“Racism is Not an Issue in Latin America” — Seriously?

In an opinion piece for the New York Times titled “Latin America's Talent for Tolerance,” Enrique Krauze proposes the notion that Latin America is less prone to racism:

[…] European-style racism — which not only mistreats and discriminates but also persecutes and, in the very worst cases, tries to exterminate others because of their ethnicity — has been the exception and not the rule in modern Latin America.

Krauze's opinion piece prompted blogger Julio Ricardo Varela to question the validity of his position in an article written for Latino Rebels:

At the beginning of the piece, Krauze starts with FIFA’s “Say No To Racism” campaign,”a message” that “was particularly directed toward the soccer stadiums of Europe, where there have been many instances of racial taunting and physical aggression by hostile fans against African and other black players.” Just a few sentences later, Krauze is quick to let us know that such racism doesn’t occur in the Americas: “the stadiums of Latin America have for the most part been free of this phenomenon, despite the fervent nationalism and fanaticism of the fans.” I am guessing that neither Krauze nor his Times editor did some actual fact-checking because in just five minutes, I was able to locate several examples of racism in Latin American stadiums.

After pointing out that so-called “European-style racism is what formed Latin America in the first place,” Varela concludes with these words:

When we as Latin Americans admit the truth and confront it head on, only then can real change occur. In the meantime, the literal whitewashing of Latin American history needs to be monitored and when it appears in mass media, we must all do our best to quickly call out this ignorant attitude. The only way to transform society is to ensure that we don’t allow certain opinions to become the standard. We can do better, and we will. One tweet at a time.

6 comments

  • julito77

    Many thanks for citing my piece.

  • […] by Ángel Carrión · comments (2) Donate · Share this: twitter facebook reddit […]

  • Carlos A Santiago

    Angel Carrion I would like you to put some clarity on the issue of what is Latino… To me Latino amounts to all the Roman culture in history… today the Latin language, which is only one of their multilinguistics, survives in the Roman Catholic Churches and it’s home Rome, Italy where Latin is the official language… if I understand it the Latino movement does not exist without the Roman Catholic Church, or are we subjects of conquest by the system based in Rome?… You see when Spain lost the popular vote of the Popes at the time of New World conquest a shift of power took place dividing the New World between Portugal and Spain… this is where the Latino issue got it’s birth I think!!! More and more immigrants not from Spain populated the New World through the shift of power by the Popes… In reality the Latin people existed before the Romans… whats true? Thank You

  • Carlos A Santiago

    Angel Carrion I would like you to put some clarity on the issue of what is Latino… To me Latino amounts to all the Roman culture in history… today the Latin language, which is only one of their multilinguistics, survives in the Roman Catholic Churches and it’s home Rome, Italy where Latin is the official language… if I understand it the Latino movement does not exist without the Roman Catholic Church, or are we subjects of conquest by the system based in Rome?… You see when Spain lost the popular vote of the Popes at the time of New World conquest a shift of power took place dividing the New World between Portugal and Spain… this is where the Latino issue got it’s birth I think!!! More and more immigrants not from Spain populated the New World through the shift of power by the Popes… In reality the Latin people existed before the Romans… whats true? Thank You

  • Carlos A Santiago

    Please comment…
    Puerto Ricans are diverse and not limited to white, black, or indigenous… we are more than subjects of the Roman Catholic Church… we are not LATINO!!! Angel Carrion I would like you to put some clarity on the issue of what is Latino… To me Latino amounts to all the Roman culture in history… today the Latin language, which is only one of their multilinguistics, survives in the Roman Catholic Churches and it’s home Rome, Italy where Latin is the official language… if I understand it the Latino movement does not exist without the Roman Catholic Church, or are we subjects of conquest by the system based in Rome?… You see when Spain lost the popular vote of the Popes at the time of New World conquest a shift of power took place dividing the New World between Portugal and Spain… this is where the Latino issue got it’s birth I think!!! More and more immigrants not from Spain populated the New World through the shift of power by the Popes… In reality the Latin people existed before the Romans… whats true?

    The Latin Union is a defunct international organization of nations that use Romance languages, with the aim of protecting, projecting, and promoting the common cultural heritage of Latin peoples and unifying identities of the Latin, and Latin-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in Madrid, Spain, and existed as a functional institution from 1983 to 2012. Its membership rose from 12 to 36 states, including countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.
    The official names of the Latin Union are: Unió Llatina in Catalan, Union latine in French, Unione Latina in Italian, União Latina in Portuguese, Uniunea Latină in Romanian, and Unión Latina in Spanish.
    Due to financial difficulties, the Latin Union announced on January 26 2012 the suspension of its activities, the dissolution of its Secretariat General (effective July 31, 2012) and termination of employment for all the organization’s personnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Union

    Thank You

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