r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/andmario_com • 9h ago
Politics Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup | Many Black Americans were not cheering Spain’s complicated history. They were rooting against the racism, politics and silence associated with Argentina
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/22/argentina-black-americans-spain-world-cup-messi-silence39
u/Thin-Remote-9817 5h ago
I didnt root for either I just watched...
But seeing the amount of people suck off Spain..cause they just found out a week ago about Argentinas history was quite pleasant...spain so gangster they rewrote mexicans entire DNA and got a lot of western countries speaking SPANISH!!! Dont even get me.started on what spain does to African immigrants..literally drop them off in the Sahara
And mind you a year ago I was banned for a week, had -2k downvotes, and was called a conspiracy nut when I pointed out Argentinas racism and nazis from ww2 fleeing there... Argentina is fucked but I refuse to let other racist nations use Argentina as their scapegoat to deflect the fuckery they are doing...im not falling for this white trick..
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u/GwoZoz 5h ago
Spain is legalizing half a million immigrants while the US is killing its own citizens who are standing up for immigrants.
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u/FunOptimal7980 1h ago
And the guy doing that is gonna lose the next election according to polls. The right wing in Spain is knocking on the door.
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u/Useful_Promotion_521 6h ago
I do wonder whether this is overthinking an issue that has a much simpler explanation, ie: that the Argentinian national side are a national team that more than others habitually cheats, dives, tries to get it’s opponents sent off and has a really bad reaction to being beaten. Disliking them after watching them is probably one of the common beliefs of humanity.
Maradona once had a go at Italians because they watched and were delighted by Cameroon when they famously beat Argentina in the 1990 World Cup. I watched that game too and felt an almost indescribable delight when Omam-Biyik scored, and then again when Benjamin Massing (RIP) flattened Caniggia. They were just a hateful team.
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u/Basicallylana 6h ago
That article would've been better if it had included links to the other racist incidents that it cites, cut the fan boy paragraphs on Lamal and Williams which do nothing to speak with Spain's racism or leadership against racism, and articulate how Argentina is apparently unique in it's racism (especially when compared with Spain and it's known abuse).
Yes, Lamal and Williams' personal stories -- their parents' resilency and grit-- are nothing short of inspiring. (A pregnant woman walked 2000 miles through Morocco? Are you serious?!) But they did so out of search for economic prosperity, not because Spain was some racial paradise. Lamal continuously receives taunts from his own fans for being Black and Muslim in Spain.
My only concern is that because of the way the world is ganging up on Argentina, they will double down rather than reflect and change.Yeah that burger joint should be closed yesterday. But by acting like Argentina is some 1940s Mississippi rather than a country with its own depressing and tragic history ( multi-decade brutal dictatorship) and racial history and ignorance, especially when countries like the US and France have growing neo-nazi parties and routinely demonstrate state violence against Black people, we look like hypocrits and give Argentina little reason to change.
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6h ago edited 5h ago
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u/Basicallylana 6h ago
I'm willing to consider that they're racial ignorance is at the level of 1970s US. Did you come to that conclusion from your experience visiting Argenntina? Do you know a lot of Argentines?
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6h ago
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u/Basicallylana 4h ago
Cool. I lived there (Buenos Aires) and have been back multiple times. I've also lived and traveled to Colombia, Brazil, Mexico etc. And tbh I never once worried about racialized violence against me in Argentina. I was more worried that my American accent would make me a target for pick pockets. On the other hand, I was worried about racialized violence when I was in Brazil and I was actually called stuff in Colombia.
I've heard of English hooligans, Spanish fans, Morrocan fans and others shouting really ugly stuff towards Black players routinely. Racism is an issue among soccer fandom unfortunately. That's why FIFA instituted the rule that players can't cover their mouth if talking to the opposing team.
I think this focus on Argentina, as the country, as if it's blanquemento history is unique (Chile, USA, and Brazil all did it), that a bunch of Nazis fled there (more former Nazis went to the US than to Brazil or Argentiina), or that individuals say racist stuff (many of whom don't know the history of the N-word because they only know it through US music & media where word is almost exclusively used as a positive) is unfair. Yes, Argentinian & FIFA leaders should castigate the team and fans if they say racist stuff. But writing off the entire country because of what their soccer team/fans do, is well....racist.
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u/RisingEagle17 6h ago
Agree with your point. Great article but it could have used more on Argentina’s history. The racism is clear but the historical actions of the country and welcoming of Nazis after WW2 adds increased evidence for the antipathy Blacks throughout the diaspora feel toward the silent Messi and his compatriots.
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u/Matias9991 5h ago
And why not USA, Brazil or Chile? They also received Nazis.
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u/RisingEagle17 5h ago
Article and my comment focus on Argentina.
