Academy Award nominee Yalitza Aparicio, the breakout star of Roma, wrote an op-ed editorial published in today’s edition of the New York Times. Entitled “In Mexico, ‘Roma’ Lit a Fire for Workers’ Rights,” Aparicio’s editorial exposes how her role in Alfonso Cuarón’s film showed her how art can provide a voice for the disenfranchised.
In the piece, Aparicio speaks to racial discrimination in Mexico and the ways in which she herself experienced racism firsthand. “After I was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying Cleo, racist comments began to circulate on social media. Commenters questioned why I was nominated, making references to my social and ethnic background. An Indigenous woman was not a worthy representative of the country, some said. It was hard for me to see and hear these sorts of statements. But real conversations were happening because of them. Eventually, these discussions highlighted the cultural and political importance of diversity in society, art, and the media.”
“By vividly showing the discrimination that disproportionally affects Indigenous people, Roma also sparked a collective cultural awareness that paved the way for a momentous legal victory in Mexico,” writes Aparicio, who has been a UNESCO good will ambassador for Indigenous peoples since 2019.
Aparicio’s essay was published as part of The Big Ideas, a special section of The Times’ philosophy series, ‘The Stone’, in which more than a dozen international artists, writers and thinkers answer the question, “Why does art matter?”
