Thread by @kokokaraib

why do African Americans and other Black people keep making memes equating the N-slur and 'gringo'? don't they understand it just means 'American' here? is there something I'm missing here?

here are quick answers to all those questions (& more)🧵

[white Anglos do not interact]

1. they *do* know gringo can broadly mean 'foreigner' or '[North] American'
2a. but the words are connected (not equated) b/c specific expressions of anti-US sentiment obscure generalised anti-Blackness
2b. the obscurity exists precisely b/c of how broad gringo is [see (1)]

3. Beyond (2a), it's particularly insensitive to use the same insult for a settler population and the underclass it controls when the latter don't have systemic power to harm you
4. similar dynamics to that in (3) exist in Latin America, and this must be kept in mind

5. Black people from other parts of the Americas - even some Hispanohablantes! - sometimes get dismissed as gringos for varying reasons, including disagreement with narratives that overgeneralise Latin America as a region

6. overall, those making the memes operate from the (correct) POV that anti-Blackness is (a) global, (b) particularly acute in the Americas, and (c) part of the fabric of multicultural conversation and creativity on the Internet

what can the Black memers do?
- learn what Black people in Latin America think of all yall fun
- exactly what yall have been doing tbh

what can non-Black people from Latin America do?
- on advice of (3) and (6), don't call Black people 'gringo'
- comment accordingly if it happens
- reflect on the anti-Blackness in your own community and country
- direct funds to Black communities/mvmts around you