’s actually benefiting the Afro-Peruvian community by providing more jobs for them?
*And don’t get me wrong, there is actually a small but growing skin-head movement here that does espouse real hatred towards other races – but that’s not what this post is about.
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11 Responses to “But, Is It Racism?”
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I got tired of life happening while I made other plans, so I quit my job and came to Peru. I live here with my Peruvian husband, two sons, three dogs and various other family members, depending on the weather.
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May 19th, 2010 @ 18:26
I’m kind of confused about how people don’t see this is racist. I’ve read the news coverage of this as well. Certain jobs that require an extremely servile nature, such as pallbearer or doorman, have been held by Afro-Peruvians. This is definitely a holdover from colonial slavery attitudes towards Afro-Peruvians.
Replace black pallbearer with female nurses in this situation: My clients prefer female nurses. They are prettier and nicer than male nurses. I just turned down a highly qualified male nurse because he didn’t have that warm, feminine touch…
Discrimination, right? Easy peasy.
You can’t prefer one race over another in hiring, just as you can’t prefer a gender. However, tell that to the employment ads that all specify “señorita” “chica joven” “de buena aparencia”…the law is there, but reality needs to catch up with it.
I think it’s great that this has gotten so much coverage and that people are talking about it.
May 19th, 2010 @ 19:04
And I agree with everything you say!
But ask a Peruvian why they want black pallbearers, and you’ll hear about elegance and appropriateness for a funeral. One man on the news said something along the lines (I’m paraphrasing) that black is a color of mourning, so it is appropriate that black skinned people would carry the casket. It’s a ‘color serio’, appropriate for a serious occasion. It almost sounds like a joke – except it’s not very funny.
I’ve not seen or heard anyone, on the news or in my conversations about it today, who felt it was a “subservient job” that is best held by someone with black skin.
Of course, that’s what people SAY. What they really think? Who knows.
November 26th, 2010 @ 13:05
yeah it’s Racist, unfortunately it’s couched in such things as this not to hide it, but just because it seems to make sense and “that’s how it’s always been’ and… Whenever a people no matter their color are pigeon holed into anything it’s bordering on, or just plain Racism. I’m black and in the USA, it’s interesting to see how the Raping of the African continent and the sale of her people continues to provide the world with a “lower class” of people and a great scapegoat for almost everything negative. It’s also So Very Sad to see as well.
November 27th, 2010 @ 10:32
Thanks for voicing your opinion. You make very valid points.
December 16th, 2011 @ 13:33
[...] tend to agree with this description provided by the blog My Life in Peru: “…it’s not the kind of racism I’ve seen in the US, where you see an actual hatred [...]
December 20th, 2011 @ 21:48
[...] Kelly explains in the blog My Life in Peru: “…it's not the kind of racism I’ve seen in the US, where you see an actual hatred [...]
December 21st, 2011 @ 00:09
[...] Kelly explains in the blog My Life in Peru: “…it's not the kind of racism I’ve seen in the US, where you see an actual hatred [...]
December 22nd, 2011 @ 02:19
[...] erklärt im Blog Mein Leben in Peru [en]: “…es ist nicht die Art Rassismus, die ich in den USA gesehen habe, wo man wirklichen [...]
December 26th, 2011 @ 22:07
[...] stesso parere sembra essere la blogger Kelly, che nel suo My Life in Peru [en] spiega: “… questo non è lo stesso tipo di razzismo che si ritrova negli USA dove [...]
December 29th, 2011 @ 10:00
[...] stesso parere sembra essere la blogger Kelly, che nel suo My Life in Peru [en] spiega: “… questo non è lo stesso tipo di razzismo che si ritrova negli USA dove esiste [...]
January 3rd, 2012 @ 18:31
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