"With the exception of the local corner bar, which they could patronize, Black Cubans did not share recreational activities with white Cubans. They were not hired as clerks or even as menial help in the restaurants. There were no Black Cuban entrepreneurs, except for a tailor, a barber and a very successful dry-cleaning establishment," Grillo says in the book. "In the main, Black Cubans and white Cubans lived apart from one another in Ybor City." While slavery may have been different in Cuba, Afro-Cubans wound up with a social status not much different from that of African Americans. Even Blacks who were financially successful had to deny their ethnicity in order to be accepted within Cuba's white society: "In Cuba, affluent Black Cubans moved within the society of the affluent. 'Es Negro, pero es Negro blanco' ['He is a Black man, but he is a white Black man'] was an expression I heard often."
Latin Americans of African descent, often referred to as Afro-Latinos, synchronized their African traditions with Latin culture, creating enduring African roots throughout Latin America. For example, Cuba's Santeria religious tradition traces its roots to Nigeria's Yoruba. Mofongo, Puerto Rico's savory fried plantain dish, is of West African origin. And the Dominican Republic's signature sound, merengue, developed from strong African rhythms. Today, New York City is the home of most of the United States' 4 million Afro-Latinos. In addition to being the center of Puerto Rican and Dominican culture in the country, New York City is also where Afro-Latinos from throughout the Diaspora reside.
Vesey knew the horrors of slavery first hand. Since he had lived in St. Dominique as a youth, he followed the events there with particular interest. Men from the area and surrounding plantations would attack the city, take control of the guardhouse and block the bridges and roads, killing every white person in sight.
The IACHR's report found that there are some 150 million people of African descent in the Americas- we make up some 30 percent of the total population in the hemisphere. However, studies by the World Bank show that a person's racial background continues to determine the social and economic stations they can obtain in the Americas. One long-lasting problem has been the tact that many Afro -Latinos in particular live in nations that perpetuate the myth that they are the citizens of racial democracies, "The idea," read the report, "according to which ... there is no racism because ... all races and cultures melted into a happy combination."
During the convention, the Department of Tourism will sponsor a special Founders' Reception at the African-American Museum, where the 44 men and women who gathered to form NABJ at a historic meeting on Dec. 12, 1975, in Washington, D.C, will be honored.
Gates notes the striking difference between the numerous statues of European colonists, and even the whitening of the image of Dominicans who have any African heritage in the Dominican Republic, and the statues of Black Haitian independence leaders throughout Haiti.
HH4H has been developed as a national fundraising event throughout the hip-hop community set for Saturday, January 30, when the youth and hip-hop communities of 32 major cities will host events to raise money, relief and awareness for the loss and suffering in Haiti.
The Hostos Community College Foundation, with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Hostos Student Government Association, the Black Student Union, the Black Studies Unit/Humanities Department, and the Black Male Initiative are proud to present a Black revival event with a special performance by Katia Cadet on Thursday, February 18 at 7 p.m. The concert will be held at Hostos Repertory Theater, located at 450 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York.
Connecting media workers and the hospitality industry of the Caribbean with communications professionals in the African-American community is expected to generate powerful synergies, as two productive, professional cultures enrich journalism and public relations in both geographic areas while simultaneously increasing African-American travel to the Caribbean region.
Ever since Dr. Daniels founded the Haiti Support Project and recently revived IBW (where he is president), his ingenuity in forging ties between Black America and the island nation have led to a number of magnificent events, including several cruises, tours, relief efforts, charitable donations, and adopting a sister city, Milot in northern Haiti, which provided his patrons an opportunity to visit Sans Souci and the mighty fortress built by King Christophe.
The month's activities organized include a Global Reggae Conference hosted at the University of the West Indies' Mona Campus, featuring musician Gilberto Gil, now Brazil's minister of culture, and a Reggae Film Festival hosted by Jamaica's Ministry of Information and Culture.
Etu Evans is founder of The Etu Evans Foundation and Solesville, Inc. The Etu Evans Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the academic and creative endeavors of individuals by providing them with quality footwear to help enhance their professional attire.
