I felt the focus I used to feel when I did my time in the Golden Gloves. We walked to the medal stand - our gloves were on, our beads were on, our shoes were off, and through the elation, the rapturous cheers from the crowd and the titanic surge of adrenaline from the race, a new feeling took over my body. Tommie had his gold, I had my bronze and we both had a place on that podium, just like we always wanted. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos stare downward during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner after Smith received the gold and Carlos the bronze for the 200-meter run at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City on Oct. While their stories and contributions have long gone untold, one thing is certain: Latino and Latin American culture would not be what it is today were it not for the influences of African culture.Extending gloved hands skyward in racial protest, U.S. Since European colonizers invaded Indigenous lands and labeled it Latin America, enslaving Africans to work and build the grounds they viciously conquered, there have been Black Latin Americans and later, after emigration to the U.S., Black Latinos. It is an ever-changing and evolving conversation.ĭespite reemerging conversations on Afro-Latinidad, however, Black Latinos and Black Latin Americans didn’t recently arrive. Janel Martinez has written about her reasons for moving away from the term “Afro-Latina,” Haitian-Americans are increasingly discussing their relationship with the term and, most recently, “Afro-Latinx” has been embraced by those who remove gender binaries from their identity. Like many other attempts to reclaim identity after the displacement of the transatlantic slave trade, “Afro-Latinidad” is not a perfect, all-encompassing term. The term has helped many find community and feel seen in the complexities of their identity. It was intended to be used by individuals who wanted to acknowledge both their African descent and their Latin American roots. The term “Afro-Latinidad” was originally adopted in academic circles as a response to the embedded colorism against and erasure of Latino, Latin American and Caribbean Blacks.
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