Black, white & other in Latin America
I just finished reading the articles and viewing the slideshows that form "A Rising Voice: Afro-Latin Americans," a series from the Miami Herald. I thank the News Gems blog for the heads up!
The series is quite profound, and for any American who has visited a Latin American country with an Afro-Latin population -- or a part of the US with same -- it will answer as well as raise questions.
Here is the link: http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/index.html
As a person of mixed race (my mother is black and my father is white), I have always been fascinated by the ways different cultures have dealt with racial "mixing" in the Western Hemisphere.
Here in the U.S. we have the quite rigid "one-drop rule." It is quite a contrast to a country like Brazil, where one drop of black blood is hardly worth a mention while one drop of white blood can be a ticket to acceptance and opportunity.
I visited Cuba five times between 2002 and 2004. When people who considered themselves to be other than black would speak about a person they knew who was black they would screw up their faces and rub their forearms and say (sotto voce) "negro." I always found this startling, since many of the people mouthing "negro," were clearly of African descent. (One of the articles in the Miami Herald series cites a list of terms Cubans use to identify persons of color).
It is fair to say, I think, that Cuba is a mulato or "mixed nation," in terms of sheer numbers. Mulatos in Cuba are very proud of being mulatos. Sadly, many often conveniently forget that part of their heritage is black, and look down upon their darker-skinned brothers and sisters.
On the up side, in Cuba I found that people of all races are much more integrated in an every day sort of way than they are in the U.S. Groups of school children milling about (and
there are always school children milling about, at least in Havana) seemed almost never to be segregated into cliques by race. And, as much as they might mouth "negro" at the next opportunity, whites and mulatos were very much in the company of blacks in Havana, Matanzas, Varadero, Cienfuegos, Trinidad.
Cubans I met have a sort of "we're all in the same boat, so we might as well get along," attitude. When times are hard, who has time or energy to quibble about borrowing a cup of rice from a neighbor who happens to be a different color than you? Cuba's history shows us that this team spirit among the races is a relatively new thing, dating back to 1959 or thereabouts.
My bottom line is this: I hope that people of African descent in Latin America can gain equality, economic muscle, respect, and pride. May they embrace and honor their African heritage, as well as the many shades that come from the mixture of black and white and the host of other possibilities.
I hope that here in the U.S. when it comes to black and white, we can embrace the notion these are only two colors; there are many beautiful shades in between. Let people check as many or as few boxes as they like on those official forms. And people: embrace all the colors that make up your particular shade. Then, be yourself.