The Native-Mexican actress and teacher Yalitza Aparicio responds with a poem to those who attack her by calling her “brown" because of her skin color. The attacks mostly come from white Mexican actors and actresses.
"That's right, I am brown, pretty brown ... Brown colored from the mud of my casseroles and comales, brown as beans, brown as mole, brown as obsidian, brown as fertile soil under my bare feet, brown as my grandparents, brown as night, brown bronze race. They call me tight and think it is an insult, they don't know that my color is my bearing, that if my dark skin bothers them, it is because they have no identity or love for their land ”.
-Yalitza Aparicio
Mixtec-Triqui
(The Cloud People)
.
Yalitza Aparicio in "Daughters of Witches"
dir. Faride Schroeder
Image Description
5 GIFS of indigenous (Mixteco & Triqui) actress Yalitza Aparicio.
(1/5) GIF of Yalitza’s character, Clara, looking up. She is standing in front of a doorway. There is another woman standing next to her, but we cannot see her face. Clara’s black hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She is wearing a jean jacket and gold hoop earrings. Clara is also holding a blanket.
(2/5) GIF of Clara and an older woman (her mother) sitting on a bed in an attic illuminated by candlelight. Her mother is tenderly braiding Clara’s hair while Clara fidgets with something on her lap. Both women are wearing traditional indigenous clothing with long tan skirts and rebozos (shawls). Her mother’s shawl is black and Clara’s is a cream color.
(3/5) GIF of Clara and another woman (her godmother) holding a baby. Clara and the woman are making the sign of the cross with their hands. Clara’s long black hair is down and she is wearing a gray t-shirt. Clara’s godmother has bangs and has her hair pinned up. The baby is swaddled in a white blanket and is wearing a white hat. All three of them are looking up at something.
(4/5) GIF of Clara and her mother walking outside in a procession. Both of them are holding candles and are dressed in their traditional indigenous garb. Clara’s mother is holding flowers as she looks down and speaks to Clara. Clara is holding her baby in her arms. Her hair is in a ponytail. There is another woman in the background also holding a candle. The caption reads “You haven’t dreamed of her?” with Clara responding, “No, have you?”
(5/5) Close up GIF of Clara in a dark forest. Her eyes are wide and she looks at something off screen in awe. She is wearing her cream colored rebozo and an intricately beaded necklace.
Cuando le pregunté si su hijo hablaba triqui me dijo que no, que por supuesto que no, me dijo:
Nuestras madres nos enseñan a hablar, y el mundo nos enseña a callarnos la boca.
Yalitza Aparicio Of ‘Roma’ Speaks Out On Barriers Facing Indigenous Women
Yalitza Aparicio, the breakout star of Alfonso Cuarón’s critically acclaimed film “Roma,” made history as the first indigenous woman to get an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Now she’s using her win to speak out on barriers indigenous women face in cinema and society at large.
“I know that everything that I am doing — if I do something wrong, they might think we are all that way. So I have to take good care of that image, our image,” the actress told the Los Angeles Times in an interview.
Aparicio ― a 26-year-old born in Oaxaca, Mexico, of indigenous Mixtec and Triqui descent ― was a newcomer to acting when she was selected to play the lead role of Cleo in Cuarón’s film. The semi-autobiographical black-and-white movie tells the story of a domestic worker and the family she works for in early 1970s Mexico City.
The Netflix film has earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Aparicio’s historic nod, and launched her into international stardom, with her making waves on the cover of Vogue México. Aparicio had just finished her degree to become a teacher when she was selected for the role.
