October 3, 2010

Afro-Uruguayans

1) 4% of the population in Uruguay is Afro-Uruguayan. This is compared to the caucasian population being 88% and mestizo (mixed) being 8%.

2) On a typical day, I see one other black person and he goes to my school. He's really tall; he can't be missed. It's mostly the fact that I go to a private school and happen to live in a decent neighborhood. Depending which way I walk to and from school I might see the black lady who tends to the cars on the street around the corner. I have never spoken or had a reason to speak to either of them.

3) I want to steal the black lady's dreads.

4) Afro-uruguayans are known for two things: being brought into the MVD port and mostly shipped elsewhere in Latin America and candombe.

5) Their contribution to society has been greatly overlooked with Soccer players as the majority of the most notable of the Afro-Uruguayans.

6) I have no idea where they get their hair done. It's probably why 80% of girls I see are wearing braids or have their hair cut really short.

7) The stereotype of being black in Uruguay isn't a particularly positive one. While most people have been treating me with respect I have had instances where kids will openly point me out to their mothers (cute), mothers will yank their kids away from me (really?), and my favorite is when I was standing in line at McDonalds and a guy grabbed his wife and pulled her to his other side, wrapped his arm around her, and kept looking at me the entire time I was waiting for my order like I was going to do something (rude). These occurrences, thankfully, are few and far in-between.

8) I feel like there is no black subculture here at all. I'm not all tied up in the this particular subculture in the states, but I miss it something awful sometimes.

9) This one is just opinion, but I feel like I have a much lower chance of getting robbed. This upsets me a little because number two on my list of things to accomplish here was to not get robbed and it seems like no one is even going to try.


Afro-Uruguayan Alvaro Pereira who started for Uruguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup

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