@winston:
Yeah, there's some pretty serious institutionalized racism here in Argentina. And unlike most other New World countries, there isn't much of an effort here to shine any light on the sins of the nation's past. The history has been white-washed and those who enjoy the benefits of a couple of centuries of racism and genocide would simply prefer to not look back.
My girlfriend is from here and she's told me some pretty ridiculous stories about the education she's received here. Like when her teacher in primary school handed out maps of Europe and asked everyone to color in the country that they are from. And how, for the most part, her history classes, from primary school through university, have focused either on how Argentina (and the rest of Latin America) has been shaped by its various relationships with Europe (colonization, immigration, trade, emulation, etc.) or on how the US is a big, terrible bully.
Argentine "European"-ness is constantly reinforced. When my girlfriend and I went to Mexico, she couldn't believe that they had indigenous leaders on their money and that they celebrated their thousands of years of history everywhere; in subway stations, in the fabulous museums in Mexico City, in the simple awareness that most people can trace their roots to the great pre-Colombian civilizations that the Spanish were kind enough to almost completely wipe out.
And who is on the money here: Sarmiento, Mitre, Roca. You can get some sense of a nation's values by simply looking at its money and when you have some seriously racist folks who carried out genocides on your money it's doubtful that the population cares very much about such things. And many, of course, are glad those genocides happened. Fewer negros de mierda in their "European" Argentina.
But, as an American (er, from the US for those here who might be sensitive about people from the US hogging the term "American"), I know for a fact that diversity is a strength, and racism a weakness, and I'm a competitive son of a bitch. So, if countries like Argentina want to continue to shoot themselves in the foot by disenfranchising much of their population, well, best of luck to them. But it's certainly one of the reasons why the US won't have any real competition in the western hemisphere for a good long time.
Yeah, there's some pretty serious institutionalized racism here in Argentina. And unlike most other New World countries, there isn't much of an effort here to shine any light on the sins of the nation's past. The history has been white-washed and those who enjoy the benefits of a couple of centuries of racism and genocide would simply prefer to not look back.
My girlfriend is from here and she's told me some pretty ridiculous stories about the education she's received here. Like when her teacher in primary school handed out maps of Europe and asked everyone to color in the country that they are from. And how, for the most part, her history classes, from primary school through university, have focused either on how Argentina (and the rest of Latin America) has been shaped by its various relationships with Europe (colonization, immigration, trade, emulation, etc.) or on how the US is a big, terrible bully.
Argentine "European"-ness is constantly reinforced. When my girlfriend and I went to Mexico, she couldn't believe that they had indigenous leaders on their money and that they celebrated their thousands of years of history everywhere; in subway stations, in the fabulous museums in Mexico City, in the simple awareness that most people can trace their roots to the great pre-Colombian civilizations that the Spanish were kind enough to almost completely wipe out.
And who is on the money here: Sarmiento, Mitre, Roca. You can get some sense of a nation's values by simply looking at its money and when you have some seriously racist folks who carried out genocides on your money it's doubtful that the population cares very much about such things. And many, of course, are glad those genocides happened. Fewer negros de mierda in their "European" Argentina.
But, as an American (er, from the US for those here who might be sensitive about people from the US hogging the term "American"), I know for a fact that diversity is a strength, and racism a weakness, and I'm a competitive son of a bitch. So, if countries like Argentina want to continue to shoot themselves in the foot by disenfranchising much of their population, well, best of luck to them. But it's certainly one of the reasons why the US won't have any real competition in the western hemisphere for a good long time.
