MEMIN PINGUIN STAMPS

Resolution - WHEREAS, any official position of the legislation, rules, regulations or policies proposed to or pending before a local, state or federal government body or agency must first have been adopted in the form of a Resolution by the City Council with the concurrence of the Mayor; and WHEREAS, in June, 2005, the Mexican government issued the second in a series of five postal stamps depicting Mexican comic book characters; and WHEREAS, this latest stamp depicts a schoolboy character named "Memin Pinguin" whose exaggerated physical features including oversized lips, eyes and an apelike head along with his speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book, which started in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico; and WHEREAS, "Memin Pinguin" is a mischievous and bumbling character who often gets into trouble and is spanked by his mother, also a caricature that some civil rights activists find offensive; and WHEREAS, Mexico abolished slavery decades before the United States and never enacted Jim Crow laws. The "Memin Pinguin" character resembles hundreds of characters created during legal segregation in the United States, animated and real, including the Amos and Andy minstrels who joked in racist overtones about their ethnicity to the delight of whites-only audiences; and WHEREAS, African-American historians say that caricature depicting black people as noble savages paved the way for their dehumanization and, ultimately, mass lynchings; and WHEREAS, African-American and Latino civil rights leaders, as well as, El Universal, one of Mexico's most influential newspapers, have denounced the stamp; and WHEREAS, the initial response of the Mexican government was to reject pulling the commemorative series; and WHEREAS, in light of all of the negative publicity that has embroiled the Mexican government because of the issuance of this particular stamp, they have agreed to not reprint the "Memin Pinguin" stamps; and WHEREAS, adoption of this resolution can be seen as an important step in continuing to promote racial equality and condemning images that increase the gap between cultures; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of Los Angeles joins a growing coalition of social justice organizations, such as The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the NAACP, National Council of La Raza and National Urban League and United States government in condemning this stamp and urges for its immediate withdrawal as it is an extreme example of and perpetuates racial stereotyping.

Reyes for Perry