The recent controversy pertaining to Samuel Jackson’s calling Argentina a racist nation in an Instagram post where he said “ please do not cheer or root for Argentina to win the FIFA World Cup. Argentina has historically been one of if not the most racist countries in the world.” This brought about protestations from former politician Rebeca Fleitas.
Argentina has a legacy and history of racism including the presence of NAZI’s as did several other nations. Fleitas, who criticized actor Samuel Jackson and inexplicably called for a boycott of his films is historically correct when she says Argentina abolished slavery in 1853, before the American Civil War. It is also true that Argentina did not have segregated washrooms and buses. Argentina also passed the 1813 Free Womb Law which freed children albeit with conditions born to slave mothers. Many, however, remained in slavery until adulthood. Nonetheless, those actions, in of themselves do not remove the stain of slavery. Buenos Aires became a major hub for the transatlantic Black slave trade. Its blanqueamiento policies from the 19th century led by people such as intellectual Juan Alberdi Bautista and Argentina President Domingo Sarmiento, who championed a deliberate state policy from the mid 19th to 20th century, was designed to reconstruct the nation as a homogeneous white European society. It aggressively promoted European immigration and reduced the visibility of the indigenous and Afro-Argentines population. Historians have pointed out that Afro-Argentines served in disproportionately high numbers during both the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1818) and later the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870), which led to heavy casualties.
Whether the legendary Lionel Messi should have been more vocal in the vein of Muhammad Ali is an issue that may be debated for years to come.
What is accurate is that the use of racialized language towards Black athletes should be condemned. When the Argentina national team was filmed singing racist and transphobic chants targeting Black French players in 2024, which received international condemnation, Argentina Vice President Victoria Villarruel publicly defended the players even as President Javier Milei, while not supporting the incident, distanced himself by saying sports organizations should handle this independently. What is not up for debate is Argentina’s legacy of racism which has been well documented by historians.
The devastating 1871 yellow fever epidemic, ravaged the poorest neighborhoods which were predominantly Afro Argentine. While there were other reasons, such as poverty, which led to the devastation, race played a role. By 1895, the government stopped recording citizens by race entirely and replaced it with terms such as trigueno or wheat colored leading to the myth that Afro Argentines had naturally died out is a history that Fleitas never mentions.
Nations have dark histories that need to be confronted. Determining the reason for Fleitas denying history is one of speculation.
Unfortunately, you cannot learn from what you don’t acknowledge. Nations such as the United States, depending upon the administration, have made attempts to hide the history instead of learning from it. Instead of relying on the perennial “this is not who we are” she would do well to confront what history has recorded instead of denying what historians have documented.
