Berkley Center

Buenos Aires, much like New York City and other global ports, has always been a melting pot for a diverse group of cultures. From 1869 to 1914, the population of Buenos Aires changed from 178,000 to 1,576,000, with two-thirds of the population made up of immigrants. The large waves of immigration from Italy, Spain, Germany, and other European countries into the ports of Buenos Aires created a seemingly diverse population and encouraged government programs addressed towards newly arrived immigrants. Through systems such as the Argentine public schools, most immigrants' children underwent a rapid nationalization process that transformed them, in one generation, from their European roots into un ser Argentino (an Argentine being). In Buenos Aires, the ethnic markers of Spaniard and Italian and other European nationalities were dissolved in the interest of integrating the whole population and making immigrants feel attached to their new homeland. It is even difficult to distinguish people's heritage while walking around the city today, as a result of the city's ostensibly diverse immigrant heritage. When I arrived in Buenos Aires I subconsciously correlated this history of immigration to what I thought was a generally tolerant and open culture in Buenos Aires.

I made the exact same correlation between Porteños' disdain for political correctness and a more tolerant, open society. It´s not uncommon to hear Porteños addressing their peers and elders with phrases such as che gordo, che viejo, che colorado, or che negro, which basically translate to hey fat man, hey old man, hey colored man, and hey black man. At first this was mind baffling to me coming from my overly political correct background and peers in the United States of America. Although I understand the concept of racially insensitive terms, I never have and still don't grasp people's utter fear of describing a person's skin color. It's pretty darn obvious to me that some people have lighter skin, others have darker skin, and all the different shades in between are just as useful in describing someone as somebody who has lighter or darker eyes. So I immediately embraced these very common salutations of che gordo, etc. because they were so straightforward, friendly (and consequently inoffensive), and most importantly radically different then what I was used to in the United States. I appreciated that the Porteños addressed these concepts, racially constructed and sensitive in the United States, so openly, and I somehow saw this as a sign of a slightly more tolerant society.

I knew racism would still exist in Argentina, but I figured to a lesser extent than to what I was accustomed to. When I would ask Argentine cab drivers and friends they would say that the only type of discrimination that existed was political discrimination (see: long history of repression in Argentina). Yet, very recently, most of my somewhat subconscious correlations between immigration, political incorrectness, and a tolerant (unrascist) society have been proven wrong. They were undoubtedly oversimplifications and overgeneralizations that helped me make sense of the radically different city I was living in, but at the same time, underestimated strong racism and insensitivity that I have witnessed and learned about in Buenos Aires. Despite what I thought was a seemingly open environment, Buenos Aires and much of Argentina has very insidious, inappropriate, and usually unchallenged forms of racism.

One of my earliest encounters with racism in Buenos Aires happened while on a short bus colectivo ride to another neighborhood in the city. On this day, like every other day, there happened to be a line while boarding the colectivo and some slightly disheveled, local man with dark brown-colored skin was inserting his change in to the machine in front of me. My friend had boarded the bus just before him and was waiting for me on the bus. Eventually it became clear that the man didn't have enough change to get a ticket and somewhat tricked me into paying for 20 cents of his ticket. I had no problem with this because it moved the line along and allowed me to go join my friend on the back of the bus. Yet as I was moving to the back of the bus, one of the Caucasian Argentines on the bus, who had seen the incident, said in perfect English to me, "Isn't it unbelievable? Niggers are the same all over the world…." 

My friend and I couldn't believe it. The Argentine man had just casually said one of the most racially charged slurs I knew to try to excuse what amounted to 20 cents of petty theft by his fellow countryman. Not only was 20 cents insignificant, but the more Caucasian Argentine man had implied a high level of disgust towards the misdeeds of his fellow countryman and had attributed the man's desperate attitude to an inferior skin color and race. Racism sure was similar all over the world, but Buenos Aires had its own special tint of racism that I gradually ended up discovering.

Despite its history of immigration, Buenos Aires has a strong xenophobic strain of racism. Many club soccer team cheers deride their opponents as Bolivians and at the same time refer to them as negros de mierda (black pieces of s*#$). Fans of teams such as Boca Juniors have even started to embrace these insults, turning a blind eye to the blatantly racist undertones of the cheers. Even in the work force, most immigrants are considered negros that steal work from other more qualified Argentines. Some older Porteños that I have met strongly distrust Chinese immigrants and constantly jeer at them as "foreigner, foreigner" even if they are Argentine residents. The residents of Buenos Aires implicitly accept and at most times encourage these forms of racism. The most startling thing to me about this racism is that there is no opposition to it—; these comments and modes of thinking are far more ingrained and acceptable in their culture.

The most surprising part of racism that I have seen or heard about in Buenos Aires is that it operates on a different plane than the racism I am used to hearing about in the United States. In the United States most of the argument is framed around the domination of one race over another, while in much of Buenos Aires racism is experienced through the invisibilization of other races. To Argentines, there are no Indios (Native Americans) in Argentina, and there never were. Yet to this day there are a significant number of Indios in the interior of the country. The same goes for people of African descent. Most Porteños completely ignore their presence, although there are over 1.6 million African Argentines. There have even been embarrassing stories at the border when customs agents have accused a black woman of falsification of documents because they couldn't believe that she could possibly be Argentine, —despite a perfect accent and all the right documents. Even the trains running out of Buenos Aires and into the urban surroundings of Buenos Aires emphasize this racism of invisibilization. One train that goes to the richest suburb is very well designed and clean, whereas the other two trains that serve the immigrants and lower classes are outdated and dirty. These train routes are neglected in the same way that much of the population unconsciously neglects other races in Buenos Aires.

It has been fascinating to gradually discover not only that the melting pot mentality of Buenos Aires, like other cities around the world, doesn't equal its reputation but also the types of racism and attitudes toward race that the people experience on a daily basis are distinct from those in the United States. The Buenos Aires ports that operated flawlessly for the European immigrants have not been as welcoming to other more recent types of immigrants and races. The straightforward and blunt Argentines that I love are sometimes the same people that voice equally unequivocal racist comments.

It is unbelievable to think that study abroad has come to an end. What an incredible five months in Buenos Aires in a fascinating city, geographically diverse country, and with such an entertaining group of friends and people. It sure is going to be difficult going back to U.S. prices, punctuality, and expectations….