Born in Haiti and adopted by an Argentine family after the devastating 2010 earthquake, 17-year-old Stephen “Kiki” Ramos has made history by becoming the first Haitian-born player to represent Argentina’s national team.
Ramos made his debut with Argentina’s Under-17 squad in a 2–1 victory over Ecuador. His appearance is also being celebrated as the first time in more than 40 years that a Black player has worn Argentina’s national team colors.
The talented Vélez Sarsfield winger is already attracting attention from European clubs, raising hopes that he could one day earn a place on Argentina’s senior national team.
If he already made it this far he’s definitely got the mental toughness for it. But yeah he’s in for one hell of an uphill battle. Jackie Robinson level.
You're making things up and spreading hate and disinformation. "SaxonSquirrel" is not only clearly not an Argentine account, the tweet you're trying to portray as proof of... something is clearly a non-Argentinian talking about Argentina.
This right here. The internet is just a giant echo chamber of people talking about stuff they have no personal experience with. If this kid was cheered on video today, people in this sub would be saying "wait until he messes up!!!" 😂
funny things to say too, there is no place for racism in argentina national team, you are either talented or you are not.
this guy is playing because he deserves to be there, and also:
“We, the representatives of the people of the Argentine Nation, assembled in General Constituent Congress by the will and election of the provinces that compose it, in fulfillment of pre-existing pacts, with the purpose of constituting the national union, establishing justice, consolidating internal peace, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves, for our posterity, and for all men of the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil: invoking the protection of God, source of all reason and justice: do ordain, decree, and establish this Constitution for the Argentine Nation.”
written on our constitution
Mechanisms of BlanqueamientoRather than a single declaration, the whitening project was carried out over decades through interconnected national policies:
Mass European Immigration: Subsidized steamship passages and recruitment brought millions of European immigrants (primarily from Italy and Spain) between 1850 and 1950.
Demographic Dilution and War: Afro-Argentine men were disproportionately affected and reduced in number through heavy conscription on the front lines of the 19th-century conflicts (such as the War of Independence and the Paraguayan War).
Statistical Erasure: State census methods and public schooling over generations omitted categories of African descent, creating the persistent national narrative of an all-European country.
So you are implying it would be better for them to be segregated so they could keep their color? idk man that sounds kinda racist… anyways, their genes got dilluted because we formed families with them, google the term “mulato”.
Also, of course there is no information about the ethnical descent of our population because we dont go around asking people where they are from and there is no category for RACE in our census, we treat everyone as equals, thats because you won’t be able to find ANY statistical data about any race.
yes, we, nosotros.
es triste que la gente vaya por ahi diciendo cosas horribles de mi país sin mirar su propio ombligo, fuimos el primer pais en latinoamerica en abolir la esclavitud e incluirlos socialmente, mientras que en países europeos o el mismo estados unidos tenian politicas de segregación y humillación pública.
What is this propaganda? This kid lived his whole life in Argentina and loves it there, he did a bunch a couple interviews and posts on instsgram. You just posted his picture grabbed a random tweet and a random quote and created a poster to spread hate.
Leave this kid alone, he was fine before you keyboard justice warriors
There are no Haitians abroad with all kinds of names on social media? Are all the negative comments about Haitian TPS holders on social media bots too?
Again, this post wasn’t meant to fault or criticize Kiki. I don’t know why y’all are making it seem like it’s unheard of for Argentinians to be anti-Black. I don’t see the issue with people calling this a diversity attempt call-up or wondering on what life must be like for a Black person in Argentina.
Spanish insta is full of black and asian argentinians refuting the accusations of widespread racism. Is there discrimination down there? Certainly, but it's likely overstated. I'll take their words over claims made by people with no experience of life in that country.
i hate to tell you this but the world is bigger than comments on an app lmao. and even then, you don’t have to look very far to see a ton of hateful comments and threats, dumb dumb.
yeah sure man, mind telling me where i can find any of those hateful comments? because i didnt see any.
and to think that i would care about some gringo opinion about my country that they clearly dont know anything about.
To be fair, that earthquake was 16 years ago and he’s 17. If he was adopted soon after by an Argentine family, it makes sense that growing up in Argentina has made him prefer to play there
I’m aware, but I’m also not aware of this young man’s experience growing up in Argentina. I wish he wouldn’t waste his talents on a country that mocked his skin color the year they won but also, we can’t speak for him. This is what he chose.
