When Juneteenth, Haiti, Brazil and the World Cup Intersect: A Few Thoughts About Black History in the Western Hemisphere

Since I was six years old I was raised to understand that the national team of Jamaica at the World Cup is Jamaica. If the Reggae Boyz, (Jamaica’s actual national team) are not playing, we are cheering for Brazil. The beauty of Brazilian football is something I always admired. The beautiful footwork that looked like samba on the field was a show all by itself. I grew up watching Ronaldo and on the legendary status of Pelé. I remember the feeling of excitement watching Ronaldinho, and Kaká (upon whom I had the biggest crush), and of course Neymar Jr. whose jersey I bought to rep properly this year. On my travel bucket list for as long as I can remember was Rio de Janeiro as I had seen the photos of this beautiful city and the famous Christ the Redeemer monument overlooking all of Rio.

I was even more inclined to visit Brazil when I learned that Brazil has the highest population of African descended people outside of the continent of Africa with more than 50% of the population identifying as Black (source here). Given that the population of Brazil is over 213.50 million people, that is a LOT of people. This makes sense since 40% of enslaved Africans were brought to Brazil and it was the last country to end African slavery in 1888. Another thing that stood out to me is that Brazil also has strict laws against racism and this includes insulting someone on the basis of race.

I finally got to tick this one off my bucket list when my most beloved best friend decided she wanted to go to Rio for her birthday. There was no way on earth I was missing the chance to visit a place I always wanted to see with one of my favourite human beings. What I was not prepared for was the embodied experience of seeing Little Africa. As a diasporic person of Black and East Indian descent, (exactly the same as Kamala Harris),  from the Caribbean living in a predominantly white country for 11 years, I have had to confront my own racial identity, the loss of privilege that comes with immigration, and the colour of my skin in a manner that over the years has made me VERY conscious of my race and the experience of navigating a world in which most people do not look like me.

What I found interesting about Brazil is that although there are laws against racism, that does not mean that racism does not happen in Brazil. Indeed, when most of us think of Brazilians, the Gisele Bündschens, Morena Baccarins, and for my fellow Formula 1 fans, Ayrton Sennas and Felipe Massas of the world come to mind first. Afro-Brazilians generally do not occupy the same level of awareness for most of us outside of Brazil even though they definitely exist in significantly large numbers.

However, being in Brazil I realized from visiting Little Africa that Brazil itself struggles to acknowledge its history with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Nowhere was this more clearly evident than at Valongo Wharf which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As a mechanism of avoiding the purpose of this wharf, (the entry point of almost a million enslaved Africans onto Brazilian soil), other structures were built on top of it for decades which hid it from the world until 2011. A couple attempted to do renovations on their home close by and uncovered the bones of dead enslaved Africans who did not survive the horrors of the Middle Passage. We visited this site on one of the days we spent in the city. Seeing that, I had to take a moment to ground myself with all of my self-regulation skills as a therapist because I had a physiological reaction to what I saw.

On June 19, 2026, (known in the U.S.A. as “Juneteenth”), Brazil will play its neighbour Haiti in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. This is significant since Haiti is the first country in this hemisphere to become an independent Black country and to overthrow French colonial overlords who punished Haiti for this by forcing reparations until 1922. It is the second independent country in the hemisphere as well. As a Caribbean person, I learned about the Haitian Revolution in high school and have always had a soft spot for Haiti because all they wanted was freedom like any other group of human beings. For those who are interested, here is an overview of the history of Haiti from the point of European contact in 1492. Haiti has been the target of a very long, very calculated smear campaign, systematic destabilization by an embarrassed colonizer (France), and mistreatment by the hegemonic power in the Western hemisphere.

It is therefore truly ironic then that Haiti and Brazil will face each other on the football field, (yes, football which is the term used by most countries of the world), in Philadelphia which has a history of benefitting from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as a dock for slave ships, (greater detail here), and on Juneteenth which is an abbreviation of June nineteenth 1865 when the enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas were finally told that they were freed some time before.

However, the refusal to reckon with the colonial past of this side of the world and the revolt of enslaved people in Haiti is still very much a feature of this World Cup. FIFA forced the design team of the Haitian team jersey to remove a scene on the shirt of Toussaint Louverture, the general who led the revolution, as it was deemed “too political”. Too political in 2026, centuries after the end of the slave trade and homage to the history of a significant country in the world. The backdrop of this is the obvious rise of anti-Black sentiment in the host country where Haiti and Brazil will play.

I think there is no more significant a time to pay attention to the geo-political climate of the 2026 World Cup than right now. North America is hosting jointly but, the U.S.A. is becoming noteworthy for all the wrong reasons. Many countries have seen their nationals banned or denied entry to the country so they cannot support their teams. Then there is the denial entry of Omar Artan, a prominent Somali referee on a diplomatic passport because he was considered unsafe for the U.S.A. This is a clear case of discrimination because he has a diplomatic passport which means that the carrier is there on official government business and should be given easy access to entry at international borders. (More on what diplomatic passports are and how they function here). There is no legitimate reason for this and there has been international outrage about it. The treatment of the Iranian football team has also stoked international ire as they are required to go across the border to Mexico every day since they are barred from staying in the U.S.A. I don’t think it is difficult to see that this is likely to cause stress and exhaustion that puts Iran’s team at a disadvantage.

My more lighthearted concern is that on June 19, the unofficial national team of Jamaica will face my Caribbean neighbour. The unofficial rule in Jamaica regarding the hierarchy when we support teams is Jamaica first, the Caribbean second and any Black country third. This is a real conundrum. Though I will be supporting Brazil because of tradition, I would not be upset if Haiti won. Tonight, I will definitely be on the edge of my seat.