How Argentina got rid of its black people to become one of the whitest country in the world.
#AThreadWithAbdul
#AThreadWithAbdul
History has been white-washed so severely that often, the extent of racism across the world is masked. The country that has been most ‘successful’ in white-washing its population, history and culture is Argentina.
Argentina is considered the whitest country in South America,
Argentina is considered the whitest country in South America,
which is odd considering that, like Brazil, they were colonized and subjected to Spanish colonists shipping in African slaves from the West Coast of the African continent. Currently, Argentina’s population of European ethnicity constituted 97% of the population
– a disturbing figure taking into account that by the late 1700s nearly 50 percent of the population in the interior of the country was black, and between 30 and 40 percent of the population of Buenos Aires was black or mulatto.
When asked about Afro-Argentines, most
When asked about Afro-Argentines, most
Argentineans believe that Argentina never took part in the slave trade or that the Afro-Argentines left Argentina “naturally”. Both theories are wrong.
Former Argentine President Carlos Menem once declared: ‘In Argentina blacks do not exist, that is a Brazilian problem.’
Former Argentine President Carlos Menem once declared: ‘In Argentina blacks do not exist, that is a Brazilian problem.’
But what actually happened to Black Argentineans?
It is widely reported that president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, undertook a ‘covert genocide’ that wiped out the Afro-Argentinean population to the point that by 1875, there were so little Black
It is widely reported that president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, undertook a ‘covert genocide’ that wiped out the Afro-Argentinean population to the point that by 1875, there were so little Black
people left in Argentina that the government didn’t even bother registering African-descendants in the national census.
During his term, Sarmiento instituted highly oppressive & deadly policies to eradicate Black people. He segregated Black communities from European descendants,
During his term, Sarmiento instituted highly oppressive & deadly policies to eradicate Black people. He segregated Black communities from European descendants,
placing them in squalor with no descent infrastructure and healthcare. This became a death sentence when cholera and yellow-fever outbreaks ravaged this community with no adequate measures to prevent or treat the illnesses. Sarmiento’s genocide also constituted the forced
recruitment of Afro-Argentines into the military, mass imprisonment for minor or fabricated crimes, and mass executions. Sarmiento also enlisted Afro-Argentinean men in the army to fight the Paraguayan War of 1864. Allegedly, Sarmiento knew that Argentina wouldn’t fare well in
the war, sending thousands of Afro-Argentine men to their deaths. The war impacted the gender balance so severely that Afro-Argentine women were “forced” to have children with white or mixed Argentinean men.
The endeavor was pushed by Argentinean leaders and intellectuals, who wanted to erase the Afro-Argentine presence from all parts of Argentinean life, including culture.
The Tango is Argentina’s most prized cultural export but according to early art relating to the dance, it has
The Tango is Argentina’s most prized cultural export but according to early art relating to the dance, it has
African origins through the influence of Black Argentineans.
On a broader scale, the ‘elimination’ of blacks from the country’s history and consciousness reflected the long-cherished desire of successive Argentine governments to imagine the country as an ‘all-white’ extension of Western Europe in Latin America.
And so, the amnesia that Argentineans enjoy has led to comments like “Argentina has no black people, so we can’t be racist”
End.
End.
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