My Skin Is Black, My Name Is Latino (AfroLatinidad As a Layered Blackness)Posted in Arts, Latino Studies, Media Archive, United States on 2017-07-10 02:57Z by Steven |
My Skin Is Black, My Name Is Latino (AfroLatinidad As a Layered Blackness)
Medium
2017-07-06
Jose Vilson
New York, New York
 A younger me during one of my last visits to the Basílica Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia, Dominican Republic |
I love jumping into cabs in Washington Heights for two reasons: the driver is almost always Dominican (as in Dominican Republic) and the driver is almost always surprised I can speak Spanish. He can have similar facial features, see the waves in my curly hair, and listen to the same music I have on my smartphone. It never matters. The second question is, “Wait, you’re Dominican? What barrio is your mom from?” I tell them the barrio and the cross-streets, and they get vexed. We exchange pleasantries, barbs about the way our music used to be, and elongated vowels before they finally drop me off at my destination.
Something about my blackness wouldn’t allow them to embrace theirs…
Read the entire article here.