Can a person be both black and Latino?

In the United States, it’s perceived that you’re either one or the other. Typically, the distinction is whether you speak Spanish or not. 

However, such a culture exists. They’re called Afro-Latinos. 
On Feb. 10 and 11, Miriam Jiménez Román and Juan Flores, both King-Chávez-Parks Visiting Scholars at Wayne State, held several lectures based on their theme “Black, Latin –– Both!” 

The duo hosted the discussion on Feb. 10 at the General Motors Theater in the Charles A. Wright Museum of African American History about their book “The Afro-Latin Reader: History and Culture in the United States.” 

Román explained that since Spanish is a gendered language, they decided to use @ as an interchangeable ending replacing “o” and “a” for Latino and Latina.

Overall, the book was put together from her and Flores’ professional careers and personal experiences. 

“I spent most of my life trying to be a black Latina,” said Román, also the executive editor of Afrolatin@ Forum, a research and resource center focusing on Afro-Latinos. “And this book is a culmination of my struggles trying to find my place.”

For instance, Román reflected on her time growing up in Brooklyn and her relationship with her neighbor James.

She said James always thought she was black, until he noticed her speaking Spanish with another neighbor one day. Although she is Puerto Rican, it was the fact that she spoke Spanish that separated her from being a black person in her neighbor’s eyes, she said.

“The book itself isn’t written for an academic public,” said Flores, a professor of Latino Studies in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. “It’s for a general reader. There’s a compilation of simplified academic texts, interviews, poetry and testimony, and it’s organized historically and thematically.”

There’s a section on Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican-born black scholar, and Afro-Latino music. It’s also highlighted by their personal experiences, Flores said. 

Román and Flores said the goal of the book is to bring social justice and create positive change.

“Latinos and African Americans don’t go together in this country. The two are mutually exclusive and are naturally pitted against one another,” Flores said. “Afro-Latinos aren’t accounted for in the public eye and this book tries to correct this misconception that people can’t be both.” 

The next day, Román and Flores held a roundtable discussion on writing with Afro-Latino, African American and Latino writers from the metro Detroit area at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation. 

Román and Flores kicked off the program by each reading a poem out of their book and thanking those in attendance for supporting their work. 

The duo was followed by local poets Lena Cintrón, Lolita Hernández, Esperanza Cintrón, Rayfield Waller, Ethriam Brammer and Melba Joyce Boyd. Each performer read multiple poems ranging in topics. They included Hernández’s fictional poem about the General Motors employee buyouts from 2006-08, Lena’s piece about a New York Times reporter’s coverage of Detroit, Waller’s poem about the current situation in Egypt and Brammer’s poem written for his wife for Valentine’s Day. 

After the poetry readings ended, music by Bomba Rica capped off the night, which brought some attendees dancing out of their seats and others tapping their feet.