You’ve Heard It Your Whole Life
At every family gathering, someone says it:
- “Mejorando la raza” (improving the race)
- “Búscate alguien clarito” (find someone light-skinned)
- “Pelo bueno” vs “pelo malo” (good hair vs bad hair)
- “No te quemes” (don’t get too dark)
- “Salió güerito!” (celebrating light babies)
- “Parece Indio” (looks Indian—as an insult)
You thought it was just old-fashioned thinking. Abuela being Abuela.
Wrong.
These phrases come directly from a 500-year-old Spanish colonial system designed to make Indigenous peoples ashamed of themselves and compete for whiteness. It’s called the casta system, and it’s still running your family’s brain.
The Trap: How Spain Turned Indigenous Peoples Into “Hispanics”
Before Colonizers: You Were Nations, Not “Hispanics”
When Spanish conquistadors invaded, they encountered:
- Aztec/Mexica Empire: 5-6 million people, Tenochtitlan larger than Paris
- Maya civilization: Millions across multiple kingdoms
- Inca Empire: 10-12 million people across 2,500 miles
- Hundreds of other Indigenous nations
“Hispanic” didn’t exist. “Latino” didn’t exist. These are colonial inventions designed to erase your Indigenous identity.
The Casta System: 16+ Categories of Human Worth
By the 1600s, Spain created an elaborate racial hierarchy with 16+ categories. Each determined:
- What job you could have
- Who you could marry
- What you could wear
- Whether you paid tribute
- Your legal rights
The main categories:
- Peninsular (Born in Spain) – Highest, owned everything
- Criollo (Spanish parents, born in Americas) – High but beneath Peninsulares
- Castizo (Spanish + Mestizo) – “Almost white again”
- Mestizo (Spanish + Indigenous) – Middle, some rights, paid tribute
- Indio (Indigenous) – “Legally minors,” forced labor
- Mulato (Spanish + African) – Heavily discriminated
- Negro (African) – Enslaved, lowest status
- Zambo (Indigenous + African) – Children of “two inferior races”
- And more…
Each category was painted, illustrated, and taught. The message: Lighter = Better. European = Superior. Indigenous/African = Inferior.
A Redenção de Cam (Redemption of Ham), by Galician painter Modesto Brocos, 1895, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. The painting depicts a black grandmother, mulatta mother, white father and their quadroonchild, hence three generations of racial hypergamy through whitening. Wikipedia
“Mejorando La Raza”—The Whitening Project
The casta system had one goal: Gradually eliminate Indigenous and African peoples through mixture and shame.
The Strategy:
- Encourage mixing with Europeans – Each generation adds white blood
- Favor mestizos over Indigenous peoples – Create incentive to abandon Indigenous identity
- Make “looking Indigenous” a liability – Ban languages, clothing, traditions
- After 3-4 generations of mixing – You’re “white enough” (maybe)
The trap: Indigenous peoples were told “mix with us and improve” while being kept subordinate forever. Even “white” mestizos never equal actual Spanish/Europeans.
The 19th-20th Century Doubling Down
After “independence,” Latin American nations didn’t end racism—they intensified whitening:
Massive European immigration (1880s-1930s):
- Argentina recruited 6+ million Europeans
- Brazil imported 4+ million Europeans
- Free land, money, subsidies—for whites only
- Asian, African, Middle Eastern immigration: BANNED
Quote from Brazilian official (1911): “Within 100 years, through mixture with whites, the Black population will be completely eliminated.”
They said it out loud: This was genocide through “voluntary” mixing.
How It Controls You Today
Your Family Is Running Casta Software
When your family says:
- “Pelo malo” → They’re saying Indigenous/African hair is inferior
- “No te quemes” → They’re saying darker skin lowers your value
- “Mejorando la raza” → They’re saying you should breed out your Indigenous ancestry
- “Parece Indio” → They’re using your ancestors’ identity as an insult
This isn’t love. It’s colonial programming teaching you to hate yourself.
The Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan at Mexico City, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-aztec-capital-city-of-tenochtitlan-167271
The Numbers Don’t Lie
In Mexico:
- 90%+ have Indigenous DNA
- Only 15-20% identify as Indigenous
- Most say “I’m mestizo, not Indio”
- Light-skinned people earn 25% more for same work
- Indigenous peoples: 70%+ poverty rates
Throughout Latin America:
- European minorities control most wealth
- Skin tone predicts income
- “Güero” (light) opens doors
- “Indio” closes them
- Mestizos caught in between, told to keep lightening
How This Connects to Other Indigenous Peoples
While Spain created the casta system, colonizers elsewhere used different tactics:
- In North America: Dark-skinned Indigenous peoples were reclassified as “Black” (see our first PDF: “Erased & Reclassified”)
- In U.S./Canada: Blood quantum mathematically eliminates Indigenous peoples (see our third PDF: “The Northern Separation”)
Different methods. Same goal: Divide Indigenous peoples into “Black,” “Hispanic,” and “Native American” so they can’t unite to reclaim stolen land.
What You’re Not Being Told
The full story reveals:
- How mestizaje was often rape and coercion, not romance
- Why the “mestizo nation” myth is a lie
- How blanqueamiento policies worked country by country
- The $10+ billion skin-lightening industry
- Why Indigenous peoples stay poorest despite being majority
- How to decolonize your mind from “pelo bueno/malo” thinking
- Why “Hispanic” erases your Indigenous sovereignty
- How to reclaim Indigenous identity as a mestizo
But here’s what scares colonizers: You realizing that “mejorando la raza” is a trap. That there’s nothing to improve. That you were perfect before they told you otherwise. That “Hispanic” is a cage designed to keep you from claiming your Indigenous heritage and land.
📥 Download the Full PDF: “Mejorando La Raza: How the Casta System Turned Indigenous Peoples Into ‘Hispanics’”
Get the complete breakdown including:
- ✅ All 16+ casta categories explained with historical context
- ✅ How blanqueamiento policies worked in each Latin American country
- ✅ Detailed timeline of the whitening project
- ✅ Modern colorism statistics and wealth gaps
- ✅ How “Hispanic” and “Latino” erase Indigenous sovereignty
- ✅ Practical steps to decolonize your beauty standards and family programming
- ✅ Why mestizos should support Indigenous land rights
- ✅ Building solidarity across all colonized peoples
🔗 Read the Full Series on Patreon:
- PDF 1: “Erased & Reclassified” – How Dark-Skinned Indigenous Peoples Became “Just Black”
- PDF 3: “The Northern Separation” – Blood Quantum and Colonial Favoritism
Understanding all three reveals how colonizers used different tactics across the Americas to keep Indigenous peoples divided and weak—all to maintain control of stolen land.
💬 Quick Test: Are You Running Colonial Programming?
Ask yourself:
- Do I avoid the sun to stay light?
- Do I straighten my hair because curls are “malo”?
- Am I relieved when babies come out “clarito”?
- Do I use “Indio” as an insult?
- Do I say “I’m not Indigenous, I’m Mexican”?
- Do I feel pressure to marry lighter?
If you answered yes to any of these, the casta system is still controlling you.
The full PDF shows you how to break free.
Livity Blog | Memory as Resistance
