Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Poitier]

Uruguay: Afrodescendent Women Face Disproportionate Challenges

"While policies to combat poverty have been able to improve the living standards of all people, the inequality gap remains,” said a government official.
The rate of unemployment among Afrodescendent women in Uruguay is more than double the national average at 14 percent, according to data released Friday by the country's Social Development Ministry, known as Mides.

"The unemployment rate for the non-African population is 6.6 percent, in comparison to 14 percent among Black women,” said Ana Karina Moreira of Uruguay's Mides, who focuses on Afrodescendent issues. “We continue to see how racial identity is an important factor of inequality.”

While income levels in Uruguay increased 36 percent from 2006 to 2013, bumping it into the category of a high-income country, and poverty in the capital dropped by 52 percent in the same period, inequalities remain.



“Persistent inequalities: Statistics on the situation of Afrodescendent women in Uruguay.” Top to bottom, statistics indicate: Women in poor households, unemployment rate, women with post-secondary education, and single parent woman-headed households.

During an event in the capital Montevideo to mark the International Day of Afro-Latina, Afrocaribbean, and Diaspora Women on Saturday, Moreira advocated for increased national visibility for Afrodescendent women and the issues they face.

RELATED: Latin American Afrodescendent Women Unite, Fight Discrimination

Moreira also stressed that outside of unemployment, Afrodescendent women are disproportionately employed in low-paying jobs.

"African women living in poor households are 21.1%, while non-African women in the same situation are 8.5%," she said.

In Uruguay, 9.7 percent of the population live below the poverty line, but the figure is most than double among the country's Afrodescendent population at 20.2 percent living in poverty, according to government data.

"While policies to combat poverty have been able to improve the living standards of all people, the inequality gap remains,” warned Moreira. “If we do not generate targeted policies with particular attention to the issue, universal policies do not work.”

The government statement is in line with a need identified by the regional UNDP project Afrodescendant Population of Latin America for improved cultural visibility and political recognition of Afro-Latinos' ways of life to combat socioeconomic inequality and unequal access to citizenship rights.

RELATED: Lessons of Black Internationalism from Central America

According to UNDP data, Afrodescendents make up between 20 and 30 percent of the population of Latin America. Due to the region's history of colonization, migration, and slavery, defining categories of race and identity can be complex.

Afro-Latinos, especially Afrodescendent women, face multiple socioeconomic barriers and are often disproportionately impacted by poverty. Afro-Latinos, women, and indigenous people are among the poorest and most marginalized in Latin America.

 

[Poitier]

Latin American Afrodescendent Women Unite, Fight Discrimination

Summit organizers say public policy is needed to tackle the "pandemic of aggression" against Afro-Latina women.
Afrodescendent women of Latin America are coming together to combat the common exclusion and marginalization they face in their respective countries.

The first Latin American Afrodescendent Women Leaders’ Summit taking place from Friday to Sunday in Managua, Nicaragua looks to unite women and organizations from the region to to adopt a shared political platform.



“Get all the details in real time following the hashtag #CumbreMujerAfro.”
Photo: 1st Summit of Afrodescendent Women Leaders of the Americas, June 26-28 in Nicaragua. Afrodescendents: Recognition, Justice, and Development.

The platform will be a women's activist network to share information, issues, and concerns centered around 17 interrelated themes including Black women's rights and protection, health, education, the environment, poverty reduction, and access to public services, among other issues.

According to organizers, at least 270 women from 22 different countries are expected to attend the inaugural summit, including community organizers, governors, judges, and other leaders.

RELATED: Afro-Latinas Work for Cultural Survival

“We have a very diverse representation of women,” said Dorotea Wilson, coordinator of the Network of Afroamerican, Afrocaribbean, and Diasporic Women that organized the summit.

Although activists recognize that their have been advances in Afrodescendent women's rights in the region, organizers say there are still great inequalities and injustices due to ongoing racial exclusion, discrimination, and violence that must be addressed.

“There must be laws to reduce this pandemic of aggression against us,” said Wilson, a Nicaraguan leader who works to give visibility to Afrocaribbean and Afro-Latina women.



“The coordination of the Network of Afrolatinamerican, Afrocaribbean, and Diasporic Women at the Afro-Women Summit.”

The regional UNDP project Afrodescendant Population of Latin America has identified the need to for improved cultural visibility and political recognition of Afro-Latinos' ways of life to combat socioeconomic inequality and unequal access to citizenship rights.

RELATED: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

According to UNDP data, Afrodescendents make up between 20 and 30 percent of the population of Latin America. Due to the region's history of colonization, migration, and slavery, defining categories of race and identity can be complex.

Afro-Latinos, especially Afrodescendent women, face multiple socioeconomic barriers and are often disproportionately impacted by poverty. Afro-Latinos, women, and indigenous people are among the poorest and most marginalized in Latin America.

 

[Poitier]

In New York, Festival Celebrates and Empowers Afro-Latinos

The festival aims to educate, affirm and empower Afro-Latino communities in the U.S.
For a third consecutive year, a festival is bringing together African descendants from Latin America and the Caribbean to affirm, educate and celebrate the culture, history and values of Afro-Latinos in the U.S.

