Live-In Maids: The Product of a Racist, Classist Society?

My mom is from Venezuela, and I love my Venezuelan roots. One day on Instagram, I encountered an old 60s commercial for a coffee brand in Venezuela. The family relaxes as the maid brews coffee, and the aroma permeates the house. The little girl asks the maid, “Candelaria, are you brewing coffee?” And she happily responds, “How did you know?” Immediately, the two of them begin singing the jingle together, “I knew because of the aroma. ‘Fama de América’ the best coffee!” It seems cute and completely harmless, right?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzwRXZDuihh/?igsh=MWNuaDY0dmtxeGln

Nope! At least not if you’re a leftist. In the comments, I saw a mix of people reminiscing about Venezuela’s golden days and others railing against the “racist, classist society” that they claim reigned supreme in Venezuela back in those days and even now. Why did they say this? Well, because how dare an ad show a white family with a black maid! This is proof of not only how racist and classist Venezuelan society was but still is!

This is ridiculous for many reasons, but I will give two main reasons and one secondary reason. First, not only were black women maids in Venezuela, but many white women did domestic work too. Some of these white women were native Venezuelans and others were European immigrants after World War II, primarily from Spain, Portugal, and Italy. During the years following the war, Venezuela welcomed millions of European refugees, including both of my Italian grandparents. Domestic work was simply not a field that was left only to black women.

Secondly, these maids, regardless of their skin color, were often loved and adored by the families they worked for. They were a part of the family. Every once in a while, my mom and I will be talking about something, and all of a sudden, our conversation triggers a memory my mom has from her formative years in Caracas. She will tell me about the maid her family had when she was a teenager, a darker-skinned Colombian woman from La Guajira named Maritza. She lived in the house with them and had her own bedroom and bathroom. My mom always remembers her fondly and tells me how she would help Maritza do household chores, like folding clothes, cooking, setting the table, and washing the dishes. My mom always looked forward to the telenovelas after dinner from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. and wanted to watch them with the maid, so if there were many dishes left to do, she would happily do them with her so they could sit on the couch together and watch TV. Maritza was like a sister to my mom.

As a secondary point, all of these maids voluntarily took these jobs with families they were willing to work for. They could choose to enter this type of work arrangement if they wanted. Why should anyone, such as these leftists, be able to problematize someone’s free will choice to work for a family they love and who also loves them? Maids and the families that hired them are not monoliths, and this is not an abstract topic. These were real and complex relationships that people built.

Were there families who treated their maids poorly? I’m sure there were, but that was the exception, not the rule. Some employers are bad, and others are good. If you don’t like your employer, you are always free to find another one.

This outrage only comes from people who do not know anything about this topic because neither did they have maids nor were they ever maids themselves. They are completely detached and removed from the topic. Their brains are infected with Marxist ideology to see everything as a race and class struggle. They never took the time to speak with the people who were involved in this type of domestic arrangement, especially the maids whom they claim to fight for. They want to seize the opportunity to claim a social cause, however meaningless it is, just for virtue points. They want to turn it into a real-life version of The Help because that is more sensational and dramatic, and they thrive off unnecessary drama. It’s more socially profitable.

Perhaps this outrage is the reflection of a deeper cultural issue. It’s not only Marxism but a complete rejection of the willingness to serve others. Our society has embraced the false and egotistical idea that serving others in any way is denigrating to oneself and that they have no obligation to do so. They falsely and selfishly believe that dignity is opposed to working for the good of another. They see “submission” and “service” as dirty words, when, in a healthy environment, those are beautiful things. After all, how dare someone, especially with darker skin, help another or seek their good, right? God urges us through the apostle Peter, “Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:8-10, NABRE). In a healthy society, people love their neighbor. They don't hate or scorn others based on race or wealth.

No, live-in maids are not a reflection of a racist, classist society. Marxist society is a reflection of inner selfishness.