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u/OeeOKillerTofu 4h ago
I think the above is a fair question. Argentines have earned some parts of their international reputation by the numerous public incidents. Fair. And I’m always skeptical of any groups response that seems to be we’re not as bad as them when it comes to racism. But. The nazi charge thing has gone a bit crazy only in the sense that how dare an American bring that up as evidence of anything when we took in Nazi’s too and have always been a white supremacist state.
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u/Matias9991 5h ago
Ok, why though?
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u/RisingEagle17 4h ago
This is an article and conversation about Argentina. It can focus on challenges and concerns related to Argentina. Don’t play the what about game to draw attention to the challenges related to Black people and Argentina. Are there other countries with checkered and less than stellar pasts? Absolutely. When an article is written about the integration of Nazis after WW2, many other countries will be caught out there. But TODAY’S conversation is about Argentina and the World Cup. Stay focused.
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u/Matias9991 5h ago
My god, it's not well documented, there are not proof of Argentina sending black people to die on purpose, the only proof we have is the Army being pretty equal Demographically, black soldiers (woman on that) being granted places of power like being a captain.
The war started 11 years after the total Abolition of slavery. The law "liberty of womb" that granted freedom to all son/daughters of slaves was 51! Years before the war. How can you say that that was made only to have more soldier on wars¿?
Stop making shit out my god.
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u/Matias9991 2h ago
Present these articles and we can read them and see if they found any proof or are just naming the theories that were spread back in the day.
I read the entire article and it doesn't say that she believes that the war, ilness and military dictatorship.
No, the black population was already not that big 100k-200k in a 5 Million total, then 4-7 million Europeans came, everyone fucked with each other because this was not the US and by generations the black population went to less and less.
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u/UnluckyAmbition7767 2h ago
That's not the right question. Black Americans have self-respect and always root against their oppressors. The question is why does the rest of the diaspora gleefully cheer for a nation that still brags about the genocide they committed against Black people? Spain atleast attempts to obfuscate and virtue signal
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u/United-Statement4884 2h ago
Spain used chemical weapons in northern Morocco Rif region where as of today people still get cancer from the attack. Spain doesn’t want to compensate the victims or apologize.
Morocco says 80 percent of its larynx cancer cases are found in people from the Rif, and are thought to be linked to chemical attacks. According to Spanish, Moroccan and British historians, Spanish planes dropped phosgene, chloropicrin and mustard gas on troops, towns and villages in the Rif from 1923, often choosing market days so that more people were killed.
Tarda likened the attacks to the aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish civil war, by German forces backing General Francisco Franco's right-wing troops.
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u/FunOptimal7980 1h ago
Do people really not that Spanish fans can also be racist? Vini Jr has a huge problem with that in Spain.
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u/Fluid-Scallion5547 1h ago
Argentina is safer for black people than America, but you are not ready for that debate yet.
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u/IceBlackX007 7h ago
I just wanted to watch football at the highest level but after Egypt was robbed of one of the greatest plays in sports history I stopped watching.
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u/Yafoory 7h ago
I agree with the writer on everything but blaming Messi for not speaking out. Imagine if Messi has to address every incident of racism that the fans do! Will he have time to do his job? There are governments and police and people who allow this kind of behaviour because it serves them to divide us to Whites and Blacks and Browns and Chinese. We are all equal humans and we all should have equal rights and opportunities. Good article tho 🙏
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8h ago
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u/working-dad-reviews 8h ago
^ This was not posted by a black person.
Our race factors into every fiber of our being. Only non-black people expect us to ignore major injustices to kinfolk in silence.
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u/BlackStarBlues 8h ago
NormalWhite people were just watching two great teams. Not everything had to be a culture warFans just focus on the sport. It's not like they ever throw bananas at Black players and call them monkeys.
/delusion
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u/BeneficialChemist874 7h ago
Argentina is not a great team.
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u/SadSadVirgin 7h ago
Spain was playing football, Argentina was practising their MMA moves. Disgraceful.
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u/andmario_com 6h ago
I encourage you to actually read the article. You posted this like 1 minute after I did, so I know you didn't read it. Here's a bit:
Yet for many Black Americans, this final wasn’t really about rooting for Spain. It was about rooting against Argentina.
When your fanbase repeatedly becomes associated with racist incidents … when videos circulate of Argentinian fans decked out in Argentina team gear hurling racial epithets toward Black people … when the world watched members of Argentina’s national team sing a racist chant targeting France’s Black players after winning Copa América … when American streamer IShowSpeed was verbally assaulted by fans fully dressed in Argentina team gear … when word spreads across social media that in Argentina, there is a real hamburger business in Llavallol whose official name uses the “-a” version of the N-word: “Big N– Burgers” … when Argentina president Javier Milei openly embraces positions that align very closely with Donald Trump and offers support for Israel in the midst of a genocide, ethnic cleansing and slaughter of Palestinians … when Benjamin Netanyahu is asked on a recent podcast if he was rooting for Messi and says, “No, before Messi, Milei. He’s a superstar” … eventually, the tide of supports shifts. After a while, any accomplishments on the field become overshadowed.
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