According to the organizers, the festival serves to highlight the often neglected diversity within the Latin American diaspora and provide a space to recognize and celebrate what is also called Afrolatinidad.

“One of our panelists and artists, DJ Asho, mentioned that often times when we come to the United States as Latinos we don’t talk enough about our micro-identities,” Mai-Elka Prado, founder and organizer of the Afro-Latino Festival, told TeleSUR English. “Yet, Latinos have such diverse experiences, and the African experience is an important aspect of that.”




The event, a three-day festival that will conclude Sunday, brings together artists in New York City from 10 different countries and includes panel discussions, documentaries, culinary sessions, music performances and art exhibits unique to Afro-Latino communities.

RELATED: Afro-Latinas Work for Cultural Survival

“We wanted to provide a platform that celebrated and acknowledged the many aspects of what it means to be Afrolatino. It's very important to us to create a space for all that, and always with the clear intention of educating, affirming, and empowering our community,” Prado added.





On its inaugural day, the festival honored high-profile members of the Afro-Latino community, including the New York Times Bureau Chief for Mexico Randal Archibold, Founder and Director of the Caribbean Cultural Center and African Diaspora Institute Dr. Marta Moreno Vega and prize-winning poet Willie Perdomo.

U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who is among the honorees, praised the festival for doing the work of recognizing the contributions of Afro-Latinos that, in her eyes, mainstream society denies.

“I recognize the valued contributions that Afrolatinos have made in our civil society, and how their presence has really been somewhat muted, has not been given the recognition and acknowledgment for all that … It is very important, particularly given where we are in our civil society, that we continue to support efforts like these,” said Clarke.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:

"http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/In-New-York-Festival-Celebrates-and-Empowers-Afro-Latinos-20150711-0025.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

 

[Poitier]

Blaxican: The Revolutionary Identity of Black Mexicans

Walter Thompson-Hernandez shares with teleSUR English the often-forgotten faces and stories of Black Mexicans, or Blaxicans, in the United States.
Walter Thompson-Hernandez often sees a reflection of himself in the stories his camera captures. Boldly staring into the lens of his camera, Black Mexican, or Blaxican, men and women slowly unveil a bit of themselves to him.

"I ethnically identify as Afro-Mexican. Racially, I embrace my Blackness as here in LA that is typically how I am read and what my experience is,” reads one of the photo stories now available on Instagram gallery known as “Blaxicans of Los Angeles.”

“The identity of Afro-Mexican acknowledges my African roots as well as the land we live on, though claimed by America, belongs historically to indigenous Mexican peoples.”

As the child of an African-American father and a non-black Mexican mother, the stories resonate with Thompson-Hernandez who started the Instagram page as an academic research project for the University of South Carolina, but found himself personally drawn to the project to understand the complexities of race and ethnicity in a country that often sees both as one and the same thing.



When we think of race, people tend to conflate ethnicity and race, and tend to think of the two as one,” he told teleSUR.

“We have to recognize that Blackness in this country is usually described and understood in the African-American experience. We cannot sit here and exceptionalize that experience, we have to recognize other experiences like that of Afro-Latinos, who are often not considered Black in this country.”

RELATED: Meet Miles Morales, Marvel's First Black Latino Spider-Man

Experiences like these, according to the researcher, challenge the rigid definitions of race in the U.S. and allow people to understand that ethnicity and race are distinct, albeit possibly intersecting experiences. Afro-Mexicans, in this sense, “represent a very distinct population who see the world in a different lense. Their music, their culture, their food, might be Mexican but it's also distinctly from the African experience, the fusion of African ancestry.”

The project is aimed at a Latino audience, he says, with the hope it can diversify and complicate the idea of what it conventionally means to be Mexican--”that often is a mestizo, with fair skin and dark hair,” he added.



In what Thompson-Hernandez described as a “strictly segregated city,” Afro-Latinos are often integrated in both African-American and Latino communities in Los Angeles. But he laments that as a result they are often forced to identify as either one or the other.

These personal stories show that in fact “You can be both Black and Mexican, you don't have to choose” and “what that allows people to do is recognize their wholeness.”

For Thompson-Hernandez to claim the Blaxican identity is a “political and revolutionary act,” adding that people are challenging U.S. racial classifications. “I am not just African-American, I am not just Latino, I am actually Blaxican,” he said.

Last month’s announcement that Miles Morales, an African-American Puerto Rican, will replace Peter Parker as the new Spider-Man in the Marvel comics, works to bring positive visibility to the existence of Black Latinos in the country, Thompson-Hernandez said.



However, the gap between positive representation and the reality of racial inequality and violence faced by African-Americans, Latinos--and those at their intersections--also cause young people of color to live “in a state of confusion,” he cautions.

“You have relatives that are being deported and you have relatives that are being gunned down on the street because they are Black,” Thompson-Hernandez explained.

RELATED: Anti-Blackness in Latin America is Real: Colombian Hip-Hop Group

For Blaxicans, and Afro-Latinos in general, this means they have an important part to play in bridging struggles for racial justice in the United States as they are able to highlight how issues converge and connect.

