What has Mexico done to rectify centuries of oppression committed against its Native Indian population?

"mexico struggles come grips treatment of indians"

race: country's indigenous peoples routinely thought of simple-minded , uncouth. there has been no real debate on whether integrate indians or them develop separately.

mark stevenson, associated press

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/25/...

chenalho, mexico — when farmer andres nunez walks store, clerks act though isn't there. when juana gomez hawks embroidered bags @ marketplace, people brush her. when agustin vazquez pleads aid, government officials ignore him.

reason, these 3 , many others say, simple: indians.

"we indian farmers seem cause blindness in people because act don't see us," said vazquez, elder in chenalho, tzotzil indian town. wears traditional beribboned hat , carries wooden staff of authority.

treatment of mexico's indians has been largely invisible issue decades.

, large, mexicans--most of whom varying shades of mixed indian , european ancestry, , victims of discrimination in united states--view racism foreign phenomenon.

"there isn't racism in mexico because have no blacks," goes common saying ignores several realities, including mexico's small afro-caribbean population.

decades, mexico's 10 million indians have been revered in textbooks , government propaganda--and systematically ignored in reality.

official line, sculpted in stone or bronze on monuments 70 years, reads: "here born cosmic race," term coined in 1920s pioneer of modern mexican art , education, jose vasconcelos, describe seamless continuum of indians , mestizos, of european , indigenous heritage.

theory praised indians said future belongs mestizos. inherit indian strength , wisdom, , indians, 10% of population, folded mix.

mexico has no official definition of indian, nor special benefits them. there has been no real debate on whether integrate indians or them develop separately.

mexico hasn't decided on name them: simplest term, "indio," has come open insult. "don't indian," many mestizos say. means don't ignorant or uncouth.

"mexico struggles come grips treatment of indians" race: country's indigenous peoples routinely thought of simple-minded , uncouth. there has been no real debate on whether integrate indians or them develop separately. mark stevenson, associated...

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