Stamp causes outcry

last updated 8 January 2015

Mexico City

Leaders of Mexico’s tiny black community, joined by U.S. civil rights leaders, demanded that the government apologize for issuing a set of stamps they called racist. The stamps depict a 1950s–era cartoon character called Memin Pinguin, a caricature of a naive black boy with wide eyes and exaggerated lips. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton urged President Vicente Fox to recall the stamps, which the White House called “wholly inappropriate.” The controversy erupted just six weeks after Fox had to apologize for saying that Mexicans in the U.S. took jobs that “not even blacks” wanted. But he refused to pull the stamps, which sold out at many post offices. “All Mexico loves the character,” Fox said.