While this might promise a possibility for multiracial and multiethnic coalitions, Thompson-Hernandez believes, a lot of work also needs to be done to resolve ethnic tensions among and between the different African-American and Latino communities.



Any conversation on race and Latinos has to involve that Latin America had this long history where they have discriminated against Afro-Latinos,” he said on the task of making the issue of anti-Black racism a speakable topic in Latino communities.

This includes challenging both the historic views about race particular to Latin America and those adopted upon migration to the United States. Similarly, he detects the challenge of combatting negative Latino myths and stereotypes among African-Americans who often believe Latino immigrants are there to steal their jobs.

A person openly identifying as Blaxican and Afro-Latino generally could play an important part in both “redefining their position in the community” while also “saying listen, I am a Blaxican, I am a representative of African-Americans and Latinos we need to find a way to get along.”

At the same time, inter-ethnic conflict works as a deviation from the root problem that truly lies at the heart of common struggles for social justice, Thompson-Hernandez said.



“In the U.S., the history of racism against people of color often divides people of color, and I think that is where the attention should be. Not on this conflict between African-Americans and Latinos, but really on the systemic oppressions and systemic racisms that pervades in this country.”

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:

"http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Blaxican-The-Revolutionary-Identity-of-Black-Mexicans-20150724-0001.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

 

[Poitier]

9 AFRO-LATINO MAROONS TO REMEMBER THIS HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH – AND ALWAYS
BY RAQUEL REICHARD • SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 • 5:57PM

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re celebrating the resistance of Afro-Latino maroons, those Africans who were enslaved across Latin America and the Caribbean who self-liberated and founded palenques,societies, across the land.

PLUS: 12 Events Celebrating Afro-Latinos

Whether they established short-lived communities for maroons, also called cimarrónes orquilombos, or states with thousands of members, the ancestors of today’s Afro-Latinos are the ultimate chingones and chingonas, and their strength, resistance and humanity are worth remembering and celebrating.

Here are just nine of the thousands of cimarrónes we are honoring this month.

1. Gaspar Yanga: During early Spanish colonial rule in Mexico, Gaspar Yanga led a maroon colony in Veracruz, Mexico. Under his leadership, the group resisted a Spanish attack in 1609 and formed a self-ruling settlement called San Lorenzo de los Negros, which was recognized by the colonial government in 1618. Today, a statue of the maroon leader stands in Yanga, a town named after him in Veracruz. He is considered a "national hero of Mexico."

2. Miguel: In sixteenth-century Venezuela, Miguel organized a group of 80 enslaved Africans to revolt against their slave-holders, creating their own maroon group populated by both Africans and Indigenous communities. Miguel, founding a capital and putting together an army, led the palenque until his death. With help from a neighboring city, Spanish colonizers killed Miguel and destroyed his settlement.

3. Marcos Xiorro: Slave rebellions occurred on the island of Puerto Rico as early as 1527, with maroons escaping into the mountains and establishing societies with the surviving Taínos. By 1873, enslaved Africans had orchestrated more than 20 revolts. However, one of the most popular, and today a Puerto Rican folklore, is Marcos Xiorro, who led a rebellion in 1821.

4. Ganga Zumba: In Brazil, Ganga Zumba was the first maroon, there known as quilomboor mocambo, leader. He was recognized as king of Quilombo dos Palmares, one of many settlements he and his "royal" family built. His own site had a palace, where he lived, and 1,500 houses.

5. Bayano: In sixteenth-century Panama, Bayano led the country's biggest slave revolt. The African leader went on to establish a settlement of more than 12,000 maroons near the Chepo River, also referred to as Rio Bayano in his honor. After gaining truces with Panama's colonial governor, the cimarrón was captured and taken to Peru and then to Spain, where he died.

6. François Mackandal: Known more for his work as a Haitian voodoo priest, François Mackandal was a maroon leader in Saint-Domingue. He created poisons from Haiti's herbs and gave them to enslaved Africans, who mixed them into meals for slave-owners. Through this, Mackandal was able to establish a network between maroon groups and enslaved Africans. Together, they raided plantations, burning the land and killing the owners.

7. Ventura Sánchez: Nicknamed Coba, Ventura Sánchez is considered the most famous maroon in Cuban history. Ventura formed a palenque with more than 200 cabins. The settlement was able to survive, and thrive, by selling wax and other items to Jamaica and Haiti. Hoping to come to a formal agreement with colonial rulers about the maroons’ freedom and land, Sánchez went into the city of Santiago de Cuba. There, he learned that slave hunters were out for him. Refusing to return to a life of enslavement, Sánchez committed suicide.

8. Domingo Bioho: In seventeenth-century Colombia, Domingo Bioho, who claimed to be of African royalty and went by King Benkos, organized plantation raids and established apalenque called San Basilio. Together, the maroon community defeated the colonial rule in two conflicts. However, King Benko was eventually captured and hanged by the Spanish after being duped into talks of a favorable treaty. The palenque lived on without its leader until 1717.

