Julián Quiñones, Blackness in Mexico and the complexities of national identity

O n a March night in Guadalajara in 2024, Club América were winning El Clásico Nacional. Julián Quiñones, their star player, had scored and headed toward the sideline. Then a shout at Quiñones, who is Black, rang out from the stands. ¡Puto negro! A racial slur. Moments later, monkey noises were heard in the stands. The scene was familiar to anyone who follows Mexican soccer. Cell phone videos captured it. Commentators analyzed it the next day. Officials condemned it. Investigations were announced. For a few days, the Mexican game went through its ritual of shock. Then the season continued. Another match, another transfer rumor, another refereeing controversy. That June, Quiñones moved to Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia, where he would become the league’s top scorer. The incident was lost in the vast archive of soccer’s weekly dramas. Or so it seemed. Less than two years later, another Mexican stadium produced another uproar. This time it was a celebration. On 11 June, Quiñones scored Mexico’s first goal in the 2026 World Cup, the opening triumph in a tournament played on home soil for the first time in two decades. Tens of thousands rose to their feet. Television commentators chanted his name. Images of the striker draped in the Mexican flag flooded social media. The same culture that had publicly denigrated him hailed him as a national hero. This week, Quiñones returned to the same stadium in Guadalajara where the racist chant had been heard in 2024. …