i don't mean this as hate in any way, and i really respect the kind of work you do here, but as a latin american black person i've found that in a lot of these conversations, our struggles and history have been frequently weaponized and exploited by residents of the global north in order to characterize our countries as backward, underdeveloped and less civilized and enlightened than supposedly less racist, more progressive countries in europe or north america. it's very much the same mechanism used against muslim countries, in which the genuine struggle for women's rights is then converted into justification for disdain and subsequent domination.
i'm not even argentinian, and we do hear about instances of very open argentinian anti-blackness, but to have americans, the english, the french and the spanish attempt to frame it as a uniquely argentinian (or worse, a uniquely or specifically latin american) problem is crazy when these are the four horsemen of colonialism and importing their own anti-blackness. "latin american racism" is not a particularly heinous instance of european or american racism, it's an extension of it, and part of a complex web of racial relations that developed due to european and american interference, their colonial interests and the liberatory interests of the colonized and enslaved peoples there.
i'm not saying you specifically argued for the kind of thinking i'm critiquing here, but it is crazy seeing americans (especially white americans) pretend that latin america either has no anti-racist movement or that anti-racism is somehow a fringe, minor concern in our countries and black people live in what amounts to a terror state. of course, we have severe issues with police brutality, poverty, higher mortality rates in the medical sector, less opportunities of registered employment, etc. but i bet that sounds incredibly familiar to black americans and europeans right now.
i believe my country, brazil, even has a leg up on america in certain aspects. 55.5% of our population is black, the largest outside of africa. racism is a crime and a non-bailable and imprescriptible crime, with jail time ranging from two to five years. there are laws which mandate the teaching of black brazilian history and culture in public schools, and we've had really effective affirmative action for higher education for both black and indigenous people. people are very scandalized once you explain that americans had laws mandating racial separation. this doesn't mean there isn't racism here, or in other southam countries, but to demonstrate that the difference is not quantitative but qualitative. we have different issues, concerns and challenges (one of which is the constant interference of the global north in our countries, which generated the most brutal time in our country for black and indigenous people by instituting a military dictatorship steered by the CIA) not to mention the forceful exploitation of our national resources, and the coercive relationship southam countries are forced to keep with the dollar.
again, this isn't an attack, but i just really wish there was a bit more care and nuance injected into these conversations, not just people exclaiming and gasping at the scandal! that racism exists, in varying levels and types, in different parts of the world without regard for the context and the kind of work that's been done. if anyone is looking for reading on the topic of specifically brazilian anti-racism and feminism i recommend djamila ribeiro's "small anti-racist handbook," françoise verges's "a decolonial feminism," and lelia gonzalez's "for an afro-latin-american feminism." if you're looking for fiction, i recommend anything by conceição evaristo.
Okay. Thank you for expressing how you feel, for your perspective, and thank you for the recommendations. I hear you, and I want you to know that I am not attacking you either, I'm also expressing myself.
I am well aware of how these things can be weaponized, of examples of orentialism, xenophobia, and islamophobia and how it is used by Western governments to harm. It is extremely dehumanizing to have to say "hey, here's a real problem, but don't take advantage". We talk about that with addressing the issues within the Black community here, as well as globally.
Sometimes I think it's just because the vast majority of you don't actually know ME as a person and what I talk about, study, and read when I'm NOT around y'all. But I don't go into these conversations unaware of that! Me discussing racism in Latin America is not me saying "it's worse than in America". It's me saying "this is another example of a larger issue that is white supremacy around the globe". I feel like that part got washed out completely by the defensiveness of the response, of people likely being used to the former.
I'm sure there are people gasping at the scandal of it all, and trust me- it gets old seeing people be shocked at racism too. I admit, I was boggled by just how vehemently disrespectful some of these replies have been, but I think that's just a part of experiencing a different type of racism than usual for me. Certainly more complex. But it's not shock at its existence. So I feel you on that one.
I admit, it's frustrating getting these sent to me, but no one directs any of the "consider the other side" notes to anyone else in these conversations 😅 you said yourself that you weren't saying I was doing this, so I sincerely hope you sent a version of this going "but that's not what Ice was doing" elsewhere. Otherwise, it just feels like "well YOU should be the bigger person and hear this out" and why do y'all expect me to do that, in the face of people being quite disrespectful to me? That's all I ask.
Because no, it's not dehumanizing Argentina to say "your country has a history of white supremacy". "Well so does yours!" "And that makes two of us. Let's talk about it."