New York City Monument Will Honor Trans Activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

By: Meilan Solly

A new monument will commemorate Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, trans activists, drag performers and close friends who played central roles in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. The statue—one of six commissioned by public arts campaign She Built NYC for its first wave of women-centric installations—will be the “first permanent, public artwork recognizing transgender women in the world,” according to the City of New York.

Johnson and Rivera were prominent figures in the gay liberation movement and the Greenwich Village scene. Tireless advocates for homeless LGBTQ youth, those affected by H.I.V. and AIDS, and other marginalized groups, the pair were involved in the early days of the Gay Liberation Front, a radical organization that peaked in the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, and the Gay Activists Alliance, a more moderate and narrowly focused spin-off group. In 1970, Rivera and Johnson launched Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families.

According to some accounts of the Stonewall Uprising, Johnson and Rivera were among the first to physically resist a police raid on the bar.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-york-city-monument-will-honor-transgender-activists-marsha-p-johnson-and-sylvia-rivera-180972326/#p3AcgJbDvexRgZQf.99
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Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-york-city-monument-will-honor-transgender-activists-marsha-p-johnson-and-sylvia-rivera-180972326/

NABJ President Visits Colombia to Meet with Afro-Colombian Journalists

Credit: NABJ

By Kanya Stewart

National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) President Sarah Glover is traveling throughout Colombia this week for a special trip to exchange ideas with and offer support to Afro-Colombian journalists. President Glover has expanded NABJ’s international footprint, and this trip marks a first for an NABJ president to South America. 

During NABJ’s 2016 joint convention with NAHJ in Washington, D.C., eight Afro-Colombian journalists met with President Glover and NABJ Board members to seek insight about NABJ’s mission and how it could impact their work and career development, as well as help promote inclusion for journalists of color in Colombia.

“I was deeply moved that a group of Afro-Colombian journalists would travel on their own to meet me in 2016. Now it’s time for me to return the gesture. I’m appreciative that I’m able to take some time off and still bring my passion for NABJ’s mission and goodwill to the people of Colombia,” said President Glover.

During her time in Colombia, President Glover will visit Bogotá, Cali and Medellin to learn more about Afro-Colombian culture and the issues facing black journalists in the country. While in Cali and Medellin this Saturday, she will participate in two special programs as a part of NABJ’s Black Male Media Project, held on June 1 worldwide, to promote better representation of black men and boys in the media and elevate the issues they unjustly face.

Glover’s trip comes at a special time in Colombia. This month marks the 168th anniversary of the Colombian Abolition of Slavery. May is also celebrated as Afro-Colombian Heritage Month, similar to Black History Month in the U.S. Also, there is an ongoing observance of the International Decade of People of African Descent as declared by the UN in 2014. The theme for the observance is “Recognition - Justice and Development.”

Read more: https://www.nabj.org/news/453634/NABJ-President-Visits-Colombia-to-Meet-with-Afro-Colombian-Journalists.htm

NEW MUSIC: "Rapture" Koffee feat. Govana

¿Qué es el blackface y por qué no va más?

Argentina: 25 de mayo: una campaña contra el blackface, la costumbre de pintar de negro a lxs niñxs para actuar de esclavos.

 Un gran problema del abordaje escolar de la historia argentina con les niñes más pequeñes es que los programas se organizan alrededor de las efemérides. “Por eso los cuadros del 25 de Mayo en los actos escolares suelen representarlos los de nivel inicial o primer grado –cuenta Marce Páez, docente de escuela primaria de Mar del Plata–. Aquí nos encontramos con otro inconveniente: lo que le gusta a la comunidad, que no suele llevarse bien con la perspectiva histórica. La comunidad quiere fotos familiares con los niños ataviados como ‘siempre’ se vistieron los niños en los actos del 25 de Mayo. Por eso el enfoque de los actos escolares sigue la representación de nuestra propia escolaridad en primaria y en jardín de infantes”.

“En la escuela donde trabajo ya nos estamos cuestionando estas representaciones. En mi colegio la última vez que vi la práctica del corcho quemado fue en 2015. Nos vino bien el libro de Felipe Pigna sobre mujeres de la historia. Gracias a este libro nos sacamos de encima el texto de Floria-Belsunce que estudiamos en el profesorado e incorporamos a personajes históricos como Juana Azurduy y María Remedios del Valle –afrodescendiente, capitana del Ejército de Belgrano–, que además nos ayudan a trabajar contra los machismos que son muy fuertes en los barrios periféricos de nuestra ciudad, donde damos clases”, señala.

