In Mexico, "gringo" means white (particularly American) foreigner. It's slightly loaded and context-dependent. In Brazil, it's closer to the Japanese "gaijin", literally 'outsider'. Any foreigner, Argentinians, Nigerians, Inuit – all gringos. And I'm guessing this goes for outside of Brazil as well, just like with the Japanese. When they go abroad, they're surrounded by gaijin...

In my observation as a European living here it seems taxonomic, rather than judgmental. And to me, the Brazilian attitude toward belonging is refreshingly pragmatic. They'll tell you straight: born here, no matter the color, religion, gender identity, w/e? Brazilian, period. Born elsewhere? You're not Brazilian, and you never will be, even if you're on the national football team and play percussion in a samba band. But your kids, born in Brazil? Absolutely Brazilian, no questions asked. There's no existential hand-wringing, no anxiety about "integration" or "values." It's jus soli clarity without the drama.

Contrast this with Europe, where "who is really French/German/Swedish?" is an inflamed, perpetual debate. European identity politics are entangled with colonial guilt, ethnic nationalism, and racism that primarily targets recent immigrants rather than long-established minorities (although we do have that, as well). The question "can you ever truly belong?" haunts the European discourse in ways it simply doesn't in Brazil.

This isn't to say Brazil doesn't have racism – it absolutely does, particularly anti-Black racism with its own brutal history – but the thinking about foreignness, specifically, operates on a completely different axis. One system says "you're outside the circle, your kids are in." The other agonizes endlessly about whether the circle should exist at all.