Lesson 1: Lessons Learned As A LatiNegra Sexologist

Lesson:

It will be rare when folks will pay you what you are worth to do a workshop, presentation, share original research, or hire you in general. 

Life Lesson:

You get to decide how much you are willing to accept. You get to decide to say "yes" or say "no" or say "please find more funds and get back to me." You are worthy of what you produce and share. You decide who you will do a workshop/presentation/lecture/etc. for a lower fee based on your values. This will be different for everyone in the field.

Some of the most funds will come from academic spaces as they are run like businesses. If you wish to reach people of Color your fee may have to decrease as many organizations reaching out to us have limited funds (see white supremacy for reasons around this).

When you do accept a position, do your best work each time, regardless of the amount. It is your reputation, life's work, and often the spaces paying the least amount of money need you the most. If you have time to, always write a personal thank you card to the hosts of the event.

You are worthy. The work you do is important and needed.

For inquiries or to hire bi visit her site or email bianca@biancalaureano.com 

30 Things I've Learned As A LatiNegra Sexologist

A series for Latinx Heritage Month (Sept 15-Oct 15)

I'll be posting some things I've learned over the 18 years I've been in the sexology and sex/uality field. Some of them will be joyous and abundant. Others will not be. They will all be true and based on my personal experiences in the US and when I've gone abroad.

#LatiNegraSexologist

#WOCSexologist

I Love My Hair

self-explanatory post

No Wedding No Womb: Also No LatiNegr@s or Youth Perspectives

cross posted from my Media Justice column

While most of ya’ll were getting ready to have a dope weekend at Advocates For Youth’s Urban Retreat, I was listening to and trying to work through my ideas around the “movement” Now Wedding No Womb (NWNW). If you have not heard of NWNW (which you can follow conversations on Twitter using the hashtag #NWNW), the goal of this “movement” which is discussed under the tab “No Wedding No Womb FAQ” is to:

NWNW calls for both MEN and WOMEN to put the needs of children first, and advocates that couples abstain from having children until they are emotionally, physically and financially able to care for them. In my opinion, marriage is the ideal. However, if marriage is out of the question, NWNW parents are “wedded” to their commitment to their children, providing daily emotional and physical nurturing. I’m advocating for women to think more of their bodies and their future children BEFORE sperm meets egg. I’m advocating for men to STOP spraying their seeds all over The Creation.

Now, although the above statement it reads in a very race neutral way, however the focus is on Black men and women. NWNW is lead and organized by Christelyn D. Karazin who is a writer and journalist (you can read more about her on the NWNW website by clicking the tab “About Christelyn”) and has received a lot of attention from the media as she hoped. She envisions one way of reaching the goals mentioned above was to first ask several bloggers to write about the topic on September 22, 2010. In an interview with Michael Eric Dyson , Chriselyn stated she reached out to 200 bloggers and got 100 to agree to participate in the September 22 event. I think that’s a pretty good number.

Let me be clear (and biased), I’m not a supporter of NWNW. I’m not a supporter for all of the reasons my homegirls have shared over the past two weeks. Check out Sparkle’s very accessible list here, Dr. Goddess’s pieces on the topic/a> and one of my favorite online spots the activists at The Crunk Feminist Collective. There are two other reasons I’m not in support of this “movement” and they are the focus of this piece.

1. Blackness, as presented in this “movement,” does not include LatiNegr@s (i.e. me) or any other ethnic identity that intersects with a racial classification of Black.
2. There are no youth perspectives by youth.

I joked with my homegirl Sparkle and my homies on Twitter that I really am happy, for the first time EVER, that my Blackness was excluded in a conversation about sexuality and Blackness. Often I have a LOT to say about such omissions. I’ve been pretty vocal about my perspective about being a Black woman, a woman of Color, a LatiNegra, so none of this should come as a surprise. I do wonder why it is so easy to omit us. Then I wonder how that would kind of mess up the goal, focus, and argument of the “movement.” If there were an understanding and recognition of how ethnicity and race intersect and complicate who we are, then there would have to be a different conversation. A conversation about systemic oppressions that work to ensure that certain communities remain under-resourced and without access to basic daily needs (i.e. food, shelter, health care, protection NOT surveillance, etc.). And solutions to those challenges and struggles have been rooted in moving towards a more democratic form of capitalism (if there is one), or completely moving away from capitalism and other forms of hierarchy in general (in my opinion).

This idea that we must protect children (and youth) but not have any youth share their own experiences, ideas, and solutions is a pretty big deal for me. Of course one can argue that youth who are under a certain age would need permission from parents, or are not the target audience. I would argue that’s kind of my point with my problem around this “movement.” How are we talking about what happens to our young people but don’t talk to them? I mean those of you reading this already know this, because it still happens all the time. I’m probably one of the older bloggers here, but I vividly remember how condescending adults are to me (still are because they think I have a “baby face” so assume I’m younger than I am, so that ish keeps going into your 20s!). I’ve often found myself as the one (sometimes only) person who mentions the omission of a youth perspective, which is sad.

There are so many assumptions about age. That young people would not have anything to say about this topic. Young people are too busy doing too many things (possibly with technology) or too busy consuming media to care about X issue. That with age comes wisdom, thus youth do not have any good valuable ideas to share. The list goes on and I’m sure many of you are more than aware of what they include. What the real issue I find is: We don’t care what young people think because we are too busy patting ourselves on the back for thinking we can come up with solutions to their problems without having them be a part of those solutions.

