Afro-Latinos (Boricua y Moreno)

In revelations Roberto Santiago talks about his struggle with identity, in his essay he discusses the struggle of being an Afro Latino not knowing what race to claim as his own. As a child he could never quite understand why white people referred to him as black although he was also Latino, but to other Latinos he was Latino not black. Latinos separated themselves from being black as if to be black is negative. As if Latinos are not part African just like us. The battle with acceptance and his understanding of his own race is identified through situations he encountered in his childhood. A prime example would be when a white woman referred to him as a “Nigger” not understanding the capacity of hate in that word he had received advice from his aunt ( Tia/Ti-Ti). In her statements she subliminally tells her nephew that the need for separation is a mindset and that in the end even with our different culture and skin color we are all the same. He took her advice and decided not to let anyone categorize him into just one group he was a Boricua y Moreno and he loved it and appreciated it. Because in the end he knew no matter what even if black people don’t except him, he can be sure a white person will treat him as if he was black with no knowledge of his Latino heritage. To me this essay touches on a lot of things, 1. The fact that Being Black is looked down upon so degradingly, Black is not taught to others as being beautiful, it’s taught to be depressing and worthless. This keeps black separated from being a part of cultures that are relative to their own native one. 2. In many Latin American Countries discrimination against the Africans that live in the different countries like Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and many more. Many of them identify themselves separately in categories of Mestizo, White, Mulatto, Black, mixed Black-Amerindian, Amerindian, indigenous, and Mayan. To us, they are all Hispanic/Latino but they consider themselves different depending on their skin color. In most countries their census don’t account for the afro Latinos living in the slum parts of the countries listed above, therefore poverty and hunger is prevalent amongst those who are evidently of African descendent. 3. How ignorant white people are to judge people/ or assume that if your skin is dark then your black without even acknowledging that fact that you might be a different ethnicity. They continue to talk about us as if we are unsuccessful, unattractive, unsociable, and ignorant people. They assume that because we are not successful in the same things that they are in that it is of less value. No matter what Africans, Afro-Latinos, African Americans, Afro-Europeans, still have the richest culture and history and are built with skills to survive and make use of what they have to be successful.