Read more: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/195487-que-es-el-blackface-y-por-que-no-va-mas

NEW MUSIC: "Zulu Screams" Goldlink ft. Maleek Berry, Bibi Bourelly

Advierten incremento de migración de etnia garífuna en Honduras

Kenny Castillo Fernández, periodista e investigador garífuna.

Por: Proceso Digital

El periodista e investigador independiente, Kenny Castillo Fernández advirtió en la Conferencia Migración y Dispersión Garífuna en la Última década, de un incremento de la migración de esta etnia asentada en Honduras hace 22 años.

- España, Italia, Panamá e Inglaterra son los principales destinos de emigración de la etnia garífuna, según el investigador.

En los últimos 20 años los garífunas mantienen una dinámica de emigración importante que se acrecienta, aunque no existen cifras porque la mayor parte se va por la vía irregular. En las comunidades se notan los vacíos señaló el investigador.

"Hay hasta temor que las comunidades queden vacías, esa preocupación está fundamentada en el flujo de migración de los últimos meses, en comunidades como Corozal, Tornabé, Sambo Creeck, el resto de las comunidades no es diferente. Desafortunadamente no hay datos estadísticos en virtud de que se marchan por la vía irregular”, apostilló.

Lee más/ Read more: https://www.proceso.hn/migrantes/1-migrantes/advierten-incremento-de-migracion-de-etnia-garifuna-en-honduras.html

NEW MUSIC: "De mar y río " Canalón de Timbiqui

Por: Jenny Cifuentes // @Jenny_Cifu

“Canalón de Timbiquí lleva la selva que cuida la vida en su música. Canalón es Pacífico cantando a la voz de la marea. Sin la selva no existiría la juga, el currulao y el bunde. La chonta, el bambú, la jigua, el balso, el venado, la chira y el caucho son por el río y la marea, el ritmo que entregan los ancestros.  El territorio y las músicas de marimba son la armonía de los ríos y el mar hechos canciones, el ritmo del bosque, de la lluvia infinita”, se lee en el arte del nuevo disco de Canalón de Timbiquí. El grupo, antena de la herencia sonora del Pacífico colombiano, anclado a su cultura y con inspiración que emana de la tierra, liderado por la versátil cantadora Nidia Góngora, presenta por estos días su más reciente trabajo De mar y río.

Read more/Lee mas: https://www.shock.co/musica/de-mar-y-rio-canalon-de-timbiqui-nos-devuelve-la-fe-en-ser-colombianos-ie38

NEW MUSIC: "Volver a Vivir" Herencia de Timbiqui feat. Andrés Cepeda

NEW MUSIC: Flor de Toloache, 'Indestructible' NPR Review

Credit: Billy Ellis

By: Marisa Arbona-Ruiz

Flor de Toloache stuns at the crossroads of fusion and mariachi girl magic. Whether intimately airy or ice-crackingly powerful, their intricate vocal runs and harmonic alchemy seem to defy logic with equally clever instrumental arrangements by the singers themselves.

These are exciting times for artists baring their musical truths through the cross-cultural evolution of music. Flor de Toloache's new bilingual album Indestructible pushes the boundaries of mariachi music and its instruments through reimagined pop covers, originals and original collaborations. It's a fusion fest starring vocals, lead violin, trumpet, vihuela and guitarron graced by the likes of John Legend (singing en español!), Alex Cuba, Josh Baca of Los Texmaniacs, Las Migas, Sinuhé Padilla and R&B singer Miguel.

Melii Is Not Playing Around

Credit: Chris Paul Thompson

By Julyssa Lopez

The then-20-year-old had only a few songs and covers to her name at that point. After dropping out of Manhattan’s Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in 2015 (the same school that hip-hop artist A$AP Rocky once attended), Melii had been working with local managers and releasing her DIY efforts directly to the Internet. Her first real break came in 2017, when she unleashed a remix of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” that went viral, racking up more than 2 million views. A stack of original tracks followed, including “Icey,” “Como Si Na,” and “Shit Talk”—all songs that showed off her raspy voice, brisk flows in English and Spanish, and talent for writing stinging bars and catchy hooks with ease. The early material positioned Melii as the spunky-kid-sister type, someone who punched back at haters and always fought to keep her career throttling forward, despite the challenges of being an emerging female artist in rap.

Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/melii-phases-album-review/

Learning the Real History of Memorial Day Made Us Reflect on the Festival

Credit: Afrolatin@ Project Archive

Memorial Day is generally thought of as a day of remembrance. Its also about storytelling and the construction of our historical memories, what stories we remember or are encouraged to remember. 

We recently learned that the 1st Memorial Day was actually started May 1, 1865 by freed slaves honoring black soldiers killed by the confederacy during the U.S. Civil War and that the Statue of Liberty was originally intended to honor freed slaves (not immigrants as the official narrative portrays). 

This got us reflecting on these years theme "Reclaiming Culture+Spaces" and one of the key reason's we do this Festival. As the Festival grows, its always important to refocus, recommit and share. The Festival supports and is supported by the work of the Afrolatin@ Project, our 501(c)(3) non-profit. As the Project curates the AfrolatinTalks & Awards portion of the Festival, the Festival in turn gives a portion of proceeds from our events towards continuing the preservation work of the Project.

There are only a handful of Afrolatinx focused non-profits in the US. The Project is the ONLY Afrolatinx oral history archive that currently exists in the WORLD and one of very few digital archives about us. After the Project's founder, George Priestley, died 10 years ago, we realized there were few, efforts to document and preserve the narratives of Black Latinxs generally, but especially the work of those who set the stage for a new generation to push forward with the current conversation around Afrolatinidad.    Inspired by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, we realized the importance of preserving our narratives and cultural heritage and set out to create such a resource.

The mission of the Afrolatin@ Project is to serve as a digital resource center and archive for the historical and material documentation and preservation of the cultures, histories and experiences of Afrodescendant people in the Americas and the Caribbean and to facilitate collaborations and programs that advance Afrolatin@ Studies and grass root activities.

These are the faces of some of the 100+ Afrolatinx oral histories and interviews we have recorded and archived from more than 15+ countries. 

Know that when you celebrate community, music and culture, you not only help the Festival and our community gain more visibility; you also help document and preserve Afrolatinx history, past and present.
Let's party with a purpose, because now more than ever, if we dont tell our story someone else might and not the way it should be told. 

Well have more in the coming months as we work to redevelop the website. Thanks for your continued support and interest. 

Seguimos Palante

2014 Afrolatin@s Presente Kickstarter Video by The Afrolatin@ Project

Following protests, Nike recalls "Puerto Rico" Air Force 1 Edition misappropriating Panamanian indigenous art

Credit: Arnulfo Franco/AP

Nike has recalled its latest edition Air Force 1 which attempted to pay tribute to Puerto Rico, by using art from indigenous communities in Panamá. After coming under criticism for cultural misappropriation, Nike issued a statement on May 21, "We apologize for the inaccurate representation of the design origin for the Nike Air Force 1 'Puerto Rico' 2019. As a result, this product will no longer be available."

Comments across social media were swift including from famous Panamanian -American hip hop DJ Clark Kent and thousands signed several petitions that had been initiated. 

The mola design is the cultural patrimony of the Ngobe Bugle or Ngäbe-Buglé, an indigenous community in Panama which has been recognized by the Panamanian government via century old treaty. They primarily reside in autonomous territory regions and set their own laws.

Representatives from the Ngobe Bugle also denounced the use stating  The indigenous groups of panama consider the design an unacceptable disrespect of Panamanian culture and history. ["Los grupos indígenas panameños consideran el diseño un irrespeto inaceptable a la cultura y la historia panameña”]. 

Others including Belisario López, the traditional leader of the Guna Yala community stated, “We are not against our ‘mola’ being commercialized. What we oppose is it being done without consulting us first."

What is striking is that Puerto Rico has its own indigenous cultural heritage attributed to the Taino,  including famous historic and cultural symbols, such as the coquí. More baffling is that Nike had an internal example of a successful country tribute effort with its Fall 2018 De Lo Mio campaign celebrating the Dominican Republic.