What I’d love to know is what your thoughts are about this “movement.” Even if it’s one sentence, or several, or a link to a post or comment you wrote somewhere else. This is the perfect example about talking about youth but not talking with youth. This is also the perfect example of creating media so that y/our perspective is recognized; to let us adults remember we can’t work this way, claiming we have your “best interests in mind.” We get it wrong, and I’m sorry we get it wrong so often and don’t learn. I’m sorry this “movement” excluded you claiming to care for you. I’m sorry nobody has apologized for this until now.

Participants Needed for Study on Black Women’s Spirituality and Hip-Hop Music

Please help out my homegirl Anaya! I took the survey, as a LatiNegra this topic speaks to multiple parts of my life!

Click here to go directly to the survey.

Hello,

My name is Anaya McMurray and I am a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park. As a candidate seeking a PhD in Women’s Studies I am conducting research to explore the impact of spirituality on black women’s processes of creating and interpreting music. My goal is to learn more about the meaning and significance of spirituality in the lives of black women in the hip-hop generation.

I am especially interested in the generation of black women born in a year from 1971 through 1982 and raised in the U.S.

If you are interested in learning more about this study visit my site for a more detailed description of my project: ‘THE WHOLE AND NOT THE HALF OF IT’: BLACK WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY AND POPULAR MUSIC IN THE HIP-HOP GENERATION.

Participation in the current phase of research would require anonymously completing a survey. This survey is designed to gather opinions on spirituality and music from black women in the hip-hop generation. If you are interested in participating and you are a black woman born in a year from 1971 through 1982 and raised in the U.S. please visit, complete and submit an online survey.

If you would prefer to complete a paper copy of the survey, it can be downloaded at http://web.me.com/anayamc/Spirituality_and_Music, printed, and mailed to Anaya McMurray P.O. Box 29104 Chicago, Ill 60629-0104. If you know someone who may be interested in participating please forward this message and/or direct the person to the following link.

Thank You,
Anaya McMurray

An Evening With Vanessa Del Rio

Many of you know how crucial Vanessa Del Rio is/was to my LatiNegra sexual identity and consciousness. I've written about her before here and I've discussed how powerful her presence and influence in my life continues to be. So, I'm incredibly excited to share with you all that I will be too happy to attend the Sex Worker Literati: Goddesses, Sinners, and Saints where Vanessa will be reading!

Details:
Thursday April 1
Happy Ending 302 Broome St (B,D,J,M,Z,F)
FREE 21 & over only though!
Hosted by Audacia Ray & David Henry Sterry

Part of the benefits will go to the Young Women's Empowerment Program

I'm there because Thursday is my late night and I have nothing else planned for Friday! So, if you want to sit with me, have me save you a seat, or just want to hang in an amazing space that will center one of the most important figures in contemporary Latina sexualities, please join me!

**Disclaimer** Those of you following me on Twitter will read about this at LEAST one time a day, but I'm sure you'll get over it!

LatiNegr@s Project: Virginia Brindis de Salas

Poet from Uruguay who died in 1958 at the age of 50 and is said to be the first Black Latin American woman to publish a book of poetry for wide/international distribution. Her work has been considered the most "militant" when it comes to Black-Uruguayan identity. She has written two books that have both been published (and are extremely difficult to find) which include:

Pregón de Marimorena (1946)
Cien Carceles de Amor (1949)

One of the few texts where you can read more about her is the book Daughters of the diaspora: Afra-Hispanic writers by Miriam DeCostas-Willis. Another text is Women in Africa and the African Diaspora: A Reader by Rosalyn Terborg-Penn and Andrea Benton Rushing.

Here is an excerpt from a one location that has translated her writing:

Madrigal:

You look at my brown skin
With eyes that are two burning coals
I whttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6234991968291886960&postID=2285643106759482816ant to be a fountain
Where you can quench the thirst of your desires
I want the blood in
My veins to turn into
The tropics of your frenzy

LatiNegr@s Project: Sofia Quintero

For the last week of Black History Month and for the LatiNegr@s Project, I've decided to send out some questions to LatiNegr@s in my life who I've learned from, been mentored by, and have built community with and share them with you all. I thank each of them for agreeing to share their lives with us and to share them publicly. Today's interviewee is someone who I was a huge stan of and now I'm so honored and it gives me great pride to call her my homegirl: Sofia.

Q. How do you want to be identified?

A. Sofia Quintero aka Black Artemis
Co-Founder of Chica Luna Productions and President of Sister Outsider Entertainment

Q. What identities do you embrace/have/claim?

A. Among countless other things, I am: Afro-Latina, Puerto Rican and Dominican, a Black woman, an Ivy League homegirl, CISgender female, straight ally for LGBTQ liberation, daughter of working-class immigrant and migrant parents, hija de la Pura y el Negro, a feminist, a radical, a cultural activist, a Bronxite, a hip-hop head, a social entrepreneur.

Q. Do you have a preference regarding the terms LatiNegr@, Afr@-Latin@, etc? If so, which one and why?

A. I tend to use Afro-Latina, but I like Latinegr@, too. I also have no problem just being called Black since my Latinadad is a given. To be Latin@ yet claim one’s Blackness in a world that is constantly devaluing “negritude” is, I believe, an act of healing and resistance.

