Un Tema Controversial

Argentines claim they are not racist. Classist maybe, but not racist. And how could they be? There are no races here. Save the five Black guys, who gather at hip-hop clubs on Thursday and sell gold-plated jewelry from a briefcase. It’s as if they saw the role in an American movie, and decided, “Aha! As a Black man living in a large city, this is my calling.” Every other citizen of Buenos Aires is a direct descendent of someone from Italy, Spain, or Germany; usually a combination of at least two of the three. But wouldn’t relatives from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany possibly make you a bit racist? Or at least have you lean toward the Aryan race? One would think. But no, “We are not racist. You yanquis are racist.” Although all Americans here are referred to as yanquis, Annemarie is adamant: “We are not Yankees, Damian, there was a whole entire war over that!” Ah, yes, but Southerners are considered more racist.

Keep in mind, this is probably the only country where, when I answer I am from Texas (the inevitable question that follows the answer, “Los Estados Unidos,” is always, “¿de que parte sos?”) I hear more comments about Mexicans than George W. Bush. In all other travels, I have braced myself for the “George Bush is from Texas” comments. (Oh really? I didn’t know.) But here, they never come. The response is always, “There are a lot of Mexicans in Texas,” and it is spat out with much disdain caught in the throat.

But this is the country were pastries covered in dark chocolate are called, “Negritos,” or worse, big-lipped chocolate faces are called “Africanitos.” Believe you me: that would never fly where I’m from. And Jenny purchased this cake last February at a church bakery!
And so the other night when we ate dinner at Asia and hit up the dance floor once the tables had been cleared, we stood around the bar with a family of African American tourists. Annemarie and I watched in awe as all of our porteño friends stared mesmerized at the couples dancing and drinking and speaking loudly. “What language are they speaking?” Damian asks. They are speaking English. I can’t wait to see his reaction when he flies into the Houston airport. “I am not racist,” he says, and I believe him. He is just not used to such cultural differences. In a lot of ways Argentina and The United States are quite similar, but in many ways they are extremely different.