Paúl Rosales

Writing and Rhetoric

Writing Assignment #2
October 10, 2020

What do people in Ecuador think about racism towards

black representative figures in terms of international and national events?

Problem description (Introduction):

How could people in Ecuador put aside the fact that, even if Afro-Ecuadorians are
successful outside or inside the country, they are still being attacked for their skin color? In
the year 2014 during the World Cup, a fanatic witnessed an unacceptable behavior towards
an Afro-Ecuadorian player as one of the spectators called him “negro de mierda”. This
event clearly demonstrates that even famous figures are being attacked if they make a
simple mistake, especially if they have a different skin color which only encourages people
to insult them based on their physical characteristics and that should not be acceptable.
Contemporary Ecuador maintains racism towards black people however, according to Scott
Beck, Kenneth Mijeski & Meagan Stark “there are numerous stereotypes about black
Ecuadorians that persist, such as violence and crime, as well as abilities in music and
sports” (2011, p. 3). Evidently, Ecuadorian people see and express racism in a different way
in contrast to other countries. They ignore the fact that people are white, Indian, mulattos,
or black as the majority of the population identifies themselves as “mestizos”. Nevertheless,
they still think of black and indigenous people as a thread or as people that only have
limited abilities.

Ecuador being quite unaware of racist practices:

As mentioned before, Ecuadorian people seem to be quite conscious of racism and

their racially based prejudice practices. On the other hand, according to the investigations
of Scott Beck, Kenneth Mijeski & Meagan Stark “In more than fifty interviews with a wide
variety of indigenous and black activists, we never heard comments on racism,
discrimination or prejudice” (2011, p. 6). This information provides us two different points
of view regarding racism, resulting on the possibility of Ecuador being quite unaware of
racist practices. The question, “You know what racism is?” has been asked multiple times
to the Ecuadorian society and the majority of times the answer has been: no. This pattern of
Paúl Rosales
Writing and Rhetoric
Writing Assignment #2
October 10, 2020

responses is an indirect indicator of race consciousness but a lack of awareness towards

racism as it is seen as a normal behavior but not as a problem.

Referring to black representative figures, there has been controversial conversations

regarding their participation in national and international events. Some people do not
support the idea of having Afro-Ecuadorians representing the nation beyond its national
borders as they will think of Ecuador as a “black country” which is implied for being a bad
thing and that is not true. For instance, we have the case of Miss Ecuador, a national event
that has been won by black women three times in a row since 1995. In the first two cases,
people rejected the judge´s decisions of having an Afro-Ecuadorian woman to represent the
beauty of the nation, especially on an international environment, with no “valid” arguments
to support their comments. The choices made during these two events led to the
achievement of Ecuador´s national identity and made people realize that blackness was far
from being invisible and that it became part of the country´s national identity, an essential
part of it.

On the other hand, racially based prejudice practices are still present when we talk
about Ecuador´s soccer team for example. According to Hugo Benavides, “This argument
of the appropriateness or not, and/or the authenticity of having Afro-Ecuadoran bodies
represent the nation is also prime on the list when it comes to the national soccer team”
(Benavides, 2017). People see this topic as unrelated to racism as there is no problem to
have black soccer players to perform in a national or international environment as long as
they achieve something special for the country. However, racial practices or comments take
place when the team loses or even taking in consideration that black people are good soccer
players and that is why they are being chosen to play for the country. As a result of this
effect, many people in Ecuador see racism and racial discrimination as a foreign
phenomenon and they give little importance to it, especially when talking about black
representative figures.

Solution/ Evaluating the solution:

Paúl Rosales
Writing and Rhetoric
Writing Assignment #2
October 10, 2020

Despite the lack of knowledge of racial discrimination nowadays towards black

representative figures and their participation in national and international events, the only
solution that is needed is the destruction of the Ecuadorian “institution” referred to the
variety of stereotypes that Ecuadorian people have towards black people. Moreover,
another solution has to be with the importance of education, regarding racism and how to
prevent it.

Institutions (especially in economy) are interpreted as rules of behavior/common

knowledge that helps us to coordinate our interactions and our daily activities. The
destruction of the particular institution that is related to the variety of stereotypes that
Ecuadorian people have towards black people is needed but it is not easy to perform.
Institutions are social conventions, which means that if someone wants to change a cultural
behavior that is accepted by the society, that person has to convince everyone to change
that behavior, which is nearly impossible (watching it from the point of view of an
individual). The common thought that every black male is good at soccer is a clear example
of an Ecuadorian institution, completely accepted by the Ecuadorian society despite of
being a racial stereotype, even though is not seen as one.

Summary:

In brief, although there is a “normalization” in racially based prejudiced practices in

Ecuador because of the lack of knowledge about racism, Ecuadorian people “respect” and
are conscious of all races as equal. Moreover, allowing black people a place in the national
and international sphere was an achievement and a necessary condition of Ecuador´s
inclusion in the “field of modern national and contemporary stage” (Benavides, 2017). As a
measure to solve this problem, it is necessary to destroy the Ecuadorian institution referred
to the variety of stereotypes that Ecuadorian people have towards black people and also, its
necessary to educate the people regarding racism and how to prevent it. However, the
solutions for this problem are presumed to be unsatisfactory because its nearly impossible
to destroy an institution and regarding the specialized education, it is all going to depend on
the government.
Paúl Rosales
Writing and Rhetoric
Writing Assignment #2
October 10, 2020

References
Beck, S., Mijeski, K., & Stark, M. (2011). JSTOR. Retrived from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41261372?seq=9#metadata_info_tab_contents
Benavides, H. (2017). ReVista. Retrived from
https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/blackness-and-beauty-ecuador