In an [essay by Venezuelan writer Francisco Toro](https://www.persuasion.community/p/making-race-skin-deep-5de), he compares and contrasts the politics of racial identity in both America and Venezuela from the American idea to the one drop rule to the spectrum of race in Venezuelan identity. Toro also talks about how Venezuelans are often baffled that on the phone, one could sound “black” and the terms “black and “white” themselves are too binary for most Venezuelans.
Additionally, the history of race in Venezuelan and the United States are incredibly different. Racial apartheid broke down in much of Latin America literally hundreds of years earlier than it did in the United States, as did the taboos against interracial marriage. As a result, Venezuelans in general were presumed to be a little bit white, a little bit black and a little bit indigenous.
It’s not so much that Venezuelans have better racial attitudes than Americans. The issue is more that race, as Americans understand it, isn’t really about race at all. It’s about ethnic conflict.
Is there a lesson here that Americans might consider learning from? Toro thinks there is, but it isn’t one anyone wants to hear. The real, long-term solution to America’s racialized ethnic divide is a slow, generation-by-generation erasure of that divide, possible only through enthusiastic intermarriage until an American concept of “mestizo” is normalized.
!ping LATAM
Darkdragon3110525 on
Decent idealist article but the “solution” doesn’t really work in a country where the one drop rule exists. The author recognized it but does he really understand how pervasive it is in this country?
J. Cole would be a perfect example of black and white person but if you said he was a white guy people would look at you crazy.
Ig I just don’t see it in a country where apartheid ended in 1964. We still have living memories of the divide 🤷🏾♂️
Ok-Swan1152 on
As someone of Asian origin who is visibly brown, the conception of race in America confuses me also. Back in the days of Livejournal, all the gatekeepers of racial identity discussions were either white people or people who admitted they were half white half Latino but then called themselves ‘people of colour’. They would pass as white Spanish people here in Europe but they considered themselves an authority on systemic racism. I don’t understand when probably they are not affected by any racism 99% of the time due to looking white.
I just wanted to add as well that leftists in America seem to constantly call us ‘white-adjacent’ which is fucking offensive for so many reasons, not least of which that they never call Latinos ‘white-adjacent’ even though many of them literally have white skin unlike brown-skinned South Asians
3 Comments
In an [essay by Venezuelan writer Francisco Toro](https://www.persuasion.community/p/making-race-skin-deep-5de), he compares and contrasts the politics of racial identity in both America and Venezuela from the American idea to the one drop rule to the spectrum of race in Venezuelan identity. Toro also talks about how Venezuelans are often baffled that on the phone, one could sound “black” and the terms “black and “white” themselves are too binary for most Venezuelans.
Additionally, the history of race in Venezuelan and the United States are incredibly different. Racial apartheid broke down in much of Latin America literally hundreds of years earlier than it did in the United States, as did the taboos against interracial marriage. As a result, Venezuelans in general were presumed to be a little bit white, a little bit black and a little bit indigenous.
It’s not so much that Venezuelans have better racial attitudes than Americans. The issue is more that race, as Americans understand it, isn’t really about race at all. It’s about ethnic conflict.
Is there a lesson here that Americans might consider learning from? Toro thinks there is, but it isn’t one anyone wants to hear. The real, long-term solution to America’s racialized ethnic divide is a slow, generation-by-generation erasure of that divide, possible only through enthusiastic intermarriage until an American concept of “mestizo” is normalized.
!ping LATAM
Decent idealist article but the “solution” doesn’t really work in a country where the one drop rule exists. The author recognized it but does he really understand how pervasive it is in this country?
J. Cole would be a perfect example of black and white person but if you said he was a white guy people would look at you crazy.
Ig I just don’t see it in a country where apartheid ended in 1964. We still have living memories of the divide 🤷🏾♂️
As someone of Asian origin who is visibly brown, the conception of race in America confuses me also. Back in the days of Livejournal, all the gatekeepers of racial identity discussions were either white people or people who admitted they were half white half Latino but then called themselves ‘people of colour’. They would pass as white Spanish people here in Europe but they considered themselves an authority on systemic racism. I don’t understand when probably they are not affected by any racism 99% of the time due to looking white.
I just wanted to add as well that leftists in America seem to constantly call us ‘white-adjacent’ which is fucking offensive for so many reasons, not least of which that they never call Latinos ‘white-adjacent’ even though many of them literally have white skin unlike brown-skinned South Asians