MORE: Yandel Releases Latino Anthem 'We Are One' in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

9. Alonso de Illescas: Alonso de Illescas led the Ecuadorian maroon group Esmeraldas in the 1580s. Under his leadership, the community included Amerindians and, surprisingly, even some Europeans. Another unusual characteristic of the group: they flourished by trading with Spanish ships, which made stops on the Esmeralda coast. While Illescas died fighting for a peace agreement with the colonial authorities, his successor, his son Sebastián, obtained the accord.

9 Afro-Latino Maroons to Remember this Hispanic Heritage Month – and Always

 

[Poitier]

11 MUST-READ BOOKS THAT CENTER POWERFUL AFRO-LATINA NARRATIVES
November 30, -00013 minute readby Amani Ariel
In Race & Identity



The intersections of blackness and Latinidad are so often ignored, overlooked, and left unspoken. Rarely does the public engage with the nuance that comes with the myriad of Afro-Latino experiences. The 11 works below, produced by powerful Afro-Latino authors, are a gift to the literary community. Composed with beautiful language, compelling narratives and important historical facts, each of these books deserves a place on your bookshelf. We can only hope that the words these authors leave us with will catapult us into further discussion and encourage folks to proudly claim their blackness.

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1. Veronica Chambers’ Mama’s Girl is a chilling memoir straight from the streets of 1970s Brooklyn where she grew up as the daughter of a Panamanian immigrant mother.

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2. Women Warriors of the Afro-Latina Diaspora is a collection of poems and essays compiling stories written by women of Latina and African decent. Each explores, through their respective narratives, issues of colonialism and oppression within the African diaspora.

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3. The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States challenges the notion of blacks and Latinas as distinct and separate entities and cultures as it pertains to their existence in the United States. The book is a powerful celebration that gives voice to the large and vibrant community of Afro-Latinos that is often invisible in the U.S.

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4. Teresa Cardenas’s Letters to My Mother is narrated by a young Afro-Cuban girl growing up in a climate of racial prejudice without the support of her mother (who passes away).

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5. A “lacerating, lyrical memoir,” Piri Thomas’s Down These Mean Streets is the coming-of-age story of a dark-skinned Puerto Rican in the streets of Spanish Harlem.

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6. One of the few works of young adult fiction centering an Afro-Latina women, Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older is a story of a muralist who discovers the magic of shadowshaping and ancestral spirits.

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7. The Pulitzer-prize-winning book by Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is a story of risk, love and Dominican-American history as told by young, nerdy Oscar growing up in New Jersey.

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8. The Autobiography of María Elena Moyano: The Life and Death of a Peruvian Activist is the true story that leads readers through Moyano’s life as a poor activist in Peru to her assassination at the hands of the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrillas.

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9. A search for ancestry and an exploration of what it means to be Latino in America today, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina is Raquel Cepeda’s powerful narrative of journey, history, family and belonging.

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10. Benedita Da Silva: An Afro-Brazilian Woman’s Story of Politics and Love is an intersectional story of women’s rights, people of color, and class. Da Silva’s advocacy, centered in Brazil, is an inspiring cause for economic and social human rights everywhere.

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11. Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir by Evelio Grillo is set in the early 20th century in what is now Tampa. The narrative explores an upbringing in the midst of complex racial and linguistic lines — whether one was an English or Spanish speaker, a “white” or “black” Cuban, a Cuban-American or born in the U.S. made a difference to how life was both lived and experienced.


11 Must-read books that center powerful Afro-Latina narratives -

 

[BigMan]

i've met Junot Diaz before . still haven't read his book tho

 

[Marciano]

*subs*

 

[Poitier]

Jamaica's Silent Children
An investigation into the high rate of child sex abuse in Jamaica and the government's failure to protect its children.

03 Oct 2015 13:57 GMT | Human Rights, Jamaica, Rape, Abuse, Sexual assault

Jamaica likes to portray itself as a tropical paradise - its sunshine and laid-back atmosphere attracting millions of tourists every year. But behind this idyllic picture lies a more sinister truth: this is a nation where child sex abuse is endemic.

According to the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, 40 percent of Jamaicans say that their first experience of sexual contact was forced and while still under the age of consent. More often than not, the perpetrator was someone close to home: a family member, teacher, community or religious leader.

Earlier this year, the Jamaican government launched "Breaking Silence," an awareness campaign encouraging victims to come forward. It has been heralded as an important step in combating the cycle of abuse. But, human rights groups say that taboos about reporting incest, rape and the abuse of power by older men are so entrenched that thousands of young Jamaican girls still continue to suffer in silence.

In a society where women are by and large still dependent on men for financial support, poverty and lack of employment opportunities are also driving sexual exploitation of teenage girls; sometimes their parents are even complicit, seeing sex as a legitimate way for a young girl to earn her keep.

Earlier this year, People & Power travelled the country in the company of a survivor, Jamaican writer and advocate Julie Mansfield, as she met with victims, government officials and law enforcement officers in a bid to raise awareness about this issue and achieve greater protections for the island's children.

Where appropriate, parental consent was obtained for interviews with minors in this programme.

For legal and privacy reasons some identities have been obscured.

