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July 13, 2005 latimes.com

Purchase Would Be No Stamp of Approval
-L.A. collector wants to acquire Mexico's Memin Pinguin postage precisely because he finds it offensive.

By Richard Marosi, Times Staff Writer

The racist past came alive for African American memorabilia collector Brian Breye of Los Angeles when Mexico issued a commemorative stamp set celebrating the comic book character Memin Pinguin, a wide-eyed black boy with exaggerated thick lips.



Breye was so offended that he now wants to buy his own set of the stamps to preserve a disturbing page of history, part of a multifaceted purchasing frenzy for the images that have sparked a diplomatic tiff and highlighted the immense cultural divide between the U.S. and Mexico over racial issues.

"Here we go again. Here we go with the race-baiting … another group of people trying to place us at the bottom of the totem pole," Breye said.

About 700,000 stamps sold out within days at post offices across Mexico, where people often waited in line for hours.

At Internet auction sites such as EBay, the price for a sheet of 50 of the stamps — with a face value of 6 1/2 pesos each, or about 60 cents — had reached $200, though it has dropped in recent days. The sheet sold for about $30 at post offices.

The stamps are part of a series of limited editions celebrating comic book characters, and Mexican officials say they have no plans to issue more of the Memin Pinguin stamps.

Collectors' motivations vary. Many are profit-minded investors hoping the controversy pushes up values.

But strong emotional feelings, ranging from nostalgia to outrage, are also motivating factors, reflecting deep differences in the way Mexicans and African Americans perceive Memin Pinguin.

Mexicans are snapping up the stamps because they express fondness for a beloved comic character whose popularity peaked 40 years ago and is surging again thanks to the controversy. Mexican President Vicente Fox defended the stamps, calling Memin Pinguin a cherished figure. Others said the stamps reminded them of their youth.

"I read it as a child," said Miguel Alarcon, a 35-year-old graduate student who bought the stamps at a post office in Sinaloa. "I want to keep these stamps as a keepsake."

For many American collectors, the stamps prompt disgust, but they say possessing them is a way to preserve a bit of racist history. Breye plans to buy a set and display them with his collection of Mammy cookie jars, Negro-head salt and pepper shakers, and other racist memorabilia at his Leimert Park store.

Collections of racially offensive images are not uncommon in African American homes. The Mexican stamps are a modern example of images that haunted blacks through slavery, the Jim Crow years and the civil rights era. Such collections — often prominently displayed in living rooms — raise youngsters' awareness of past indignities, say some collectors.

David Pilgrim, the curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia in Big Rapids, Mich., said he purchased two sets of stamps for the museum, where the 5,000 items — everything from Ku Klux Klan robes to Aunt Jemima advertisements — already include Memin Pinguin comic books and T-shirts.

"Our mission is to use items of intolerance to teach tolerance. Racism has to be viewed openly, honestly and directly," Pilgrim said.

The Memin Pinguin character was created in 1947 by an impoverished aspiring singer, Yolanda Vargas Dulche, who was inspired by the black children she saw during a trip to Cuba.

She said she "made Memin black because … black children fascinated me, with their faces so open," according to a quote attributed to her by her son, Manelick de la Parra.

Memin Pinguin, the mischievous son of a poor washerwoman — a chubby, Mammy-like character — hangs out with a group of white kids. They often taunt him and ridicule his antics, but their short friend teaches them lessons, De la Parra said.

"People can't say it's racist…. He suffers because they make fun of his color … but he shows that he's like anyone else," De la Parra said in a telephone interview.

De la Parra said the comic book was once distributed in other Latin American countries, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Schoolchildren in the Philippines, he said, were once obligated to read it because officials believed it promoted family values.

African Americans say it only perpetuates negative racial stereotypes. Where Mexicans see a cute and adorable child, blacks see an ignorant, anatomically exaggerated fool.


Where Mexicans see a cute and adorable child, blacks see an ignorant, anatomically exaggerated fool.

Oh so very true. I never even made the connection between the comic and black people when I was younger. Seriously. I never thought, "He's black, all black people are like this". Honestly, I didn't notice the color of it because it didn't matter. I only made such a connection now because black people are telling me that it represents them as ignorant and foolish. Ay. Get a grip.



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Special thanks to ebay.com sellers for providing the pictures! Isn't he cute? He looks like a pimp in the 2nd and last one. Tee-hee!