This will be a 60-minute psychoeducational and process session to celebrate “Afro Latinidad.”
We want to provide space where joy and liberation are experienced as a form of resistance and resilience. We will also dialogue about ways to resist anti-Black “racismo” and “colorismo” through problematizing the “fallacy of a raceless Latinidad.” We will explore anti-Blackness as the backbone for the “mejorar la raza” ideology and how itperpetuates the exclusion and alienation of Afro Latinx people. We want to take a stand to celebrate cross cultural differences among African American and Latinx ethnicities without creating division that is often rooted in white supremacy. We also want to recognize how our language perpetuates anti-Blackness and explore how to build community and solidarity with one another. The session will include a short video, opportunities for reflection, and a creative act of resistance to center Blackness within our Latinx communities. While some communities celebrate and express curiosity and admiration of the legacy of our African roots in our Latinx culture, little is being done to uplift and advocate for Afro Latinx voices in our communities. We will focus on how to move beyond this to a truer celebration of Afro Latinidad and its profound contributions to the Latinx culture.
Presented by: Stephanie Lopez Torres, M.S.; Adrian Valadez, M.S.; Zully A. Rivera Ramos, PhD