Source: Al Jazeera

Jamaica's Silent Children

 

[Yehuda]

Let me see you toss it up

 

[BigMan]

Jamaica's Silent Children
An investigation into the high rate of child sex abuse in Jamaica and the government's failure to protect its children.

03 Oct 2015 13:57 GMT | Human Rights, Jamaica, Rape, Abuse, Sexual assault

Jamaica likes to portray itself as a tropical paradise - its sunshine and laid-back atmosphere attracting millions of tourists every year. But behind this idyllic picture lies a more sinister truth: this is a nation where child sex abuse is endemic.

According to the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, 40 percent of Jamaicans say that their first experience of sexual contact was forced and while still under the age of consent. More often than not, the perpetrator was someone close to home: a family member, teacher, community or religious leader.

Earlier this year, the Jamaican government launched "Breaking Silence," an awareness campaign encouraging victims to come forward. It has been heralded as an important step in combating the cycle of abuse. But, human rights groups say that taboos about reporting incest, rape and the abuse of power by older men are so entrenched that thousands of young Jamaican girls still continue to suffer in silence.

In a society where women are by and large still dependent on men for financial support, poverty and lack of employment opportunities are also driving sexual exploitation of teenage girls; sometimes their parents are even complicit, seeing sex as a legitimate way for a young girl to earn her keep.

Earlier this year, People & Power travelled the country in the company of a survivor, Jamaican writer and advocate Julie Mansfield, as she met with victims, government officials and law enforcement officers in a bid to raise awareness about this issue and achieve greater protections for the island's children.

Where appropriate, parental consent was obtained for interviews with minors in this programme.

For legal and privacy reasons some identities have been obscured.

Source: Al Jazeera

Jamaica's Silent Children

no surprise.
not only that many brehs lose their virginities real real early

 

[Poitier]

Groundbreaking New Series - 'Mister Brau' - Gives Afro-Brazilians Representations to Cheer Despite Flaws

By Kiratiana Freelon | Shadow and ActOctober 7, 2015 at 10:26AM

Lázaro Ramos and Taís Araújo
Brazilian television is very white, but most Brazilians aren’t.

Brazil’s population is more than 50 percent black, but the television news and entertainment shows rarely reflect such diversity. So when a “black” television show debuts, it’s groundbreaking. And when Brazil’s top black female and male actors star in it, it’s a miracle.

Two weeks ago Globo television premiered “Mister Brau,” a weekly comedic show starring Lázaro Ramos and Taís Araújo as a successful pop music couple. They are also married in real life.

Lázaro Ramos' 15-year career has spanned movies, television and theater. International audiences probably know him from the dark historical drama, "Madame Satã" (2002). In that movie, he played a manic homosexual who made his living through illicit activities in Rio de Janeiro’s bohemian district of Lapa. Ramos also had a small memorable role in “Carandiru," in which he played a prison inmate infected with AIDS. Most of his recent roles have been on Brazilian television. In Brazil, Ramos is also known as a fierce promoter of Afro-Brazilian culture and history; He comes from Bahia, Brazil’s blackest state.

His wife, Taís Araújo, isn’t as well-known internationally, but her impact on Brazilian television might be greater than her husband’s. When she was just 17, she became the first black woman to play a protagonist on a Brazilian novela. She played Xica da Silva, an 18th-century Afro-Brazilian woman who was born a slave but eventually became wealthy and powerful through a long-term relationship with her white slave owner. She has constantly worked since then, often appearing in a 7 p.m. novela, the most coveted show for Brazilian actors.

For black Americans, the union between Ramos and Araújo appears to be a perfect match. For Afro-Brazilians, it’s a match that they rarely see. For the most part, rich and successful Afro-Brazilians do not marry black people. Soccer stars marry white women. Black Brazilian models marry white men. Militant black Brazilians always debate the reasons for this. But sociologists have concluded that rich Afro-Brazilians are usually exchanging status when they marry white. They provide the high socioeconomic status in exchange for whiteness, which has a high racial status in Brazil. ()

When Ramos and Araújo married in 2006, there was no such transaction. There was simply a union of the most powerful black actors in Brazil. And so far, it has worked wonders for them. Through 10 years of marriage and two kids, Ramos and Araújo are still the most visible and powerful black actors in Brazil. They appeal to all Brazilians, but they are beloved by Afro-Brazilians. Araújo regularly appears in television ads for skincare and baby clothes. Ramos regularly makes guest appearances on major television talk shows. Despite this, both of them are still renown for acting roles that they played more than 10 years ago, Araújo at least 20 years ago. They both need “Mister Brau” to be a hit show.

With “Mister Brau,” the couple and Globo television appear to have figured out how to capitalize on their visible relationship. Ramos plays the pop star who uses African rhythms in his music. Araújo stars as his beautiful wife, choreographer and manager. Many of the story lines revolve around their relationship. The first show, which you can watch below (sorry no subtitles), opens up with them buying a $3.5 million mansion in Barra, a neighborhood known for new wealth in Rio de Janeiro. What happens when music stars move into a neighborhood? They party. Their white neighborhoods are shocked and disappointed and even attempt to sell their house at a loss. Somehow Ramos and his white neighbor, who is a lawyer, develop a business relationship.

