Activist Sergio Peñaloza Appointed
By Patricia Ann Talley, Editor
The Mexican Federal Government recently took affirmative action to include Afro-Mexicans in the country’s legislative branch.
Civil rights activist, Sergio Peñaloza, President of México Negro Civic Association, will serve as an appointed member of the Federal Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, for the Morena Party when the Mexican legislature begins its 65th session in September 2021. His goal is for Afro-Mexicans to have a political voice to make their movement visible and to empower the people.
Constitutional Recognition Led to Legislative Representation
Professor Sergio Peñaloza founded the México Negro A.C., a leading civil rights organization, in Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero, in 1997. At that time, this historically invisible and discriminated community was not yet recognized in the national Constitution or registered with any political party.
In 2020, Mexicans of African descent self-identified and were counted as such in the country’s census for the first time. Previously, the population was included in the Indigenous count. There are over 60 Indigenous groups who are identified by their native languages for government programs and allocations. Since Afro-Mexicans do not have a unique native language, this resulted in their under-representation and under-investment in their communities.
Over 2.5 million people self-identified as Black, Afro-Mexican, or as an African descendant in the 2020 census, representing 2.2% of the country’s total population. This count included 11,565 foreign-born residents from the United States (Permanent Residents or Dual Citizens).
Now, by a Federal Court ruling, the political parties must nominate 21 candidates from Indigenous groups, Afro-Mexicans, the LGBTQ community, and people with disabilities to serve as appointed members in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house).
Priorities: Equitable Laws, Public Policies, and Budget Allocations
After the long struggle for Constitutional recognition and identification in the census count, Peñaloza states his priority as a legislator is to promote laws, public policies, and budget allocations to mitigate the lag in health and education rooted in the Afro-Mexican population.
“Most of us are in rural areas and one of the characteristics is government abandonment of programs to combat poverty. If you stop in an Afro community, we have a health center – but without equipment, without medications, without doctors or nurses. If we go through these communities, we find young people who have not been able to enter higher education due to structural reasons and due to vices with the leaders of the universities; and due to the educational policy, itself of not opening opportunities to young people from Afro-Mexican and Indigenous communities.”
Professor Peñaloza will represent the 8th Federal District comprised of the states of Guerrero, Morelos, México City, Tlaxcala, and Puebla. “My vision is not only in those states,” he says. “It is in more, especially in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Coahuila, Baja California, and the city and state of Mexico, where there are large numbers of Afro-descendants. My mission and commitment are with all of them, wherever they are.”
He states, “First, I have the task of locating Afro-Mexicans, promoting their organizations, training, and empowerment so that they are self-managed in the entity in which they are located. I have not had legislative experience, but I arrive with a broad agenda.
I am not going (to the Legislature) with the slogan of a political party. I am going with the commitment of a movement to which we are completely committed. . . We have been fighting precisely for those spaces where decisions are made, so the initiators of the movement have the moral and political commitment to serve and to motivate new generations to do so.”
Translated from: https://www.sinembargo.mx/26-06-2021/3990774
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