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Brooklyn, NYC: Decolonize The Hood

Saturday, May 5 - 4:00 to 7:00 pm

Mayday Space, 176 St Nicholas Ave, Brooklyn

Hosted by G REBLS

Join us for an evening discussing the intricacies of colorism and racism within our communities. We ask you to begin the process of decolonizing our mindsets and building solidarity among all marginalized peoples. Empower yourselves with knowledge and begin work towards actions. This is a safe space for people of color to discuss with and learn from one another. If you feel your presence would interfere with another’s ability to freely express themselves, be mindful. Speakers: Dr. Pamela Fuentes Monica Moorehead Roberto Comacho With special guest Water Protector Owl from the Lenape Nation

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Argentine actress, Libertad Lamarque Bouza (and crew), singing Eliseo Grenet’s “Ay Mamá Inés” in Blackface. The song became a signature of AfroCuban singer and actress Rita Montaner, who also performed on Cuban stages and Mexican-produced movies in Blackface, such as “Angelitos Negros.” Blackface was common in Cuban Zarzuela. • • The song later became the jingle for Puerto Rican coffee, Yaucono, with the original “Todos los Negros tomamos café,” modified to “En Puerto Rico tomamos café.” Complete with the Black mamie imagery. This stereotype is not only limited to the U.S., it is supported and reified by popular Latin American sayings like “trabaja como negra, para vivir como una blanca,” (work like a Black woman, to live like a white woman), A Black woman for work, a mulatta for the bedroom, and a white woman for marriage and “Negro/a PERO fino” (Black BUT refined, as the condition of Blackness is deemed inhuman and incapable—per the casta system as African ancestry was unredeemable in the social hierarchy). It’s all connected and continuously perpetuated in media and academia, societal imaginations, and normalized through everyday social interactions and attitudes on micro and macro levels. • I’ve seen Mamie imagery in every country in Latin America, usually on food packaging, and anything alluding to domestic and sexual labor. The objectified& hypersexualized body, illustrated in the big-breasted, ample-assed, Red-lipped, “Negra” costume (yes, literal costume) seen in Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia and others. • The song talks of looking for Belén whom is thought lives in Jesus Maria but actually lives in El Manglar. Both were areas outside the city walls of Old Havana where AfroCubans were relegated to live in deplorable conditions. El Manglar was literally swamps and mangroves that later became part of the Jesus Maria district. Jesus Maria is still predominantly Black, marginalized and subject to flooding during heavy rains. • FUN FACTS: In Panama (lmk if it’s true in other countries as well!) it’s believed drinking a lot of coffee will make you dark or “too Black.” Grenet composed music for a Josephine Baker production. • • Coffee pic courtesy @d_renee7

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As Susan B. Anthony’s name trends on Twitter — and as people blanket her Rochester, New York, grave in “I Voted” stickers — it’s worth remembering that Anthony’s legacy is a paragon of white feminism. Anthony’s pursuit of women’s rights came with a hefty dose of racism. On its website, the National Women’s History Museum is careful to emphasize that Anthony’s problem wasn’t with black men voting, per se.

follow @the-movemnt

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In this timely interview, Angeley Crawford talks about how many AfroLatin Americans were never confused about their Blackness. Couldn’t afford to be ambivalent on the subject as it has very real and often deadly consequences…across the Diaspora. We see this consistently, whether in Cuba, Panama, Colombia, Puerto Rico, or Mexico. We all face the same social ills no matter our geography as anti-Blackness knows no borders. She points out, critical to mention, that in *this* iteration of the “AfroLatinx Movement” in the United States, that is, as Latin America has always had social movements centering negritud, the focus is on the mestizaje-fluidity confounding the “question” of race. For many, this was never even a question. We knew the answer. True to white supremacy’s function and power dynamic, Blackness and whiteness know exactly where they belong on the spectrum and she speaks to the Casta activity her students did where they arranged themselves on the spectrum of phenotype, color, and class and how this informs the access one has positioning their proximity to whiteness. The ones closer to whiteness and the ones furthest from whiteness unequivocally knew what time it was as this is the very utility of race. Angeley elaborates: “Whiteness does not differentiate and Blackness is not confused. Let’s have these hard conversations. Let’s live in the tensions that the work of decolonization requires. As the homie @diasporadash said “There is space in understanding the high cost of claiming blackness in anti black nations and space in acknowledging that many of us survived by arming ourselves in it.” We must continue to complicate the narrative.”