Visually the show is spectacular. Araújo wears wild hair extensions that make her look like a Greek Goddess. And she wears the clothes to match the hair—vibrant, colorful flowing dresses. The previews show Ramos using African clothes and makeup during his packed arena performances. Ramos delivers energetic and dynamic performances in every scene, often overshadowing all the other actors and actresses.

I watched the first episode with Naiara Paula, a college educated Afro-Brazilian woman who Brazilians would call militant. In America, she would just be an Afrocentric black woman who just wants to see more people like herself on TV. Paula thought the show was groundbreaking because black people are usually shown on Brazilian television as maids, bandits and, in general, poor people.

“On television, especially on GLOBO, it’s very difficult to see a black man and woman married, living in a big house and wearing beautiful African clothes,” Paula said. “So Lázaro and Taís are amazing for being able to achieve this on Brazilian television.”

But she also felt that the show propagated many stereotypes that Afro-Brazilians are trying to get away from. Mister Brau is an uneducated musician who strays from his marriage with a white woman. Araújo is a black temptress and her white married neighbor has a crush on her.

It’s the juxtaposition of Mister Brau and his wife with the white couple that she found especially troubling.

“There is a white man who is a lawyer because of course only white men can only be lawyers in this country,” she said jokingly. “The white man is well educated, speaks correctly, studies, and is in a good place in life with his wife.”

“It’s the black couple who are doing everything wrong. They aren’t well educated and they don’t follow rules,” she added.

Paula asked: if every storyline compares the black and white couple, then wouldn’t the white couple always appear to be the “good” ones?

Despite these reservations, she laughed often during the show, which shows its entertainment value.

It’s too early to say if the show is a hit or not, or even if it is good, great or just OK. Many of the Afro-Brazilians I know said they are going to support the show regardless of its quality because they want more diverse television



Groundbreaking New Series - 'Mister Brau' - Gives Afro-Brazilians Representations to Cheer Despite Flaws

 

[Poitier]

LATIN AMERICA
Garifuna: The Young Black Latino Exodus You’ve Never Heard About
by Jasmine Garsd
Encarni Pindado
June 04, 2014 11:50 a.m.

Honduran migrants passing through Mexico often carry only the bare essentials: cash, some clothes and a cell phone, if they can afford one.

Gustavo Morales stands out among the migrant population here in Tequixquiac, a hot, dusty little town right outside Mexico City. The 21-year-old is traveling with an African drum that he plays during his downtime along the journey.

The drum isn’t the only reason he stands out. He’s a black migrant in a country where few people are of African descent.

Mexico is somewhat accustomed to Central American migrants, who have come in large numbers in recent years. But the mass exodus from Honduras – where people are fleeing catastrophic violence and poverty – has brought a new type of migrant, the Garifuna, an ethnically Afro-Caribbean population.


The black migrants come from the eastern shorelines of Central America and are heading to the U.S., often to New Orleans and New York.

“It’s a shame, our country, our money isn’t worth much,” Morales said. “Honduras doesn’t have many resources, there is work but it’s poorly paid. Then we come through Mexico and suffer on the road. I’d love to ask our president why he hasn’t moved a single finger for this madness to stop… Honduras has become unlivable.”

He’s just one in a growing diaspora of young Garifuna men.

“I’d say about 50 percent of our young people, aged 12 to 30, are leaving their towns, or are gone,” said Edwin Alvarez, a coordinator at at the Organization of Ethnic Community Development, a nonprofit based in La Ceiba, Honduras.

It’s a shift that’s been noticed on the road. At Albergue 72, a migrant shelter in Tenosique near the Guatemalan border, human rights activist Ruben Figueroa says they’ve been seeing growing amounts of Garifuna women and children. “A year ago, we’d get maybe two Garifuna migrants in our shelter every day,” he said. “This year, we’re getting 10 or 15 Garifuna every day.”

We first encountered this group of about 30 Garifuna migrants in southern Mexico. By the time we saw them again in central Mexico, there were less than 15. Most of them had been deported back to Honduras. (Credit: Encarni Pindado)

Garifuna youth are not the only ones being pushed out of Honduras. Border authorities in southern Texas recently declared a state of emergency due to the increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors trying to cross into the U.S., many from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. On Monday, the Obama administration issued a memo tasking the Federal Emergency Management Agency with coordinatinggovernment efforts to provide housing, healthcare and other related services to help contain the “urgent humanitarian situation” caused by the influx of migrant youth.




The root cause of the migration is well known: Poverty and violence are endemic in Central America today. Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere after Haiti, with at least 60 percent of Hondurans currently living under the poverty line and 3.8 million living in extreme poverty.

It’s also one of the most violent nations in the world, with an estimated 19 murders a day on average in a country of fewer than 8 million people. Increasingly grotesque crime scenes have become reminiscent of Mexican narco wars: hacked-up corpses, bodies hanging off bridges, and the increased presence of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Honduran military.