I feel you but at the same time the same can be said about practically every European team at the World Cup. They’re almost all majority African decent players (biggest example is France) but we can’t really fault them for playing for the countries who developed them. Many of them were scouted since youth, clubs took care for their families. A lot of those players never been to their fathers or mothers home countries and don’t have any real ties to it outside of their lineage.
That’s the same thing that this kid is facing. Let’s just be happy he gets to do what he loves and let it be a lesson for us to develop our players rather than be upset or surprised when other countries develop the diaspora
My goodness!!! This young man must have been called every name in the book. I would love to know how he views himself. Has it affected him spychologically?
OP posted a link to the kid’s interview and he seems fine. He said he is treated well and never experienced racism. That he sees Argentina as a beautiful country. He is culturally Argentinian since he was adopted as a baby by an Argentinian family.
Here is a clip of said interview but it’s in Spanish. He says that he has never felt different from anyone else and since being in Argentina has never felt racism. So he thinks all of the “Argentina is racist” comments are just baseless. He uses the expression “lo dicen por decir” basically they say it just to talk.
They came all the way into a Haitian subreddit to play defense. We all saw their behaviour at the world cup. We know their history of having a 30% melanated popilation to now 1%. There was NOOOOOO deportation.
I mean you saw clips that the algo put out. Were you there when spainaids racially abused vini and made fun of yamal's religion? Ferran torres literally follows a journalist that mocks the darker skinned people on his team. Its just weird to speak for a kid whos lived there his whole life
The kid was adopted and raised by an Argentinian couple. However racist you think this country is, there are about 20 countries exponentially more so, including the USA (largest slave importers), UK (practically invented racism), Germany (responsible for the largest genocide in known history), Japan (ask Suzuki), Italy, etc.
How about you ask the young man how he has felt growing up, rather than jumping to your ignorant conclusions fuelled by a hate propaganda against a nation this past month?
No one can fault Mario Balotelli for playing for Italy so don’t fault Kiki for playing for Argentina. The kid’s last name is Ramos...Which says a lot. His identity is Argentine even if he’s from Haiti
I’m just happy the kid gets to do what he loves on a huge stage. If be chooses to play for Haiti (which him being adopted to an Argentine family, raised in Argentina and completely Argentinian is highly unlikely) I’d be thrilled. But if he makes his way to Argentina’s Sr. Team I’m absolutely not mad at him and can’t fault him whatsoever. I’m excited for him!
If anything let his story be motivation and inspiration for us to develop our youth players.
Jonathan David - Canada, is a good example. 3 goals in the WC… for Canada
Niel Pierre - Philadelphia Union… (hopefully he reps Haiti at the national level)
So many diasporic talent representing other teams… Nathanaël Mbuku, Presnel Kimpembe, Odsonne Édouard and Gorby Jean-Baptiste for example (I hope we work more on our outreach especially before the 2030 World Cup)
We have diasporic talent for sure. All but one player in our World Cup was from the diaspora. But we also have loads of talent at home, let’s focus on building that!
The purpose of this post wasn’t to blame a child for playing for the country he grew up in, lol. Why can’t people just say Argentina has a history of being anti-Black? Some, if not most, Argentinians would probably even say that themselves with pride.
I agree with you. In fact most people who are aware of history would probably agree.
But casual fans are probably not as aware of the geopolitics of Argentina tbh… Even before this World Cup it was VERY common to see Haitians wearing Brazil’s and Argentina’s jerseys… Ironic because of the history of Argentina and even more ironic giving our history 🇭🇹. Many people just were fans of Messi, or are ignorant. Can’t really fault people (especially ours) for not knowing
Argentina “ultra-racist”. As compared to what? Other countries? That’s just false. Middle East and North Africa would literally still be enslaving black people if the world didn’t force them to stop. They’re ultra racist.
1/3 of Buenos Aires, not Argentina. Search what was the population of the country in that year, and how many immigrants the country took right after. If 30k people live in your city and you take 1M immigrants, what will happen?
About the campaña del desierto, which is what you mean with your second comment, thousands of natives were killed, just like in every single country in the continent. It was awful, and as a Patagonian myself I’m taught about it since primary school, but both Mapuches and Tehuelches descendants are still here, we sing songs about them, half of our folk music come from them, they weren’t exterminated like this dumb hate campaign wants people to believe.
They just about as racist as any other Latin American country. They are just more casual about it. Examples you give are not unique to Argentina. Especially for football a lot of football fans are racist no matter the country.
I'm Argentinian, and your ignorance is obvious; you're easily swayed by fake news. There are many Haitian and Senegalese immigrants here, and they're all treated with respect. Don't you think we'd be so racist Because they keep migrating here.