Q. What images/texts/narratives were available to you growing up about LatiNegr@s?

A. Those images, text or narratives most likely existed but were not identified specifically or explicitly to me as Afro-Latin@. My father is Puerto Rican and Black, and his nickname is Negro. So this has been a part of my life since the day I was born. I lived Pedro Pietri’s notion that to be called negrito means to be called love. It was something I lived but did not study. As a child was I ever taught that this text or that image is by or about a Latino who is also Black? No, I cannot say that. In school I was taught about slavery, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement. I learned about Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. I learned nothing about Puerto Rico except that it was a commonwealth – that term meant nothing to me then and it feels like a lie to me now – and the Dominican Republic was never even mentioned. One was either African American – and that included Afro-Caribbean folks – or Latin@. In retrospect, this feels quite odd to me because in New York City the relationship between the African American and Afro-Caribbean community and Latin@s (who were overwhelmingly caribeño in the 70s and 80s) is very intimate. New York City is such a blessed anomaly. Maybe that’s why I never experienced it as something overt. Until I became politicized, it never had a name. It just was.

Q. Is there a specific or pivotal time in your life that stands out as being imperative to your consciousness as a LatiNegr@?

A. Yes, it was in college, but it was a process and not a moment. This sense of myself was always there, and one tends to take for granted what is always there, especially if it is accompanied by vulnerability. Still I remember at times begin a child and referring to myself as Spanish knowing all the while that this was false. So false that I did not even want it to be true even as I claimed it. That resistance was always in me I guess. Then in college I was in a leadership program for Latino students at Hunter College during the tuition strikes of the late 80s – mind you, I was attending Columbia where most of the Nuyorican students went through A Better Chance or Prep for Prep – and I recovered an identity that felt authentic. I embraced it. It wasn’t so much a matter of discovering who I am as much as remembering who I always was.

Q. What are your thoughts about the lived experiences of LatiNegr@s all over the world having similar experiences with those living in the US (i.e. HIV rates)?

A. This is evidence of a shameful legacy that endures. Some knuckleheads like to believe that slavery and colonialism are things of the past. Sadly, some of said knuckleheads are our own people. Internalized oppression is a bitch. Divide and conquer remains in full effect. But on a positive note, there are many Afro-Latinos and allies across the globe working diligently to build and advance a worldwide movement that transcends borders. I am excited and hopeful about that.

Q. What symbols/rituals/etc. are important to you for maintaining community (locally, internationally, virtually) with other LatiNegr@s?

A. It’s the little things really. Saying, “Aché” instead of “Amen.” Starting a meeting by calling in the ancestors. Just this past weekend, Casa Atabex Aché partnered with Dwa Fanm and the Third Root Community Health Center to do healing work in Flatbush in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. As a Dominican woman knowledgeable of the legacy of oppression in Ayiti, I felt compelled to participate in that. To do my part –however small it might be – to make amends and heal that history. Hell, even being an Afro-Latina claiming space in hip-hop where so many of the artistic practices have their roots in the African diaspora is part of this. This is why in all my hip-hop novels you will see friendship and romance among Latinos, African Americans and Afro-Caribbean characters. In my first Black Artemis novel EXPLICIT CONTENT, the protagonist and a narrator is both African American and Trinidadian and her best friend is Puerto Rican. In BURN, the key characters are Puerto Rican, Haitian and Dominican and even combinations of all those nationalities. Even in my “chica lit” novel DIVAS DON’T YIELD, the lead among equals in an ensemble of four characters is an Afro-Latina hip hop feminist named Jackie Alvarado who leads with her Blackness. I was always a voracious reader but as a child I never saw self—identified Afro-Latin@s in anything I read so as a novelist I write my community into visibility. Writing is my primary ritual. [Also written by Black Artemis: PICTURE ME ROLLIN']

Q. Where there any lessons/ideologies/norms that you had to “unlearn” as you evolved into your identities? If so, will you share some with us?

A. Wow, I had to unlearn a lot, and the unlearning never ends. I had to unlearn that names can never hurt me. Bullshit. Language is powerful. Language matters. Names can manifest things into being. Words can give birth to nations and movements, and they can genocide an entire people. I had to unlearn that it’s never just a movie, a video, a song. Just like language matters, images matter. Culture matters. Entertainment matters. I had to unlearn the idea that because I am Black or a woman that I never have power or privilege, and that means submitting myself to constant gut-checks around heterosexism, ageism, elitism, etc. These are just a few I can share in this limited space and time, and like I said, the unlearning never ends. Well, one last thing I’ll share. One way to remain committed to the unlearning is to teach what you have unlearned. Bring your lessons to your various tribes in the ways that come natural to you. Everyone is a teacher in some fashion, and you teach what you genuinely believe – not what you want to believe or think you should believe but what you actually do believe. And you do this not through what you say but through what you do or don't do, how you behave. Stay conscious of that. We are all on a journey. The question is are you awake on yours?

Q. Is there a book/image/quote/artifact/etc. that is important to you to symbolize your identity? If so, will you share one with us?

A. It's no surprise that we named our company after a collection of essays by Audre Lorde. One quote of hers that I would like to share at this time: “If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.” I think these words are particularly relevant for this project. :-)

Q. What else would you like to share with readers?

A. I have tons to share so I hope folks will keep up with me in cyberspace. For now specifically I’ll just ask folks to check out my first young adult novel EFRAIN’S SECRET which hits bookstores this April. You can read an excerpt here. Oh, and look out for Homegirl.TV this March.

Q. Is there a way readers can reach you through social media?

A. I prefer folks follow me and/or Sister Outsider on Twitter. You can also become a fan of Sister Outsider on Facebook and sign up for our newsletter at our website. I blog occasionally at www.blackartemis.com, but I tend to fall off when I’m working on a novel or film because those things have to be my priority. But, the good thing about that is that you can subscribe to my blog so you won’t miss anything yet rest assured that I won’t be bombing your inbox, lol!