Groups of Central American migrants walk from the southern state of Tenosique, Tabasco, to Mexico City as a protest, demanding free transit for migrants. Eventually the government issued them a 30-day transit visa. (Credit: Encarni Pindado)

As Hondurans are being forced to flee their country, Garifuna, who have historically been shunned by society, are increasingly being uprooted from their homes on the Caribbean coast.

Garifuna (“Garinagu” in the Garifuna language) are the descendants of slaves brought from Central Africa and indigenous Caribbean people, including Arawaks and Island Caribs. They speak a distinct language that mixes all three influences.


Estimates vary about how many Garifuna people there are worldwide. The largest population is in Honduras, though. According to a 2001 report by UNICEF, the Honduran government reported 46,448 Garifuna, but activists estimate the number to be much higher, at about 200,000. The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras said in a press release that the government has failed to keep accurate statistics about the Garifuna community, saying that they’ve “been systematically made invisible.”

We reached out to the Honduran government for information from the most recent census, which took place in 2013. “Our government has not published data about the 2013 census. Lamentably, we don’t know exactly how many Garifuna are in Honduras.”

Garifuna travelers are now a fixture along the migration route through Mexico, whereas a year ago they were not. Activist Ruben Figueroa has noticed the shift on the freight trains migrants often use to ride from Mexico’s southern border toward the U.S. “You used to see maybe 15 Garifuna riding on top of the trains. Now you see 50 or 60 Garifuna, many families, young women with children on any given day.”

Migrants waiting for the freight train in the south of Mexico. This child was traveling with her mother and two brothers. They said they were trying to escape the violence in Honduras. (Credit: Encarni Pindado)

Some Garifuna say their communities, which are generally located along the Caribbean coast, are in a bad spot when it comes to attracting criminal activity. “These are key corridors for drug traffickers,” said Edwin Alvarez, the coordinator at the Ethnic Community Development Organization for Honduran Garifuna, or ODECO, as it’s known by its Spanish acronym. “The last few years, it’s become noticeable. Drug-related violence has increased.” Part of that can be attributed to the DEA’s increased presence in the region, which has led to confrontations and accusations of human rights abuses.

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Garifuna have a distinct way of traveling, according to workers at migrant shelters. They generally stay with their partners and children in very tight-knit groups, and tend to keep apart from other migrants.

For many, it’s not just about the violence they’re escaping. It’s about opportunities they don’t have back home.

We met Andres, a Garifuna in his mid-twenties in Coatzacoalcos, a port city in the southeastern Mexican state of Veracruz. He was under a bridge by a set of train tracks, resting for the night with his group, which included a woman and her two toddlers. He’d never gone to the U.S. before, and was on his way to Louisiana. He’s heard about the state from other Garifuna there.

“It’s like our country, because of the agriculture and fishing, except they are more advanced, and there’s more job opportunities,” he said. He says he thinks education is the most important thing for his children, and in Honduras, “they don’t get that opportunity.”

“In some parts of Honduras we are loved, and in some parts we are hated… but we are the ones who have built the country,” he said. “Is there racism? Yes, but it plays out in academics and in work opportunities. It shows in who has the capacity to do better for themselves, and who is not prepared, academically, or in terms of job experience.”

Meanwhile, activists in the U.S. have expressed concern about the growing number of young Garifuna migrants making the dangerous journey north. “We want to discourage parents from sending their children to cross the Texas-U.S. border, due to the high risks. A booking center in the South of Texas is no place for a child,” reads a recently released statement by the Garifuna Coalition in the U.S., entitled “Crisis of Young Illegal Migrants.”

A young Garifuna girl waits for the freight trains on the tracks in central Mexico. The majority of this group were women and children, and at this point had traveled for more than 15 days, sleeping in shelters and on the street. Many were underfed and several were suffering from exhaustion. (Credit: Encarni Pindado)

But for the young men, women and children making the journey north, the risk is worthwhile. Back under the bridge in Coatzacoalcos, Andres told us they’re headed to New Orleans, where he says he has friends.

Something a lot of Garifuna migrants on the road tell us is that while they are leaving Honduras for the same reasons as everyone else, they feel a bit more confident in their ability to “pass” as Americans, and therefore avoid suspicion from immigration officials, who are on the lookout for people who look more stereotypically Mexican or Central American.

“Once you get to the U.S., people don’t know you are Latino,” Andres said. “They think, ‘Just another black guy.’ As long as you keep your mouth shut, you might not get caught.”

Garifuna: The Young Black Latino Exodus You’ve Never Heard About

 

[BigMan]

My bronx brehs know about Garifunas

 

[Poitier]

Series 'Mister Brau' featured in UK newspaper and website focusing on films of the African Diaspora;Hailed series being the groundbreaking for Afro-Brazilians


Lázaro Ramos and wife Tais Araujo star in Globo TV series 'Mister Brau'

Note from BW of Brazil: The news about the new Globo TV series Mister Brau real life couple starring Lázaro Ramos and Tais Araujo has garnered the attention of two Inglês-oriented Media outlets: in the UK, The Guardian newspaper covered the series and Shadow and Act, to site que Focuses on films of the African Diaspora, also ran a story on the series. Both reports Were released on October 7th, 2015. This blog has Followed the career of actress Tais Araujo since its inception and two of our recent posts touched on the new series in Which she stars with her husband, Lázaro Ramos.But it's great to see others news outlets giving full coverage to the importance of the series made its debut que just a few weeks ago.


Lázaro Ramos stars in 'Mister Brau'

In BOTH articles, journalists Bruce Douglas and Kiratiana Freelon touched on various aspects of the series que are one of the main Focuses on this blog: race and representation in the Brazilian average. Besides the general issue of race, BOTH pieces included the specific issue que this blog has focused much on in the past few years and Specifically in regards to this series: black couples. The we pointed on in que article:

"To understand the importance of the Ramos / Araújo duo playing opposite each other in a romantic pairing of the novel on Brazil's top TV network, it's Also worth pointing October que, of the few black actors que Appear in novels in all of Brazil's top TV networks, the norm in These series is for black actors and actresses to be paired with white actors in amorous settings. "

It is an issue que more and more Afro-Brazilians are picking up on and the que mentioned in previous piece, the Ramos / Araújo pairing in the series was Celebrated in Numerous African-Brazilian-oriented social networks. In the Freelon piece, she spoke with a college-educated African-Brazilian woman, Naiara Paula.


Actor Lázaro Ramos and his wife actress Tais Araujo star in the series 'Mister Brau'

"Paula thought the show was groundbreaking because black people are Usually shown on Brazilian television the maids, bandits and, in general, poor people." She continued, "On television, Especially on Globo, it's Very difficult to see the black man and woman married, living in a big house and wearing beautiful African clothes. So Lazarus and Thais are amazing for being able to Achieve this on Brazilian television. "



In his article, Douglas interviewed filmmaker and media critic Joel Zito Araújo,Whose opinions and work Have Been reference frequently on this blog. And similar to Paula's view, Araújo Also saw 'Brau' as important as, Normally, Brazilian TV presents Afro-Brazilians in "the way in Which Brazilian society likes to see black people: the slum dwellers, domestic servants, criminals. . This is still happening today "Araújo Also Recognized the importance of the Ramos / Araújo pairing because:" There are very few examples of love between two black people. The expectation of Brazilian society is the que black person does not have pride in being black and looks to escape blackness with a white partner. "

The articles point out BOTH que while the series shouldnt be Celebrated, it is not without its problems. One of the problems que this writer Noted immediately is the age-old Brazilian image of Afro-Brazilians the musicians, entertainers or athletes. In a February 2014 piece, we pointed to a study que CONFIRMS the stereotype that 'Brau', unfortunately continues:

"This portrayal of African-Brazilians Can Be Noted throughout all areas of the Brazilian average. For example, doing research on one of Brazil's most important magazines,See (similar to the US Newsweek) Derval Golzio found que of the 1,826 covers of the magazine in a 35 year period, blacks Were featured on 58 covers, or 3.17%, while Were whites featured on covers 1,337, or 73.2%. Even more telling, When blacks Were featured on the covers, 32 of the 58 featured Them in roles of sports or culture, representing 55.2% of Those from the original figure. "

The such, we do wish success to the 'Mister Brau' series, but Considering These figures, we Also hope to see Afro-Brazilians being able to portray powerful lawyers, important doctors, bankers and who knows, even the president.

Article about Globo TV's "Mister Brau" featured in UK newspaper for addressing racism

British newspaper The Guardian published an article dealing with the low presence of black actors in leading roles on Brazilian television

The Mister Brau series, Which Replaced the ratings success Tapas & Kisses on Tuesday nights on Globo TV, made the news in England for addressing racism in Brazil - a country still surrounded by the myth of racial democracy. The British newspaper The Guardian published an article on Wednesday in Which it discusses the place of blacks in Brazilian television and shows how the black share of the national dramaturgy is narrow and full of prejudice: 75% of the roles Intended for black actors in the country are characters in subservient positions, According to data taken from the documentary The Denial of Brazil (Denying Brazil), by Joel Zito Araújo.


Tais Araujo

The protagonist couple, Lázaro Ramos and Tais Araujo, is described by the publication of the Brazilian Jay Z and Beyonce and the participation of the two in the series is seen to an important attempt to change the present racism on national television.

The British newspaper Also makes an overview of racial prejudice in Brazil, citing the survey Conducted by an anthropology teacher at USP (University of São Paulo) Lilia Schwartz. In it, 96% of Brazilians said They did not believe que there is racism in the country, but 99% said They Knew someone who is racist. The numbers, the one sees, are contradictory, reveal que there is something rotten in the kingdom of Denmark - oops, in Brazil.


Lázaro Ramos

After a short summary of Brazilian history and of the intense immigration of African slaves for centuries, The Guardian Concludes que the country is experiencing an unprecedented rise of blacks, who have Begun to have more presence in the dominant classes. Despite being late and slow, the process Has Been going on in Brazil and blacks have Gained ground on television. The newspaper cites Also the presenter Maria Julia Coutinho, the Maju known, the recent victim of racism in social networks.

Source: Shadow and Act, The Guardian

http://blackwomenofbrazil.co/2015/1...hailed-as-groundbreaking-for-afro-brazilians/