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AfroCuban Yoruba Tambor Presentation -Havana

@rashidzakat beautifully captured one of our Tambor presentations where we explain each of the drums used for Yoruba Orisha worship during drumming ceremonies, the history and significance of these “toques,” songs, and chants through the patakins and demonstrations of how each Orisha dances. All artists are working musicians and practitioners of Yoruba, Palo Monte, and Abakua. Many of our clients from the Diaspora gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for rituals they always witnessed growing up but may have never known the meaning.

We have participants of various walks of life and many find stunning similarities between their spirituality and Yoruba! We invite you to delve deeper as we warmly invite you to a practitioner’s home, sharing space while respecting certain sacred elements that non-initiates should not be privy to, as this was a major reason for the religion’s survival. Go beyond the misconceptions portrayed of our ancestral legacies, straight from life-long practitioners. Hola@AfroLatinoTravel.com to book

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Our ORGULLOSAMENTE AFRODESCENDIENTE shirt is back! Order now, Available until January 30th. On Sale for $20 

Buy HERE

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If you’d like to host a talk and screening of NEGRO: A docu-series about Latino Identity between February 14-March 7, get in touch! I’ll be screening in various U.S. cities during said timeframe. #negrodocumentary #afrolatinx #latinx #colorism #latinamerica #latina #latino

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El Morro, our neighborhood vianda pusher. my partner, Yuco, gets jealous of the copious gifts of platano, aguacate, malanga and others that he rains upon me at least 4 times a week. If it ain't cash, platano is a close second I guess. He wakes up at 4am daily to provide for his twins, step-daughter and the one on the way. He has dinner at our house multiple times a month as there may not be enough food at *his* house. We have the rice, beans and meat and he'll bring over the juice or soda (aside from the fruits and root vegetables he gives us). Rice and beans are ubiquitous but meat is not. Folks like coming to our house, because they know when they cross that threshold they're getting a plate, as is customary in Cuba anyway as you don't know if your guest has even had one meal that day. I've been told Cubans are lucky if they eat twice in a day. And of course, the Yuma (the foreigner -me!) demands chicken and fish, so the eating is good. I've had enough with porky. I often describe the country as the land of pork, pay-offs and power shortages. Once, we had friends over and I asked if they wanted tuna or pork and they laughed at me for 10 minutes straight and still retell the story to anyone who would listen. Yuco goes, "How you gonna ask someone if they want TUNA or pork, Dash... If the usual meal is arroz con huevo? You know you were coming off that good fish!" In any case, El Morro has to ensure his wife has $5 daily for diapers in a country where the average salary is $20-$40 a month. Why work? I've heard...when you can make more money "inventando." Lo que sea... jiñetando, bringing tourists to restaurants, selling things...or yourself. Cubans have so very little access to money that they even "raspar" and rip-off one another. And this is one of the reasons why tourist areas are policed so heavily. We were leaving a hotel a few months ago and Yuco was quoted $10 for the ride to our house. He lost it. "PERO YO SOY CUBANO! NONONONONO I'll call the police MYSELF he threatened. 911? Yes, come arrest these descarado taxistas." It was my turn to laugh. El Morro is a common nickname, referring to ones melanin-rich skin and the straight-wavy texture of their hair. Also known as "pelo bueno" 🙄

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The Muñecas Negras (Black Doll) Exhibition at the Regresando A La Raiz conference at the Old Havana Library, November 23, 2017. Your book and Black doll donations were pivotal in the success of this event that we aim to continue doing not only in Cuba but in other Latin American countries where this representation is direly needed as well! This program sprang from @afrolatinotravel ’s year-round initiative Brown Dolls and Books for Brown Children, now in its fourth year come 2018, and a collaborative effort with AfroCuban Organization, El Club Espendru. Thank you to@lumpkinsherri of Ragbaby Exchange for the powerful workshop on self-image and affirming identity through doll-making! Next one in Panama 2018 🇵🇦  Want to collaborate and bring this programming to your home country? Hit us at Hola [at] afrolatinotravel.com

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Reading a new book, another thoughtful gift from @insertcleverhandle In the glossary came across “chucho.” We know that “dando chucho” or “dar chucho” in Cuban slang is to make fun of/ go in on somebody. So apparently historically “chucho” was “the common house-whip, which every lady has at hand, for household use. It resembles our riding whip, the thong is made of twisted leather, and is generally painted green or red.” The depths of Africaneity and our interaction with colonization in our everyday languages...