Many thanks to Sofia for sharing! Please go find her on the web and visit her virtual homes. Don't forget to visit the LatiNegr@s Tumblr Page and consider submitting something. The page will be available year-round as people are welcome to submit as often as they like.

LatiNegr@s Project: Kismet

For the last week of Black History Month and for the LatiNegr@s Project, I've decided to send out some questions to LatiNegr@s in my life who I've learned from, been mentored by, and have built community with and share them with you all. I thank each of them for agreeing to share their lives with us and to share them publicly. Today's interviewee is my homegirl from grad school: Kismet.

Q. How do you want to be identified?

A. Great day and morning, sisters and brothers! They call me Kismet (sometimes Kismet 4). I am the co-author of the now retired Radical Woman of Color blog Waiting 2 Speak. I slowed down on blogging to pursue and peruse the Superwoman lifestyle (i.e. higher education, doctoral degree, teaching and research) but still trim and weed my little corners of the web when I can: The WOC Survival Kit, I Wanna Live Productions, and Nunez Daughter. I plan to spend some more time in each of these places so look out!

Q. What identities do you embrace/have/claim?

A. Yo soy latinegra, afroboricua, borinquena, y negra. I am Black and Puerto Rican. I claim both not to exclude blackness from boriquenidad--cause it can't be!--but to acknowledge that part of my ancestry is a distinctively African-American, Slave South narrative. To look at mi familia, there's a heavy dose of Utuado Taino, so there's probably some of that kill-a-Spaniard maroonage running in me also. Would explain a lot. But you know what they say: "Blood of a slave, Heart of a Queen." I am blessed with two rich histories of resistance, dissent and matriarchy--two generations and more of woman warriors on both sides. Y tu abuela....????

I was born in the states, in the great city of Chi, and I am relentlessly urban and northern and Midwestern. Great thing about folks de color in the Midwest--we end up being a great big confluence of many different things. A little bit of South, a little bit of country, a little bit of racist, a little bit of bracero; a twist of gang behavior and a dose of Irish drunk. A lot of hope and love and passion. And pizza. And barbecue. Holla!

I began working-poor and now claim middle-class privilege with all of the negatives and positives associated with that. Class is situational--if I had a daughter or other dependent of my own, it would be a different story. I'm cis, English speaking, college-educated and able-bodied. I'm a devastating diva of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In other words, I've got a lot of privilege--which means I've got a lot of work to do and I strive for ally status every day.

I'm a fangirl. Octavia Butler is my hero--is, I say! She's kickin it where Elvis, Tupac and Michael Jackson are. Legends live forever but heroes never die. Long live my Kindred.

Q. Do you have a preference regarding the terms LatiNegr@, Afr@-Latin@, etc? If so, which one and why?

A. No preference.

Q. What images/texts/narratives were available to you growing up about LatiNegr@s?

A. My family provided the foundation narrative. My mother and grandmother, both very Taina in appearance--brown/red skin, thick and straight black hair, black eyes. But mi tia--black. Black like me, café colored, nappy hair (I suspect she relaxes it). Both of my grandfathers--black. Like me. Like Denzel.

And even STILL I would only find out later that there is familia even darker, really African looking in facial features, in skin tone, in body shape.

My grandma was very into Celia Cruz when we were young. I loved her too but my first real encounter with Puerto Rican-ness outside of my family and community was Rita Moreno in the film West Side Story. Could she ever dance!!! And to see a woman of color, so obviously brown (not painted Natalie Wood) and so obviously sexy, sensual, and unapologetically Latina blew my mind. And important enough to be in a movie besides (give me a break; I was in grammar school and for me, if someone was in a movie then they must have been important). Besides which, her purple dress in the rooftop scene was bangin--I wanted it then and I want it now.

But neither Celia Cruz nor Rita Moreno were negra in the way that I came to learn Afro-Latinos really are. That Moreno appeared so dark to me gave me a wonderful reference point and someone to identify with--but it didn't give me a full sense of the historical reality. The five hundred years of African slavery to the Caribbean and Latin America, the more recent racial intermingling of African-American and Latina/o and Latin-American immigrants in the United States--I didn't understand until college that I was a product of both. But when I did finally get it, the conocimiento sent me deep into research mode...and then into teaching mode...and I've been there ever since.

Q. Is there a specific or pivotal time in your life that stands out as being imperative to your consciousness as a LatiNegr@?

A. Imperative? Eh, maybe not. But two that stand out:

Being in NYC for the Puerto Rican Day festivities in 2005 and not getting looked at twice as legit PR. Game changer. From that point on, when around Puerto Ricans who seem confused by my dark brown-ness and hair texture (I went natural in 2006) I just act as though they are the ones with a problem instead of making it a "teaching moment." Guess they should have lived in New York.

Being in Carolina/San Juan and seeing advertisements for Dark & Lovely relaxers on the doors of salons in the heart of the projects. Being (with the exception of my mother and great-aunt) one of the lightest people in the mall. Being at the resort near Luquillo and seeing all the white executives, brown managers and black maids and janitors. Game changer. Don't tell me there's not f%*king racism in Puerto Rico, that we're all Rainbow Coalition in the PR diaspora, that we're just one big happy friggin mixture!

Q. What are your thoughts about the lived experiences of LatiNegr@s all over the world having similar experiences with those living in the US (i.e. HIV rates).

