Afro-Latinos are making an effort to educate their Latino communities on what it means to be of Afro-Latino descent and trying to change the white image of the Latino culture. But as a Latina in search of “Afro”, I guess the better question now is, what does it mean to be an Afro-Latina? I found an interesting article on Latina.com, Negra & Beautiful: The Unique Challenges Faced By Afro-Latina’s where the preconceptions of what it means to be a Latina are challenged. The article was written by Damarys Ocaña Perez, where she states that “It doesn’t help that despite the high-profile black Latinas making it in Hollywood and other industries, black Latinas are rarely seen as such in movies (many black Latina actresses play African Americans on screen) and in ads, which generally depict Latinos as light-brown hued.”
BuzzFeed created 21 Struggles All Afro-Latinos Know To Be True and the first point resonated with me, “People either think you’re black or Latino; never both.” Like I’ve stated in part one of What Does It Mean to Be Afro-Latino? At first glance I am always categorized as black. When I speak Spanish, I am often surrounded by astound faces, constantly met with “omg where are you from?” “Where did you learn to speak Spanish?” and my personal favorite “Your’re Latina!? Since when?” Which got me to thinking, I don’t look Latina because of the color of my skin? Is that it? If so, what’s a Latina supposed to look like? And why is there only one image of such a diverse culture?
First of all, I search for the definition of Afro-Latino. Latin times defines Afro-Latino as being “people with African descent whose origins are in Latin America and the Caribbean. Note that it is much more about where people and their ancestors came from, than it is about language or where they live.” But black ancestry is swept under the rug in Latin/Hispanic countries and even as far as being denied by darker skinned Latinos’.
But Kelvin Roja’s believes that there has been improvement in the Latino community. In Roja’s interview with the Latino Fox News Black History Month:New Generation Of Afro-Latinos Tackles Race And Identity, “The racial thinking that has been engrained in older generations of Latinos is not as pronounced in younger generations, who are pushing to recognize, learn about and define what it means to be Afro-Latino.” But even though there has been some improvement and ownership of our black ancestry, there is still a lot of ground still to cover.
I later learned that many other darker skinned Latino’s feel like they have to prove that they are Latinos, they are made to feel like they need to validate their heritage. I’ve never felt this way personally but I have gone through the same. In sense, speaking Spanish to other Latinos is a form of validation and a search for acceptance. Yet, with so many Spanish-speaking countries and people, the image of what a Latino “looks like” will hopefully one day encompass all shades of brown.
