Black and Latino in the U.S.

What does it mean to be black and Latino in the U.S.? Featuring interviews with Latino actors Laz Alonso (Avatar, Jumping the Broom), Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Gina Torres (Suits, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) and Judy Reyes (Scrubs), musicians Christina Milian ("Dip it Low") and Kat DeLuna ("Whine Up"), and journalist Soledad O'Brien (CNN), among many others.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- mun2, the leading bicultural cable network in the US, explores how Latinos are changing the way America understands race and ethnicity.  Drawing from the uniquely American stories of Latino celebrities, musicians and journalists of African heritage including singer/actress Christina Milian (American Pie), actor Laz Alonso (Avatar), actress Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), and MSNBC journalist Soledad O'Brien, the web original explores an important yet often misrepresented segment of the US Latino population.  "Black and Latino" debuts today, (January 11th) on mun2.tv/blackandlatino. 

"As part of our commitment to reflecting the diversity and dynamism of US Latino identity, we are honored to share these provocative and poignant stories of celebrities who live and work at the intersection of so many cultures," says Jose Marquez, VP Interactive Strategy, Telemundo and mun2.
Other interviews with American tastemakers include "The Voice" season one winner Javier Colon, actresses Gina Torres (The Matrix) and Judy Reyes (Scrubs), pop singer Kat de Luna, magazine editor Mimi Valdes and music video director Jessy Terrero (50 Cent's The New Breed), who relate their own previously untold experiences of working through the unreasonable constraints of stereotypes in both Hispanic and mainstream culture.  The short, made-for-web documentary also features man-on-the-street interviews with Generation Y Latinos who provide a refreshingly nuanced understanding of race and identity in contemporary America. 
"Black and Latino" marks the latest mun2.tv original.  The award-winning site received an Imagen award in 2011 in the Best Web Series category for an original online program about Mexican American culture titled "Chismex," and has become the leading platform for young Latinos to define and celebrate their identity.

Quotes from "Black and Latino" special:
Jessy Terrero: I always felt like we were black people who spoke Spanish.
Laz Alonso: It was kind of like a dual existence because outside of my house I would be just an African American guy.  But once I got home, I was Cuban again. Judy Reyes: I would get really positive reactions in auditions for both African American and Latina parts but I didn't look Latina enough.
Gina Torres: When I became an actress, I quickly realized that the world liked their Latinas to look Italian, not like me and so I wasn't going up for Latina parts, I was going up for African American parts.   Mimi Valdes: My grandmother would tell me stories about how she was discriminated even among members of her own family...for being a Black Latina.

About mun2:
mun2 (moon-dos) is the lifestyle Hispanic cable network for today's generation YLA (Young Latino Americans) 18-34. As the leading bicultural network that amplifies the Latino experience, mun2 is culturally relevant and uniquely American.  From reality to music, on-air to digital, mun2 creates original content across a multi-screen platform.  As the only nationally measured bicultural cable network by Nielsen, mun2 has an increased distribution to over 36 million households, and is a part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.

Watch the full video here:
http://www.mun2.tv/candy/original/black-and-latino-tatyana-ali-extended-interview

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If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

Black and Latina - Tatyana Ali

Tatyana Ali on being a Black Latina

Photo:  AP

Tatyana Ali is more than the sweet actress you remember from her days as Ashley on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: she’s a recording artist, dedicated political activist and star of a new show, Love that Girl.  We recently chatted with the talented and beautiful Harvard grad, who broke down what it means for her to be a Black Latina in Hollywood and how no matter what, she’ll always love tostones.

NBC Latino: Does Hollywood type cast you?

I think that Hollywood does typecast. It happens on so many different levels. Whether you’re Latina or not, it’s about race, culture, or about personality. I’m always type cast as the sweet girl, or the smart girl – which means you won’t be cast as the sexy role. However, Hollywood does its best work when you make people question what they know. Those are the best TV shows, projects and films, where you create a sense of empathy in the audience for a character that they would probably never identity with. So the trick is to defy as many of those as possible, whether it’s culturally, racially, personality type, or sexually. That’s what I’m concerned with as a dark brown girl.

NBC Latino: You are like several other young Hollywood stars, part of the melting pot. Your mom is Panamanian, your dad is Trinidadian.  In a world of categories, you defy categorization. How do you define yourself?

I think of myself as Afro-Caribbean. That means that I’m a black woman, especially in the U.S. because that’s how we’re seen. Afro-Caribbean is broad enough that I can include all the influences in my life, like music, calypso, and speaking loudly and using my hands in speech. And also I think for me, it’s about the way I was brought up, with hospitality, generosity and kindness. There’s warmth in Panama in and in Trinidad. People welcome you in the homes, and if you’re out of town, people will share their lives with you and immerse you in your world. That’s something that I was raised with and that’s how I try to live in my daily life.