A. we are still the poorest
we are still the least educated (formal)
we are still the least enfranchised and empowered
we still pretend too often that this world is a world for us, this modernity is a modernity for us--it isn't.
we (woc) still get beat for speaking too loud, for imagined slights against Latino-manhood
we still uncritically tout foolish ideas of mezclá and race-mixture (morena vs. negra, Spanish and Taino over African) and forget that mixture is built off the rape of women, our lack of power, our disempowerment is something to be celebrated. or we forget that we are black at all (Mexico, Argentina, Chile)
we are still colonized within colonies.

we have so much work to do, but we are also still rebellious, still creative and innovative, and we continue to organize on behalf of ourselves. this keeps me hopeful.

Q. What symbols/rituals/etc. are important to you for maintaining community (locally, internationally, virtually) with other LatiNegr@s?

A. arroz con gandules. temblequé. food in general; bacalau (I don't even know if I spelled that right because I only know it the way mi abuela says it), always heading home for a recharge and a reminder of why I do what I do conversations and interviews like this one where B let's me speak my mind :)

Q. Where there any lessons/ideologies/norms that you had to “unlearn” as you evolved into your identities? If so, will you share some with us?

A. Good lord, woman. All of them. Hair, thighs, butt, skin color, my own potential. Talk about being devalued in the world--and if you are latinegra, you are devalued twice, thrice over. For not being a man, white, for not being Anglo, for not being English speaking or a citizen. You are ugly--and you're slutty, which is ironic if you think about it--and you are a man-hating bitch. And you don't exist. It is hard work doing all of that at the same time!!!

But I'll just name the most important and hopefully no one else has beaten me to it--
Unlearn the idea that Lincoln freed the slaves and that only one march to Washington ended slavery and segregation. It is a lie. Freedom was never given to anyone. Freedom was taken. And it was taken by people on the ground--grassroots--and many if not most of them were women and youth and children. Read Jo Ann Robinson, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Women Who Started It (1987)
Then go on and unlearn U.S. hegemony, relearn slavery and the slave trade, and realize that there's a whole world of people of Afro-Latin descent to get lost in.
And don't ever believe what your teachers ever tell you. Look it up yourself.

Q. Is there a book/image/quote/artifact/etc. that is important to you to symbolize your identity? If so, will you share one with us?

A. "Eventually it comes to you: the thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely..." ~Lorraine Hansberry

Q. What else would you like to share with readers?

A. I'll say what I told Littlest Sis when she went off to college--don't ever let anyone tell you what you are. You be what you are. Let them figure out the rest.

Q. Is there a way readers can reach you through social media?

A. On Twitter

Many thanks to Kismet for sharing! Please go find her on the web and visit her virtual homes. Don't forget to visit the LatiNegr@s Tumblr Page and consider submitting something. The page will be available year-round as people are welcome to submit as often as they like.

LatiNegr@s Project: Chela

For the last week of Black History Month and for the LatiNegr@s Project, I've decided to send out some questions to LatiNegr@s in my life who I've learned from, been mentored by, and have built community with and share them with you all. I thank each of them for agreeing to share their lives with us and to share them publicly. Today's interviewee is my homegirl Chela.

Q. How do you want to be identified?

A. I’m a lawyer and I also work on social justice issues. I recently finished up a masters degree in development economics, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Q. What identities do you embrace/have/claim?

A. My background is primarily Panamanian, Cuban, and Barbadian but I was born in the U.S. I never really thought about my identity as an American until I was almost an adult because everyone I knew was either an immigrant or the child of one. My primary language is actually English, although I do know Spanish.

Q. Do you have a preference regarding the terms LatiNegr@, Afr@-Latin@, etc? If so, which one and why?

A. I tend to use the term Blatina to refer to myself. But I also like LatiNegr@. The only one I’ve never really liked is Afro-Latino and I think it’s because it seems to me to be an “othering” of us, as though just using “Latino” inherently means everyone but us.

Q. What images/texts/narratives were available to you growing up about Blatin@s/LatiNegr@s?

A. Of course I was used to seeing my friends and family who were LatiNegr@s, but we didn’t really discuss race at home. And at school, those of us who were LatiNegr@s didn’t really discuss ethnicity. So it was almost like two separate lives, although I don’t think I ever thought about it that way. Almost all of my friends were immigrants so everyone had things going on at home that were different than the mainstream, no matter where we our families originated.

In terms of the images beyond my family, the media was pretty much devoid of Latinos of color – not that much has changed. The only time I really saw LatiNegr@s was watching baseball (which could explain where my love of the game began). As I got older and really realized how invisible we were, I started seeking out anything I could find that reaffirmed the presence of LatiNegr@s, voraciously reading up on the history of various Latin American countries, looking for “us”.

Q. Is there a specific or pivotal time in your life that stands out as being imperative to your consciousness as a Blatin@s/LatiNegr@?

A. Leaving for college was a defining moment in my life in terms of my identity. I was born and raised in New York City, so the idea that someone could be black AND Latino was more or less accepted (although I was always called “Puerto Rican” by non-Latinos). But going first to Virginia and then to Maryland, no one seemed to understand that I could be Latina; not even other Latinos, the majority of whom were from El Salvador at the time. Since it was my first time out of the NYC area (I’d been all over the globe, but not the country), it was a major culture shock. I’d always assumed the rest of the U.S. was like NYC. So that’s when my Blatina identity really took root. Prior to that time, it wasn’t something I’d ever had to think about; it just was.

Q. What are your thoughts about the lived experiences of Blatin@s/LatiNegr@s all over the world having similar experiences with those living in the US (i.e. HIV rates).

A. I do travel substantially and it’s amazing to me how similar the experiences are for LatiNegr@s, regardless of where we are in the diaspora. We have so much in common and we don’t even realize it. In some countries we’re just as invisible as we are here. Or we face issues of racism, lack of a political voice, economic subjugation, limited health information/access to health care. The problem is that I don’t think we really have that connection across borders that would allow us to better share information and experiences with each other.

