My Semester Abroad

I want to start by saying how much I love Argentina and the Argentine people. This is the kindest country I have ever visited. When my Mom and I went to Thailand we raved about how kind the people there were, but the Thais will be nice to you and smile the biggest smile you have ever seen no matter if they love or hate you. With the Argentines you know if you are inconveniencing someone, if your presence is not exactly welcome, but they will go out of their way to help you regardless. I would move here in a heartbeat.

That said, people here are the most racist I have ever encountered. Argentina, comprised of mostly European immigrants, has a huge superiority complex. Most people down here consider Argentina to be more of a European country than a South American one. The racism here comes in the form of graffiti on buildings, casual conversations on the street, and even in formal or friendly situations. When my Mom was down here visiting, we went out to dinner with a friend from Argentina the topic turned to my boyfriend. I mentioned that he was Chinese; our friend then turned to my Mom and said, "It could be worse." We were astonished and had nothing to say in response.

A friend from my program arrived early for Spanish class one day and shared with us a racist joke she had seen on the news ticker on the subway on her ride to school. And today I witnessed a conversation between two intellectuals, one a principal of a school, and the other a teacher, in which the principal referred to the entire population of another Latin American country as "little animals." It pains me to keep quiet in circumstances like this, but I know that there is little I can do, as an outsider, in the face of generations of school-taught racism.