NBC Latino: Did you grow up with any specific cultural traditions that made you feel Latina?

Oh yeah. We’re a dancing family. Music is a huge part of our lives. Every time my family gets together for a cook out, it begins and ends with music. I love all kinds of music, and here’s the thing: with salsa dancing, I’m about a medium in skill. I’ve never taken classes or anything, but if I’ve got a partner that can lead, I can do it. One thing that I love about the culture is that if you’re in a salsa club, you can dance with as many people you like. It’s a given you dance with one guy, for one song, or two, and it another asks you t. every time you’re dancing with someone, it’s a completely different experience. Being able to follow can be a bit challenging, but you can twirl and take over when you want.

NBC Latino: How do you keep culture alive?

Through food, culture and music. I don’t cook as much as I’d like to, but when I do, I cook what I grew up: tostones, rice and gandules. And sometimes I love having Trinidadian food to honor my dad’s side – dishes like curry fish or curry chicken. When my friends come over my house, they know it’s going to be something ethnic!

NBC Latino: What message do you hope to pass onto to little girls, whose backgrounds might be similar to your own?

Don’t hesitate to talk and tell people who you are. A lot of times it’s so much easier to fit into other peoples boxes. To get you far in this life though, you need your real identity, the real you. What I’m finding now at this age in my life, is that I’m more willing to speak up and say ‘Oh no, it’s actually like this.’  When I do that, it’s like a whole world of opportunity opens up. When you take the courage to stand up for yourself and define who you are, other people will open up to you. Deep inside, everyone’s longing to be themselves.

Check out Tatyana’s sit down with Mun2, where she chats about being a Black Latina, here.

-NINA TERRERO, NBC LATINO STAFF

 Watch the video and full interview here:


http://www.mun2.tv/candy/original/black-and-latino-tatyana-ali-extended-interview

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If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

Popular Afro-Latinos

If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described or visit http://youtu.be/Vt38MbNcw0I .

The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

The Emancipation of Cuban Rumba

The Emancipation of Cuban Rumba

Cuba, the origin of the Salsa movement is back with a lot of fire.
The documentary about Afro-Cuban culture.
How it started, how it is conserved and how it is lived today.

Rumba celebrates life through singing, dancing and drumming. It is a "festival of sound and movement" created through the unison of different cultures, traditions and art forms. It is a mirror that reflects the social, political, religious, and economic conditions surrounding those who create, play, and dance rumba. Rumba evolved from many different musical influences, emerging as a mixture of Afro-Cuban traditions and a diverse, rapidly changing, and extremely expressive culture. It has, and continues to have, a dramatic impact on music today, and is especially recognizable in the extremely popular offshoot known as salsa.

There are three main types of rumba that dominate today - yambu, guaguanco, and columbia. Each descended from the ancestral music and dance brought to Cuba from Africa.
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If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

Mexico's African Presence

This post goes out to Brother Seko of the Imani Foundation who began teaching on this subject (The African presence in the Latino/Hispanic/Chicano) back in the mid 1990s. - Imani

Photo: (Right) Brother Elder Runoko Rashidi with an (Left) Afro-Mexican !

While the spanish where conquering countries througout the Americans they brought free africans over to mexico such as Juan Garrido (born in west african) Even though africans helped the spanish fight battles they were not treated equally beacuse they were african. Afrter the battles many natives had died in mexico, while others faught hard for freedom.In order to produce more labor African Slaves were taken to mexico by the spanish from the coast of Ghana to Angola. Many Africans who were slaves intermarried with natives. Most Afro Mexicans are Zambo (African & Native mixture)

http://blackhistoryclass.blogspot.com/2008/11/lesson-18-of-26-black-mexicans.html

Gasper Yanga was one the greatest leaders in slavery. He was a Gabonese who helped african slaves build palenques to esacape the cruelty of slavery. Francisco de la Matosa who was Angolan also helped right battles against the spanish as they destroyed maroon towns. the battle lasted many years and the spanish was unable to defeat the africans. They decided to sign a treaty in the town of veracruz and today it still remains Yanga town.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1935-african-roots-stretch-deep-into-mexico

Costa Chica has the largest black population in Mexico. While other areas such Veracruz, and Yucatan have a significant black population.