Q. What symbols/rituals/etc. are important to you for maintaining community (locally, internationally, virtually) with other Blatin@s/LatiNegr@s?

A. Travel is important to me; immersing myself in environments where being a Blatina is normal, something taken for granted. I also feel it’s important to support the work of other LatiNegr@s and help put them on the map of mainstream society. I especially love promoting LatiNegr@ authors, like Nelly Rosario and Veronica Chambers, because they definitely don’t get the same type of exposure as, for example, an actor would. And I think it’s important to realize our talent in all areas.

Q. Is there a book/image/quote/artifact/etc. that is important to you to symbolize your identity? If so, will you share one with us?

A. Actually “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” by Celia Cruz has been one of my anthems for awhile now! I try to live my life with that kind of spirit, de fuerza y sabor. And from the many times I’ve seen Celia in concert, I think she knew exactly what she was talking about.

Q. What else would you like to share with readers?

A. We LatiNegr@s are still a relatively unknown entity in the U.S. and it’s time that we raised awareness of who we are. Latino and Black are not mutually exclusive and we do not have to choose, no matter what society thinks.

Many thanks to la Bianca, LatiNegro, and Prof. Susurro for starting the LatiNegr@ project!

Q. Is there a way readers can reach you through social media?

A. I can be found on Twitter.

Many thanks to Chela for sharing! Please go find her on the web and visit her. Don't forget to visit the LatiNegr@s Tumblr Page and consider submitting something. The page will be available year-round as people are welcome to submit as often as they like.

LatiNegr@s Project: Benedita da Silva

Benedita da Silva is the first Afro-Brazilian Senator of the country in 1987. She has identified herself as "three times a minority" because she is Black, a woman, and poor. She sees the intersections of her identity and how her perspective and experiences can change social issues and thus her work in politics.

Da Silva was also influenced by her family's slave heritage. Her grandmother, Maria Rosa, was a former slave in Brazil's mining and farming state of Minas Gerais. Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese, who sent slaves there from Africa during the 16th and 17th centuries. The country gained independence in 1822 but didn't abolish slavery until 1888, becoming the last country in the Americas to do so. On Brazilian Abolition Day, celebrated every May 13, da Silva's whole family would gather and "speak of the importance of our being Black, of the need to go forward and never to be turned around," she recounted in Essence magazine.

There is a documentary of her life called I Was Born A Black Woman which was the 2000 Best Documentary Latino Film Festival in San Francisco.

Here's a video from one of several vlogs that have been uploaded from her Blog (it is in Portuguese)


And an interview by another Afro-Brazilian


Here is an interview with her regarding the election of President Obama and how this may influence politics outside the US with Black people (there is English translation)


foto credit: responsibilidadesocial.com

LatiNegr@s Project: Irene Cara

Yes I went there because some of ya'll need to be schooled! Irene Cara, the Academy Award Winning song writer of the infamous song "What A Feelin'" from the film Flashdance which she helped co-write. She's of Puerto Rican and Cuban decent and is also a singer, actor, and producer.

Some of you may know of her from Fame where she was Coco Hernandez.



Here she is performing the theme song for Fame


She's a part of a band called Hot Caramel today and hard core fans have been updating her Wikipedia page with all of her history that you can read about.

You can also follow her on Twitter!


foto credit: cmt.com

LatiNegr@s Project: Daiane dos Santos

Daiane dos Santos is a gymnast from Brasil. She is one of the country's most famous gymnast and is also an educator teaching physical education at a University in Brasil. She has created two tumbles/flips/floor exercises named after her that she performs. Because your girl does not know too much about the Olympics and how things work (or don't) and how other such competitions emerge, I can't break down her accomplishments any other way than to give you this link here.

Check her out at the World Cup Final where she incorporates samba moves into her tumbling. Please also notice the height she can take her body too.



Here she is in the 2008 World Cup Tianjin Finals:

LatiNegr@s Project: Nancy Morejón

Cuban poet and author, Nancy Morejón, who has used her craft to present issues of race in Cuba, Blackness and its connection to women, feminisms in Cuba, and the relationship between Cuba and the US. She's been the president of the Cuban Writers and Artist Union and is an advisor to the famous Casa America in Cuba.

Read more about her in English y en espanol here.

Below is a video of her presenting at the First International Festival of Poetry of Resistance in Toronto from April 24 to 30, 2009



Botella Al Mar


foto credit: radiobaruga.cu

LatiNegr@s Project: Toña la Negra

Yo soy mulata y orgullo tengo tener la sangre de negro en mis venas.


A singer from Veracruz, Mexico, Toña la Negra changed how we listen. Punto. how we LISTEN. She began singing in the 1930s and continued for decades. She was part of the "Golden Age Of Cinema" in Mexico, and one of the few darker skinned woman. Her existence at such a time in the world, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean influenced several LatiNegr@ entertainers. Her discography is not only extensive, it's stunning.

Check out a few of her songs below.
Yo soy mulata y no me importa que me critican si yo tengo bemba.

Yo soy mulata y orgullo tengo te tener piel tostada...

Y no me importa si tengo nada yo soy mulata de verdad...

"Yo Soy Mulata" Toña la Negra











foto credit: weblo.com

LatiNegr@s Project: My Testimonio

I did not always identify as a LatiNegra. As many of my long-time readers know, my parents who are Puerto Rican immigrants, racially identify as White while they ethnically identify as Puerto Rican. I’ve always literally and figuratively been the Black sheep of my family. I’ve written about what that means to me in various capacities before. Today I want to share how I came to evolve into my LatiNegra identity.