These occurrences of culturally problematic or appropriative designs are not new in fashion, as Gucci and Nordstrom have come under recent criticism from the Sikh community for their use of "indy turbans" in the Fall 2018 collection or Gucci's use of blackface on a turtleneck last winter. One hopes that the recent introduction of a house of Fenty by Rihanna to the LVMH portfolio will ensure that a new standard of cultural awareness will be set across the fashion industry.  

Afro-Brazilian religions feel threatened

Credit: Campanha 'Liberte Nosso Sagrado'

By Martin Banks

Historic minority religions in Brazil are increasingly facing a form of religious scrutiny under the country’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, it is claimed.

Some 500,000 people in Brazil participate in religions brought to the Americas hundreds of years ago by African slaves but these religions are under attack from the growing presence of fundamentalist Evangelical Christians.

Among those allegedly being targeted are those who practice Umbanda and Candomblé, the country’s most prominent Afro-Brazilian religions. Though their members are said to represent less than 1% of the population, or about half a million people, they account for most cases of religious intolerance.

Out of 116 reports of discrimination recorded in the first half of 2018, 72 followers of Candomblé and Umbanda were targeted for their beliefs.

Read more: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/afro-brazilian-religions-feel-threatened/

Note: During the 2018 Afro-Latino Festival NYC -Liberación Film Festival we screened a short addressing this exact issue called Nosso Sagrado. See the trailer below.

Catch the U.S. Premiere of Nosso Sagrado/The Sacred in Us (2018) @ Liberación Film Festival July 14 Showtime: 1:40PM Directors: Jorge Santana, Fernando Sousa and Gabriel Barbosa Run Time: 31 min Country: Brazil Language: Portuguese (English Subtitles) Synopsis: In the First Republic (1889-1930) as well as in the Vargas Era (1930-1945) the traditional terreiro communities were criminalized, their persecuted religious and their sacred objects were seized. In Rio de Janeiro, there are records that more than 200 objects were seized by the police, which after the end of the official criminalization became part of the collection in the Museum of Civil Police. The documentary Nosso Sagrado deals with the past of persecution of traditional terreiro communities, the "Black Magic" collection found in the Police Museum, the difficulty of access to the collection by religious, researchers and the population in general, as well as the struggle for to release the sacred objects that have been in the possession of the Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro for 100 years. #AfrolatinoFestNYC #IdentityandBeyond #religion #persecution #discrimination #landrights #quilombo #umbanda #afrolatinx #afrolatino #film #filmphotography #newyork #festival #lowereastside #nyc #womeninfilm #culture #events #cuba #panama #colombia #brazil

Cuban Diva Omara Portuondo Feels As Strong As Ever On 'Last Kiss' World Tour

Credit: Johann Sauty

By: Mandalit Del Barco

In 1996, Omara Portuondo was working on an album at Havana's famous recording studio, Egrem. Upstairs, American musician Ry Cooder was laying down tracks for Buena Vista Social Club, a project with veteran Cuban musicians like Compay Segundo. Portuondo was invited to come up and sing a duet with him. They sang "Veinte Anos," a song Portuondo learned as a child. 

"Without rehearsal, this was a live recording. One take. It's unbelievable," says Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez. He had scouted and rediscovered the older musicians for Buena Vista Social Club. But he says Portuondo was still a star on the island, and bringing her into the project was a dream.

"I remember that once, Mr. Ry Cooder told me, 'Omara is the Cuban Sarah Vaughan.' And I said to him, 'No, Sarah Vaughan was the American Omara Portuondo,'" Gonzalez says.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/11/722118585/cuban-diva-omara-portuondo-feels-as-strong-as-ever-on-last-kiss-world-tour

New Music: Los Rakas "Yo Tambien"

Off the new album Manes de Negocios (“Men of Business”)

New Music: Kafu Banton x El Micha x Farruko "Playa"

Panamá (Kafu Banton), Cuba (El Micha) and Puerto Rico (Farruko) team up for a summer hit remixing a Kafu classic!

