My story is going to be unlike many other Afro-Latinas because I wasn’t able to really “Grow up Latina.” I was adopted when I was just a baby (1.5 years old) and was raised by a Jamaican family. But, even though most of my experience growing up was through the eyes and arms of another…
Tag: African Diaspora
Gordita Si, Fea No – On Being a Plus Size Afro-Latina – Marlena M. Matute
While I identify as Afro-Latina today, my parents never really bothered to explain the race component of our background. I find that to be interesting, considering they are both of African descent, thanks in part to the Afro-Antillean migration in Panama for the construction of the Canal, and my mother is of the Ngäbe-Buglé (Guaymi)…
My Greatest Insecurity: Speaking Spanish – Kiandra Valladares
When my parents moved to Poinciana, Florida from New York City, I was not prepared for the transition at all. I was accustomed to seeing Black faces at every corner and in my circle of cousins, aunts and uncles. We had a Winn Dixie, one gas station and one main road to get in and…
Meet Destiny Corporan: Afro-Dominican Tarot Reader and Reiki Master
Spiritual Healing is an essential practice that many use to contribute to improving their overall wellbeing and helps with having better health. From yoga, medidiation, tarot reading and so much more there are endless opportunities to help with your individual healing. It is a space so many souls gravitate to looking for change, transformation and…
Standing Proud in My Afro-Panamanian Identity – Tiffanie Perea
My name is Tiffanie Samone Perea. I was born and raised in Staten Island, New York. I always knew my father was from Panama. I’m really not sure how to explain how I could be surrounded by family but the sounds from our mouths weren’t the same. They loved me and kissed me and spoke…
Afro, Si! Latina? Onde? – Luana Fernandes Neely
I vividly remember the first time I heard ‘Latina’ in a way that pertained to me, I was seven and my mother was on the phone venting to my Godmother about how my school kept spelling my name wrong, “F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-S not F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E- Z” for context, I was a predominantly Hispanic school in Arizona so the…
I Am Black and, Yes! I Speak Spanish. – Marcela Bermudez
How are you Black and speak Spanish? “Honduras? Is that in Mexico?” “I didn’t know that Black people speak Spanish” If I were to get a dollar each time, I heard any of those phrases or questions, I would be extra rica con dinero right now. These questions and comments that I have heard all…
Afro-Latinas Stand Up – Amy Rodriguez
Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, I never had a reference for an “AfroLatina”. You were either black or you were of Latin descent.That was just the way it was. I grew up being Latina en la casa, and Black in the streets. My mother being the only one in her family who migrated…
Owning My Afro-Latinidad, Unapologetically — Monique Soto
By: Monique Soto — I am a proud Black and Puerto Rican – an Afro Latina! It has taken a long time for me to love and accept my heritage and descent until this point in my life. I had my fair share of identity struggles. My father is Puerto Rican from Rio…
La Afro-Mexicana de Santa Ana – Crisma Petatan
By Crisma Petatan — “One of the questions I get asked the most is “What are you?” I am asked this question after I start speaking Spanish. I have brown skin and afro hair. When people see me, they see a black woman and black women in America only speak English right? Well that…