Picture it: Beltsville, MD 2003. I’d just left my first ever full-time job with benefits when George Bush the second was re-elected President of the US. I realized that there would be no pay increase for me at my job where I provided training and did research on sexual health among adolescents and teen parents. What better way to stick out the next 4 years than in a PhD program in Women’s Studies? (I know there are many other ways, stay with me here).

I had earned a 2 year fellowship to study and part of the research I was doing with faculty of Color was creating an Intersectional Research Database (which was also used to help publish a book). As part of that research I came across an article by Dr. Lillian Comas-Díaz called "Mental Health Issues of African Latinas" which she wrote in the early 1990s. You can read my short Annotation in the Intersectional Research Database here. That was followed by an article by Marta I. Cruz-Janzen called Latinegras: Desired Women-Undesirable Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, and Wives where she writes:

Latinegras are Latinas of obvious black ancestry and undeniable ties to Africa, women whose ancestral mothers were abducted from the rich lands that cradled them to become and bear slaves, endure the lust of their masters, and nurture other women's children. They are the mothers of generations stripped of their identity and rich heritage that should have been their legacy. Latinegras are women who cannot escape the many layers of racism, sexism, and inhumanity that have marked their existence. Painters, poets, singers, and writers have exalted their beauty, loyalty, and strength, but centuries of open assaults and rapes have also turned them into concubines, prostitutes, and undesirable mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives.

Latinegras are marked by a cruel, racialized history because of the shades of their skin, the colors and shapes of their eyes, and the textures and hues of their hair. They are the darkest negras, morenas, and prietas, the brown and golden cholas and mulatas, and the wheat-colored triguenas. They are the light-skinned jabas with black features and the grifas with white looks but whose hair defiantly announces their ancestry. They are the Spanish-looking criollas, and the pardas and zambas who carry indigenous blood.

Latinegras represent the mirrors that most Latinos would like to shatter because they reflect the blackness Latinos don't want to see in themselves. (1) I am a Latinegra, born to a world that denies my humanity as a black person, a woman, and a Latina; born to a world where other Latinos reject me and deny my existence even though I share their heritage. As Lillian Comas-Diaz writes, the combination of race, ethnicity, and gender makes Latinegras a "minority within a minority." (2) Racism and sexism have been with me all my life. I was raised in Puerto Rico during the 19505 and 1960s, and lived on and off in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. Today, I still live in both worlds, and most of the gender and race themes I grew up with remain. This essay is my personal and historical narrative of the intersection of racism and sexism that has defined my life and that of other Latinegras.

It was like I had found home.

Prior to finding that article I had chosen to make a political statement and racially identify as either Other or Black. I was identifying as Black more so than Other. I had made this decision the last time I filled out the US Census on my own and chose Other and wrote “African, Taino, Spanish/European colonizer.” I thought I was a rebel. I still think I am.

There were several similarities I experienced with Black women that I did not with other Latinas and then there were other similarities I shared exclusively with Latinas and not with Black women. There was always that “in between space.” That “hyphen.” But what happens to that space between the hyphen. Look at it this way:

Afro-Latino or Afro-Caribbean.

Last year when I was reading the last book by Elizabeth Nunez called Anna In Between, she asked that question as she joined our book club reading: what about the space between the hyphens? That hyphen doesn’t connect the words because there are spaces between the words and the hyphen. They do not every join. It is a bridge. A connector. It is not an explanation.

I started to joke with one of my homegirls, a Black woman living in the US, Keeley, that we would be the LatiNegras of the crew (capitalizing the L and the N to see them BOTH as proper nouns). Since then it has stuck. It is who I am. There is no hyphen to join two different identities, it is one identity all the time. It is me. I celebrate it. Will you join in the celebration?

Visit the LatiNegr@s Project Tumblr page and consider submitting something!

LatiNegr@s Project: Mónica León

Argentine, trans woman, activist, humanitarian, sex worker, filmmaker, and politician. Mónica León is one of (if not THE) the pioneers of the Argentine transgender community. She has been a part of creating, establishing, and maintaining three of the most prominent Transgender and LGB organizations in Argentina. In 1991 she founded Argentine Transvestite Association (Asociación de Travestis Argentinas – ATA), which according to Trans Secretariat's Timeline of Latin America & the Caribbean, state that ATA separeted in two groups: Organization of Transvestites and Transexuals of Argentina Republic (Organización de Travestis y Transexuales de la República Argentina – OTTRA) and Association for the Transvestite and Transexual Identity (Asociación de Lucha por la Identidad Travesti y Transexual – ALITT). All of which León was a member.

She's created a documentary called Hotel Gondolín which shares the struggle and accomplishments of several transgender sex workers in Argentina who live together in a vacant hotel in a very communal/socialist environment. More information about the film states:

Most of the girls here make it plain that 'sex worker' is not their first career choice, but the only possibility allowed them in Argentinian society…but the mood remains upbeat as Monica, the self-proclaimed leader of these feisty women, dons a black bustier and heads up the protest march against a law targeting the only profession they've been allowed to hold. By creating a safe haven for themselves, the women have begun to orchestrate a greater social change.