Colorful scenes of the island of Martinique flashed across the screen in the semi- darkness of the Schomburg Center last Wednesday evening at the kick-off of the first annual International Caribbean Diaspora (ICD) Film, Theatre & Literary Festival. On the screen, the Caribbean scenery transformed into the riveting images of the popular, Emmy Award-winning, Tony-nominated actor Keith David in some of the films in which he has appeared, such as "There's Something About Mary," "Pitch Black" and "Requiem for a Dream." At the Wednesday evening screening, of "A Dry White Season," David introduced [Euzhan Palcy], as the audience enthusiastically welcomed the esteemed, brilliant, beautiful and regal filmmaker, who had flown in from Paris after literally completing post-production on "Les Mariées de lisies Bourbon" ("The Brides of Bourbon Island") a French, three-hour period piece set in the 17th century. Palcy introduced "A Dry White Season," a political drama set in South Africa during the apartheid era. The film, which stars Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Zakes Mokae and Susan Sarandon, is a story that focuses on the social movements of South Africa and the Soweto riots. The film was "heralded for putting the politics of apartheid into meaningful, human terms." The film, which was heartily received by the audience, is a classic. It is still as timely today as when it was first release in 1989.
The trailblazer, born in Spanish Harlem, who said she always knew she was "Puerto Rican and Black," started her journey in the '70s to learn more about her roots. She revealed that back then she personally felt she "didn't fit anywhere" because of a lack of knowledge of self and that she "looked around" and noticed her African-descendent students were suffering the same dilemma. Years later, the critically acclaimed scholar, who holds a doctorate from Temple University, is a published author of "When the Spirits Dance Mambo" and "The Altar of My Soul," also a film documentarían for "When the Spirits Dance Mambo," world traveler and a Lucumi/Santeria priestess initiated in Cuba. She's also an associate adjunct professor of AfroLatino studies at Hunter College and a co-director there of the Afro-Latino Global Initiative.
Commemorating the Bi-Centenary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the exhibition called "Lest We Forget: The Triumph over Slavery" serves as a historic canvas portraying the horrific experience of the enslaved Africans during the 'triangular' slave trade between Europe, Africa and the U.S. during the 15th through 19th centuries. The exhibition, which opened to a packed room, included speeches by His Excellency Ambassador Philip Sealy, Permanent Representative of Trinidad & Tobago to the UN who serves as chair of the CARICOM Caucus; His Excellency, Ambassador Joe Robert Pemagbi, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the UN, and chairman of the African Group of States; and Ambassador Nirupam Sen, Permanent Representative of India to the UN.
Resolutions have been passed to add the "Day of Africa" and "Day of the Black Women in Latin America and the Caribbean" to the official calendar of events in São Paulo, Brazil, thanks to the efforts of São Paulo City Councilwoman Claudete Alves.
"We're trying to work in compliance with the principles of Durban," Judge [Graciela Dixon], the current president of Panama's Supreme Court, said. "There's an emphasis on establishing the precise policies our countries need to assure inclusion for African descendants in Latin America." Late last year, Congresswoman Campbell hosted some 75 delegates from 20 countries who came to Costa Rica to attend the third Conference of Afro-Descendant Legislators in the Americas and the Caribbean. "I don't come from the activist Afro tradition," [Edgard Ortuno Silva] confesses, "but from the militant tradition of change. I admit that what has happened to me is that I overcame the problems of Blacks in Uruguay, of people of my skin color. And most people who have overcome no longer have a consciousness of being Black. But in my case, the political process I have been a part of made me aware of the African activist movement and I have talked with them and they have made me conscious."
The Caribbean branch of the Toronto-based Global Afrikan Congress (GAC) this week welcomed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on the horrors of slavery, saying he has done much more for the cause than "our own" Black-led governments in the region on the issue. Maxie Fox, a spokesman for the GAC formed in Barbados in 2002, said the GAC and other Afro organizations have been trying for years to persuade regional governments to "have a discourse" on slavery, its effects on Blacks and even reparations, but only Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, a Hindu, has seen it fit to acknowledge correspondence.
The political awareness of Afro Cubans remains exclusively tied to the Revolution. "And [Fidel Castro] is the one sustaining the Revolution: the reason Cuba is so strong is because of Fidel," said a prominent U.S.-based Afro Latino journalist who preferred not to be named. "After Fidel, the Cubans in Miami will simply pounce on the island," this journalist contends. "They have connections in Cuba; they have their people in place in Cuba already. When they take over they're going to be opening up the political arena to the U.S. again. Cuba has ostensibly been "independent" since Dec. 10, 1898, following decades of fighting between the nation's independence army, the Cuba Libre, and Spain. By 1898, the war was between Spain and the United States, but Cubans had declared their independence as early as Oct. 10, 1868. At that time, they'd also called for the island to end its enslavement of Black people, but emancipation from slavery was not made law until Oct. 7, 1886.