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...which is 300,000 self-identify as Black. 

Sasha Antonetti speaking on Loiza’s devastation before and after Irma, documented by PR on the Map. www.PRontheMap.com

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A Chinese-Cuban Babalawo in the film Mulata (1954).

In Cuba, the Chinese who arrived as indentured servants mixed socially with Africans and their descendants and some became initiated into Afro-Diasporic religions. There was also a significant adoption of Chinese cultural and religious objects, not the least of which being Chinese porcelain pots, into Lukumi - including syncretism between several Chinese deities and the Orisha. Today there are still Chinese-Cuban Babalawos practicing in Havana’s Chinatown.

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Our 2018 AfroCuba dates are out! Tag your travel partner and see the real Cuba 🇨🇺 Hola@AfroLatinoTravel.com for more information #cuba #havana #afrocuba #blacktravel #orisha #yoruba #vinales #santamaria #regla #cuba #afrolatinotravel

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@nola_african_indian_heritage is shutting down. Thank you for sharing New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian culture with the world via IG.

#Repost @nola_african_indian_heritage (@get_repost) ・・・ Uptown Super Sunday 2017 #supersunday2017 #uptownsupersunday #NewOrleans #African #Indians #uptown #stjosephsnight #mardigrasindians #Heritage #Nola #culture #tradition #Nola_African_Indian_Heritage #newsuit #popthatneedle #prettypretty #feathers #igersneworleans #follow #creative #closeup #thednalife #Nola #culture #tradition #lovemynola #illgrammers_photoftheday # http://ift.tt/2sYXrCB Follow #ADPhD on IG: @afrxdiasporaphd

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Caribbean Brazilians

SOURCE: https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Caribbean%20Brazilians

Caribbean Brazilians(Portuguese: Caraíba-brasileiro, Caribenho brasileiro) refers to Brazilians of full, partial, or predominantly Caribbean ancestry, or Caribbean-born people residing in Brazil. Many Caribbean Brazilians are of Barbadian descent.[1]

Migration history

During the rubber boom in the Brazilian Amazon, between 1880 and 1912, the construction of a railroad linking the Madeira River in Brazil to the Mamore River inBolivia was undertaken to solve the problem of rubber transportation in that region. The railway would help to get the Bolivian rubber out of the jungle, past the rapids on the Madeira and then reach the navigable part of the river in Porto Velho, in the state of Rondônia. For the construction of the Madeira-Mamoré railroad, many African-Caribbean workers, especially from Barbados, were taken to that part of theBrazilian Amazon. The enterprise was first a British project but later was controlled by the American Percival Farquhar who had a Brazilian business empire.

This adventure in the Amazon brought about the death of about six thousand workers, caused by attacks from Indigenous Amerindian tribes, malaria and many other diseases.

The term Barbadian, in fact, was used as a globalizing identification attributed to the foreign Blacks who went to the Amazon from several parts of the Caribbean, mainly Barbados, but also from Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Martinique, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. They migrated, or rather were taken, to the Brazilian state of Rondônia which was a wilderness in the beginning of the twentieth century.

It was a migration motivated by work, by the search for a new life, causing the rupture of family roots and culture as well as producing a feeling of displacement and lack of emotional ties. Their job was to cut the railway through the mainly terrain of Rio Abuna. Under the order of the English engineer, Collier, the Caribbeans worked hard for the American enterprise.

SOURCE: https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Caribbean%20Brazilians

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A Tribute to Women of the African Diaspora 

Our 5th edition of the AfroLatino Fest celebrates the contributions made by Afrodescendants from Latin America, the Caribbean & the diaspora.

This  year's AfroLatino Fest, taking place July 7th & 8th includes:

Milly Quezada, Alison Hinds, Amara la Negra, Susana Baca, DJ Bembona, Carolina Camacho and many many more!

Hosted by @bad-dominicana 

Only 2 days left. Make your pledge right now! It is all or nothing! Your pledge is your ticket to the fest. If you'd like to be a vendor and showcase your business your pledge will also get you to do just that. Ad space is available as well! 

Please share far and wide!

LINK:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1912889897/the-afro-latino-festival-nyc-2017-5th-edition

-Dash

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