This Video Explains What It Means to Be Afro-Latinx
CACHOEIRA, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 5: Candomblé followers pose for a picture during the ritual ceremony in honor to Yemanjá, the goddess of the sea, 5 February 2012 in Cachoeira, Bahia, Brazil. Yemanjá, originally from the ancient Yoruba mythology, is one of the most popular ?orixás?, the deities from the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. Every year on February 5th, hundreds of Yemanjá devotees participate in a colorful celebration in her honor. Faithful, usually dressed in the traditional white, gather on the banks of Paraguaçu river to leave offerings for their goddess. Gifts for Yemanjá include flowers, perfumes or jewelry. Dancing in the circle and singing ancestral Yoruba prayers, sometimes the followers enter into a trance and become possessed by the spirits. Although Yemanjá is widely worshipped throughout Latin America, including south of Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba or Haiti, the most popular cult is maintained in Bahia, Brazil.
Hailing from the Huffington Post, six Afro-Latinx talk about why they are proud to be from both cultures.
We live in a world where sometimes we are “too black to be Latino and too Latino to be black” understanding that being Afro-Latinx means understanding that those two identities are not mutually exclusive.
It is quite possible to be both Black and Latinx, and it is common in both communities. In fact, in the United States, 24 percent of Latinx folks self-identity as Afro-Latinx, according to survey results the Pew Research Center released in March.
HuffPost Latino Voices asked six Afro-Latinx people to talk about what it means to grow up Black and Latinx. Writer Janel Martinez said that it was pretty complicated at first.
“Growing up black Latina, was a bit complex for me,” she said in the video. “I didn’t always want to identify as Black, there were times when I didn’t want to identify as Latina.”
Make sure you watch the video by going to this link to see others talk about pride in their African roots and the challenges with erasure in the Latinx community.
This video was edited by Terence Krey, shot by Jon Strauss and produced by Megan Robertson, Katherine Santiago, Melissa Montanez, Choyce Miller, Carolina Moreno and Tanisha Ramirez for HuffPost Originals.
(Photo by Jan Sochor/Latincontent/Getty Images)