Meet the Brazilian Musicians Leading Bahia’s Afrofuturism Movement

Credit: BAIANASYSTEM

By: Felipe Maia

“In Salvador, we see the future in the representations of the past, so you are the future because you can keep the present renewed: the ancestrality is the future,” says Russo Passapusso, the lead singer and creative mind behind BaianaSystem. The band was born in 2009 and has become one of the main exponents of Brazilian music in the past few years. Layering Jamaican music into patterns and textures sourced from the black diaspora, Russo Passapusso and his bandmates have carved their place in the Brazilian music scene between the deliberately pop and the strictly alternative. The crowds at their gigs engage in death metal circle pits and West-African stomping, while chanting singing fervently to the band’s tunes.

I first met Russo when he was toasting as an MC for the local sound system MiniStereo Público. It was lemanja Day, a century-old celebration that takes place every February 2nd at Rio Vermelho beach, in Salvador.

Read more: https://remezcla.com/features/music/artists-bahia-afrofuturism/

The US Confederate flag continues to ignite racial tensions—in Brazil

Credit: Jordan Brasher

By Jordan Brasher

Brazil has a long, strange relationship with the United States Confederacy. 

After the Civil War ended in 1865, ending slavery in the United States, some 8,000 to 10,000 Southern soldiers and their families left the vanquished Confederacy and went to Brazil. 

There, slavery was still legal. Roughly 40% of the nearly 11 million Africans forcibly brought across the Atlantic between 1517 and 1867 went to work on sugarcane plantations in Brazil. It was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to formally abolish slavery, in 1888—23 years after the United States.

Legal slavery may have been a draw for the Confederate soldiers who migrated to Brazil after abolition. 

Brazilian political economist Célio Antonio Alcântara Silva analyzed letters sent to Brazilian consulates and vice-consulates in the United States at the end of the Civil War and found that 74% of Southerners inquiring about emigration were slaveowners.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/brazils-long-strange-love-affair-with-the-confederacy-ignites-racial-tension-115548

Afro-Panamanians nominated for 2019 Emmy Award for Univision's "Afrolatinos"

Credit: Facebook

Stephanie Murillo, a young Panamanian professional, specialist in multimedia productions, is among the nominees for a 2019 Emmy Award in the United States. The good news came to her this week, after receiving a call from her best friend Edwin Pitti, also Panamanian, who serves as the Univision correspondent for the White House.

"My Whatsapp [Edwin] was blowing up to announce that the report we did together last year, AFROLATINOS, is nominated this year for an Emmy Award among the four nominations that he has" announced Stephanie on their social networks.

On the other hand Pitti, based in the United States, shared in his personal Twitter account his joy as this year is nominated in four categories. In 2018 and 2016 Pitti won awards for Best Series-Special Generic Report, Best Report-Medicine Science and Technology, Best Promo-Specific Report.

"The AFROLATINOS report was born out of a concern of his, of knowing more about our history, our ancestry, our culture and our shared struggles throughout the region, and he asked José Antonio Gil and myself to support him as producers in Panama, through Mambriche Media, to raise Afro-Panamanian voices "explained the happy nominee.

Translated fromSpanish/Version en Español: https://ensegundos.com.pa/2019/05/16/panamena-es-nominada-para-los-premios-emmy-por-reportaje-afrolatinos/

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VIEWPOINTS: Angela Davis Denounces Attacks on Afro-Colombian Social Movements

Credit: Portal de la Izquierda

Black social movements are being systematically targeted in Colombia in the aftermath of the 2016 Peace Accords. I have been informed that on May 4, four gunmen stormed into a building in Santander de Quilichao, in the Northern Cauca region of Colombia, opened fire, and tossed a grenade into a crowd of Afro-Colombian activists and two children. The gathering included leaders from several grassroots Afro-Colombian organizations, and they planned to discuss an upcoming meeting with the Colombian government. The attack occurred in a region of Colombia that I had the opportunity to visit in 2010. Among those targeted yesterday was activist Francia Marquez, winner of the 2018 Goldman Prize, and someone with whom I have worked in solidarity for nearly a decade. Brazen acts of targeted violence against Afro-Colombian activists like these call into question the implementation and legitimacy of Colombia’s 2016 Peace Accord.

Francia is not alone.

Read more: https://atlantadailyworld.com/2019/05/09/viewpoints-angela-davis-denounces-attacks-on-afro-colombian-social-movements/