# Racial sterotypes in Europe (Re: Sergio Garcia) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368 "2013-05-26T02:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368/61 "2013-05-30T17:36:30Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Re: Slavery in Spain… Well… 150 years ago, Spain still had quite a few colonies left (at the least, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Philippines). Slavery was not abolished in Puerto Rico (a colony at that time of Spain) until 1873 (140 years ago). So yes, technically Spain (and/or its colonies) had slaves up to that point. Slavery was not abolished in the Spanish possession of Cuba until 1886, the next to last territory in the Americas to abolish it (the last being Brazil). I’m not sure when slavery was abolished in Spain’s African and other colonies. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368/62 "2013-05-30T19:44:55Z")
In theory it had been abolished before. It had been abolished in all three Crowns before Columbus even set sail, and in theory that applied to overseas domains as well, but it kept being allowed under the “look the other way” method, then once it had gone on long enough in one place it was legal under the “acquired rights” principle, then there would be these back and forths where if the metropolis (or a new viceroy) tried to bring the actual written laws to the table it would cause troubles with the locals… Something which technically was illegal would be declared illegal (again) and go on being done (again) until each local society got to the point of not wanting it any more. But anyway, like I said, most people in Spain aren’t conscious of that history at all. And like **Karl** said, while of course there is racism here, applying US standards is just absurd (hell, by the standards of my homeland, that jab about “enlightened Spaniards” is worthy of a “you don’t tell me that on the street” response, is that how I should have answered it? I don’t think it was, _given the context_). By the standards of some of the people in this thread, any white actor who ever played Othello was a racist worthy of the whole world’s scorn. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368/63 "2013-05-31T21:08:11Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > You are talking about the US. The rest of the world is not the US. Nor is the rest of the world talking, or thinking about the US. When people in other countries do stuff, they don’t follow US traditions, they are not considering American customs and they are not performing American blackface. > > How much explanation do you need? We do other stuff, stuff that is unrelated to stuff you do. Hard to parse, I am sure, but there are whole countries out there who do stuff without even thinking about Americans. > > When you say “peanut”, do you think of ethnic slurs to Indonesians? Should I still be offended either way? Should you actually take this into consideration when you say the word peanut? No? OK, that’s the same thing. What does any of that long diatribe have to do with **Loach** ’s point? Blackface is not just painting your face black. It’s a specific look. If you know what that look is, you learned it from America. And if you learned it from America, you almost certainly know it’s racist. If you can challenge that argument, do so. Don’t assume that, because he’s American, he must be jingoistic and unaware that foreign traditions are different from American ones. That’s about as offensive as what **Garcia** did. Even Nava admitted that what Spaniards do is not blackface. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368/64 "2013-05-31T22:28:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What does any of that long diatribe have to do with **Loach** ’s point? Blackface is not just painting your face black. It’s a specific look. If you know what that look is, you learned it from America. And if you learned it from America, you almost certainly know it’s racist. > > If you can challenge that argument, do so. Don’t assume that, because he’s American, he must be jingoistic and unaware that foreign traditions are different from American ones. That’s about as offensive as what **Garcia** did. > > Even Nava admitted that what Spaniards do is not blackface. No, the US has _ **a** _ tradition of blackface. Other countries have other traditions. Sometimes they have the same origin, sometimes they are some other form of painting-your-face-black that you could translate with the word “blackface”. For example, the Dutch tradition of Zwarte Piet is a form of blackface, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the US. The origins of blackface are variously described as 15th century Portugal, or Shakespeare’s Othello or minstrel shows all over Europe. Nava said: [QUOTE=Nava] Loach, actually I strongly doubt the blackfaces from Cadiz would match the specific look of American blackfaces. In Spain it’s usually just “paint your whole face black”, none of that “fat mouth” thing - the first time I saw that specific look was a photograph of Al Jolson, being an adult. I don’t know how long will this link last, being from a newspaper, but it’s a sample of Spanish blackface. [/QUOTE] She didn’t say it isn’t blackface. She said it is not the same as blackface found in the US. So, again: we in Europe have culture too. Our own stuff, that we did not get from America. Some of it is racist, some of it isn’t. It’s just different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-sterotypes-in-europe-re-sergio-garcia/659368.md?page=3)