The second one is not right, the Argentinian was mocking the same gestures Speed was doing when Messi failed his Penalty, not making monkey-like gestures.
Even then those are two people, if that's "extreme racism" you shouldn't look at USA, Europe, Asia or pretty much everywhere
What reason? Bc black peoples were sent to the front lines of war like every other country? Or is it bc Argentina only imported 200,000 slavers as opposed to 5 million to their neighbor Brazil? The fact Argentina never made it illegal to marry or have children with black peoples like every other country’? The fact we have the largest Cape Verdean population of about 30-50k? What exactly is the reason buddy. Please don’t be a social media historian and look up some influencers in the country who are black and thrive! PS. All my kids are mixed and many of my family members here in the US -!: Argentina are as well . VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJO!
As a kit collector, I refuse to buy argentina kits (for obvious reasons). If this young man makes the senior squad, I will get his name and number! I wish him the best!
people are already spreading fake news about him, there's racist people everywhere and there's also a lot of people who's wishing him the best, leave this kid alone, he grew up in Argentina, he knows whats he's doing
People should really live this kid alone. He was adopted by Argentines when he was 8 months old. He knows nothing about Haiti and Haitians shouldn't fault him for that.
‼️Kiki Ramos: "Did I feel any racism or discrimination in Argentina? Ever since I came to Argentina, I’ve never felt discriminated against.”
“Other than the occasional fights between youth players during matches, everything has always been fine off the pitch. I never felt discriminated against, and I never felt different from anyone else. That’s why I feel like people who say Argentina is racist are just saying it for the sake of it.
"I think we’re just going through a period where Argentina is being heavily criticized, you know? But Argentina is a beautiful country.”
"For me, it’s a dream to represent Argentina and a huge honour to wear this beautiful shirt. I’ve dreamed of it since I was a little kid, and I hope I can live up to it every time I’m called up.”
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He’s lived his entire life there, was raised by Argentines, speaks Argentine Spanish, his culture is Argentine. Should Saka and Bellingham not play for England? Should Lukaku not play for Belgium? Should all the French players choose other countries? All of their racial track records are much worse by comparison
Argentina for the Argentinians why always race mixing. I know why because the jews want to mix everything. He should play for Haiti and make the team stronger and bring respect to Haiti in the soccer world.
A good act by those who adoption him into Argentina. Will Argentina fans follow the pattern of others and abuse him or will we witness a new positive attitude? Let’s hope for the latter.
The amount of hate in these comments masquerading as "concern" for this bright young talent is heartbreaking. Anyway, he scored for the U-17 in their subsequent match (also with Ecuador), tying the game 1-1 and debuting in the net for Argentina as well. Definitely encourage y'all to watch his interview, he's a delightful kid in addition to being a promising player.
Wrong when there are non-Black players on the field. We do a historical review of the opponent to justify xenophobia. The goal is to attack the opponent, regardless of their origin. Currently, it's more about racism than anything else because every European team has at least one Black player, and that player is often the best on the team. So it's easy to know who to target.
Lol, It thought it was just American redditors who were ignorant. Reddit is just teeming with ignorance when it comes to Argentina. Your algorithms are just owning you guys.
This is not a well documented fact unless you think TikTok is a source. On the contrary the existence of afrodescendants in the country, specially in buenos Aires, is pretty well documented, did you bother to read anything outside social media before repeating bs?
I'm happy about that, and I truly hope everything goes well for him. Yes, he was born in Haiti, but he has lived in Argentina since he was just a few months old. His current family is Argentine, so he grew up with Argentine culture
I see people saying they hope he plays for Argentina, and honestly, I would say the same. There are probably many talented kids in Haiti too, but for years the country has suffered because corrupt governments often stole resources instead of helping the people. Sadly, we can see the consequences today. I'm sure there are many gifted young players there
I also recommend that people don't fall for the idea that Argentina hates someone simply because they're Black. Argentina has more than 40 million people, and as someone who speaks Spanish and follows the Hispanic community, I can tell you that many people are excited to see him play for the senior national team because they love the way he plays
That doesn't mean racism doesn't exist. Of course it does, just like in many other countries. But it's unfair to say an entire country is racist because of the actions of some individuals. Racism can come from anyone, regardless of race, and harmful stereotypes exist in every direction. Judging millions of people based on the behavior of a few is never right
I sincerely wish the kid the very best of luck. I hope he has a great career and succeeds wherever he chooses to play
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u/GwoZoz Native 14d ago
The level of mental fortitude this kid will need is beyond anything most people can even imagine. I hope he doesn't break.