Zambo: Encyclopedia II - Zambo - Discrimination

Zambo - Discrimination

These populations of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry are generally marginalized and discriminated against, with color bias being pervasive throughout much of Latin America. Beyond the pockets of these specifically identified ethnic communities, in Latin American nations with large populations of people of African descent, the percentage of those with Amerindian ancestry is relatively high (though not as a ratio of the make up of the individuals). Such is the case in nations such as Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Panama and Brazil.

Long-standing problems of race and class discrimination in Latin America confront Latin Americans of African and Indian ancestry to varying degrees, depending on their membership in or identification with a specific Afro-Amerindian ethnic group such as those mentioned above, or the degree to which their ancestry is expressed in their physical characeristics. Generally, those with dark skin and frizzy hair tend to be among the region's poorest and most disenfranchised. For instance, in 1998, when Hurricane Mitch battered the northeast coast of Honduras, the nation's Garifuna communities were among the hardest hit, yet because of a history of racism and discrimination, they were virtually ignored by government relief efforts.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Discrimination", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki