This is typical behavior, if you will excuse the generalization, of people in the Latin American community. (Coming from an Afro-Latino himself) The worst thing about it is, the people who are the most desperate to deny African culture and lineage not just in Puerto Rico, but in all of Latin America itself, are people who are obviously African or have African roots.
This has touched everywhere; look at Latin American TV (i.e. Univision, Telemundo, etc.) when's the last time you saw an African or Amerindian person there? Just a bunch of White Mestizos, it's *beep* disgusting. But when you look at these same countries Olympic Teams their full of Blacks. <_<;;
In university, I was in an upper level Spanish course centered around Latin American Culture. We were assigned to do an oral report on some cultural aspect. I decided to do my report on the African influences on Latin America, and some ignorant Chicana scoffed and flat out told me "What!? I didn't know there were any Afro-Latinos!" This *beep* floored me; people are now denying that African Latinos even EXIST! (Ironic coming from a Mexican, eh?)
The most disgusting thing is that this type of thinking and self-hatred has managed to seep into mainstream American thinking. They believe all Latinos look like Ricky Martin or Mark Anthony. It's becoming increasingly annoying to explain to everyone I meet that, yes, my parents are seriously from Panamá and Black people do exist in Latin America.
I'm tired of at all these "Latin-Americans" running around with kinky hair, thick lips, broad noses, listening to their salsa, mambo, reggaetón but are the first to shout I'M HISPANIC!!!!! with their hands over their ears when you try to tell them they're Black.
Sorry to vent, but when you have to deal with this type of bull *beep* everyday of your life, it tends to be a touchy subject.
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thepoet26
16 years ago
Afro Puerto Rican right here- And I've had to deal with this stuff all my life, too. As you said, the saddest part of all is that it is typically Afro Latinos themselves who want to shout to the rafters that they are "not black." I have noticed some positive changes in the younger generations coming up now but for the most part, a whole lot of people are in total denial and even if they KNOW the history, they still feel that being from a spanish speaking nation makes them somehow "not black."
Even Rosie, who is CLEARLY a black latina barely touched on acknowledging the afro roots in Puerto Rico. I heard her cousin make mention of his afro roots at one point during the documentary, and renowned Santera, Marta Moreno Vega made mention, but Rosie stayed mum. I had high hopes for this documentary but it fell flat because of Rosie's concentration on just about every aspect Afro Puerto Rican who thinks she's "pure Taino." Rosie is an example of what I mentioned above- Someone who damn well knows she's black but would rather pretend not to be. She could have opened a lot of younger eyes with this documentary but instead she chose to play the same old shame game that too many afro latinos play. Gloss right over those afro roots, Rosie!
Baba mi Ogun modupue
BARACK THE VOTE '08!
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burtsbeesfan
14 years ago
Not to add fuel to the fire but this is actually one of my problems with the documentary which I'll explain in a minute. A big greivance I had with Yo Soy Boricua (and I'm a mestiza Chicana from L.A. so I hope you accept my comments) is that they mainly focused on Puerto Ricans from New York. I would have loved to hear about Puerto Ricans around the country and even within the island. I think if you're a Puerto Rican from Arizona you won't really relate to this film. Now correct my if I'm wrong but aren't Puerto Ricans the majority Latino group in New York City? So a boricua living in Texas or California which are predominantly Mexican probably had a different view of "the Puerto Rican American Experience" seeing as how they were raised as a minority within a minority. I rented the movie genuinely wanting to learn about Puerto Ricans but Rosie seemed mainly interested in depicting people from her perspective of what it means to be Puerto Rican. And what about people that marry outside their ethnic group? Just my opinion.
About the black African influence in Puerto Rico I completely agree. There were two scenes I thought were very revealing, the first was when Rosie "corrected" her cousin explaining that contrary to the popular belief of Puerto Ricans as a mixture of Taino, Spanish and African she felt the need the add that they're also German, French, etc. OK I don't know Rosie's family tree, I'm not from the island, and even if I were I wouldn't claim to speak for every Puerto Rican but I think that's a half-truth at best. That's like saying that because most U.S. citizens have some German ancestry, all Americans are mixed with German. I don't have German ancestry or English or Irish or, etc. I know I'm not making myself very clear but even her cousin had this look on his face like "huh?"
The other scene I thought said a lot about Rosie's self image was when she mentioned that one day (I think this was when she was a teenager) her aunt told her that Puerto Ricans were descended from the Tainos and it made her feel ten feet high. As many others have mentioned before Rosie is clearly black so why would knowing she is descended from Taino Indians going to add to her self-esteem? I can understand taking pride in her heritage but I really hope she was just fine thinking her ancestry was black. Did she grow up with a complex being a light-skinned black boricua? BTW how could she have gone through so many years of her life without even knowing about the Taino?
I hope my comments don't offend anyone or are seen as a personal attack on Ms. Perez. I just hope the rest of you take my words as an outsider with more objectivity since I saw this wanting to learn more about the great Puerto Rican people whose wealth of experinces both in and out of the island are too rich to be put into one documentary.
ETA: The reason I sounded unsure as to whether Puerto Ricans are the majority Latino group in New York is I think the Dominicans are moving in at higher numbers than Puerto Ricans so that may no longer be the case even if it has been that way historically.
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