THE COUNTER NARRATIVE OF AN AFRO LATINA

The Counter Narrative of an Afro Latina

The past few weeks have been a time of reflection of who we are as individuals and what role we play in a society plagued with violence.

I found myself in the area of the both of the bombing and the lock down.  As both painful, scary incidents took over the city and the country; I struggled with the energy that took over. Since then, I have been leaning on the words of MLK, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

My attendance at the America Healing conference which is a racial equity initiative by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation was going to be a short escape from the intensity that was impossible to escape in Boston.

As I prepared to travel, I remembered a Bell hooks quote.  “To ‘travel’ I must always move through fear, confront terror. It helps to be able to link this individual experience to the collective journeying of Black people, to the Middle Passage.” It is always a reminder that no matter what is happening; I am a woman of color.

Security was very high in Boston and that was expected. I did my best to not have anything that would delay my process. I have gotten better at the clothes I wear and minimal jewelry etc.

I got through it all and when I went through the machine nothing beeped. I thought that was quick and good. As soon as I took a step to gather my things the TSA guard asked me to hold on and went on to yell, “I need female assistance.” I am thinking nothing beeped; everything cleared what could it be.

The TSA woman, a woman of color, looks at him and says, “For what?” He says, “Her Hair” She looks at him then at me and signals me to walk over to her. I am thinking I have braids in my hair you can see my scalp etc. She begins to put her gloves on and she is mumbling to herself as she seems just as shocked as I am at his request. She looks at my hair and she is about to touch my head and says, “My dear, you are fine. I don’t need to touch your hair.”

We smiled and my first thought was, women of color are funny about anyone touching their hair so that was a plus and two she was sensible enough to know that what he was doing was not ok.

I got on the plane and gathered my thoughts that although leaving the intensity in Boston I was still facing the intensity of a society that finds it necessary to racially profile.

My short trip from Charlotte to Asheville was great. I saw familiar faces that I have met over the years being a part of this initiative. Then the most joyful thing happened. I sat next to this bundle of fire of a young woman. It was her first time attending. She was so excited and ready. We introduced ourselves and found out we were both from Panama, she identifies herself as an Afro Latina and she knew about the List. It was wonderful. We talked the entire flight. That was my gift from the ancestors that life goes on and things will be ok. I completely forgot about the airport incident while sharing with Siria.

I entered the conference space knowing that I would learn something and will be moved by someone. What I also knew is that this time I felt grounded in my internal journey to heal and that the Boston bombings and the airport incident confirmed that my spiritual journey has granted me a forgiving heart filled with unconditional love even in the face of pain.

The first full day of the conference began with an invocation by Myrlie Evers Williams. As I shared with friends, there is something very special, soothing, in the voice of civil rights leaders that make you want to stand up and say, Amen!

She makes me stand up and want to rise above it all. She shared, “We are a nation that stands in the need of prayer, in the need of healing. This is what we should be about. We need to reach out to those who know nothing about healing. One never knows what will happen in life. Today we say, make me responsible to build this to what we know it could be. It is important that we work with our young people and let them know that we are working for the common cause to heal. Healing is hard work.”

The theme this year was “Reclaiming the Narrative” this to me speaks to our self-worth as human beings. Part of reclaiming is to first say, I will not impose the level of hate on you that you have placed on me for years. I will love self and love others even those whose purpose is to hurt me. To reclaim it we need to counter the words and language used that has us stuck.

Valerie Davidson shared in her presentation, “Lead with love and if you lead with love you will not stand alone.”  She had this passion for community and love for self that was peaceful and strong. It was a good beginning.

Every year the first day is spent in healing circles where you share with others. It is always a powerful experience and this year was no different. This year I knew my humanity had been tested and I came out on the other side, still filled with love.

I attended the workshop Accountability for Progress that shared Data gathering tools. While listening I thought Encuentro’s work is not only about reclaiming but creating a counter narrative that addresses the misinformation both within the African American story and the Latino story. There is not much research that brings the two together so we are constantly in the position to use it in combination to speak to the need to expand the narrative.

Every year the anchor panel leaves me concerned and asking more questions. This year they touched on the need to expand the Immigration dialogue and make it more inclusive of all immigrants and not making it only a Latino issue. All the right things were said but my question was and still is, which one of you will be responsible for making this shift happen? Whose responsibility is it to create the counter narrative that invites Afro Latinos or other Africans of the diaspora to the Immigration dialogue? Whose responsibility is it to change the face of the Immigrant in the media that is not only Mexican?

One of the most fascinating panels each year is the one with Dr. John Powell. It always makes sense and validates that we are touching on some important and needed issues. He highlights the importance of identity formation and addressing the bias that exist. He gets it and my exchange with him later made it even more affirming. As he shared, “the world is far more segregated than we think.”

I had a pause from the conference to participate in a Story Corps interview. I was matched with someone I had never met.

This was a powerful experience that I will hold dear. I want to thank my partner in the interview and the staff from Story Corps for being fully present and for making what was a dialogue of our story of pain and resiliency carry so much hope.

Telling our story is about healing our internal self and the external being of our community.  That story, the truth in that story can help us understand and face each other in our most grounding self.

Many still do not know the Afro descendant from Latin America story so it is up to those who are in spaces like these to share it. Telling our story has allowed me to come close to what I know to be good, it has brought me to the soulfulness of our story.

As Gail Christopher shared in the closing of the conference, the current narrative carries the heavy weight of racism; it is time to begin changing minds and hearts.

On my return to Boston, I was asked, how does this impact the community? My response,  when we create spaces to look deep within and allow the shift to happen, then we walk in the streets of our community with adults and young people who are willing to unmask their full identity that begins to counter the narrative that black is bad and white is good.

The counter narrative has to bring to light that the Afro Panamanian experience becomes an African American experience in the US and it carries the weight of racism and segregation. The question then becomes, where do we fit in with the NAACP agenda? When does it become an African descendant dialogue and not just an American dialogue?

The other is the counter narrative of the Latino experience. This narrative has to address the internal racism, definition of Latino that weighs heavily on a European framework and a countries history of claiming their African roots. If there is a struggle of acceptance from the country of birth then what does it do when they arrive to the US?

Within both these spaces I want to then pose the question, have you done your internal work that unmasked and embraces your full identity?

There is an urgent need for this darkness to be lifted. The light has to be placed on truth and love and it needs to land on all.

 If the light is not given the room to rise and you do not know about the young women and men that we work with, who move with a complex identity and are seeking clarity in each of these spaces then the question is, are you the one to be standing before them?

It is time for a counter narrative that is inclusive and truthful. This narrative would promote equity and open the door for a new expanded story.

I can’t help but close with another Martin Luther King Jr. quote, with the hope of you carrying it close to you today.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 

Peace