By Frank Jack Daniel
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A Truth and Reconciliation Commission can help Mexico achieve a legacy of African slavery, civil rights activist Martin Luther King III said during a visit to the Latin American country.
King, the eldest son of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., visits Mexico to join the government commemoration of the Afro-Mexican liberation hero Vicente Guerrero, who as the country’s second president abolished most slavery in 1829 before practicing in Britain. terminated and the United States.
Guerrero passed away on Sunday 190 years ago.
Mexico has long overlooked the legacy of slavery and its impact on the country’s black people, who are mostly concentrated in poor coastal towns on the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf Coast.
King, 63, said both Mexico and the United States could consider reconciliation processes in South Africa to fully acknowledge the past.
“Before you can ever deal with a problem, you have to acknowledge that it exists,” King said in an interview Saturday. ” A Truth and Reconciliation Commission gives people the opportunity to apologize for the behavior they have done in the past, so you have a new lead. ‘
He said discussions on recovery for slavery should also flow from such a process.
Talks on ‘recovery in my opinion are definitely okay in places around the world, especially where people are addicted,’ he said. “I think the talks should take place.”
Few truth commissions around the world have directly tackled the legacy of slavery and colonialism.
However, a 2011 report from the Mauritius Truth and Justice Commission documented abuses suffered under slavery and labor, and recommended some land reclamation.
African slavery in Mexico peaked in the late 16th and early 17th centuries after Spain banned the indigenous people from being enslaved, with some 200,000 Africans brought to Mexico.
Increasing awareness has led to more people identifying themselves as Afro-Mexican in recent years, with the 2020 census identifying 2.5 million people, or 2% of the population, as of African descent. , counted. earlier.
“Black Mexican communities … need to be included and have a voice,” King said. “The goal is to make sure no one is invisible.”
(Edited by Frank Jack Daniel; edited by Jonathan Oatis)