Comments on: Hugo Chavez Would Like To Speak With “El Negro,” Barack Obama

By: Guest

Guest — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:49:41 +0000

El loco, El Presidente Chavez is also anti-white, anti-Jewish, anti-Anglo-Saxon,anti-Yankee!!!! The Jews of Venezuela should immediately emigrate to Israel!!!

By: jarreion nat turner

jarreion nat turner — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:58:02 +0000

im a black guy from the states,and i feel hugo chavez is a hero.whites love to cause friction.they dont want blacks link up wit anbody

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:04:12 +0000

Chavez is a bigot, case and point. Is anyone really surprised that he would say something like that? Or does anyone really care what comes out of that mouth of his?

By: jrod

jrod — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:17:48 +0000

Probably the non-black ones, Marcos. Read a book man. I’m not here to here to give demographic lessons.

By: Gubatron

Gubatron — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:34:25 +0000

I hate Chavez, don’t get me wrong, that’s why I left the country. But the expression “El negro” is absolutely in now way a racist term in Venezuela.

I’m not black, but all my friends call me, literally, “El Negro”.

In Venezuela, and Brazil, you’ll always have a nickname no matter where you go, its actually weird if they call you by your real name.

To put an example, I’ll list a few of the everyday nicknames my closest friends have:

El Chino - The Chinese (and he’s not chinese)
El Lolo
El Titi
El Melo
El Biri
El Paco
El Gorila
…
and so on. It’s never despective, it’s always just a fun way to recall people.

By: Marcos

Marcos — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:27:35 +0000

well which white hatians was he going to kill jrod?

By: jrod

jrod — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:16:27 +0000

Yeah Marcos…..tell that to the thousands of BLACK Haitians that were massacred under Trujillo in DR.

By: marcos

marcos — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:05:36 +0000

ugh! and talk of the African diaspora and “afro-latinos” give me a break brad, go to Cuba and walk up to any brown person and ask them if they consider themselves “afro-Cuban” is my brother that came out 5 shades darker than me “afro-Cuban”? and i’m just “milk chocolate cuban?” go to DR and ask that same question, or Panama or Brazil… it definitely sounds like “african-American!” just being applied to people that don’t have a voice to represent themselves…

again, is there racism in LA? most definitely. does it function/manifest itself in LA societies the in same way as it does in the US? most definitely not!

By: jrod

jrod — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:51:47 +0000

We get it dude, you’re from Cuba.

By: marcos

marcos — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:46:08 +0000

the whole point of my post is that US racial constructs are being applied to LA culture, is Chavez being unwise with his word choice when referring to an American? of course, but he is being depicted as pretty much saying the equivalent of “the nigger” and that’s just not the case, he’s using a Venezuelan word with a Venezuelan meaning and he’s being depicted with an American word with a very charged American meaning that is VERY different from the context he used it in, again he puts his foot in his mouth when he should know better, it’s the guy’s schtick, but it’s still unfair because it doesn’t do justice to Latin American racial realities, what set me off was brad’s post because I can see how an American would see this and think OH WOW YOU TACO EATERS SURE ARE RACIST!

and also LaLa’s post, seriously? 1st generation Cuban exiles make the rest of us look bad, don’t put all of us in the same bag please…

By: vero

vero — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:34:57 +0000

right on, piruli & jrod. it may be a ‘term of endearment,’ but it is one that is rooted in racism. whether it is more acceptable in venezuela or latinoamérica (a sad reality) is really irrelevant.

By: jrod

jrod — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:04:45 +0000

Get a clue Marcos. He’s not talking talking to one of his compadres. He’s the leader of a country, talking to the possible leader of another. What you call “terms of endearment” should have no place in political dialogue. I’m sure the leaders of the world could also find some cute little nicknames for Chavez based on his physical traits.

By: piruli

piruli — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:37:25 +0000

Marcos, at some point, people (Latinos and otherwise) have to hold one another accountable for racist remarks and attitudes. Hugo Chavez is the leader of a country. For him to reduce Barack Obama to his skin color is embarrassing and, yes, it is racist. It reduces him to the shade of his skin and makes him less of a full, complete person. He has a name: Barack. Obama. To call him “That Black” is the equivalent of calling him “boy.” It’s disgusting and it has its roots in names owners would use to refer to their slaves. For a world leader to use this is insane.

I understand - also being Cuban - that the word “negro” has different connotations. That does not excuse its use. It just doesn’t. Let’s, please, stop being complacent and defending racist - no matter how subtle or culturally-ingrained its use may be.

By: marcos

marcos — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:16:23 +0000

whoa, i’m surprised at this bullshit… and at this blog

the word negro in the latin american context has a much different meaning than it does in the US, this article as much as i like this blog is such a pile of out of touch shit i’m honestly surprised to see it here, in the sense that it misrepresents latin american culture and how race is manifested in a place like Venezuela which would lead someone like Chavez or anybody else in the street to refer to someone who is black as “negro”

i was born and raised in Cuba and in my country “negro” is more a term of endearment or a nickname than it is a racial epithet, not that there isn’t racism in Cuba or in the rest of Latin America, the point brad and the writer of the article misses is that how the word “negro” functions in LA is different than how the word “the black” or “black” in the US

great job

By: charlie nicole smith

charlie nicole smith — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:57:49 +0000

Brad…never a truer statement uttered:
“Of course, a trip down to Miami to visit many white Cubans would probably be a cheaper way to verify this than spending the money to visit Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela or Chile.”