{"id":43622,"date":"2015-10-31T00:53:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T00:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=43622"},"modified":"2015-10-31T00:54:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T00:54:34","slug":"la-melaza-que-llora-how-to-keep-the-term-afro-latino-from-losing-its-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=43622","title":{"rendered":"La melaza que llora: How to Keep the Term Afro-Latino from Losing Its Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

La melaza que llora: How to Keep the Term Afro-Latino from Losing Its Power<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Latino Rebels<\/a>
\n2015-10-16<\/p>\n

Jason Nichols<\/strong><\/a>, Lecturer in African American Studies
\nUniversity of Maryland<\/em><\/p>\n

Me quiere hacer pensar\/ que soy parte de una trilog\u00eda racial\/ donde todo el mundo es igual\/ sin trato especial\/ se perdonar\/ eres t\u00fa que no sabe disculpar\/ so, como justifica tanto mal\/ es que tu historia es vergonzosa\/ Entre otras cosas\/ cambiaron las cadenas por esposas \u2014Tego Calderon, \u201cLoiza\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recently, it has become en vogue for Latinos (Latinx) to acknowledge their African \u201croots.\u201d This understanding is a leap forward in racial formation for many in a region that is often known for hiding their Black grandmother in the closet. However, acknowledging her existence doesn\u2019t always mean taking her out from behind that closed door.<\/p>\n

Rosa Clemente<\/a> is one of the first to contextualize Afro-Latinidad<\/a> as an identity that is becoming more what she calls \u201ctrendy\u201d than progressive. The Bronx<\/a>-born Puerto Rican activist alludes to the fact that Afro-Latino identity has fed into, rather than disrupted the myth of a multicultural democracy<\/a> that is often the dominant narrative in Latin America<\/a>. Puerto Ricans and some other Latino groups have always acknowledged that they have African ancestry, but it is couched in the idea that the people are a perfect blend of the African slave, proud and noble Spaniard, and the humble native Ta\u00edno<\/a>. This conception is problematic because it is a convenient way to deny institutional and in some cases individual racism. When Venezuelan TV personality Rodner Figueroa called Michelle Obama \u201cplanet of the apes,\u201d<\/a> he quickly defended himself from accusations of racism<\/a> by stating that he comes from a racially plural family. Clemente doesn\u2019t reject the term Afro-Latino completely, but states that there is a difference between identifying as Afro-Latino and identifying as Black, with the latter being a more progressive racial identity. Unlike many who believe in Latin multiracial democracy, Clemente states that she does not acknowledge the Spaniards<\/a> in her lineage because she would \u201cnever claim my rapist.\u201d…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La melaza que llora: How to Keep the Term Afro-Latino from Losing Its Power Latino Rebels 2015-10-16 Jason Nichols, Lecturer in African American Studies University of Maryland Me quiere hacer pensar\/ que soy parte de una trilog\u00eda racial\/ donde todo el mundo es igual\/ sin trato especial\/ se perdonar\/ eres t\u00fa que no sabe disculpar\/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,12,21,459,14646,8,6940,394,20],"tags":[21709,21708,17998,9847],"class_list":["post-43622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropology","category-articles","category-latincarib","category-history","category-latino","category-media-archive","category-slavery","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-afrolatinidad","tag-jason-nichols","tag-latino-rebels","tag-rosa-clemente"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43623,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43622\/revisions\/43623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}