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This year’s theme for Hispanic Heritage month is Unidos: Inclusivity for a stronger Nation. Latin America is home to the largest black population outside of Africa.
History: As the world has reflected on Queen Elizabeth’s legacy, you may have conflicting feelings specific to the monarchy’s impact and participation in the colonization of certain cultures and countries. The Hispanic and Latin community have been having these same conversations regarding los conquistadores (the Spaniards). Hence why you see the community identify in many ways – Hispanic and Latino/x/e.
Colonialism happens when one nation subjugates another, taking control of the population and exploiting it while forcing the conquered people to accept the colonizing country’s language (Spanish), religion (Catholicism) and culture (holidays) over its own native ideas.
Portugal and Spain were also involved in the trading of enslaved Africans, which is reflected in countries all throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. In Latin America’s colonial period, about 15 times as many African slaves were taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies than to the U.S. About 130 million people of African descent live in Latin America, and they make up roughly a quarter of the region’s total population, according to recent estimates.
Present Day: According to the Pew Research Center, there are about 6 million Afro-Latino adults in the United States, and they made up about 2% of the U.S. adult population and 12% of the adult Latino population. About one-in-seven Afro-Latinos – or an estimated 800,000 adults – do not identify as Hispanic.
Similar to the United States the black and indigenous population has been treated unfairly for generations and continue to face discrimination. “American racism is largely based on physical differences, while racism in Latino communities erases and denies different racial groups” a quote from the Washington Post; highlighting how the U.S. census ignores Afro-Latino’s. A recent Code Switch episode, Can therapy solve racism? Shares the story of two Latinx people who tried to combat anti-Blackness in their own lives.
Salsa Warm-up!
La Rebelion by Joe “El Joe” Arroyo. This 1986 salsa classic tells the story of how black love started a slave revolt in Latin America. Lyrics translated in English.
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