The song ‘La Bamba’, a traditional folk song and dance, was originally a song sung by African slaves in Veracruz as they worked, since many of the enslaves brought to Mexico by the Spaniards, came from Angola and Congo, with the Africans who originated the song hailing from the MBamba peoples of Angola. Bamba is the name of an African tribe in Angola and in Congo, from the Bamba River, where the MBamba peoples lived. As enslaves, they brought their beautiful culture with them, and the original origins of this song, over 500 years ago, and as so very often, with enslaved Africans in the new world, they fought against enslavement, running away and joining up with the indigenous peoples in the rain forests and mountainous areas.

The song also refers to a specific incident which occurred in the year 1683, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, when pirates attacked the people, free and enslaved, living there. The Spanish officials of Veracruz mistreated the enslaves so horribly that they rebelled in what was known as the “Bambarria”, an enslave uprising that pitted the African enslaves and Indians against the Spanish. (New Spain as it was called, because at the time, the country we now know as Mexico, did not exist as a nation, until approximately 200 years later, when in 1810, Mexico/New Spain gained its independence from Spain).







Refferences:
(1) “MEXICO IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE”, By BOBBY VAUGHN: http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1373

UNHCR – REFWORLD: “WORLD DIRECTORY OF MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE – MEXICO: AFRO-MEXICANS”: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,463af2212,49709c232,49749ce5c,0.html

“SE HABLA ESPANOL (TAMBIEN SE CANTA, SE BAILA, Y SE ESCRIBE), By Alexander J. Reyes: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2006/2/06.02.06.x.html

LA BAMBA: CANCION DE VERACUZ: “A SONG THAT STARTED IN 1683″: http://www.johntoddjr.com/143%20Bamba/bamba.htm
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If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

African presence: Dominican Republic

Glimpses of the African presence in the Dominican Republic:
MUSEUM OF THE NATIONAL CENTER OF AFRO AMERICAN ARTS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008. ROXBURY, BOSTON The film titled Dominican Identity and Migration to Hispaniola produced by Hostos Community College Director of Public Relations, Nestor Montilla.


Grupo Kalunga Neg Mawon is a musical dance ensemble that consists of members who have spent most of their lives researching and studying African culture in the Americas. Our aim is to preserve aspects of African tradition and identity existing in Quisqueya--Ayiti, known today as the Dominican Republic and The Republic of Haiti. We use the name Kalunga to highlight the Congolese cultural aspects retained in Dominican/Haitian culture and throughout the African Diaspora of the western hemisphere, such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc. Kalunga is a Goddess of the Congolese people known also as the Muntu-Bantu or Bakongo. She is the universal cosmos, the great bang from which all life comes, including the depths of the seas and the oceans. Kalunga also represents a time when Congolese culture was dominated by a matriarchal system where women played a prominent role in society. Neg Mawon translates into Black Maroons--those who fought against slavery, many of whom were Congolese descendants like Sebastian Lemba. We use the term Neg Mawon to symbolize our resistance against slavery and colonialism in a struggle to maintain and develop our African identity against overwhelming odds. KALUNGA'S MISSION Grupo Kalunga Neg Mawon is a musical dance ensemble that consists of members who have spent most of their lives researching and studying African culture in the Americas. Our aim is to preserve aspects of African tradition and identity existing in Quisqueya--Ayiti, known today as the Dominican Republic and The Republic of Haiti. We use the name Kalunga to highlight the Congolese cultural aspects retained in Dominican/Haitian culture and throughout the African Diaspora of the western hemisphere, such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc. Kalunga is a Goddess of the Congolese people known also as the Muntu-Bantu or Bakongo. She is the universal cosmos, the great bang from which all life comes, including the depths of the seas and the oceans. Kalunga also represents a time when Congolese culture was dominated by a matriarchal system where women played a prominent role in society. Neg Mawon translates into Black Maroons--those who fought against slavery, many of whom were Congolese descendants like Sebastian Lemba. We use the term Neg Mawon to symbolize our resistance against slavery and colonialism in a struggle to maintain and develop our African identity against overwhelming odds. Our mission is to educate adults and children of all walks of life about the richness of our artistic culture and bring about a better understanding and tolerance in the Americas as well as the African Diaspora and to support organizations who strive to uplift humanity. We will achieve our mission by providing performances, producing multi-media documentaries, recordings, and workshops teaching the history, music, dance, and songs which our Congolese ancestors have passed on to us. This will help to preserve aspects of our traditions and their benefits, some of which are tolerance, struggle, self-dignity and a positive cultural experience which will foster cross-cultural appreciation and self-accomplishment.

I'm Puerto As Well (Part 2)

I'm Puerto As Well (P.R.'s African roots)

Rosa Clemente - Media Reform

A proud Hip-Hop/Afro'Latina woman presents the need to create our own media and to address the problems of the current media. She is currently running for the position of Vice President of the United States with the Presidental Cannidate Cynthia McKinney.