afro latino
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So You’re Afro-Latinx. Now What?
Congratulations, mi negra! It finally happened. Today you looked into the mirror and said, “I’m black. Soy negra. Vaya.” You embraced your black or brown skin, your curls and kink. No small feat for a Dominican. You’re ready to forgo the centuries of Dominican anti-Africanism and embrace your brothers, sisters and cousins of the African…
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Glow-Getter: Santana Caress Benitez Cooks Like Your Mother … and May Just Steal the Scene
Chef Santana Caress Benitez doesn’t call herself an actress. This, despite her appearance as Lourdes “LuLu” Blackmon in Netflix’s recent series reboot of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It; a scene-stealing supporting role that has literally sent Hollywood calling (as evidenced by the feature-film audition she’d sent off just prior to our conversation). Personally asked…
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Tracing Your Roots: How Do I Research My Cuban Origins?
Inspired by a shocking revelation on Professor Henry Louis Gates’ show, a woman wonders how to research her own heritage. Dear Professor Gates: My family is from Cuba. I have always had a desire to verify the oral histories from both sides of my family about our heritage. The episode of your PBS television show…
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From a Black DACA Recipient: African-American Support Critical to Reform
Mwewa* always knew she was undocumented. “I just didn’t understand what that meant and the consequences it would create for me,” she says. It wasn’t until a high school classmate, while studying financial planning, asked Mwewa if she had her Social Security number memorized that it began to hit home. As an immigrant from Zambia…
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Watch: ‘Yo Soy Afro-Latina’
If there is one thing that Sammy Sosa, an Afro-Latino man, and his skin-bleaching fiasco has taught us, it’s to be proud of who you are. The term “Afro-Latino” (or the gender-neutral “Afro-Latinx”) is used to refer to African descendants from Latin America. For many growing up, being black and Latinx was not always beautiful.…
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Congressional Black Caucus Struggling With Question of Whether to Admit Afro-Dominican Congressman
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the first Dominican American elected to Congress and who succeeded former Rep. Charles Rangel in representing New York’s 13th District, identifies as a “Latino of African descent”—and that designation is a cause for debate among members of the Congressional Black Caucus who question whether Espaillat qualifies as an African American. Politico…