What is a 'whitexican' and to whom does this term refer?

They mix Spanish and English when they speak, they brag about their trips on social networks and try not to get together with the popular classes. So are the "whitexicans", a term that defines people who show pride in Mexico abroad but adopt classist and racist attitudes within their country.

This controversial expression is a mixture of Spanish and English language and is derived from the contraction of the words white and Mexicans. Although it is unknown who first coined the term, since the end of 2017 it has become widely popular among Mexicans and its use has become very commonplace on social networks.

A successful Twitter account called "Cosas de Whitexicans", which has coined the concept has become a humorous scourge against the posturing of this class of Mexicans who have habits based more on appearances than on convictions. They laugh at those people who "start with money from their parents", "leave the country during a water cut", "are going to spend the weekend in Las Vegas", "they speak in English with their white friends" or " they believe that the most beautiful people of Mexico City are in the Roma y la Condesa, "two neighborhoods full of foreigners.

The neologism whitexicans is therefore also used to refer to light-skinned Mexicans, who make up only 4.7% of the Mexican population (mostly are descendants of Spanish) according to the Ethnicity and Race in Latin America Project (Perla), sponsored by Princeton University and involving researchers from Brazil, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, and Peru.

However, for the experts consulted, the term does not qualify as discriminatory, since, according to them, it does not reach the offensive level of, for example, the words "Indio" or "naco" in Mexico.

And with an eye on today, they also mock the concerns that the "whitexicans" express on social networks to fill the gas tank of their high-end vehicle or the arrival of Central American migrants to the country's southern border. This concept has not so much to do with skin color as with certain attitudes of a very privileged Mexican minority.

Mexicans more gringos than the gringos.

But from these seemingly banal jokes to make fun of, there is also strong political criticism against everything that contributes to the perpetuation of classism and racism rooted in Mexican society. In the spotlight of its scathing critique was a controversial advertising campaign by a brewery that sought to spread an anti-racist message with the slogan "proudly Indian", but all its models were white.

Neither did the reality show "Made in Mexico" by Netflix, which showed the opulence of a group of wealthy and elitist young people from Mexico City who wanted to break the topic that Mexicans go donkey and wear a hat. But the golden palm is worn by those who question talent in social networks and criticize the appearance of Yalitza Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar for best actress for the film "Roma", for her Mexican ancestry and not having interpretive training.

Although there is no official definition of "whitexican", according to the Twitter account Cosas de Whitexicans, the main disseminator of the term, we can refer that whitexicans are those few high-class privileged citizens who love telling everyone they're Spanish and include words in English in all of their sentences every day. It does not refer to skin color but the discriminatory attitudes of a privileged sector of the Mexican population. That is, it would seek to name an ideological aspect of the Mexican social structure nowadays.

Whitexicans Memes

Here are some of the funniest and most popular memes circulating on social media about Whitexicans.