The CLR James Journal

Volume 24, Issue 1/2, Fall 2018

Well Chosen White Blood
About the Illusion of Racial Equality in Colombia

This paper examines the discourse of white supremacy in the intellectual history and socio-historical development in the nation of Colombia. In particular, it focuses on the period after the gaining of political independence from Spain in 1819. Further, the paper focuses on the texts of two writers who spanned late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These writers are Miguel Jiménez López and Luis López de Mesa. The paper develops in detail the white supremacist discourses of these two writers, along with their views of the indigenous people of Colombia, the mestizos, and the Africans who were imported as slaves and racialized as Blacks. Finally, the paper examines the pro-white immigration policies of the authors, which they believed would improve the intelligence, the entrepreneurial capability and beauty of Colombia, and thus its prospects for development.