I tried to find a trailer or a short bit of this documentary but found what seems to be parts of other documentaries about Hotel Gondolín and since I can't confirm they are from the film Mónica León is a part of I chose not to post it at this time (if you know of where I can find a trailer please let me know!).


foto credit: commons.wikimedia.org

LatiNegr@s Project: Mayra Santos-Febres

A gift to me for finding, earning, and moving into my first full-time adult salaried position from a friend was the book Sirena Selena. That was 10 years ago. I read the book in English (it's been translated in over 5 languages). It was not until 8 years later that I picked up Juicy Mangos Erotica by Latinas where she has a short story "Faith In Disguise." This short erotic story ROCKED MY WORLD!!!! I seriously can't even begin to explain to you how this story made me love erotica all over again. Let me quote a short part of the story:

"...I was ashamed that I couldn't hold it; that I came so easily without even having penetrated her once. I was the penetrated, the one who came first." p. 66

She is a professor of Literature at the University of Puerto Rico, an activist, poet, author, and is dipping her hand in helping her stories become new forms of media such as plays and in film. Because the world is my oyster right this second I found a production of "Faith In Disguise" in 3 parts on Youtube!!!! Here they are:







Even more reason to love her, she talks about how her asthma during childhood helped her become a writer. She shares in an interview:

Comencé a escribir a la edad de 5 años porque era asmática. Escribir siempre ha sido uno de mis juegos favoritos. Mi madre y mi padre son maestros; ella de español y él de Historia, así que la casa siempre estaba llena de papeles y de libros. Como yo no me podía trepar a los árboles o correr bicicleta como los demás chicos del barrio, me dediqué a describir cómo treparía el árbol más alto del universo y cómo correría bicicleta hasta la costa más lejana de la isla y después seguiría por el fondo del mar hasta llegar a países lejanos donde el aire fuera generoso con todos, hasta con aquellas a quienes les costaba trabajo respirar. Y así fue como comencé a escribir. Luego se me quitó el asma, pero me quedé con la costumbre. Creo fielmente que fue la escritura quien me devolvió el aliento.

She also shares why sensuality is always centered and present in her novels and states:

Porque la sensualidad es la manera más directa de conectarse con el mundo. Sin los sentidos no vemos, ni olemos, ni tocamos, ni oímos, ni gustamos del mundo. El resto es derivativo. El pensamiento es la huella de los sentidos y a veces su trampa. Por querer escapar de la trampa, regreso a la sensualidad. Quizás así podamos repensar el mundo de una manera más íntegra. Aunque, tampoco soy ingenua. Sé que el cuerpo es un espejo oblicuo y que los sentidos tampoco son el lugar de la pureza, ni del acceso directo a la Verdad. Pero, yo nunca he aspirado a la pureza, y mucho menos a la Verdad. De hecho, las rechazo. No creo que sirvan para mucho, ni la del cuerpo, ni
la de la escritura, ni la de la razón. La pureza y la Verdad son asépticas. Y lo aséptico no es buen caldo de cultivo.

Finally, Santos-Febres shares why she writes primarily in castellano, and I have to admit I really love her answer:

Porque es la única lengua que se me hace propia en estos momentos. Ya me gustaría a mí poder escribir en mi lengua original (¿yoruba?, ¿bantú? ¿alguna otra lengua africana? Con la trata de esclavos se borró la huella de mi origen, así que no sé la lengua original que me correspondería hablar) Pero, por alguna razón nací en Puerto Rico y aquí la lengua literaria, la de resistencia cultural, en la que se expresan las pasiones y las rabias, es el español. Así lo quiso la historia. Además, no me gustaría quitarles su sustento ni su placer a los traductores.

foto credit: almamagazine.com

LatiNegr@s Project: Gwen Ifill

Yes, you read that correctly: Gwen Ifill, journalist, author, newscaster, and, in my opinion, activist. She moderated the 2004 and 2008 US vice-presidential debates and got some critique when her name was announced as moderator because of her book that was released in 2009 about POTUS Obama.

Many don't know that her ethnic background is very much from the Caribbean. Her father is of Panamanian and Bajan decent and her mother is of Bajan decent. I feel as thought I've grown up with Gwen because, well I have. She started early in her career in Baltimore and working with the Washington Post. As many of you know I'm originally from the Washington DC/MD area. I always saw her, and I'll admit that as I grew up I read her as African American, as she is! It was not until I became an adult that I learned of her ethnic background and explored my own. Her existence and representation in the media was very much a part of helping me expand my knowledge and imagery of Blackness and being Caribbean.

What are your memories of Gwen Ifill?

foto credit: pbs.org

LatiNegr@s Project: Piedad Córdoba

Today I would like to highlight a scholar, activist and lawyer Piedad Córdoba from Colombia. Often when we begin grassroot/virtual projects like these we begin with performers and artists. As many of you know, my father is an artist, and I value art in various forms. I also know that there are challenges that may arise if we only focus on artists, it isolates people who may not identify as such and potentially ignores the scholarship they've created.

All this to say that I am conscious of this and am working to include as many people and voices and accomplishments as I know of and I'm looking forward to learning about more from others via the LatiNegr@s Tumblr page (click here to submit something). Let's begin:

Piedad Córdoba is a lawyer and current politician in Colombia (her senate tenure ends this year). Cordoba has worked to challenge and end discrimination and oppression based on gender, race, and sexual orientation. These areas alone are often not discussed separately, let alone together!

She has acted as a mediator between FARC and the Colombian government, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, and like many women who challenge patriarchal rule, status quo, and center historically and currently oppressed groups, has been targeted for all kinds of nonsense (she was kidnapped, allegedly associated to corruption, and is called a "paramilitary" supporter). I'm going to leave your opinions of who she is and the work she's completed up to you because whatever your decision you can't ignore that she is an important person for us to know, recognize, and watch.

Read more about her in Espanol aqui: Senadora Piedad Córdoba

foto credit: vanguardia.com